Review of the Recording King RD-318 Adirondack Acoustic guitar. Where to buy it?

I’ll tell you how this post is built. First I list the features of the Recording King RD-318 Adirondack guitar. Then you have a video or two, purchase links and useful comments from other users and then you have one of the most useful parts; comparison tables with similar items so you can compare.

  • Top: Solid 30-year-old Adirondack spruce
  • Back and sides: Solid mahogany
  • Bracing Forward Shifted X
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Fretboard and bridge: Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)
  • Neck profile: Thin V
  • Scale: 645 mm (25.4″)
  • Nut width: 42.90 mm (1 11/16″)
  • Bone nut
  • 20 Frets
  • Open gear machine heads with Butterbean buttons
  • Colour: Natural high gloss

review recording-king-rd-318-adirondack

This guitar usually has a price around 461.00 €

Now that we’ve seen the features of this guitar Recording King RD-318 Adirondack watch these related videos to learn more.

Recording King RD-318

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Some comments from people who come to the forum about this model:

Comment:

This guitar sounds great. Very responsive. Great woody tone. Pretty loud. Dynamic. I really like how the headstock looks. I also own the RO-328 and I think the laquer is to thick on both. Had been better with a different thinner finish. The tuners on this guitar are sub standard. The RO-328 have open butterbean Grover tuners which are pretty good, but this one have some cheaper knock offs. They do the job but you?d be better of changing them in the long run.
The guitar was set up pretty bad. The string hight was more than 1 mm higher on the 12th fret than «standard» and high on the nut. Made it really hard to play but with a capo it was ok. I play pretty hard on .013 strings so a high action is pretty good for me but this was too high. Had to tighten the neck, file down both the bridge and the nut. When that was done it became a different guitar. So easy to play. I guess you have to expect things like this when you get a guitar this cheap with specs like this. They have to cut corners some places. For me it seems like the corners/expenses were cut on laquer, setup, tuners and quality control out of the factory. I live in Norway and setup and new tuners (Grover butterbean open back) at my local luthier will cost about 200 euros. In my opinon this guitar is worth that times ten. This guitar is simply great, great value for the money. Highly recomended.

Comment:

The guitar has a good weight to it, the finish is really well done, the neck does take a while to get used to, because it is a V shaped neck, actually kind of a deep V, you can actually feel the edge when picking it up. The Adirondack top is superb, I do not know what happened to the wood in 30 years, but I guess the global warming had something to do with it, because it sounds a lot more older and dried out. The back and sides mahogany is a another really good choice, the wood is really well selected. I had the luck to receive one from a batch that actually has a flamed mahogany look to it, which is quite rare. The guitar feels so balanced, the highs are crisp and the lows are well defined. It immediately became a favourite in my collection (Martins, Freshmans, Taylors), no doubt. I highly recommend buying one, even if not tried before. This was my case anyway, it was a blind buy, especially because of the Adirondack 30 years old top and it was totally worth it.
Bonus: I actually own another RK guitar, the RD-T16 which is another good instrument, has Adirondack torrefied top with laminated mahogany back and sides. You can immediately sense the difference between them, the RD-T16 feels drier and uncompressed and unbalanced, has a more vintage vibe to it, and the harmonics aren’t really there. It can be a little loud sometimes as well. You would expect them to sound close to each other but really there are major differences. So, if you are undecided between the two, pick the RD-318, the price/quality ratio is definitely in your favour! Cheers

Recording King RD-318 Adirondack vs Recording King RD-328 Aged Adirondack

The guitar Recording King RD-318 Adirondack is usually 170 € cheaper than Recording King RD-328 Aged Adirondack.

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Recording King RD-318 Adirondack

Recording King RD-328 Aged Adirondack
  • Top: Solid 30-year-old Adirondack spruce
  • Back and sides: Solid mahogany
  • Bracing Forward Shifted X
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Fretboard and bridge: Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)
  • Neck profile: Thin V
  • Scale: 645 mm (25.4″)
  • Nut width: 42.90 mm (1 11/16″)
  • Bone nut
  • 20 Frets
  • Open gear machine heads with Butterbean buttons
  • Colour: Natural high gloss
  • Tonewood Reserve Series
  • Dreadnought
  • Solid Adirondack spruce top
  • Bracing Forward Shifted X
  • Herringbone binding
  • Solid rosewood back and sides
  • Mahogany neck
  • Thin V-Shape
  • Fretboard and bridge: Rosewood
  • 20 Frets
  • Nut width: 42.90 mm (1 11/16″)
  • Bone nut
  • Scale length 645mm (25.4″)
  • Machine heads: Open gear with butterbean buttons
  • Finish: Natural high gloss

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Recording King RD-328 Aged Adirondack

Recording King RD-328 #A19071186 Demo

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Recording King RD-328 Aged Adirondack review

Recording King RD-318 Adirondack vs Epiphone J-200 EC Studio VS

The guitar Recording King RD-318 Adirondack is usually 95 € more expensive than Epiphone J-200 EC Studio VS.

