Donner39 Inch Electric Guitar, DST-550 Solid Double-cut Poplar Body Electric Guitar for Intermediate & Pro Players, 7 Tone-switching Options & Tremolo Bridge, Bonus Bag, White

I have the Void Black DST-400.Packed in a gig bag within the box... undamaged. No blemishes on finish. Guitar is indeed a Solid Alder body. Pickups are pretty good. The mid and neck pickups are hot. Now, this guitar has some weight to it, but that's ok. I haven't played a guitar like this since the late 80s. It has all the sound characteristics of a Fender Strat, but not the price tag. The tremolo works fine even though I personally never use it, and the action is a tad higher than what I'm used to playing but I can fix that no problem. The tuners are very good. This guitar surprisingly has better sustain than I thought it would have given that it's a Strat style guitar. The tone and volume knobs don't crackle or make any noise when adjusting. I have had some budget guitars where that was the case. The fret edges could use a little smoothing out but other than that, they're fine. The fretboard on mine is gorgeous. The nut is plastic, but decent. The humbucker is very well balanced and has a high output. In a nutshell, for the price... you could not ask for a better budget strat. It sort of reminds me of a Charvel I had many moons ago. Get them while they are still available. I can say this was money well spent. Budget guitars can be hit or miss, and in this case... I've got a bullseye. I played this right after unboxing it and after some tuning, I was actually taken back at how good it sounded. The neck feels good on this one but there is no skunk stripe on the back, like the one that is pictured on Donner's promo pics. I might buy another if they don't sell out first.Bottom line, I'm happy with this purchase and I have a newfound respect for Donner.I might just start investing in Donner instruments from now on.

At 250 bucks I really didn’t expect much, I’m a luthier and a 57 year guitar player.. I bought this guitar with the idea of modifying it to see if I could make it compare to a Fender Stratocaster since it has an alder body like a Stratocaster.. My plans were to put a Strat neck on it and set it up with Alnico pickups, Grover tuning pegs, Roller nut and strings.. After I took it out of the box, I removed the strings and checked the neck relief, the neck was relieved .008” on the 8th fret. I personally like a bit more relief so I adjusted it to .012”.. then I checked the fret height.. the frets were perfectly level except for the 19th fret which was just .004 high.. That’s not too bad, and probably wouldn’t bother any beginner or intermediate player, Because they usually don’t play above the 17th fret.. But I do play above 17 so I filed it down and polished it.. While checking the rest of the frets for sharp edges and rough surfaces, I couldn’t find anything that needed attention.. So I took the pick guard off and low and behold, I found Alnico pickups with a coil splitter on the bridge Humbucker.. The wiring looked very well done with enough wire in case you wanted to add or change something with the potentiometers, switch, or pickups.. Being pleasantly surprised, I installed a Guyker brass roller nut, which took some time and work.. (if you don’t know what you’re doing at this point, please have a professional luthier install this nut for you). Then I strung it up with a set of D’Addario NYXL .010 strings, set the action at .065” (12th fret) on the low E string and .060 on the high E.. Then I plugged in to a Marshal half stack and put it through its paces.. I’ve been playing this guitar every day for the last 56 days.. and I can’t find anything I would change on it.. It plays excellent, it holds tune (with the stock tuning pegs) and the neck feels good in my hand.. So to recap, I changed the nut (personal preference) I changed the Strings (personal preference) a I set the relief and the action ( personal preferences also) … None of these personal preferences were needed to repair the guitar .. in my Opinion this guitar is a beginners priced guitar with intermediate/professional quality .. I’m going to buy the DLP-124 Donner Les Paul after Christmas and see if it’s made as well as this jewel 💎

Playing this guitar for the last 3 days and I really love it. Bought 2 other bargain priced guitars and this one is my favorite.The guitar plays great and feels easy and comfortable. Most of the tones I'm getting sound great! I have Fender MIM HSS Player special with a Floyd Rose trem system, Love my Strat!Being totally honest, after I gave this Donner the tune up detailed below, I think I like the feel of the Donner better than my $900 Strat! Not comparing tone , just ease of how it plays and feels in my hand.So why don't I think this guitar is good for beginners even though its a great value even after spending additional money to get it right.Out of the box this guitar felt pretty bad.The finish is just okay. Listed as transparent Black, it appears just a low luster black until you look real close. You can just make out the wood grain through the black. could have used a bit more time on the buffing wheel as well. I'd say its a 3 out of 5 in the looks fit and finish department.The neck shape and satin finish on the back of the neck are great.The fret board was dry but a decent piece of Rose wood.Just needed a little lemon oil.It comes with a set of .009 -.042 D'Addario strings.... that had been sitting long enough to begin to rust.With a new set of strings I attempted to tune the guitar but it soon became apparent that the tuners were junk.If you're a beginner and don't know how decent tuners should feel or work, you might think you were doing something wrong.One of the tuners was slipping so bad it was almost unusable.So I ordered a new set of locking tuners for about $40. about the minimum for a usable set.The nut was cut okay but would need a little TLC.The fret work looked pretty good but there were about 4 frets that needed a bit of tapping down and even some leveling and minor re-crowning and a final polishFret work is not difficult if you know how to do it and have the proper tools. This kind of Fret work runs about $75 or more if you need to pay someone to do it for you.The stock tremolo system (whammy bar) is pretty much junk. At first inspection its looks good and has a large trem block even though it appears to be some kind of pot metal , not brass or steel as it should be.After an hour of tweaking and adjustment I only managed to make marginal improvements in the feel but zero improvements in tuning stability even with new locking tuners and nut cut properly.There are many tremolo systems available and prices range from $20 to over $200 not including installation. Another task a beginner wouldn't want to attempt.I'm Hoping to find a suitable replacement in the $50 price range probably a Wilkinson. Until then I just don't use the whammy bar.or it will immediately go out of tune.Lastly the electronics. I'm actually very happy with the sound of the two single coil pickups and the humbucker in the bridge sounds okay clean to light couch tones. A high gain pedal and the tone and clarity suffers considerably. Changing pickups is another job I don't recommend a beginner attempt but the good news is the stock pickups are fine for a beginner as well as the stock electronics.I'm changing the bridge Humbucker to an EVH WG. At $169 new that pickup costs about what this guitar does. I got lucky and found an open box one for sale for $79. I'll most likely upgrade the pots and switch as well but they're working fine for now.I honestly think this guitar is a great value. With a total out of pocket of less than $500 I'll have a fantastic playing and sounding Strat type guitar. I just can't recommend it as a good beginner guitar unless you have a friend who is a guitar tech.