I bought one of these recently, in no way a beginner, but i needed a 6-string electric to play standard-tuned songs on instead of my 8-string that I've been using for months lol. I got stuck paying $250 for one because Canadian, but I'm rather impressed by the out-of-box feel (minus the out of tune strings). I immediately re-strung it with Elixir .9 - .46 Optiweb, going with a .46 for the low E (frequency-wise) to maintain tension in Drop D. The high E (frequency-wise) tuning head already cost me a string, so I'll probably replace them with Grovers, and maybe one or both pickups. Imagine throwing a $200 Fishman into a $250 guitar LOL.
First, people spending over $5,000 a guitar are merely trying to achieve status over others. That likely is true for every guitar over $1,000. Guaranteed: Yngwie Malmsteen can make that guitar in your hand sound incredible. Here is some perspective: A 1965 ish Silvertone brand sold at Sears would be priced around $80 then. Today, that would be $773.85. The guitar in your hand can be had for as long as $170. It is thousands of times better than a mid-1960s silvertone and likely hundreds of times better than any Les Paul or Fender Strat or Tele from the mid 1960s.
While your numbers may be true I think your assessment is unfair. To clarify, I don't think you NEED to play a $5000 guitar to sound "better". Spending that much is a choice. Generally. guitars that cost that much are literally works of art and the craftsmanship is just at a higher level. I have one guitar that cost close to $5000. It was a gift to myself for my 50th birthday so I felt I deserved it. It's a Suhr. I can tell you, the craftsmanship on that guitar is far superior to anything I own. And I have Gibsons ranging in cost form about $1000 to $3000. I have an import that I play everyday worth about $1300. And I have imports like the one in this video that cost just a few hundred dollars. One example, the wood used to make the Suhr neck is aged for a LOOONG time and clearly the cheaper guitars I have are not. The Canadian winters can be dry and the cheap guitars suddenly have fret sprouts. The Suhr hasn't budged. And the fine details on the Suhr are breathtaking. That is all U.S. labour. And that's not cheap. Most of that elevated cost is the time it takes to make the instrument. So while I don't necessarily play any better on the Suhr. I'm proud to own it. But I play great on any number of guitars I have that are far less expensive. So if you can afford and you want to own guitars with the best craftsmanship you can buy one. If your budget says you can only by a production line model or import, that's fine too. We have choice and that's the best thing...
@@LonelyRocker You: "While your numbers may be true I think your assessment is unfair." Rewind your vid. You asked us what are opinions. You already told us what you believe in the vid. ;-) I wrote objective truth. You: "... guitars that cost that much are ..." First, you, like many, you have conflated cost with price. Price is a trade rate. Cost is an outlay. It so happens that in general the price of one guitar is the same at the outlay to buy it. But when one buys two or three guitars at once, the prices of each are unique and the outlay , i.e., the cost is the sum. Sound comes from the speakers amplified from an amp and picked-up from the transducers. The components of those are the most important. So your speaker magnets, power supply, etc., are the source of good sound. With that, the strings, you know, the things that vibrate, these are important, as are the the hardware that holds those strings at consistent tension when strings get excited, i.e., plucked.. Fretboard wood counts. Fretboard wood is important because it will affect resonance of an excited string to a degree, but more importantly, will affect a player's skill at legato and vibrato. That is why better freboards are made from ebony first, then purpleheart, Indian laurel, bocote, and wenge. The next tier woods for fretboards are rosewood, cocobolo, maple. The worst woods are poplar, pine, though some guitar makers have the temerity to sell fretboards from those woods. In spite of beliefs, body material is irrelevant for an electric guitar. The string vibrations are "recorded" by the pick-ups and sent down the wire to the amp. Thus, the most important qualities for playing are fretboard wood, neck shape, neck finish, fret type, playable frets and weight. No human can produce better guitar bodies than computer-controlled cutting machines. You might like hand-crafted furniture turned into guitars, but no hands can do better than highly-tuned machine precision. Summary: Electronics first, internal and external. Then fretboard wood. Then neck wood. High-quality strings. All the same, Yngwie Malmsteen can take that Donner and make it sound like Yngwie. Many guitarists need effects and higher-priced guitars to mask their lack of knowledge-to-skill ratio. Cheers!
Thanks. Just bought this for $170 on Amazon. Pretty excited to check it out, in a way. Your vid made me feel better about the purchase. And yeah, prob will replace nut and tuners (hopefully the bridge is decent enough). Subscribed. Nice vids.
