Hi Landon. I could be alone in this but I would've liked to see you put in a few minutes to tweak the truss rod and adjust the saddles and give the guitar a fair shot.
Yeah but most people who actually buy this guitar are prob beginners who just wanna play it out of the box, so in that regard this review is reflective of that.
Yeah a set up is definitely needed. But two things right off the bat is get some decent pickups and tuners. Hell, some $25 Wilkinson pickups and midrange tuners, this would help it a lot. You don't need high end stuff on it. And with a set up and maybe fixing the frets, it would be playable.
There is no excuse for a guitar to be any less than decent these days. I got a squier fsr bullet tele for $119 on sale from Sweetwater. Not amazing out of the box but pretty good, at least playable. After a little TLC and a set of fender nocaster pickups it’s now my most played guitar.
Once in a great while, a cheaply-built guitar will surprise me with good tone and intonation, as did a Japanese nylon-string guitar I bought a few years ago did. $150 with hard case, and it actually sounded good! I was shocked! However, I think that particular guitar was an outlier, and it doesn't change the old adage that you get what you pay for.
I wanted to seriously thank you for showing us how to open the box. Many people dont understand the importance of that part of the video. Thanks to you all i have to do is follow you step by step and before you know it the box was opened. If it weren't for your video in would still be scratching my head wondering how to get to my guitar. But know thanks to you i can play the damn thing.....
Sadly, this sort of crap guitar is bought by parents who don't have a lot of money and results in putting the kid off playing for ever. I had a few terrible budget electric guitars but luckily when I was 7 my big sister gave me her classical acoustic when she upgraded to a really nice Yamaha acoustic - so by the time I hit the rubbish electric market I knew it wasn't me... This sort of guitar maker relies on kids/beginners thinking sounding crap is their fault. And that sucks.
Those descriptions can be the dead give away but they're funny as HELL! One of my favorites was "has a grilled maple neck"...sure they meant roasted maple. But you know I bet the grilled maple necks are delicious.
I bought a strat copy on Prime Day pre-c19 for $48 US. During lockdown I added a Wilkinson loaded pick guard for $42, blocked the trem, did a setup, and it's a great cheap guitar.
I bought a Glarry guitar a couple of years ago for 69 dollars (including shipping). It was actually playable, and with another 69 dollars for a new bridge and pickups, along with some work on the neck, it's become a very fun guitar to play.
Thanks for posting this. Too many people post videos raving about how good their budget, bottom-spec guitars are, but the reality is that they are always, without exception, a waste of money. They may look nice, but they are no better than the Woolies guitars that were available in the 1970s. Anyone reading this, if you're about to buy a guitar for your child, go to a music shop, and expect to spend £200-£300 to get a decent starter instrument. And take someone with you who knows how to check a guitar's features and setup.
It's sad that so many people order from online shops. I usually got every guitar properly set up in the music store I bought it from. My local store tries to keep up with Thomann and most of the times matches the price. But I'm totally willing to pay a few bucks more for the extra service I get.
My first electric was a $70 glarry and apart from needing intonated and the neck action adjusted it actually is a good guitar, the pickups could be a little hotter, but it's comparable in sound to an Ibanez mikro which costs twice as much new, it definitely wasn't a waste of money
Ya now take the cheapest an turn it to dream beast maybe some Seymour Duncan miniature double coil hot rails fix fret work and setup an a sick pick guard something flashy and plug it into the most expensive shit you can get ahold of and just kill it
Similar situation. I bought an Indio Strat style from Monoprice before Christmas, after watching so many great reviews on UA-cam. I fix guitars as a hobby, so I figured after a little sprucing it’d be a nice holiday gift. BOY WAS I WRONG. No matter what I did, no matter what I modified, no matter what I raised, lowered, cranked, filed, or sanded, the guitar remained unplayable. It buzzed and fretted-out all up and down the neck. It wouldn’t intonate. It was absolute garbage. I sent it back. And on top of all that, the mini amp shorted out two days later. I will never buy from them again.
Had a similar experience.... ordered a Fazly Kit from Bax Music. the Body was the worst i had ever seen and after querying it i was told " what better do you expect for that price...??????? "......Just scrapped it and bought a Harley Benton.
I'm saddened and surprised to hear that! My 5 watt class A stage right amp sounds great and has been a good reliable amp for prace and small jam sessions for several years.
I watched the vid. It's not that bad. I think you should do another and show what can be done with it.and why it's a good guitars to get. It's for learning. Painting. soldering.refretting.filing.sanding.making nuts.etc etc
It could definitely be made playable with fretwork and a good set of strings. If the truss rod works and those are actually Alnico pickups at that price point, it’s still a good deal.
I buy cheap guitars off Amazon all the time. Some rip right out of the box. Others need some work. Lucky for me its a good tool to learn setup and mods on. But for the beginner it is a bad idea. Imagine getting a new unplayable guitarand now need to pay as much as you spent on it just to make it work.
this kind of awkwardness is fully what i'm into, i wish more people were like this, like awkward and a bit odd but not bothered, and clever and kinda confident, subbed
As far as the tuning issue, new strings need to be stretched a good bit first. I overwind them A LOT, then drop them under tune and tune up. But yes, that B tuner seems slippy
Hilarious, as always. But did you even try to adjust the neck with the included allen wrench? Brand new Fenders that have been sitting in a warehouse need this, i would certainly expect a $120 guitar to need it.
