Got me a beater... Vintage V300MH

Cryptid · May 2023

I've recently gone down from 5 acoustics to 2, but they're both too precious for camping and festivals etc.

The Vintage V300MH seemed to tick all the right boxes. I got bored of waiting for a secondhand one to pop up locally so ordered a new one for the princely sum of £170.

It came today and I'm frankly amazed what that money can get you these days. Good fretwork (not a sharp edge to be found), lovely neck profile, truss rod needed no adjustment and the nut's been cut more sensibly than my last £3k acoustic.

Popped a set of Newtone Monels on and I'm very pleased. Action is at 2.8mm - could come down a touch but it's not bothering me enough to bother.

I'm surprised how good it sounds with some fingerpicked country blues, and not a bad strummer for it's size either. A joy to play and serious bang for the buck. Old news, I know, but thought I'd share my experience.

ICBM · May 2023

I replaced mine with a Patrick James Eggle Jake Bugg model, but I sometimes regret selling it… it was the perfect ‘beater’ - the Eggle is just too valuable and fragile for that.

Mellish · May 2023

Happy NGD mate, sounds like you're well pleased.

Congratulations

Clecko · May 2023

£170 - wow. The cost has edged up reasonably over time, too. I bought one 10 years ago for £150 so it's actually cheaper to buy one now than it was then! I also found that the frets were great and the whole guitar was, essentially, faultless.

It lacks a touch of brightness IMO, but that's to be expected, can be mitigated to an extent with string and pick choice and may be a plus for some players.

Great guitar. I'd venture that if you took one and put a different logo on the headstock, a lot of players would queue up to justify it being worth six or seven times the price.

munckee · May 2023

A woman from work wanted to start learning and agreed to get a used acoustic, we went to a local shop and the vintage they had, natural version was best sounding in her price range.

Cryptid · May 2023

ICBM said:

I replaced mine with a Patrick James Eggle Jake Bugg model, but I sometimes regret selling it… it was the perfect ‘beater’ - the Eggle is just too valuable and fragile for that.

I lol'd... but now I'm unsure whether the egg(le)/'beater'/fragile pun was intended or not.

Mellish said:

Happy NGD mate, sounds like you're well pleased.

Congratulations

I am most pleased indeed, cheers

Clecko said:

£170 - wow. The cost has edged up reasonably over time, too. I bought one 10 years ago for £150 so it's actually cheaper to buy one now than it was then!

A lot of places have them around £230 now. I chanced it on shady looking website, paid with paypal and hoped for the best. Arrived two days later!

I prefer a slightly mellow guitar for casual playing and the monels seem to suit it very well. They last me ages too.

DavidR · May 2023

I bought a Vintage V300MH last year. I really love it @Cryptid. Impulse buy during a "Cousin's Weekend" (piss up) in York when I was on the lookout for a parlour guitar, which it isn't, quite. More a 00. But very playable, lovely tone (with Monels too Martin MM12), reasonable build. I just did a simple setup and added a clear adhesive pickguard to mine.

Why buy a more expensive guitar when you can have such fun with one of these!

Would make an excellent first acoustic for a student too. I'm thinking of handing this on to one of the grandchildren if and ever they express an interest in the guitar when they get a bit older.

Well done. :-)

ICBM · May 2023

Cryptid said:

I lol'd... but now I'm unsure whether the egg(le)/'beater'/fragile pun was intended or not.

No - I hadn't noticed until you said it

.

The Eggle is a very lightly-braced, all-solid-mahogany guitar that cost a really quite eye-watering amount new (at least compared to the Vintage), and I really wouldn't feel comfortable sticking a magnetic soundhole pickup in it and taking it down to a pub jam session... which the Vintage was ideal for.

But given the relative price differential - and even though I bought the Eggle second hand - the Vintage is the better value for money for certain. It's simply a very good guitar, and the price makes it a real bargain.

Cryptid · May 2023

@DavidR I recall reading your NGD post about it. That and other's enthusiasm on here led me to believe it was the perfect candidate for my needs, but even then I wasn't expecting to be so satisfied with it.

I gave it a good thrashing with a pick last night and was surprised at how much volume it was putting out.

ICBM said:
The Eggle is a very lightly-braced, all-solid-mahogany guitar that cost a really quite eye-watering amount new (at least compared to the Vintage), and I really wouldn't feel comfortable sticking a magnetic soundhole pickup in it and taking it down to a pub jam session... which the Vintage was ideal for.

But given the relative price differential - and even though I bought the Eggle second hand - the Vintage is the better value for money for certain. It's simply a very good guitar, and the price makes it a real bargain. I'm not too familiar with that model so had a look at a few videos - what a gorgeous little guitar! My old Spanish-heeled folk guitar is in similar territory but with it's very light build, bellying top and low saddle - I don't like taking it out the house.

Already pondering what pickup to use with it. I have a Baggs M1 active which I love for fingerpicking duties, but very tempted to put an Anthem SL in (which cost a lot more than the guitar itself).

Tannin · May 2023

Cryptid said:

A lot of places have them around £230 now. I chanced it on shady looking website, paid with paypal and hoped for the best. Arrived two days later!

But wait! There's more! Your Nigerian prince is in the mail.

Howdy, Stranger!

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Got me a beater... Vintage V300MH

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