2010 Recording King ROS-647 Flattop Guitar
My friend Jim bought this new a while back and has been playing it steadily ever since. It's one of the fancier Recording King models and I don't see anything particularly like it in their current lineup -- which seems to be filled by vague interpretations of '30s Gibson budget-guitar stylings.
This one's basically a take on a Martin 000-45 with pearl bling all over and a 12-fret joint. Jim's had to deal with it getting used to Vermont over this time and it does have a hairline crack on the front and I just went-about replacing its warped original pyramid bridge with a new "belly" bridge. Frustratingly, he's been dealing with bad intonation for a long time, too -- the factory bridge was almost off by 1/8" from where its saddle slot should have been.
At the same time we replaced the original undersaddle pickup with an under-soundboard K&K pickup. The end result of these efforts is a guitar that's more responsive, louder, and more satisfying -- even with the dead strings on it in the video above. I just put a fresh set on after the video and it's, of course, that much better.
Anyhow, I figured this post would be useful to those looking at one of these in the used market and pondering getting one. For what it's worth, I have to say that this instrument is actually pretty far from the '30s 000-45 it supposedly replicates. It's built a lot heavier (though still has scalloped bracing) and the neck is fatter/clunkier in handling. I'd say it actually handles and sounds more like an early-'60s 12-fret Martin 00-21 or the like.
This is a good thing, though, as true '30s 000s are definitely built too light for the abuses of modern guitarists
Final thoughts? Once these are dialed-in and have settled into a more average humidity (the first few years we had to swap-out between three different saddle heights depending on the season), they're actually quite nice guitars for the money. Before they relax into a "lived-in" state, however, they do need some looking-after setup-wise to keep them at their best.
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I will say, however, that I have a RAJ-27 that is dynamite. Its a sort of short-scale Advanced Jumbo type and is just killer. Nitro finish (just like the ROS-647 here) that has actually cracked pretty nicely. The back and sides are solid RW and the top is solid Spruce with a wonderful sunburst. It's a very responsive guitar that has great tone and is pretty dang loud. At any rate, I agree that these earlier RKs can be, and generally are, pretty great guitars for the money. They're just getting pretty hard to find for sale.
On the strength of the ROS-626, I tried a cheap RK 12-fret round-shouldered dreadnought, which is loud and clunky. Then I got a RP2-626C, a very nice cutaway 000 which will sound great after a few years' play. The ROS is the cream of the crop, though. Thanks to Eric Schoenberg for designing it!
Here’s a sample video of my guitar
https://youtu.be/mI9b7je-4DM?si=WiSN3ajD3_9NhiUu