Once I got a copy Strat from Thomann/Germany (inhouse brand: Harley Benton), at a cost of 79€. As an average guitar player and comparing to my PRS and Hagström guitars, this guitar was far better than expected. Only had to change the saddle, was 1mm too low for my needs. Else the guitar was decent fabricated and finished, no flaws. Electric parts worked reliable. Nothing to argue about playability. Sound was below average, but for beginner/practising/combined with low cost practise amp/speaker absolutely sufficient.
The logo on the box is exactly the same as on Donner guitars. We review a lot of guitars on our channel, and fortunately this is not available in the states. I own a couple of Ammoon Pockamp practice amps and they are actually very nice and have a lot of functions. My Canadian friend 2bikemike got one of these and molded it, but like you we just want them to play right out of the box. Maybe Donner owns Ammoon?
i bought a guitar a few months back recently got really into learning how to play it was 150$ on amazon came with amp and everything u would need besides a capo and its been really good to me only strings that go out of tune is E and A but thats like once every week or 2 i have to retune it but it has good sound and is a good beginner guitar for someone like me so getting good cheap guitars is possible but there is a limit to how cheap it gets for it to be nearly impossible to make it good quality
I bought a Donner Tele when they were on sale under $100.00 fully intending to use it as "bones". Got a really solid heavier than I would ever expect body and a good neck. Electronics were junk and the pickups terrible. Part of the plan as expected. I had a set of Alnico 5 Humbuckers in the late 50's style on hand for several years. They needed something to do. I put USA style electronics in it and got a Pearl White pic guard. I had to buy a Tele Humbucker bridge for a whopping $20.00 with stainless saddles. Rout the body for the Humbucker and rework the neck. Boom great guitar under $150.00 and it was fun to do on cold winter days.
About 6 years ago, I bought a full sized, though shallow bodied, Strat copy from Kmart for $29 AUD. It came with a small battery powered amp. Body was plywood. Neck was surprisingly comfortable and straight with decent fretwork and no sprout. Tuners were garbage. Electronics were cheapest of the cheap ceramic pickups.
Landon, nice vid... Try the Monoprice Indio series ... I saw some vs some on the tube The Indio's seem to do well. Jimmy Steward reviews a lot on his channel and I was wondering what you thought... Also the obsidian control panels you put in your telecasters, are they the ones that have the switch for HH,SH, HS, SS. Thanks for your time my friend
It's not about being able to set up an instrument. It's about the idea that a respectable company makes sure that their instruments are playable before shipping them out. When youy buy ANY instrument, piano, guitar, violin, trumpet, dulcimer, whatever, you rightfully expect it to WORK. You should be able to expect it to be playable. The hours of work a skilled person puts into a setup are worth something. So the "bargain" guitar actually costs more if you have to put X number of hours into repairing it out of the box, assuming that your time is worth something to you.
I'll do you one better. I bought a pj bass (a Yamaha TRBX shape) from Wish for only $67.00 USD delivered. It's terrific! Yeah the pickups are anemic, but it had nice fret ends, is lightweight and reasonably well balanced. The frets are pretty damn level too! It was perfectly intonated as well. Crazy stuff available on line.
It seems bad but just needs a proper setup, raise the saddles a half turn of the allen key, file down the fret ends and polish them and should be good to go!
Is very important first to adjust the height of the strings on the bridge with the allen key to fix the ringing on strings, because from factory the setup is not accurate at all. Please do that.
yep....... not the best but still i have fun getting these to see whats what then send them back however... i did get an EART and to my complete surprise it played great! Great enough for me to change the strings. still have it.
I got a Ammoon LPJr hybrid, humbucker in bridge and P90 at neck. It is one of my favorite guitars. It did have some fret sprout that was easily corrected. Tuners are cheap. It is one of the easiest playing guitars I have, beating out guitars costing 4X as much. The pickups were not in the range I like and looked to be ceramic. So I got some good cheap PU's. It sounds great. The "B" tuner is the worst, go figure.
Just got a Japanese built Silvertone guitar that came from Sears many,many moons ago. The cheapest build I've ever seen,and sounds better than almost anything I ever heard.
I can see someone buying this guitar as a Christmas present for there child and can imagine there disappointment , personally I don't think you can go wrong with the Yamaha starter pack as a first guitar as they are great quality but what ever you buy they still need a bit of a set up even my 1981 Les Paul standard did year's ago and that cost me £840 back then but luckily I have a luthier only 40 minutes drive away who is absolutely Brilliant and has set up all my 21 guitar's 🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
it's double taped...was already returned once :) you could hear the fret buzz(or resting) during the tuning...but yeah...if the relief and bridge aren't the issue..I guess someone could shim the neck...but...yeah...not worth it.
Last one I got was for one 119'00 and $10 delivery and that was a sparkle red telecaster squire bullet and it needed set up on the bridge and stuff like that but it had no problems at all
My nephew bought the cheapest on Amazon (different guitar) for his son, awhile back. The experience was the same, but I fixed it. I have all the stuff to do that, about $200usd worth of tools. If anyone had asked me to, I would've changed the tuners. It was playable, though.
It's great if you can fix it on your own, most people can't do that. I play for quite some time now but can't do more than a basic setup. I guess if the guitar at least stays in tune for some time you're nephew's son can at least learn to play and then move on to a better guitar.
I bought a $90 RockJam online. Changed to Ernie Ball strings, tightened the tuners, intonated. It was okay, maybe 6 on the 10 scale. I donated it to an orphan house and found a really sweet Indonesia 2010 Squire Afinity Strat used for $100, it's an 8.
