DONNER DST-80 Electric Guitar 39” Beginner Electric Guitar Kit with Amp, Classic SSS Pickup Complete with Gig Bag, Tuner, Capo, Strap, Picks, and Free Online Lessons

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The media could not be loaded. My video tells you pretty much everything you ned to know but if you're unable to watch it, I'll sum up here.My first impression is that this is a fantastic guitar for the money. I've been playing guitar since 1997 and have experienced terrible guitars as well as very good ones. These days, a cheap guitar can still be a great instrument, and this guitar is one of those. I would recommend ignoring the accessories though. These sets are put together as an incentive to buy as you get everything you need to play, which is strictly true, but the guitar is the only good quality item in any of this. Almost everything else will need replacing at some point. I'll write a bit about each item.The GuitarI am a left handed player and this guitar is right handed, but I can play it well enough to tell that it's a great instrument. Aside from the finish which has been rushed, the guitar is excellent quality. The action (string height) is very low, possibly too low for some, but that can be adjusted using the small Allan key provided (this gets into how a guitar is "set up" so it's not that simple. Check a tutorial video first, or take it to a guitar shop to get it dome professionally). The frets also feel a little "rough" if you bend a note (see video) so that could also be a setup job, they might need a polish. Then again, this is a guitar aimed solely at beginners so there might not be too much note bending going on at the start.It's a standard S shape (Stratocaster, but they can't use that word) guitar, with three pickups: bridge, middle, and neck. The five position selector switch lets you choose between them in various combinations, which effects the warmth of the sound. There are two tone controls, one for the bridge pickup and one for the neck pickup (so the reviewer who said one didn't work no doubt had the selector switch in a position where he wasn't using the pickup he was trying to control) and a volume control. These knobs are all excellent, giving a smooth transition from one end of the spectrum of volume/tone to the other. The same cannot be said for a lot of guitars I have played in the past, so I was amazed that this budget guitar did it so well.The AmpIt sucks. Ditch it. Ditch it as soon as humanly possible. If you are new to guitar you're not going to sound that good straight away, and playing through this amp will amplify that, and it will sound bad. I can play, and this amp still made me sound bad (see video). A 5w amp like this simply cannot deliver a good tone. It has no bass, so the selector switch on the guitar seems to make no difference when you play through this amp. It's good to hear a sound from the guitar, but that's it. You can get better practise amps, headphone amps, and they'll all sound better than this. Suitable replacements which are still small but infinitely better would be the Marshall MG10, Orange Crush 12 or a Vox Pathfinder 10.AccessoriesTuner - This is fine. I'd probably still never use a clip on tuner myself, I have a strobe tuner app on my phone I'll use if all else fails.Capo - Again, this is fine and does the job, but I've never been a fan of these huge tuners. They do make it easier to put on and off in a hurry, but I prefer something a bit more subtle.Strap - Just a plastic weave strap. It'll do the job but it might slip around on your shoulder a bit. For a guitar like this it's not so important but further down your guitar journey you might want a better quality strap and some strap locks, which prevent the guitar from accidentally popping off the strap and hitting the floor. For a guitar like this that's an extravagance though.Jack Cable - I just used my own cables as they were handy so I didn't try the one bundled with this set but I'd bet again that this is a budget item and cables is one place you really don't want to scrimp. If they're unshielded (which I imagine this will be) they will pick up interference which will present as a hum through your amp. This problem increases if you're on a stage or in a venue where there are lots of cables around. After the amp, this is the next most important thing to replace.Strings - I can't tell how good these are as the spares are in an unbranded packet but again, they'll be budget strings. I'd recommend keeping these as spares and getting a set of Ernie Ball Slinky. They come in all sorts of gauges. If you're playing heavy stuff (grunge, metal, punk) get heavy strings such as Power Slinky (11-48) so you can thrash them and they won't break. Regular Slinky would be a standard set (10-46) but these days I prefer Hybrid Slinky (9-46) so I can chug away on the thick strings but still easily bend notes on the thinner strings. It's all down to personal preference though.PicksThree picks, all the same thickness. Would it have killed them to put in one thin, one medium, and one thick? Again, depends on the music you play but you might want a thinner pick for strumming and a much thicker one for thrashing or playing lead (Brian May uses 1947 sixpences).Tremolo ArmThis is just a bent bit of metal. Screw it into the bridge and you can use it to bend notes. I noticed another reviewer stating that the guitar kept going out of tune. I didn't experience that at all, so I wonder if he was using the trem a lot. No guitar (except with a Floyd Rose) will stay in tune if you keep using the trem arm. Again, new players probably won't use it much (I've been playing for 27 years and I don't use one much) but if you do, it'll detune your guitar. IT's not the arm, it's just the nature of the whole system.ConclusionAfter ten minutes of video and paragraphs of waffle, do you really need any more? If you're thinking of getting this for yourself or as a present for someone who wants to learn, I think it's perfect. It's cheap and it's not amazing quality. That might not sound like a selling point but guitars will take knocks, and new players might pack it in, so you're better that happening with a guitar like this. Also, this guitar could still last years and years. They can easily be upgraded and if they're looked after they'll last a lifetime. Replace almost everything else you get in this set as you go along, but the guitar is great.