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Recording King RD-318 Adirondack

Epiphone J-200 EC Studio VS
  • Top: Solid 30-year-old Adirondack spruce
  • Back and sides: Solid mahogany
  • Bracing Forward Shifted X
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Fretboard and bridge: Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)
  • Neck profile: Thin V
  • Scale: 645 mm (25.4″)
  • Nut width: 42.90 mm (1 11/16″)
  • Bone nut
  • 20 Frets
  • Open gear machine heads with Butterbean buttons
  • Colour: Natural high gloss
  • Jumbo body design with cutaway
  • Solid spruce top
  • Maple back and sides
  • Maple neck
  • Pau Ferro fretboard
  • Scale: 648 mm
  • Nut width: 42.7 mm
  • King fretboard inlays
  • Preamp and pickup system
  • Gold-plated hardware
  • Colour: Vintage Sunburst
  • Matching case available under Article Nr 129726 (not included)

Dimensions:

  • Width at the lower end: 43 cm
  • Width at the top end: 32 cm
  • Total length: 110 cm
  • Body length: 53 cm
  • Height of the sides: 11 cm

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Epiphone J-200 EC Studio VS

Gibson SJ 200 vs Epiphone EJ 200 - Does $5249 Sound Better Than $459? - Acoustic Guitar Comparison

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Epiphone J-200 EC Studio VS review

Recording King RD-318 Adirondack vs Epiphone J-200 EC Studio BK

The guitar Recording King RD-318 Adirondack is usually 95 € more expensive than Epiphone J-200 EC Studio BK.

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Recording King RD-318 Adirondack

Epiphone J-200 EC Studio BK
  • Top: Solid 30-year-old Adirondack spruce
  • Back and sides: Solid mahogany
  • Bracing Forward Shifted X
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Fretboard and bridge: Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)
  • Neck profile: Thin V
  • Scale: 645 mm (25.4″)
  • Nut width: 42.90 mm (1 11/16″)
  • Bone nut
  • 20 Frets
  • Open gear machine heads with Butterbean buttons
  • Colour: Natural high gloss
  • Jumbo body design with cutaway
  • Solid spruce top
  • Maple body
  • Maple neck
  • Pau Ferro fretboard
  • “King” fretboard inlays
  • Scale: 648 mm
  • Nut width: 4.27 cm
  • Fishman premap/pickup system
  • Gold-plated hardware
  • Colour: Black
  • Matching case available under Article Nr 129726 (not included)

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Epiphone J-200 EC Studio BK

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Epiphone J-200 EC Studio BK review

Recording King RD-318 Adirondack vs Takamine GD51CE-NAT

The guitar Recording King RD-318 Adirondack is usually 82 € more expensive than Takamine GD51CE-NAT.

Below have a look to the video of this guitar

Recording King RD-318 Adirondack

Takamine GD51CE-NAT
  • Top: Solid 30-year-old Adirondack spruce
  • Back and sides: Solid mahogany
  • Bracing Forward Shifted X
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Fretboard and bridge: Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia)
  • Neck profile: Thin V
  • Scale: 645 mm (25.4″)
  • Nut width: 42.90 mm (1 11/16″)
  • Bone nut
  • 20 Frets
  • Open gear machine heads with Butterbean buttons
  • Colour: Natural high gloss
  • Build: Dreadnought with cutaway
  • Top: Solid spruce
  • Quartersawn X Bracing
  • Back and sides: Black walnut wood
  • Neck: Mahogany
  • Fretboard: Laurel
  • Matte neck finish
  • Fretboard binding
  • 20 Frets
  • Scale: 643 mm
  • Nut width: 43 mm
  • Pickup system: Takamine TP-4TD preamp with built-in tuner
  • Abalone rosette
  • Bridge made of laurel
  • Gold-plated hardware
  • Colour: Natural high gloss

Below have a look to the video of this guitar Takamine GD51CE-NAT

Takamine GD51 Dreadnought Acoustic, Natural | Gear4music demo

If you want to know more about this option, click on the following link to see the Takamine GD51CE-NAT review

Where to buy the guitar Recording King RD-318 Adirondack

Thomann

  • Free Shipping.
  • Full warranty. If you have any problems, they take care of everything.
  • 100% reliable payment.
  • Leader in trouble-free shipping.
  • Usually Best price.
  • Best Reputation: They are the leading online store in Europe and have the best catalogue and information.

Amazon

  • Free Shipping and possibility of shipping in one day with Amazon Premium.
  • Full Guarantee but they are no experts in music equipment.
  • Sometimes better price.
  • He’s got worse stock than Thomann.

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Jaime Echagüe

Hi! I'm Jaime Echagüe, a musician and an authentic fan of musical instruments. With this blog I want to give general information about musical instruments in an easy, direct and honest way. I hope you enjoy my website and that you find it very useful.

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