Have you heard of Glarry guitars? They have a Mustang model that would be cool to see a review of. I think it's essentially an even cheaper version of the Squire Bullet Mustang.
I recently bought a glary I think it's a ggs 101? Just 335 clone. I guess I got a good one because the body and neck are quite nice The Binding is close to perfect. And the only thing I can criticize about it is every place a hole was drilled it was somewhat cockeyed. I guess I just do it offhand with a drill. These are easily fixed with the drill press. I have to reposition the neck pickup because it was not properly placed had to re drill holes. I painted the pickup Pockets with the appropriate paint and subsequently replaced everything on the guitar accept the body and neck. I replace the tuners and Bridge with a locking Bridge and locking tuners just because I found some inexpensive that look good. All to replace the pickguard bracket with the adjustable type locking strap pins and installed Epiphone Hardware and Pickups electronics and pickup came kind of as a set. Epiphone Pro classic alnico 5. Maybe shouldn't say this but also refinishing headstock with the Gibson logo Just for kicks. Also plain black knobs with no numbers. My first attempt at working on a 335 style guitar and I doubt I'll do another one. Real pain in the backside for the electronics but for an old man with cancer and neuropathy who can't hardly play anymore it was something to do. The Finish was absolutely beautiful and a little Turtle Wax goes a long way. Friends ask where an old man on Social Security got $4,000 for a Gibson ES-335. The average weekend bar band musician wouldn't know the difference forgot to mention a little bit of fretwork. This guitar was totally playable and presentable out-of-the-box but I had a plan to do this so I just went ahead and did it. Very happy with end result and makes it very nice addition to my collection which now to the novice includes a Gibson ES-335 LOL. I own 10 guitars a varying quality levels starting with a Kramer 450g aluminum neck American Strat Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro and a few other offshoot with varying levels of customization. Also a strat Style mahogany neck and body that I put together from there a real Beauty to look at Tru oil finish hand-rubbed. Some of the things these reviewers in general Pick-A-Part are things that prior to the internet wouldn't even be known to exist as a condition. We just picked them up and play them if they sounded good and look good and played good. Didn't mean to be so long-winded but at 64 still laying in bed waiting for the pain meds to kick in what else do I have to do. Okay I'm out God bless and keep on picking
This guitar is like many cheap guitars, and in dire need of a setup and fret polish and a knocking down of the sharp fret ends, which are all very common issues with new guitars from my experience. I have seen some of those issues on Fenders and Gibson's so I am less shocked to see them on a 80 something dollar guitar.. The part that frustrates me is, the target consumer for these products are less likely to know how to do the work that would be required to make them honestly playable. Its usually parents of kids who buy these cheap guitars, and it is a massive disservice to the kid to buy these for them. As a project guitar or a guitar to learn how to set them up or work on them, this is perfect for that. Because right away you would have to learn to work with the frets, and replace the tuners, and adjust the pickups and so on and on. But it would be a terrible first guitar for anyone really..
I usually give the sub $ 100 guitars a quick & dirty setup to get it playable when it's that bad to see some potential. I think $ 139.99 and it would go back as a disappointment. Tighten screws to make sure that's not an issue, tighten the tuning pegs for those poor QC passes. Loosen the truss rod to see if the neck moves like it should & then adjust it to my preferences for relief. Jagged frets might be an issue, but I leave those alone for anything that appears to be a sales return & allowance back to Amazon. Gritty frets, that's not bothering me, that should clean up with a polish. This definitely wasn't a Squier Bullet level build obviously. This one was a fail, but that might just be the hit & miss of a $ 100 guitar that can be made to play quite well. Once the truss rod is right, you'll know the nut cut is good or bad. I can work with most anything that is aligned for bridge placement, pickup pole & string location, neck pocket & nut slot depth. If it needs a neck pocket/heel shim, it should go back for anyone that has no carpentry skills. I tend to like a challenge of making something that another calls a turd & make it better. Synthetic fretboards are what we're probably all going to see eventually to save the planet Earth & trees as the population spirals out of control for guitars that are gifted to those that most likely quit when the first high E string breaks. Just me, any guitar that I tune. I do the bass side first, those 3 are thick wound strings. The Treble side is treated as a set of 3 strings, all 6 get tuned a full step , then a 1/2 step, then to standard E with new strings. that distributes the load over the entire set for what anyone would play a guitar in tune as. And my set up will be for the lowest alternate tune, be it a full step down, live with the difference if I ever go to Standard E. In general Drop D or Double Drop D is a good setup starting point. The half & full step works fine too for those that play predominantly/exclusively in those alternate tuning preferences. Not criticizing your tuning method, just that a beginner may want to avoid string breakage cranking a full load on the High E for tension when the rest of the set of strings is floppy loose several steps below any playable alternate tuning.
No better nor worse than anyone else. A good set up quite often cures even the crappiest of guitars. I can't expect a $ 140 guitar to be set up to my preferences. Can I expect the strings to be stretched if the rest of the guitar is flawed out of the box & across the board ?
I am old school. If you think that is a bad guitar, you should get your hands on a Kent or a Tasco Del Ray from the mid 1960s. OMG! Shalom/gw P.S. Your tone and voice inflection reminds me of the baby in the E-trade commercials. LOL
With it buzzing on open strings, the neck has backbow, the strings are hitting one of the pickups, or It could be that the piano pillow slots are cut too deep. If not, then a tweak of the truss rod just may make it playable. It does seem to have some pretty crappy tuning machines.
maybe you should try soloking guitar, made in china but they use high quality parts, such as CTS potensio, Stainless Steel Fret, quater shawn neck maple, there are also roasted maple neck, alder body, etc. In Indonesia, soloking guitar is viral nowadays.