Brought for my son’s birthday. Guitar is better than I thought it would be. Being a professional musician I was surprised by the quality of the guitar.How ever the amp did not work!! Tried battery and power but no joy!!Unhappy son!!

Amp stopped working within a month!

Good price if your just starting like my selfTuner does not work as wellBoth my 1st sting keeps snapping before you can get close to the E keyWay too much plastic on the guitar and gets stuck around the nobs

I’ve had my eye on one or two guitars made by Donner in recent years (especially the Hush series), and was quite excited to try one of their guitars. I've been playing on-and-off for over 15 years, and I've had a few guitars in my time.To summarise my thoughts quickly; unfortunately, due to various reasons, I cannot recommend this kit or the DST-80 in its current state.After unboxing and tuning the guitar, it became apparent that one of the strings (high e) had a significant buzz. At first, I believed it was an issue with the action being too low, so I began the process of adjusting the action, which is a fairly routine adjustment. Adjusting the action quickly scratched the chrome-plated bridge, leading to noticeable copper marks (pictured). After an hour or two of testing various bridge positions, I believe the issue lies with the nut groove for that string being too deep on the guitar I received, which isn’t an easy fix.This issue isn't something you would want to encounter when buying your first guitar, or buying a kit like this as a gift. It's not a simple fix, and would require the work of a luthier to put right, which may be expensive. Needless to say, I have my concerns about the quality of some of the components being used in the guitar's design.In terms of playability, it plays fairly well (except for the high e string, as mentioned). I felt that the fretboard is reasonably well-made, and I found it quite comfortable to play.Aesthetics-wise, I quite like the design of the guitar. The matte finish will eventually wear to give a "road worn" look with regular play.The amplifier included within the kit is a decent bit of kit, and it is audibly quite clear. I also think some of the other accessories included within this kit seem fairly decent and more than adequate for beginners.Overall, due to the build-quality issues listed with the guitar, I cannot recommend this kit. While the accessories included with the guitar are helpful for new players, the convenience of this is completely overshadowed by the quality control issues with the DST-80 I received.While I appreciate it's a budget starter kit for new guitar players, the guitar ultimately is the main component of this kit. If I had purchased this kit, I would have returned it.Update (December 2024): I’ve attached some additional photographs of some of the questionable elements of the guitar I received. Additionally; there is rust in some areas, parts of the fretboard have not been adequately sanded down, the slot for the nut doesn’t even appear to be correctly level, and a number of the fret edges are sharp.The guitar appears not have any quality control stickers that I could find, and I doubt it was checked at all.