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Stanford MSGA 300 Grand Auditorium LEFT HANDED with EQ and cutaway
[MSGA300-CW-L-ACOUSTI1]

by Oliver Davey

Date Added: Wednesday 04 January, 2012

This guitar has some good features - real maple fingerboard binding is unusual in a guitar at this price, though on my one it had been badly finished and had a lot of rough edges which I had to sand down. My one also did not have that good an action and I felt I had to lower the nut, though it is still hard, if not impossible, to play a C chord cleanly, and I am a competent guitarist with a number of guitars. The sound is pretty good though and it vibrates nicely against you (if that doesn't sound too kinky!) and the B-band does a good job producing a warm amplified sound though I haven't really put that to the test yet. I wanted a guitar that sounded good strummed - my Taylor 214 is a great fingerstyle guitar but a bit harsh when strummed. This does the job from that point of view (and it's ok for fingerstyle too), and with a bit more setting up I think it will be an adequate guitar. If I'd paid over £400 for it, though, I think I'd have felt I'd made a bad choice. It feels to me more like a £200 guitar with some features of more up-market guitars, but that just suggests they had to cut corners somewhere else. It's a nice looking guitar and seems well made, but I don't agree that it has a fantastic action - mine does not seem especially well set-up and I suspect I'll end up taking it to a professional. So, be aware of what you are buying and don't delude yourself into thinking you are getting a Taylor for a fraction of the price. I'm a bit biased though, as I think Taylors are brilliant! (but not cheap)

Rating: [3 of 5 Stars!]