I'm trying to get a trash Tele from Amazon setup for a a kids gift and I'm struggling with how bad it really is. The frets are just atrocious on these things.
I bought a glarry tele & strat, got them & I had to remove the bridges glue pegs in the holes & Redrill them in the right place , the top string on one & the bottom on the other was off the fretboard ,not playable China! After that I like them a lot!
Adjusting the action and sanding down the frets might make it acceptable for a beginner but yeah this is pretty poor quality. Especially for a 3 speed model. I have a looper pedal from amoon (I think it's similar to the Donner looper pedal and I've had only good experiences with Donner) and it's pretty great. For a full time player guitar I'd go up a few bucks to an IYV, Donner or just go Squier/Epiphone. The quality control at least would be better than this.
its not exactly amazon or a complete guitar but websites like thoman sell electric guitar building kits for as low as 70 (us)dollars. i think it would be pretty neat to see how the quality of a DIY guitar measures up with other guitares of the same model (im pretty sure amazon has resellers because the same product is marked up to 100 or 200 dollars)
I got an Amoon pedal board some years back - still have it - but what can go wrong I mean it’s a piece of metal that came with a carry bag. A whole guitar from them? I’m not so sure 😂
That fingerboard is those chinese makers take on "technical wood" (good stuff based on wood fibres and if made right as hard as ebony) but they use biomass = used paper ermhh.... bionic, green, enviorement friendly, very hard NOT but good for you!
Ha ha that’s one of the guitars you have to play when you get sucked up the wider wall /stairway guitar store tube .😂😁well I guess you could modify it 😂
The pickup sounded better on the E, A, and D than the last one, but that is a bad setup. They were using the new barbed wire frets for country artists.
Only if you have the patience and skills to do a full set up. Then you can turn these cheapos into a playable guitar ( similar to buying a cheap kit). Or use them as a modding platform. But straight out of the box for as a starter’s guitar: a big no. Better buying a second hand Epiphone or Squier.
It would be funny if they reject your return because you shredded the strap bag 😂
cb
Amazon doesn't look at the products you return. Usually if it weighs enough they accept it
thought exactly the same hahah
Hi Landon. I could be alone in this but I would've liked to see you put in a few minutes to tweak the truss rod and adjust the saddles and give the guitar a fair shot.
Exactly
Yeah but most people who actually buy this guitar are prob beginners who just wanna play it out of the box, so in that regard this review is reflective of that.
Agreed. As far as beginners wanting to play right out of the box, the first thing they need to learn is that not everything is as it seems.
Not sure if thats gonna do a lot if like he said theres already a bow in, maybe if its a upward bow with negative relief😂
Yeah a set up is definitely needed. But two things right off the bat is get some decent pickups and tuners. Hell, some $25 Wilkinson pickups and midrange tuners, this would help it a lot. You don't need high end stuff on it. And with a set up and maybe fixing the frets, it would be playable.
There is no excuse for a guitar to be any less than decent these days. I got a squier fsr bullet tele for $119 on sale from Sweetwater. Not amazing out of the box but pretty good, at least playable. After a little TLC and a set of fender nocaster pickups it’s now my most played guitar.
Bullets are at least playable and with a nice fretboard as well. This guitar is an abomination and your kid will hate you if you buy one of these.
I agree. No excuse for not having basic playability.
He didn't even try to set this one up. It's clearly backbowed, and a simple truss rod adjustment might help it.
$119 Canadian though. That’s like $85 USD(?)
Exactly my thoughts
Next video: how good can it sound with some tweaks and tune ups
as an amateur woodworker, that's what I want to know
@@thelovacluka Nothing a sledge hammer, gasoline and a match wouldn't fix...
I actually didn’t think it sounded that bad when you had it in 2nd gear.
I think the clutch is sticking
🤣
Perhaps if it had some NO2 the sound would improve?
@@stevemercure902 I’m sure it would at least play faster. Everything would seem a lot funnier, too.
@@Nick_CF 3 speed, slow , slower, stop.
Once in a great while, a cheaply-built guitar will surprise me with good tone and intonation, as did a Japanese nylon-string guitar I bought a few years ago did. $150 with hard case, and it actually sounded good! I was shocked! However, I think that particular guitar was an outlier, and it doesn't change the old adage that you get what you pay for.
it happens!
My squier sonic Esquire changed the humbucker 10/10
Nice cross between John Mayer voice impression and Casino guitar guy!
a what?
luv long unboxings = tha only reason i decide if to buy dat ax
The paper on the fretboard is to stop the strings from denting the frets in case of trauma during shipping
and it was a tasty snack!
Well, I didn’t follow your advice and I ordered the exact same blue guitar. It had a weak tuner and plastic bag pieces all in the frets….Wait a second
a weak tuner?
lmao i love the quick hey how you doing intro
😁
I really like that opening lick
Foo Fighters - All my Life
Wow Landon excellent video and funny. Congrats! 😊
I wanted to seriously thank you for showing us how to open the box. Many people dont understand the importance of that part of the video. Thanks to you all i have to do is follow you step by step and before you know it the box was opened. If it weren't for your video in would still be scratching my head wondering how to get to my guitar. But know thanks to you i can play the damn thing.....
ya no problem! anything to help
Sadly, this sort of crap guitar is bought by parents who don't have a lot of money and results in putting the kid off playing for ever. I had a few terrible budget electric guitars but luckily when I was 7 my big sister gave me her classical acoustic when she upgraded to a really nice Yamaha acoustic - so by the time I hit the rubbish electric market I knew it wasn't me... This sort of guitar maker relies on kids/beginners thinking sounding crap is their fault. And that sucks.