Thanks! Glad to have you here! Enjoy it. It should be a fun project guitar. Keep an eye on those frets. They may need a little filing after a while. But the guitar is so cheap. I’m sure you’ll have fun with it.
Thnx Jon! It's actually not bad...might use it as a tester guitar...except it has a quick connect system for the pickups and I don't know how to undo that ;)
This is the first time I've seen you. I got looped in because I own three pieces of Donner gear: Two DST-400s and an Arena 2000. The DST-400s are the guitars that I would be most likely to recommend. I'll be honest that I'm an opinionated weirdo. That said, I'm 65, been playing since my late teens and know what I like. The fact that I bought two of the same make and model of guitar for the very first time in my life should be informative of itself. I haven't changed out anything more important than bridge saddles since I bought these axes and that is one of the more important reasons that I would actually recommend this axe to a beginner. I don't like Squier or Epiphone well enough to recommend them to anyone. Of late, they've both gotten downright aspirational! Likewise PRS and Ernie Ball Music Man. In contrast, the Donner DST-400 actually out-specs Squier's closest offering for less money. Moreover, it doesn't really need anything right off the bat, save PERHAPS for a setup!
Glad you found me! Lots of guitar content here. Hopefully I earned a sub 😎. Donner has really stepped up their game. I have a relationship with them and I have a bunch of their gear hear. Glad you are enjoying yours! 🤘🏽🎸😎
Just a few questions: Did you set it up (intonation/action etc..) or was it already set up? What gauge strings are on that (my guess 10's from watching you work to bend). The neck is always the seductive part eh. Nice review Dan 😊
I purchased mine as an open box return for $87 and enjoy it so far, great guitar for hobbyists like myself, the only major problem is that the guitar slips out of tune pretty easily and a beginner might get frustrated at this. For not much more you could have a well-known brand that's somewhat easier to play, although, you could make adjustments to the nut since it isn't set up all that well or simply grab a new one and paste it on. I think just doing that would improve the guitar twofold. If you wanted to spend a few dollars more you could invest in some locking tuners or some higher quality tuners, Donner's are good enough and that's why I believe the problem is elsewhere. I was honestly surprised that these pickups are high output, 16.30k ohms is what I read on the bridge pickup wire and about 15.5k on the switch. My Fender Bullet's humbuckers were 8k/7k and the guitar was nearly the same price, even "high output" humbuckers that I bought off FleaBay for less than $50 weren't that high. However, Donner's pickups sounded very weak on my guitar even at full height, so I put a cardboard riser in the bridge cavity to reach a little closer and it sounds fantastic now. Improved the sound quality almost tenfold and I highly recommend it. I'm not so keen on using foam on the bottom instead of a spring system, I think I'll replace it with a proper spring and screw later if I don't replace the pickups. I was thinking of installing a DiMarzio Evolution or whatever but now that the bridge pickup is fixed I'm second-guessing myself. Another surprise was the use of a .047 µF capacitator for humbuckers, usually a .022 µF cap is used to cut bass frequencies or a .033 µF cap for general ranges. A .047 cap is usually on single coils for darkening their tone, perhaps Donner uses one here to make high-output pickups appealing to everyone or just using the same solderless PCB board for both single and humbucking guitars to save time. The PCB board itself is very ingenious, saves time in the factory and offers an advantage to modifying the guitar without soldering. I've seen it done before on an ESP or Ibanez, and I believe EMG offered solderless setups before.
@LonelyRocker It was nothing, but I'll apologize for the lengthy read. I'd also like to follow up on that capacitor, it does help mute some very bright tones when the volume is down and tone up high making it less ear bleeding.
@@LonelyRocker If you live til 80, you will have lived 29,200 days. 1 bad guitar day is but 0.00003424657 of all your days! Now get back on that axe and play around the fifths!
I understand that the company was named after a reindeer. The company was almost named Blitzen, but it sounded too aggressive.
Never even thought about that 😎😂😂
I can’t back that up.
I bought one of these recently, in no way a beginner, but i needed a 6-string electric to play standard-tuned songs on instead of my 8-string that I've been using for months lol. I got stuck paying $250 for one because Canadian, but I'm rather impressed by the out-of-box feel (minus the out of tune strings). I immediately re-strung it with Elixir .9 - .46 Optiweb, going with a .46 for the low E (frequency-wise) to maintain tension in Drop D. The high E (frequency-wise) tuning head already cost me a string, so I'll probably replace them with Grovers, and maybe one or both pickups. Imagine throwing a $200 Fishman into a $250 guitar LOL.
Hey it makes a great project guitar...why not?? :) Have fun!
