Product ReviewsDONNER DST-100L SAPPHIRE BLUE ELECTRIC GUITAR PKG

Great Strat clone at this price point.

As background, I've been playing guitar for 30 years, I've owned at least 10 electric guitars in my life, and I currently own two actual Fenders including a Japanese Fender Strat. So I'm not a beginner, and I have some basis with which to compare this instrument.

To start off, we know that a $100 Strat clone isn't going to be as good as a higher end $300 name brand Asian clone, let alone an actual $650 Mexican or $1000 American Fender Stratocaster. Parts, wood, and build quality CANNOT be as good. .that's just simple economics, and we have to judge this at its price point.

At <$100, I honestly can't believe how good this is. Details:

Good: Metal flake blue finish is AWESOME. Evenly applied, no marks anywhere. That plus the three ply pickguard make this guitar look like it cost 5-10x what it cost. VERY happy with appearance here.

Pots are smooth, non-crackly, and do work. Tone pots are wired to neck and middle/bridge pickups out of the box, so every pickup is covered. Big plus in my book over Strat type instruments where bridge has no tone control. Neck has nice satin feel, great medium C type profile. Feels like a Strat neck. . .I'm quite happy with that too. Jack and switch are adequate. . we'll see how long they hold up. Setup is surprisingly good out of the box with low nut and no high frets/buzzing anywhere.

Accessories ALONE are worth half the price of the instrument. We have rechargeable (!) mini practice amp, clip on tuner, decent quality instrument cord, a couple of thin picks, extra pack of strings, and low end but functional capo. Gig bag is thin and nothing special, but good enough to transport this. Just getting ANY functional bag at this price point is amazing.

Not so good: Lots of fret sprout with sharp edged frets. Didn't draw blood, but did leave visible scratches on my hand. This is not comfortable to play, and needs detail work with file. That's the only serious negative here, though I think its pretty much par for the course for these cheaper instruments.

Tuners are functional in the sense that they'll get you in tune and stay in tune, but they have a lot of "slop" and (unsurprisingly at this price point) are marginal quality. You can get away with these, but I'll probably upgrade them.

Humbucker is significantly more powerful than single coils and there is a volume/balance issue there out of box. That should be improveable with careful pickup height adjustments. Tone of neck/middle pickups is nothing special.

Looks like middle/bridge position does NOT split the humbucker, so you get three coils active. I rarely use position 2 anyway and don't care enough to bother to address this, but someone who does might want to rewire this or otherwise address it.

Bottom line is guitar does need a bit of work out of the box to hit its full potential. . .but it got most things "right" and for the money, its way better than I think anyone has any right to expect. Would make a great mod platform. . .I'd buy another of these in a heartbeat and would recommend this as a good starter Strat for anyone who was willing to do a little work. Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: donnermusic_ref...