New Guitar Day - Unboxing A Budget Guitar I've Heard Good Things About

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[rob]

The best unboxing music on YouTube and the video fast-forwarded! Perfect!

[SamDeeksRelovedGuitars]

Thanks for the kind words about my set up John. I've long held the view that 'budget' guitars can be made to play really well (even as well as Plek'd Gibson!) with the right treatment. I think where *some* cheaper guitars lose out is in the blandness of their pickups although even that isn't an absolute any more. I set up a cheap guitar recently that had one of those brand-less £20 'Alnico V-loaded scratch plates' from Amazon fitted and it sounded far better than it ought to have done. And in response to Jonny's comment - the world of YouTube guitars really is small but in a good way - in that we can recognise friends we know wherever we go :)

[syielding]

The was packed to return the Soyuz if the parachutes fail! Kudos!

[michaelk]

I think one should take all reviews on Youtube with a 'pinch of salt', Play the things yourself and then make up your own mind. This doesn't mean John's views are wrong or 'corrupted'. He's able to compensate for lots of the problems lesser players can't, because he's a superior player. I even managed it! I listened to some of my younger relations jamming away in the garage and as I was bored stiff at the party, I gravitated to the garage too. I asked if I could play a bit. I picked up a really cheap, awful guitar, nobody liked, and fiddled a bit for a couple of minutes. Then I could play the thing and their little jaws dropped, sort of, because I could get a reasonable sound out of it. To be honest, The longer you've played guitar, the easier this kind of 'party trick' becomes.

[shea]

There is no doubt in my mind that the quality /price ratio has been increasing every year as we go along. Especially in so called budget guitars. If you have good ears and know how to set up a guitar, there is no reason why one cant make a €150 guitar sound like a €1000 guitar. This really is the Golden age of guitars. Of course as someone here said it often comes down to who is playing it. A bad player wont make a very good and expensive guitar sound good and a bad player will make it sound like a guitar someone else has thrown in the bin. Yes, it comes down to hard work, giggin and much práctice. If you dont or cant do that, well dont waste your time and money. Some people dont have an aptitude for it and some do, even if you only find out that you cant play, it was worth it do find out. If youre a beginner. Get some lessons and practice. Lessons are neccessary. Theyll save you time and youll find out quicker weather it's worth it or not.

[GRBAquatics]

Very Cool Thankyou. Well packed Ian. Nice Work. I got one of these for $120-Australian ( basically free in UK or USA money lol) on Black Friday Sale. Bargain. Such a pleasant experience. Set up/Intonation was perfect, and plays really well. Having lots of fun with it and sounds great. Cheers

[stuartmiller]

I think the moving of the toggle switch would be more of an issue for me than the bolt-on neck. That said, how a guitar sounds and plays (especially for the money) is way more important than anything else, at the end of the day. I'm very interested in Sam Deeks' adjustable nut. Going to find out more about that. 🙂 Thanks for the video, John. To be fair, I was worried that it was going to be 'unbubbling and unboxing only', at one point! 😆

Sam said he found the Donner to be a fairly decent guitar for the money in the blurb accompanying the video of the work he did o his channel.

[jimmyjames]

Nice to see binding all over on a budget axe. Sounds great distorted, kind of messy clean, but good enough for beginners and plunkers. If only high end, professionally shipped guitars were so generously packaged as this Donner came to you.

[valueofnothing]

I think the title of this video is a little misleading. It seems to suggest that it's going to give us an idea of what this guitar is when we buy it, but actually the fret work is probably the most important thing we need to know about it, and that's already been fixed.

It would be good to know what the original condition of the frets were and if there were buzzing and low though the action was.

I'm always trying to get an idea of the quality control of all these cheap guitars. So this could be useful.

[mototakahe]

Hi John, Okoume wood "Okoume offers a fairly balanced yet bright tone and is a good solidbody wood. It can improve the clarity of the guitar itself and produce a cleaner overall tone" so it says. Sounds fine to a total novice.

[James-ggmi]

I had the chance to pick up a Donner HSS Strat for £40 from a secondhand shop. Looked hardly played, with smooth fret ends and v. attractive black fretboard. Spent £10 on on a Wilkinson middle and 40 on a Tonerider Rocksong and put in a Fender ceramic neck p/u which I'd had lying around for years. Wasn't terrible before, but now sounds and plays like a dream.

I fancied a tele and landed another Donner from ebay for £62.50. Same smooth fret ends and dark fretboard, and a low, low action, although, as with the Strat, the tuners were nothing to write home about. As John said, the 'bones', i.e.geometry and fit and finish were flawless, plus the bridge has both body-through and bridge through holes, so I'm considering a 12 string conversion. Perfect mod platforms.

[johnmac]

Even Epiphone make Les Pauls with bolt on necks

[richardwhitfield]

I think he skimped at bit on the protective

[Reeldin]

Nice guitar. It looks good and the sound is nice and feels good to play. In the end what more can you ask for?

[winstonsmith]

Never heard of an adjustable nut before, but now I have, I'm wondering why everyone doesn't do it.

[rogermiddlecoate]

My Gordon Smith from the 80's has adjustable brass nut

[fretworkband]

Is it just my phone screen making the neck on that guitar look wider than a standard LP? Also not a fan of where the switching device is placed. But, as usual, John made it sing and overall I believe Donner guitars stock are good beginner guitars and fine for modding. It’s great to have choices.

[BudgetGuitarShow]

I don't believe what a small world it know Sam Deeks' brother very well. He has sung with my band

[grene]

The next time I need to ship a guitar, I'm hiring Ian to box it for me!