David T.
got it at an absurd price after seeing many positive review videos. It did need a minor set up, which all of the reviews stated. I did it myself very easily after watching those same vids. Neck relief and intonation were spot on. Pickups needed height adjustment, bridge pickup
was tilted. Very easily remedied. Also lowered the strings. I lowered the bridge pickup even more to compensate for differences in output. Oh!, the "tophat" on the selector switch was pushed too far down and kept the neck pos. from staying engaged. That was the easiest fix! Now the good stuff: It plays like butter-even the fret ends and tops were smooth right out of the box! It sounds great, STAYS IN TUNE, even the strings aren't horrible. An excellent beginner guitar-even looks good. Great all around instrument, can't be touched for price!
David L.
This instrument is a thing of beauty, flawless finish as well as good frets and tuners. The sound will help me become a better player. I'm very impressed with Donner products and service.
Ashen B.
This guitar is the most bang for your buck guitar! Gladly welcoming it to my collection!
Jerell F.
I love my white telecaster and I have waited years for it. I am by no means a great guitar player and do not have a lot of money to spend on my first one but for the price I have a great sounding axe.
John W.
I have been wanting an inexpensive T-style guitar for quite some time. After seeing reviews of the Donner on several different YouTube guitar channels, I decided it was worth the money to try one out. Turns out that I love this guitar. It has become my number one practice guitar and I have even gigged with it. I need to do some tweaking, but so far, so good.
Brian T.
Pickups don't work, brand new out of box. They scratch and poeer
Ron P.
I ordered a White D S T-100 NEVER GOT IT! NEVER! I SENT OVER A DOZEN EMAILS! YOU KEPT SAYING LOGISTICS SAY YOU GOT IT! IM SO PISSED!! LOGISTICS DON'T KNOW SHIT!!! I DID NOT RECEIVE THE WHITE DST-100. I GOT THE BLACK ONE BUT NO WHITE ONE!! YOU OWE ME AT LEAST THE WHITE ONE! GET YOUR LOGISTIC ASSES RIGHT AND SEND ME THAT WHITE ONE AND MY PICKS IMMEDIATELY!! ALONG WITH A PROFUSE APOLOGY TELLING ME YOU FIRED THE BRAIN DEAD JACK ASS WHO SAID HE SENT IT AND SENT ME A ARROGANT REPLY!!
RON POLIZZI
Matthew B.
It plays great. I love it.
Gabriel S.
DEFECTIVE PRODUCT & TERRIBLE COSTUMER SERVICE
It makes me really sad to write this review, I saved the money for this guitar and it came defective. It is natural for guitars to have a bit of noise, but whenever plugged this guitar sounds and is defective. It is impossible to play it. All the time I spent saving money and waiting for it, and it came defective.
I've contacted Donner twice through email and heard nothing. Plus, if I were to send this back, they wouldn't cover all shipping costs. So I lose money either way.
As of right now, I'd recommend you another brand, if they do something about my issue, I'd be glad to let other customers interested in this product know.
walter m.
I'm going to be honest with you this is a perfect guitar for a beginner everything on the guitar was set up to play, but I bought it for a special reason I am a retired woodworker guitar enthusiast and amateur guitar Luther which means I work on guitars. The only difference between a $100 guitar and $1,000, I bought this guitar to modify it sharpen my ax they call it so I was prepared to have to do a lot of fret work and Neck work which to be honest with you is not needed, on this particular guitar the fret ends were great the neck came with just enough relief in it which is perfect, truss rod adjustment works really well. Was ready to change out pickups but might leave them in it for a while they sound really good the volume and trouble knob work efficiently good tone on neck pickup, three-way switch a little too flimsy I will definitely replace it and definitely I replace the strings with the strings I prefer to play I like this guitar so much that I actually when I received it ordered two more this time stratocasters super pleased with my purchase,
Thank you Donner
Larry
Frankly I bought this guitar to tinker with & practice learning some guitar tech skills, thinking it would eventually be a throw away. NOT! Out of the box the set up & pickups were tolerable for a beginner. With some bridge & neck adjustments I found I like playing this guitar. I’d recommend this guitar for any beginner. However, the quality of the body & neck is good enough for a more experienced player to warrant upgrading the hardware (which I have done on mine). For half the expense, I now have a tele that I would compare with several name brand MIM products that I’ve played.
Shane P.
I purchased this guitar a I was needing a “T” style guitar but didn’t have a lot of $$$. I figured I’d roll the dice on this as I am a fan of donner effects pedals and know they pack a lot of punch i to a small inexpensive package. I had a question about my order initially, and the customer service reps handled my request quickly and answered promptly. The guitar arrived well-packed and after unpacking and after making a few adjustments to suit my playing style it was ready to go. The neck is smooth and very comfortable in my hand. The sound of the guitar is classic “T” style. The bridge is very hot with a lot of “twang” while the neck gives a bassy, jazzy feel. The middle position gives a nice mix of the 2 that is good for rhythm with a little bite. For less than 130 dollars, including shipping, this guitar would be a good choice for experienced players who need a backup and are short on cash or beginning/hobbyist players who need a good guitar for not a lot of cash. (Please note that I replaced the original pickguard with a black one. Just personal preference!)