First, people spending over $5,000 a guitar are merely trying to achieve status over others. That likely is true for every guitar over $1,000.
Guaranteed: Yngwie Malmsteen can make that guitar in your hand sound incredible.
Here is some perspective:
A 1965 ish Silvertone brand sold at Sears would be priced around $80 then. Today, that would be $773.85.
The guitar in your hand can be had for as long as $170. It is thousands of times better than a mid-1960s silvertone and likely hundreds of times better than any Les Paul or Fender Strat or Tele from the mid 1960s.
While your numbers may be true I think your assessment is unfair. To clarify, I don't think you NEED to play a $5000 guitar to sound "better". Spending that much is a choice. Generally. guitars that cost that much are literally works of art and the craftsmanship is just at a higher level. I have one guitar that cost close to $5000. It was a gift to myself for my 50th birthday so I felt I deserved it. It's a Suhr. I can tell you, the craftsmanship on that guitar is far superior to anything I own. And I have Gibsons ranging in cost form about $1000 to $3000. I have an import that I play everyday worth about $1300. And I have imports like the one in this video that cost just a few hundred dollars. One example, the wood used to make the Suhr neck is aged for a LOOONG time and clearly the cheaper guitars I have are not. The Canadian winters can be dry and the cheap guitars suddenly have fret sprouts. The Suhr hasn't budged. And the fine details on the Suhr are breathtaking. That is all U.S. labour. And that's not cheap. Most of that elevated cost is the time it takes to make the instrument. So while I don't necessarily play any better on the Suhr. I'm proud to own it. But I play great on any number of guitars I have that are far less expensive. So if you can afford and you want to own guitars with the best craftsmanship you can buy one. If your budget says you can only by a production line model or import, that's fine too. We have choice and that's the best thing...
@@LonelyRocker You: "While your numbers may be true I think your assessment is unfair."
Rewind your vid. You asked us what are opinions. You already told us what you believe in the vid. ;-)
I wrote objective truth.
You: "... guitars that cost that much are ..."
First, you, like many, you have conflated cost with price.
Price is a trade rate. Cost is an outlay. It so happens that in general the price of one guitar is the same at the outlay to buy it. But when one buys two or three guitars at once, the prices of each are unique and the outlay , i.e., the cost is the sum.
Sound comes from the speakers amplified from an amp and picked-up from the transducers.
The components of those are the most important. So your speaker magnets, power supply, etc., are the source of good sound.
With that, the strings, you know, the things that vibrate, these are important, as are the the hardware that holds those strings at consistent tension when strings get excited, i.e., plucked..
Fretboard wood counts. Fretboard wood is important because it will affect resonance of an excited string to a degree, but more importantly, will affect a player's skill at legato and vibrato.
That is why better freboards are made from ebony first, then purpleheart, Indian laurel, bocote, and wenge.
The next tier woods for fretboards are rosewood, cocobolo, maple. The worst woods are poplar, pine, though some guitar makers have the temerity to sell fretboards from those woods.
In spite of beliefs, body material is irrelevant for an electric guitar. The string vibrations are "recorded" by the pick-ups and sent down the wire to the amp.
Thus, the most important qualities for playing are fretboard wood, neck shape, neck finish, fret type, playable frets and weight.
No human can produce better guitar bodies than computer-controlled cutting machines.
You might like hand-crafted furniture turned into guitars, but no hands can do better than highly-tuned machine precision.
Summary: Electronics first, internal and external. Then fretboard wood. Then neck wood. High-quality strings.
All the same, Yngwie Malmsteen can take that Donner and make it sound like Yngwie. Many guitarists need effects and higher-priced guitars to mask their lack of knowledge-to-skill ratio.
Cheers!
heyyy I just saw that new finish on Amazon too! glad to see someone already reviewed & tested it
Sweet! Decent starter guitar.
The headstock kinda looks like a Mayones reigus
I thought the same thing!! That might be all that is similar ;)
Thanks. Just bought this for $170 on Amazon. Pretty excited to check it out, in a way. Your vid made me feel better about the purchase. And yeah, prob will replace nut and tuners (hopefully the bridge is decent enough). Subscribed. Nice vids.
Thanks! Glad to have you here! Enjoy it. It should be a fun project guitar. Keep an eye on those frets. They may need a little filing after a while. But the guitar is so cheap. I’m sure you’ll have fun with it.
Cool video Dan! Seems like a fine guitar for beginners!