The name Ammoon sounds familiar because it's also a pedal brand that Amazon carries quite alot!
🎸👍
I’m late to the party, but love these cheap guitar videos ❤
Rock on!
I am going to wait for the four speed model to be released.
I'll wait for the automatic !
Those descriptions can be the dead give away but they're funny as HELL! One of my favorites was "has a grilled maple neck"...sure they meant roasted maple. But you know I bet the grilled maple necks are delicious.
But the roasted ones come with better gravy, right?
Delicious barbecued hickory smoked maple neck. With solid iron frets!!!
I bought a strat copy on Prime Day pre-c19 for $48 US. During lockdown I added a Wilkinson loaded pick guard for $42, blocked the trem, did a setup, and it's a great cheap guitar.
I bought a Glarry guitar a couple of years ago for 69 dollars (including shipping). It was actually playable, and with another 69 dollars for a new bridge and pickups, along with some work on the neck, it's become a very fun guitar to play.
That's what I'm saying, if you set it up yourself glarry guitars are actually pretty decent on their own
Thanks for posting this. Too many people post videos raving about how good their budget, bottom-spec guitars are, but the reality is that they are always, without exception, a waste of money. They may look nice, but they are no better than the Woolies guitars that were available in the 1970s. Anyone reading this, if you're about to buy a guitar for your child, go to a music shop, and expect to spend £200-£300 to get a decent starter instrument. And take someone with you who knows how to check a guitar's features and setup.
It's sad that so many people order from online shops. I usually got every guitar properly set up in the music store I bought it from. My local store tries to keep up with Thomann and most of the times matches the price. But I'm totally willing to pay a few bucks more for the extra service I get.
My first electric was a $70 glarry and apart from needing intonated and the neck action adjusted it actually is a good guitar, the pickups could be a little hotter, but it's comparable in sound to an Ibanez mikro which costs twice as much new, it definitely wasn't a waste of money
Ya now take the cheapest an turn it to dream beast maybe some Seymour Duncan miniature double coil hot rails fix fret work and setup an a sick pick guard something flashy and plug it into the most expensive shit you can get ahold of and just kill it
I wish half the podcasts I listened to out there mic'd voices as well as you do. Solid review, always entertaining.
OK…I’m only 5mins in, but, for the love of God, I hope they cut the plastic piano pillow correctly 😫
🤣
They didn’t.
@@mvenuti1980 …..well done…that was freakin funny!!!!
8 minutes in and we finally get to at least see the thing.
7 seconds in
Similar situation. I bought an Indio Strat style from Monoprice before Christmas, after watching so many great reviews on UA-cam. I fix guitars as a hobby, so I figured after a little sprucing it’d be a nice holiday gift. BOY WAS I WRONG. No matter what I did, no matter what I modified, no matter what I raised, lowered, cranked, filed, or sanded, the guitar remained unplayable. It buzzed and fretted-out all up and down the neck. It wouldn’t intonate. It was absolute garbage. I sent it back. And on top of all that, the mini amp shorted out two days later. I will never buy from them again.
Had a similar experience.... ordered a Fazly Kit from Bax Music. the Body was the worst i had ever seen and after querying it i was told " what better do you expect for that price...??????? "......Just scrapped it and bought a Harley Benton.
I'm saddened and surprised to hear that! My 5 watt class A stage right amp sounds great and has been a good reliable amp for prace and small jam sessions for several years.
I watched the vid. It's not that bad. I think you should do another and show what can be done with it.and why it's a good guitars to get. It's for learning. Painting. soldering.refretting.filing.sanding.making nuts.etc etc
It could definitely be made playable with fretwork and a good set of strings. If the truss rod works and those are actually Alnico pickups at that price point, it’s still a good deal.
I buy cheap guitars off Amazon all the time. Some rip right out of the box. Others need some work. Lucky for me its a good tool to learn setup and mods on. But for the beginner it is a bad idea. Imagine getting a new unplayable guitarand now need to pay as much as you spent on it just to make it work.
🎸👍
Your gona wanna upgrade all your Fenders with that plastic piano pillows, well worth it
The Glarry GTL Telecaster for $89.99 (US) got up around 5 star reviews from what I’ve seen on other sites. 😳 Great video as always!!
It’s got a 3 speed manual transmission with copper alloy wheels 🛞 and pillow headrest seating
this kind of awkwardness is fully what i'm into, i wish more people were like this, like awkward and a bit odd but not bothered, and clever and kinda confident, subbed
I always had a suspicion that Landon was usually lying to us. You can't fool me Landon!
2 minutes in and already earned a sub. Your deadpan humour killed me lmao
welcome aboard
As far as the tuning issue, new strings need to be stretched a good bit first. I overwind them A LOT, then drop them under tune and tune up. But yes, that B tuner seems slippy
I have a donner from amazon and it was only $120. Had to change the tuners and lower the action....and file the fret ends. Plays pretty well now!
I love that monotone humor, awesome video
thanks for watching!
@@landonbailey well I'll be watching many more videos I'm sure
Out of all the guitars in the world, this is a guitar
almost!
