Recording King RD-328 Tonewood Reserve All Solid Dreadnought (Rosewood)

This guitar is an amazing value! The sound that this guitar projects is loud, warm and every bit as good as guitars costing a few grand. That's no exaggerating. I do not know how Recording King is building guitars of this quality and selling them for under $1000 but whatever they're doing they're doing it very well!! This guitar is so good I ended up buying another Recording King. The RDS-11 series for an even more amazing price. J.P. Cormier put out a comparison video on YouTube between his 15 year old Clarence White Martin HD28 and the Recording King RD328. It was a blind test. You can check out the video to see the results but the short of it is 51% of his viewers thought the RD328 was the Martin. I love Martin guitars. I own a D15 spruce and rosewood LE and a D10. I can honestly say the RD328 plays and sounds better than either one of them. That's not to put my Martin guitars down. I love them but that's just how good this RD328 sounds and plays. I did have to do a slight truss rod adjustment but that's because I like my action a little lower than it was set to at the factory. It played fine right out of the box. Loving this guitar and can't wait to get my other one. Don't hesitate. If you're looking for a great playing, sounding guitar and don't want to shell out the big bucks this is your guitar!!

OK.. it came in> I took it out and looked it over.. about what I expected from a chinese built guitar. I'd say build quality is about 90%. Inside is some sloppy unfinished parts, and only two flaws i have found on the outside..both minor. The sound is great. The v-neck is going to take a bit of getting used to. Tuners are great quality. So then broke it down and started to prep it. The fret-board was pretty gross, but nothing some fret oil didn't clean up, and the nut had some stain on it , but it wiped up. Then the bridge pins are measuring at the underskirt 4.7mm and the end tip at 3.5. (Hard to find pins that narrow). The bridge pin holes are so small that the string has a hard time going in and getting under the bridge plate! Wow. But i am going to ream it out to 5 degree's and install some bone pins. Now, I installed a strap button, and then proceeded to install a K&K Pure Mini. The drill out of the end pin went no problem using a step bit, I then sanded the bridge plate smooth (it wasn't) and glued in the transducers. I then installed some Elixir PH/BR 13-16 MEDIUMS. And set the neck relief, the truss rod seems smooth and works great. HOWEVER, the RD-328 is going to need a setup done for sure! String buzz! .. I took the "action" up as high as i could play comfortably and it still has the issue, also a slight intonation issue at the 12th fret, most notably on the big E string, (also the buzz is most on the same string). I am confident a SETUP will take care of these issues. Other than that I would still purchase this guitar. I tried some bone bridge pins, and it made that sound POP! Once i get some proper fitting pins and a setup I imagine it will Really Perform. All in all, it was as expected and for the money it is worth it!

This is an incredible guitar! Its just beautifully made and sounds incredible... As good sounding as a martin. Just get one! Ok

Nice sounding guitar. Very lively with the Adirondack Spruce. This is very similar to a Marin D-28 for all practical purposes. Unfortunately there were some small cracks forming on the back. It could have been exacerbated by shipping by ground in freezing temperatures IDK. I sent it back and decided to get a RO-318 instead as it sounds to my ear to have slightly brighter midrange. The RD is Rosewood which is a more brittle wood which gives a wonderful rich sound. The RO is Mahogany (as in the 318) which gives a slightly more compressed sound. I like both the 328 and the 318 to be honest. Compared to Martin they are just a tad brighter. You can hear each string like a Taylor where in a Martin it's more blended.

I love everything about this guitar. Ease of playability, The V neck, The sound, The looks. This got it all. Perfect for bluegrass players. And was ready to play out of the box was barely out of tune. And seems to hold tune well. I'd buy this again and would think you'd have to be a fool to pass over this rig. It will hold its own against anything out there

Playability and sound

This is without doubt the nicest sounding (and playing) acoustic guitar I own. That's saying something. I own a Taylor 810 CE, a Martin D28, Alvarez Yaire D45. This is an all wood guitar and the craftmenship of the build was flawless. Bone nut and saddle, the tuners had to go and were replaced with Grover open tuners. The V neck is barely noticable. All this to say....I would buy two more if I could find them.

Love it