Thnx Jon! It's actually not bad...might use it as a tester guitar...except it has a quick connect system for the pickups and I don't know how to undo that ;)
This is the first time I've seen you. I got looped in because I own three pieces of Donner gear: Two DST-400s and an Arena 2000. The DST-400s are the guitars that I would be most likely to recommend. I'll be honest that I'm an opinionated weirdo. That said, I'm 65, been playing since my late teens and know what I like. The fact that I bought two of the same make and model of guitar for the very first time in my life should be informative of itself. I haven't changed out anything more important than bridge saddles since I bought these axes and that is one of the more important reasons that I would actually recommend this axe to a beginner. I don't like Squier or Epiphone well enough to recommend them to anyone. Of late, they've both gotten downright aspirational! Likewise PRS and Ernie Ball Music Man. In contrast, the Donner DST-400 actually out-specs Squier's closest offering for less money. Moreover, it doesn't really need anything right off the bat, save PERHAPS for a setup!
Glad you found me! Lots of guitar content here. Hopefully I earned a sub 😎. Donner has really stepped up their game. I have a relationship with them and I have a bunch of their gear hear. Glad you are enjoying yours! 🤘🏽🎸😎
@@LonelyRockerwould you recommend the dmt 100 or the dst 100b?
Jackson js22 dinky or Donner Dmt 100???
Just a few questions: Did you set it up (intonation/action etc..) or was it already set up? What gauge strings are on that (my guess 10's from watching you work to bend). The neck is always the seductive part eh. Nice review Dan 😊
I played it how it came out of the box. I likely will change the strings on it. I do believe they are 10s. Thnx Doug!
I got one of these when my guitar broke it’s surprised me too. Trying not to mod it yet 😂 is it possible to ad a tremolo to it? I wonder
Ha! I wouldn’t. I mean you could but the cost wouldn’t be worth it.
Got a plain white one on the way........can't wait
Enjoy it!
I purchased mine as an open box return for $87 and enjoy it so far, great guitar for hobbyists like myself, the only major problem is that the guitar slips out of tune pretty easily and a beginner might get frustrated at this. For not much more you could have a well-known brand that's somewhat easier to play, although, you could make adjustments to the nut since it isn't set up all that well or simply grab a new one and paste it on. I think just doing that would improve the guitar twofold. If you wanted to spend a few dollars more you could invest in some locking tuners or some higher quality tuners, Donner's are good enough and that's why I believe the problem is elsewhere.
I was honestly surprised that these pickups are high output, 16.30k ohms is what I read on the bridge pickup wire and about 15.5k on the switch. My Fender Bullet's humbuckers were 8k/7k and the guitar was nearly the same price, even "high output" humbuckers that I bought off FleaBay for less than $50 weren't that high. However, Donner's pickups sounded very weak on my guitar even at full height, so I put a cardboard riser in the bridge cavity to reach a little closer and it sounds fantastic now. Improved the sound quality almost tenfold and I highly recommend it. I'm not so keen on using foam on the bottom instead of a spring system, I think I'll replace it with a proper spring and screw later if I don't replace the pickups. I was thinking of installing a DiMarzio Evolution or whatever but now that the bridge pickup is fixed I'm second-guessing myself.
Another surprise was the use of a .047 µF capacitator for humbuckers, usually a .022 µF cap is used to cut bass frequencies or a .033 µF cap for general ranges. A .047 cap is usually on single coils for darkening their tone, perhaps Donner uses one here to make high-output pickups appealing to everyone or just using the same solderless PCB board for both single and humbucking guitars to save time. The PCB board itself is very ingenious, saves time in the factory and offers an advantage to modifying the guitar without soldering. I've seen it done before on an ESP or Ibanez, and I believe EMG offered solderless setups before.
Wow. Thanks for the detailed insights!
@LonelyRocker It was nothing, but I'll apologize for the lengthy read. I'd also like to follow up on that capacitor, it does help mute some very bright tones when the volume is down and tone up high making it less ear bleeding.
Seems loke a solid guitar. I had a Westone in the 80s in this color
Certainly a great starter guitar....
I'm not a starter and still thinking about one😂
@lehmusic2675 then I did my job 😂😂😂
Crap Guitar!
😂😂
*After finding this guitar on AZ, hearing LR play on the short vid, I had to find his YT. The man can play.*
That intro jam is tasty playing.
Thank you so much!!! You just put a smile on my face because I've been having a bad guitar day ;)
@@LonelyRocker If you live til 80, you will have lived 29,200 days.
1 bad guitar day is but 0.00003424657 of all your days!
Now get back on that axe and play around the fifths!
Beautiful words my friend....I'm on it!!!