Hilarious, as always. But did you even try to adjust the neck with the included allen wrench? Brand new Fenders that have been sitting in a warehouse need this, i would certainly expect a $120 guitar to need it.
ain't nobody got time for that!
@@landonbailey I hear that!
You should check out the Ashthorpe and Fesley guitars. The Ashthorpe is worth it for the gig bag alone.
Once I got a copy Strat from Thomann/Germany (inhouse brand: Harley Benton), at a cost of 79€.
As an average guitar player and comparing to my PRS and Hagström guitars, this guitar was far better than expected. Only had to change the saddle, was 1mm too low for my needs. Else the guitar was decent fabricated and finished, no flaws. Electric parts worked reliable. Nothing to argue about playability.
Sound was below average, but for beginner/practising/combined with low cost practise amp/speaker absolutely sufficient.
My guess about the fretting out is either the truss rod is too tight (or there's a lingering backbow from the strings being slack for a long time).
The logo on the box is exactly the same as on Donner guitars. We review a lot of guitars on our channel, and fortunately this is not available in the states. I own a couple of Ammoon Pockamp practice amps and they are actually very nice and have a lot of functions. My Canadian friend 2bikemike got one of these and molded it, but like you we just want them to play right out of the box. Maybe Donner owns Ammoon?
Leo Jaymz Beginner Electric Guitar - Poplar Body，Maple Neck and Ebony Fingerboard - Tremolo Bridge system (Sunburst）for 69 usd
i bought a guitar a few months back recently got really into learning how to play it was 150$ on amazon came with amp and everything u would need besides a capo and its been really good to me only strings that go out of tune is E and A but thats like once every week or 2 i have to retune it but it has good sound and is a good beginner guitar for someone like me so getting good cheap guitars is possible but there is a limit to how cheap it gets for it to be nearly impossible to make it good quality
I bought a Donner Tele when they were on sale under $100.00 fully intending to use it as "bones". Got a really solid heavier than I would ever expect body and a good neck. Electronics were junk and the pickups terrible. Part of the plan as expected. I had a set of Alnico 5 Humbuckers in the late 50's style on hand for several years. They needed something to do. I put USA style electronics in it and got a Pearl White pic guard. I had to buy a Tele Humbucker bridge for a whopping $20.00 with stainless saddles. Rout the body for the Humbucker and rework the neck. Boom great guitar under $150.00 and it was fun to do on cold winter days.
About 6 years ago, I bought a full sized, though shallow bodied, Strat copy from Kmart for $29 AUD. It came with a small battery powered amp. Body was plywood. Neck was surprisingly comfortable and straight with decent fretwork and no sprout. Tuners were garbage. Electronics were cheapest of the cheap ceramic pickups.
5:15
Well, it can't be rolled up like that, because that isn't even a spiral. Its just a bunch of circles that are not connected.
it's magic!
Hey, at least it's got a hard maple neck. Wouldn't want one of those soft maple necks, just flopping about all over the place. That'd be no good.
and maple syrup dripping everywhere
My first well at 54 is a first act given to me. It seems I got a bit of lucier in me, I changed a bit on it, sounds better than when I received it
Landon, nice vid... Try the Monoprice Indio series ... I saw some vs some on the tube The Indio's seem to do well. Jimmy Steward reviews a lot on his channel and I was wondering what you thought... Also the obsidian control panels you put in your telecasters, are they the ones that have the switch for HH,SH, HS, SS. Thanks for your time my friend
It's not about being able to set up an instrument. It's about the idea that a respectable company makes sure that their instruments are playable before shipping them out. When youy buy ANY instrument, piano, guitar, violin, trumpet, dulcimer, whatever, you rightfully expect it to WORK. You should be able to expect it to be playable. The hours of work a skilled person puts into a setup are worth something. So the "bargain" guitar actually costs more if you have to put X number of hours into repairing it out of the box, assuming that your time is worth something to you.
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that was phenomenally just like the Squier world we enjoyed
during the 80's
on some of their models .
I think the funny part is when they photoshop people playing the guitar....
I'll do you one better. I bought a pj bass (a Yamaha TRBX shape) from Wish for only $67.00 USD delivered. It's terrific! Yeah the pickups are anemic, but it had nice fret ends, is lightweight and reasonably well balanced. The frets are pretty damn level too! It was perfectly intonated as well. Crazy stuff available on line.
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It seems bad but just needs a proper setup, raise the saddles a half turn of the allen key, file down the fret ends and polish them and should be good to go!
Modder's dream. Beginner's nightmare :)
Is very important first to adjust the height of the strings on the bridge with the allen key to fix the ringing on strings, because from factory the setup is not accurate at all. Please do that.
yep....... not the best but still i have fun getting these to see whats what then send them back
however... i did get an EART and to my complete surprise it played great! Great enough for me to change the strings. still have it.
I love your smart watch’s band where did you buy it? Let me guess Amazon.
I got a Ammoon LPJr hybrid, humbucker in bridge and P90 at neck. It is one of my favorite guitars. It did have some fret sprout that was easily corrected. Tuners are cheap. It is one of the easiest playing guitars I have, beating out guitars costing 4X as much. The pickups were not in the range I like and looked to be ceramic. So I got some good cheap PU's. It sounds great. The "B" tuner is the worst, go figure.
Ammoon makes the PockDrum pedal. I had one, and it didn't last long. I guess you get what you pay for.
Just got a Japanese built Silvertone guitar that came from Sears many,many moons ago. The cheapest build I've ever seen,and sounds better than almost anything I ever heard.
cool!