Robert R.
Everything came in a timely fashion with no problems. I need a lot of practice, lol
Julio D.
I must say, this Telecaster blew me away for its affordability and quality. After a quick basic setup right out of the box, I was able to get some nice tones and laying some some hard blues and country riffs. Also, you can get a solid metal sound from that bridge pickup. I'm excited to keep working with this bad boy for years to come.
Charles R.
I am not a beginner guitarist by any stretch (50+ years playing, around 40 yrs professionally) and I couldn’t pass up a deal like this one, I thought I’d pass this along to my grandson who is 11 and just starting out. My impression: Right out of the box, just so-so but the action was pretty high. Also the frets seemed a little rough but with a little bit of play they have become pretty smooth. At some point I’ll take off the string and do a fret polish but for now no complaints. I spent somewhere over an hour setting up the action and intonation and the guitar plays in tune up the neck, notes bend like butter and the pickups seem to capture it all sufficiently. The 1st string (high E) sounds a little muffled but it seems to be on the nut side so I’ll have to tend to that next string change. It’s not as noticeable when plugged in though. I’ll play this enough to break it in then give it to my grandson. This seems to me to be a guitar that a new player could use for a few years and will improve with age and playing time. A stouter gig bag or foam case would be something to consider if the player plays out at all. An excellent value for the money
Peter B.
Out of the box the guitar was a bit of a mess, but the fixes were easy enough that I'm still very happy. The biggest issue I had was that the output jack was not tight enough and the signal would cut in and out. I had to pull out the jack and bend the prong to tighten it so it would make a better connection with the inserted cable. This was a super easy fix, but some people might not be happy making this adjustment on a brand new guitar. The other problems were sort of what I would expect with a guitar in this price range. The neck had no relief so I had to adjust the truss rod, and the string saddles were way too high and I lowered them. Once I made these adjustments, the guitar is very much playable. It's actually in better shape than a Fender I bought that cost 6x as much. I really like the neck and am surprised there's no fret sprout. The tuners aren't bad and it tunes easily. The neck pickups is a bit quiet compared to the bridge pickup, but not a deal breaker. I could nitpick all the little things, but for the price, this thing is fantastic.
Thomas S.
Donner will be going places.
Grace N.
White is a really beautiful colour and the guitar itself is really good value for your money.
Robert R.
I am going to try to salvage this guitar. As you can see from the photo, the neck angle is far too shallow (meaning angled toward the string side). The truss rod came bowed backward slightly from Donner (i.e. bowed away from the string side). I adjusted the truss rod to take out the back bow and provide a very slight relief as Fender recommends for its bolt-on neck guitars. Because the neck angle is too shallow, I had to lower all six saddles to their lowest and still cannot get the string height to be proper -- the strings are too high.
With the options of either a) the hassle of returning the guitar and rolling the dice on potentially different problems with a replacement, or b) the hassle of buying neck shims from stewmac ($28 with shipping) and removing and shimming the neck myself, I've chosen the latter.
Other than the improper neck angle which prohibits a proper setup, I like pretty much everything else about the guitar, therefore want to try to make it playable and keep it.
Has anyone else had neck angle problems like this, or is this a fluke?
Rodolfo P.
Got my Tele-style guitar from Donner. Plan to use it a lot on our gigs. Great looking and great sounding at a fraction of the cost. I am a Donner buyer.
Dan M.
I have recently discovered that there are some awesome low-cost guitars out there. After being very pleased with purchases from IYV and Indio, I decided to pull the trigger on a Donner Tele style that kept popping up in my social media pages. Upon receiving the guitar a week later, my first disappointment was that the guitar was black, and not the burst style depicted in the ad. This was probably my fault for not checking my purchase options carefully. Out of the box, this guitar was not nearly as well set up as my other recent low cost purchases. The guitar is currently at my favorite music shop to see if their setup expertise can solve the intonation problems I am having. I'm hoping for good results. On a positive note, I like the looks of the fret board. It is somewhat darker than it appears in my pic. I doubt is it really rosewood or ebony, but it looks like it. I wish Donner would say what it is. It's a bit dry, but I'll fix that when I get the guitar back from the shop. Bottom line, I'm not currently wowed like I was with my prior low cost purchases, but I don't regret taking a 110 buck chance on this thing.
Robert R.
Visually, the guitar is very attractive. The sound in reasonably good -- the front pickup is rather weak in volume and is somewhat dull, but passable; the bridge pickup is significantly louder, brighter though somewhat harsh yet is Tele-like.
The problem with this guitar is the neck angle is too shallow. That is, even with the bridge/saddle adjustments at their lowest the string height off the fretboard is too high. I have to spend another $20 or so to buy neck shims from stewmac to correct the neck angle (make is steeper) so that the string height (aka "action") can be set to the factory specifications for a Tele-like guitar. It is quite a shame to have this structural issue on a new guitar. Other than that it would otherwise have been good purchase.
