Donner 39 Inch Electric Guitar, DST-550 Solid Double-cut Poplar Body Electric Guitar for Intermediate & Pro Players, 7 Tone-switching Options & Tremolo Bridge, Bonus Bag, Ice Blue

I had received a Klaxton guitar kit in February of this year, stained it and assembled it. It was my first six string guitar (I played bass a little as a teenager). I have enjoyed learning and playing it every day since.Upon doing more guitar research and watching videos I decided that I also wanted a guitar with at least one single coil to add some diversity in tone.Having not worked in more than a year and a half do to cancer, I had to sell some items to get money to buy another guitar. So, I had a choice, buy a used one or a "cheap" new one. I did more research on which avenue to take. I decided that the cheap new one was the way to go. With so may brands in the cheap market (cheap is a relative term, any guitar is expensive to someone on a fixed income) Donner kept catching my eye. With so many positive reviews on YouTube for Donner, i knew that Donner was really pushing there guitars. I was still undecided, that is until I saw the Donner DST-400.The few extra things like the two point trem system with a larger block, the split coil on the humbucker, alder body, the quality mentioned in every video about the neck and the split top tuners, I knew this was the one I wanted.I sold some more items I don't use anymore (mostly my KISS vinyl), and with some of that money I went for it and bought the Donner DST-400. I wanted the green one but the black one was the only one available at the time. There was a sale on Amazon so the price was $169.99.When I received the guitar there was a deep puncture on the top of the box. I was nervous that the guitar would be damaged. The gig bag has a rip where the puncture was. The rip is only on the outer layer of the gig bag, about an inch and a half long. So then I was concerned that the guitar itself would be damaged with that much of an impact on it. Upon taking the guitar out of the plastic bag I saw no damage at all. Whatever had punctured the box and gig bag did so right at the pickup selector switch, which was fortunately covered by a block of Styrofoam. The guitar could not have be in better shape.I did change the strings after making sure the electronics worked through my Spark Go amp.The only down fall, kind of, but not really, is that the Donner is so much easier to play than the one I "built", it was like learning to play all over again. It's kind of hard to explain, the riffs that I know very well were hard to play. At first I thought there was something wrong with the guitar. On the contrary, the Donner DST-400 is excellent, it's the Klaxton that is hard to play, but that's all I knew. The difference is night and day.If you have made it this far in my rambling, the point I'm trying to make is if you have the opportunity to purchase the Donner DST-400 do it. I have never played an expensive guitar and now I have no desire to either. I may change my mind in the future, but at this point I couldn't be more pleased with my purchase.Thank you Donner for making a guitar that is affordable and so much fun to play.

I’ve owned and consistently played the DST200 for 7 months now and comparing it to my 5 Squier Affinitys and 2 Bullets (Teles and Starts) purchased over the past 6/7 years from Amazon because these guitars are in the same price and quality categories and I’ve had adequate time to make a fair opinion. Over all it’s a great guitar and surpasses a Squire Bullet but falls short of the Affinity line which was my unreasonable expectation considering the $70 difference. It probably falls the middle of a Bullet and Affinity but I would chose the DST200 over a Bullet or Sonic due to the over all feel, primarily the body wood which I think contributes to the overall tone, an idea debated in some circles (the tone wood conspiracy lol). I’ll try not to repeat what’s all ready been said so my points are it really is a good feeling guitar to play, kind of thin but setups and inotates very well contributing the overall tuning. The black finish is professional and top notch! The electronics sound great and the additional splitting humbucker is useful. Some players don’t prefer the ceramic pickups but they sounded good to my ears lending to all the classic Fender tones in all 5 switch positions with the added push/pull switch for the bridge humbucker (a nice competitive idea from Donner). The plastic nut was cut perfectly and the original Donner tremolo is good and compatible to a stock Squier vintage type. The frets are smaller in diameter compared to the larger fender/squier which could make or break a player’s opinion but I’ve accepted it (still like jumbos for the feel and longevity). Now swapping out parts could be a problem, I’m always modding and found that some of my numerous loaded pickguards didn’t fit resulting in drilling extra holes for the 11 screws, the horn portion didn’t exactly line up and the tremolo template was slightly off and required some shaving. I swapped out the stock tremolo for a fender gold vintage and it was a perfect fit. The body is the same size of an Affinity meaning it’s smaller than the standard Fender Strat. When I replaced the stock tuning machines with gold vintage F-hole Fenders I found the holes had been reverted back to a smaller diameter with plugs then redrilled for smaller holes as if Donner was using larger tuners at one time. These “plugs” popped out when I tried to replace the original retainer rings so I had to tap them back in and repair the cracks and splits with wood filler, sanding and a repaint which brings me to an inconsistentancy, in the stock pictures the headstock is shown painted black but mine was a natural finish. I just painted mine with black lacquer and buffed to a professional shine. I also swapped out the pups and pots for some better alnico brand and rewired the split humbucker switch to go series/parallel (personal preference) and I stayed with original Donner pickguard as others didn’t exactly fit. I also kept the cheap import 5 way switch but will swap it eventually as the cheapies get scratchy over time and using. I replaced the stock boat input plate and jack with Fender and found a slight difference in size but nothing significant I’ve also replaced the plastic nut with a high quality precut bone, this is new territory to me as further adjustments are needed like recutting slots due to string buzz and intonation problems but it was a perfect fit in the slot (found an exact replacement on Amazon with the same measurements. This is important!!) I also sanded down the clear satin finish on the back of the neck with some expensive nitrocellulose amber colored lacquer, personal preference. I don’t usually review products but I’m passionate about guitars in general and hope these details are beneficial to anyone. Play, mod and learn!

Me llegó muy bien embalada, muy bien protegida, solo puedo decir que le faltó un tornillo a la tapa trasera.Aún no la he desarmado porque le voy a montar unos pickups de alnico, los que trae originalmente no son terribles, pero es algo que sabía que iba a mejorar apenas llegara, trae cuerdas 0.9 de fabrica cosa que también voy a cambiar a 0.10. el filo de los trastes en los costados me lastimó un poco el día que llegó, pero al siguiente día ya los trastes estaban en su sitio, la madera con la humedad de esta ciudad puso todo en su sitio, el diapasón llegó bastante derecho, lo ajusté un poco más para mí gusto y el alma es súper suave, no hace falta hacer fuerza, el puente trae 3 resortes de fabrica, le quité uno y la ajusté para semiflotante, hasta ahora bien pero igual pienso cambiarle los resortes cuando le cambié las cuerdas. Las clavijas no son las mejores pero funcionan bastante bien. La verdad es una muy buena opción por el precio, solo deben estar concientes de que es necesario hacerle al menos ajustes mínimos precisos al recibirla. El gig bag y los accesorios están bastante bien! La verdad muy contento con la guitarra, ya solo esperar que lleguen las pastillas nuevas y el puente.