For sure. I put on my safety squints when I tune up the B and E string for the first time.
I can see someone buying this guitar as a Christmas present for there child and can imagine there disappointment , personally I don't think you can go wrong with the Yamaha starter pack as a first guitar as they are great quality but what ever you buy they still need a bit of a set up even my 1981 Les Paul standard did year's ago and that cost me £840 back then but luckily I have a luthier only 40 minutes drive away who is absolutely Brilliant and has set up all my 21 guitar's 🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
it's double taped...was already returned once :) you could hear the fret buzz(or resting) during the tuning...but yeah...if the relief and bridge aren't the issue..I guess someone could shim the neck...but...yeah...not worth it.
whats wrong with you? it made a noise...
Last one I got was for one 119'00 and $10 delivery and that was a sparkle red telecaster squire bullet and it needed set up on the bridge and stuff like that but it had no problems at all
My nephew bought the cheapest on Amazon (different guitar) for his son, awhile back. The experience was the same, but I fixed it. I have all the stuff to do that, about $200usd worth of tools. If anyone had asked me to, I would've changed the tuners. It was playable, though.
It's great if you can fix it on your own, most people can't do that. I play for quite some time now but can't do more than a basic setup. I guess if the guitar at least stays in tune for some time you're nephew's son can at least learn to play and then move on to a better guitar.
If you spent $200 on tools would had been better to buy a better guitar instead.
Very Cool, Thankyou. Shame, guitar Looks great. A friend uses the rating scale "Between 1 and Prince's Purple Rain"
I used to always be afraid of a broken string whilest tuning up. I got over it, but still to this day I tend to hold my breath.
I consider cheap guitars project guitars. They make fun experiments to see if they can be at least decent sounding.
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The guitar body is gorgeous and love thr colour
Please just buy a new neck maybe a warmoth or lindy fralin and that'll really make it juice
I bought a $90 RockJam online. Changed to Ernie Ball strings, tightened the tuners, intonated. It was okay, maybe 6 on the 10 scale. I donated it to an orphan house and found a really sweet Indonesia 2010 Squire Afinity Strat used for $100, it's an 8.
Have you heard of Glarry guitars? They have a Mustang model that would be cool to see a review of. I think it's essentially an even cheaper version of the Squire Bullet Mustang.
I recently bought a glary I think it's a ggs 101? Just 335 clone. I guess I got a good one because the body and neck are quite nice The Binding is close to perfect. And the only thing I can criticize about it is every place a hole was drilled it was somewhat cockeyed. I guess I just do it offhand with a drill. These are easily fixed with the drill press. I have to reposition the neck pickup because it was not properly placed had to re drill holes. I painted the pickup Pockets with the appropriate paint and subsequently replaced everything on the guitar accept the body and neck. I replace the tuners and Bridge with a locking Bridge and locking tuners just because I found some inexpensive that look good. All to replace the pickguard bracket with the adjustable type locking strap pins and installed Epiphone Hardware and Pickups electronics and pickup came kind of as a set. Epiphone Pro classic alnico 5. Maybe shouldn't say this but also refinishing headstock with the Gibson logo Just for kicks. Also plain black knobs with no numbers. My first attempt at working on a 335 style guitar and I doubt I'll do another one. Real pain in the backside for the electronics but for an old man with cancer and neuropathy who can't hardly play anymore it was something to do. The Finish was absolutely beautiful and a little Turtle Wax goes a long way. Friends ask where an old man on Social Security got $4,000 for a Gibson ES-335. The average weekend bar band musician wouldn't know the difference forgot to mention a little bit of fretwork. This guitar was totally playable and presentable out-of-the-box but I had a plan to do this so I just went ahead and did it. Very happy with end result and makes it very nice addition to my collection which now to the novice includes a Gibson ES-335 LOL. I own 10 guitars a varying quality levels starting with a Kramer 450g aluminum neck American Strat Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro and a few other offshoot with varying levels of customization. Also a strat Style mahogany neck and body that I put together from there a real Beauty to look at Tru oil finish hand-rubbed. Some of the things these reviewers in general Pick-A-Part are things that prior to the internet wouldn't even be known to exist as a condition. We just picked them up and play them if they sounded good and look good and played good. Didn't mean to be so long-winded but at 64 still laying in bed waiting for the pain meds to kick in what else do I have to do. Okay I'm out God bless and keep on picking
I built a donner lp style guitar. I literally only used the body and put decent parts on it. What i got in the end was great. In stock form it was ok.
This video helped think about something besides this toothache I’ve had for a week. I hope Amazon doesn’t limit your returns.
This guitar is like many cheap guitars, and in dire need of a setup and fret polish and a knocking down of the sharp fret ends, which are all very common issues with new guitars from my experience. I have seen some of those issues on Fenders and Gibson's so I am less shocked to see them on a 80 something dollar guitar.. The part that frustrates me is, the target consumer for these products are less likely to know how to do the work that would be required to make them honestly playable. Its usually parents of kids who buy these cheap guitars, and it is a massive disservice to the kid to buy these for them. As a project guitar or a guitar to learn how to set them up or work on them, this is perfect for that. Because right away you would have to learn to work with the frets, and replace the tuners, and adjust the pickups and so on and on. But it would be a terrible first guitar for anyone really..
