Donner DST-400 Solid Alder Body 2 Point Tremolo HSS Pickups Classic Electric Guitar Kit $169.99 + Delivery @ Donner Music (HK)

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johnyBgood on 19/12/2022 - 10:04 donnermusic.com.au (311 clicks)
Last edited 20/12/2022 - 12:02 by 1 other user

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This seems to be a good budget guitar with 2 point tremolo, alnico pickups and push-in whammy bar, for $169.99 it's a no brainer. All YouTube reviews looks positive. Normal price is $419.99

Amazon reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Donner-Electric-Guitar-Stratocaster-B…

First review is actually from a Luthier with 5 Star review.

Product information

Item Weight:6kg
Product Dimensions:120.00 x 43.00 x 12.00 cm
Back Material:Alder
Body Material:Alder
Fretboard Material:Laurel
Guitar Pickup Configuration:H-S-S
String Material:Nickel Steel
Top Material:Maple, Alder
Neck Material Type:Maple
Guitar Bridge System:Adjustable
Material Type:Alder Wood

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Donner Music (Hong Kong)

• 

  jetblack on 19/12/2022 - 10:09

  +5

  All YouTube reviews looks positive

  Preeeeetty sure Donner invests in sponsored reviews, so take those with a grain of salt.

  What's delivery on it? If you can stretch the budget to $299, you'd be better off with a Squier strat. If you're ok with second hand, you could easily pick up one for about the price of this Donner, probably less, and likely with a bunch of basically necessary accessories (amp, cable, strap)…

  • 

    johnyBgood on 19/12/2022 - 10:12

    $10 delivery fee for me, have watched a couple of reviews from reputable guitar Youtubers, watch it yourself to see.

  • 

    jetblack on 19/12/2022 - 10:12

    +1

    I'd also say, if you/your child is not committed to playing it, you'll get better resale on the Squier (/"Fender") name than you will on a Donner.

    • 

      johnyBgood on 19/12/2022 - 10:14

      Agree, but this is almost 50% off so most likely I can easily off load it in marketplace if needed.

      • 

        odal on 19/12/2022 - 10:45

        +3

        No one buys second hand Monterey, Huxley, Haze, Donner, but by the same token Squier Bullets and Affinitys are a tough second hand sell on anything other than price.

        Whilst I'm not advocating for this Donner, a buyer would lose more than $169 in instant depreciation on any Bullet or Affinity the moment they walked out of the shop if a wanting to resell 6 months later when they/their kid lost interest.

        It's pretty funny watching the prices put on their second hand guitars by dreamers on Gumtree and Marketplace who've bought the dream with an even bigger more expensive name brand and model in the excitement of the moment trying to resell it a year later now the penny has dropped that guitar is challenging to learn and no guitar regardless of brand or price comes with virtuoso mode auto-play…unless you're Taj Farrant.

        • 

          Muzeeb on 19/12/2022 - 10:54

          +1

          @odal: I purchased a second hand Huxley (aldicaster). 😉 Thanks for all your help odal all those months back.

          • 

            odal on 21/12/2022 - 12:14

            +1

            @Muzeeb: Yes mine is still going strong too. Not my absolute fav guitar from my ever growing collection by a long shot, but very well constructed, a respectable player, and by far the cheapest at ALDI's full price of $99~. In a word, astonishing. Only hardware item that really had to be changed OOTB were the strings, which admittedly were absolute junk even for Chinese made strings. Although inexpensively upgrading the tuner mechs (AUD$30 for Korean Wilkinsons at the time I did it, about AUD$40~$45 now) went a long way to making it more enjoyable to play & tune with rock solid stable tuning.

            The singular aspect rendering them unfavourable for a beginner out of the box, is that they desperately needed a setup from as delivered in store, or at least mine did. Whether through different climatic conditions (China in winter) at the time to where it was boxed and shipped vs here (mid coastal Qld in Summer), the neck relief was wildly out requiring significant truss rod adjustment and consequently the action and intonation redone beyond the DIY scope of any genuine beginner.

            Although plastic, the nut fit and cut on mine was remarkably good OOTB. Once set up and the strings changed, inarguably good enough even for a beginner to learn on problem free as was. The neck profile and fingerboard radius are friendly, and the medium jumbo frets pleasant to play with their ends filed as good as any sub $500 guitar. That fetching blue polyurethane body paintwork was 100% in opacity, lustre and finish on my example. For aesthetics, I did wish they'd just used a standard shape Tele scratchplate instead of that custom one, but that's moot to how well it plays.

        • 

          Nitr0 on 19/12/2022 - 13:02

          +1

          @odal: Was funny the first time I saw a listing for a "as new ibanez rg guitar 6 months old barely played" for $1k….for a gio. Now it's every other day one pops up.

  • 

    odal on 19/12/2022 - 10:27

    Yer they do, heavily. Really been hitting the influencer trail hard with their latest DJP-1000 release.

• 

  King Steuart on 19/12/2022 - 10:38

  Christmas tree included?

• 

  BewareOfThe Dog on 19/12/2022 - 10:52

  -2

  How can you trust a brand that shares the same name as a disastrous expedition that ended in cannibalism?

  • 

    Laserface on 19/12/2022 - 12:32

    +3

    big 'who cares' on this one champ.

• 

  vinnycol on 19/12/2022 - 11:00

  +1

  Surprisingly good guitar for the price.
  Different league to the bullet and arguably still better than affinity… 2 point tremolo, real wafer p/u switch, A5 pickups as opposed to ceramics on the squiers, decent gig bag and cable included… Only real negative at this price is the Donner logo. Not gunna argue with anyone…

  • 

    johnyBgood on 19/12/2022 - 11:02

    Yeah, reading some reviews from Amazon, this luthier is pretty much happy with it. Also comes with Alnico pickups according to the reviews.

    • 

      Nitr0 on 19/12/2022 - 13:05

      I think you mean "luthier".

      • 

        johnyBgood on 19/12/2022 - 13:40

        Am I missing something?

• 

  BewareOfThe Dog on 19/12/2022 - 11:03

  If you do buy this with a tremolo, hide the tremolo arm, as it will send this so far out of tune.

  Also, invest in a decent tuner . The Behringer was cheaper last year, but currently @ $59,or use the Boss App.

  Look around some of the music stores for starter packs (including an Amp), from Ibanez, or Epiphone. If you cant find anything in Sydney, come up to Newcastle for this . Their store is massive, and reminds me of Brashs Pitt St, and they will be moving to a larger store soon.

• 

  Demarque on 19/12/2022 - 14:14

  +3

  Can't recommend anyone bothering to buy cheap guitars like this brand new. Surely better off buying something used on marketplace or Gumtree. With guitars like these you really do get what you pay for (often a bad setup, unreliable tuners and almost always shoddy tremelo/vibrato bridge systems). For people learning to play an instrument,you don't want something that's going to put them off wanting to pick it up and nothing is more annoying than a poorly-intonated guitar thst won't stay in tune.

  If it were me, I'd spend a bit more and get a stronger brand-name instrument on the used market with better resale value and if you or the recipient give up the instrument, they can just sell it on for a minor loss. Just my opinion though

• 

  johnyBgood on 21/12/2022 - 16:56

  +1

  Just received mine today, it's not too bad for the price. It's playable without needing to setup. But if have more budget, you can get the Fender player for $799 here: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/746577.

  • 

    johnyBgood on 21/12/2022 - 17:03

    Edit: The fender is OOS now.