3:26 why I love your vids
I usually give the sub $ 100 guitars a quick & dirty setup to get it playable when it's that bad to see some potential. I think $ 139.99 and it would go back as a disappointment. Tighten screws to make sure that's not an issue, tighten the tuning pegs for those poor QC passes. Loosen the truss rod to see if the neck moves like it should & then adjust it to my preferences for relief. Jagged frets might be an issue, but I leave those alone for anything that appears to be a sales return & allowance back to Amazon. Gritty frets, that's not bothering me, that should clean up with a polish. This definitely wasn't a Squier Bullet level build obviously. This one was a fail, but that might just be the hit & miss of a $ 100 guitar that can be made to play quite well. Once the truss rod is right, you'll know the nut cut is good or bad. I can work with most anything that is aligned for bridge placement, pickup pole & string location, neck pocket & nut slot depth. If it needs a neck pocket/heel shim, it should go back for anyone that has no carpentry skills. I tend to like a challenge of making something that another calls a turd & make it better. Synthetic fretboards are what we're probably all going to see eventually to save the planet Earth & trees as the population spirals out of control for guitars that are gifted to those that most likely quit when the first high E string breaks.
Just me, any guitar that I tune. I do the bass side first, those 3 are thick wound strings. The Treble side is treated as a set of 3 strings, all 6 get tuned a full step , then a 1/2 step, then to standard E with new strings. that distributes the load over the entire set for what anyone would play a guitar in tune as. And my set up will be for the lowest alternate tune, be it a full step down, live with the difference if I ever go to Standard E. In general Drop D or Double Drop D is a good setup starting point. The half & full step works fine too for those that play predominantly/exclusively in those alternate tuning preferences. Not criticizing your tuning method, just that a beginner may want to avoid string breakage cranking a full load on the High E for tension when the rest of the set of strings is floppy loose several steps below any playable alternate tuning.
Man oh man what you could do to a firefly. You damn sure sound like you know what you're doing.
No better nor worse than anyone else. A good set up quite often cures even the crappiest of guitars. I can't expect a $ 140 guitar to be set up to my preferences. Can I expect the strings to be stretched if the rest of the guitar is flawed out of the box & across the board ?
Have you never heard of a plastic piano pillow before? It's like an ivory harpsichord cushion.
Not quite the same but very similar.
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I am old school. If you think that is a bad guitar, you should get your hands on a Kent or a Tasco Del Ray from the mid 1960s. OMG! Shalom/gw P.S. Your tone and voice inflection reminds me of the baby in the E-trade commercials. LOL
With it buzzing on open strings, the neck has backbow, the strings are hitting one of the pickups, or It could be that the piano pillow slots are cut too deep. If not, then a tweak of the truss rod just may make it playable. It does seem to have some pretty crappy tuning machines.
I wonder what they would have called the tremolo arm if it had one. A hand brake?
they make a model and they call it the tone controls
maybe you should try soloking guitar, made in china but they use high quality parts, such as CTS potensio, Stainless Steel Fret, quater shawn neck maple, there are also roasted maple neck, alder body, etc. In Indonesia, soloking guitar is viral nowadays.
Got a rouge electric from Musicians friend the g sount off while tuned, but can't complain to much since it was only $55.
I'm trying to get a trash Tele from Amazon setup for a a kids gift and I'm struggling with how bad it really is. The frets are just atrocious on these things.
You sound Peter from Office Space😅 love the humor dude
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I bought a glarry tele & strat, got them & I had to remove the bridges glue pegs in the holes & Redrill them in the right place , the top string on one & the bottom on the other was off the fretboard ,not playable China! After that I like them a lot!
Adjusting the action and sanding down the frets might make it acceptable for a beginner but yeah this is pretty poor quality. Especially for a 3 speed model. I have a looper pedal from amoon (I think it's similar to the Donner looper pedal and I've had only good experiences with Donner) and it's pretty great. For a full time player guitar I'd go up a few bucks to an IYV, Donner or just go Squier/Epiphone. The quality control at least would be better than this.
Landon Bailey upgraded the guitar put decent gear on the guitar and do a comparison before and after I bet it look good!
its not exactly amazon or a complete guitar but websites like thoman sell electric guitar building kits for as low as 70 (us)dollars.
i think it would be pretty neat to see how the quality of a DIY guitar measures up with other guitares of the same model
(im pretty sure amazon has resellers because the same product is marked up to 100 or 200 dollars)
I got an Amoon pedal board some years back - still have it - but what can go wrong I mean it’s a piece of metal that came with a carry bag. A whole guitar from them? I’m not so sure 😂
That fingerboard is those chinese makers take on "technical wood" (good stuff based on wood fibres and if made right as hard as ebony) but they use biomass = used paper ermhh.... bionic, green, enviorement friendly, very hard NOT but good for you!
Amoon makes cheap guitar pedals. I’ve heard many are actually pretty usable. I’m guessing that Btuty was rebranded as Amoon.
Ha ha that’s one of the guitars you have to play when you get sucked up the wider wall /stairway guitar store tube .😂😁well I guess you could modify it 😂
Wonder an OK setup could help this monstrosity. Seems like the truss rod could use some adjustment, and the saddles probably need a bump up too.
The pickup sounded better on the E, A, and D than the last one, but that is a bad setup. They were using the new barbed wire frets for country artists.
Maybe is the bionic technology the reason for the fret buzz
Only if you have the patience and skills to do a full set up. Then you can turn these cheapos into a playable guitar ( similar to buying a cheap kit). Or use them as a modding platform.
But straight out of the box for as a starter’s guitar: a big no. Better buying a second hand Epiphone or Squier.