Joseph T.
Love everyone of your products. Great value.
DS P.
Donner makes nice and upgradable guitars. Sadly, Donner sent me a guitar other than what I had chosen — they sent me the WRONG GUITAR.
Donner refuses to pay return shipping, repeatedly, so I have opened a complaint through PayPal. I am quite surprised at Donner’s lack of customer service.
Dr. P.
David E.
Its an awesome guitar.
Very affordable and craftsmanship is beyond what I expected for what I paid for.
I always loved the Tele style guitars. Being a musician for over 50 years , I am more than please with this purchase.
Kris R.
I have been playing guitar for many years and am very pleased with my purchase. I saw reviews on youtube and took a chance, glad I did. It feels and sounds like a much more expensive guitar. very happy. I own a Les Paul, Fender Strat, 2 PRS's a Fire Fly and now a Donner....
Keemydrick M.
I absolutely love this guitar and I’m looking forward to purchasing my next guitar from donner
Stan P.
Beware of Donner! They lie about the stock they have. After you buy, your order will not be filled and they will tell you they are out of stock! My experience has been a nightmare. First guitar had a cracked neck pocket and the tone knob was broken. They will not make it right. Save yourself some grief, buy a Squier from a reputable source. You will be better off!
charles c.
This blows my mind fast neck stays in tune beautiful finish would buy again! The black one looks pretty cool also!
Dan R.
Got it in the mail took it out and tuned it. Then played it and it sounded great. I may change the strings but it sounds great and feels great. Wish you made an electric acoustic guitar. Probably gonna get a mandolin next
Gordon s.
I've had this guitar a while now, and I am impressed. I am a long time causal player, not a beginner by any means. I've always wanted a tele, and I saw the Donner. I took advantage of a special deal and ordered the guitar after looking at many reviews. I am very happy with the guitar, and proudly give it 5 stars based on quality for the price point. It is advertised as a beginner guitar, and I would say that's accurate. There is nothing on this guitar that would impede a beginner from learning. I am not a beginner, and I am really enjoying the guitar! I am amazed at the quality for the price! If you buy this as a beginner or for a beginner, or just don't know how to set up a guitar, take it to a guitar shop for a setup--something you should do with any guitar you purchase. They will adjust the truss rod, string height and intonation, check pick up height and frets--all of which I did on my guitar. After the setup, this guitar plays and sounds great. It stay in tune, the neck\neck and bridge\bridge tones are distinct using the pickup selector, the pots are quiet, frets are dressed well and comfortable, and the tuners are accurate. Hats off to Donner for making an affordable beginner guitar that will enable a beginner to advance, or as in my case, let a long time player enjoy something different at a very affordable price.
Nathaniel S.
I believed I was ordering a Sunburst Tele Style guitar, got a white Tele with a big dent in the upper body.. plays well and sounds okay for the price.. frets need to be dressed and intonation was way off... But after I fixed those issues this guitar is about as perfect as an AMERICAN PLAYER TELE....
Kirk H.
For the price, it's an amazing instrument! The fit and finish are all quite good. Out of the box, the setup was pretty good as well. The only flaw that I could find is a loose tone knob.
I'll be doing some work on the guitar in the near future to refine and upgrade a few parts but I don't think it will take a lot to turn this from a good instrument to a great one.
John B.
Good
This is well built, the fret ends are really well done, they do need some crown polishing though. They seem level enough to not have a ton of buzz even with a relatively low action.
The finish is really nice, actually better than the Squire Strat I have that's also a burst. I only found one flaw in the finish where the clear coat bubbled a little bit.
The pick-ups with some gain don't sound half bad but I am also using a noise gate. I plan to swap them out later.
Bad
The tuners weren't great at all. I'd recommend swapping those out first thing. This pickups could be swapped out as well. This guitar would certainly be worth spending the money on the upgrade.
Depending on preference this could be good or bad but this guitar has some weight to it! Its not neck heavy though. Its about as heavy as the Harley Benton LP that I have.
Not double boxed for shipping.
Summary
Based on the photo here you can see I've already done some modifications. That said, this is a perfect guitar for a mod platform! It's certainly not a premium guitar but it is worth the purchase as a first guitar, mod platform, second guitar and with the right setup I can see this being a gigging guitar.
Steve B.
Very Impressive ! Kudos to Donner for being able to create a beautiful quality guitar and selling it at such a great price. The fit and finish is top notch and absolutely beautiful. The hardware is thick and appears very sturdy for longevity. The fingerboard is smooth with no sharp edges on the frets. The tuners are holding tune very well. The pickups sound strong with good tonal qualities. Nice padded bag and cord included. The action was not bad as it came shipped but the intonation was off. I took it into the shop for a setup. They adjusted the intonation and the action to be faster and put new strings of my choice on. Wow, plays super nice with fast action and in tune throughout the fingerboard. Very happy with this purchase !
Eugene W.
I have plenty of guitars but always curious about what is out there. Saw the Donner DTC-100S and thought it would be at least something to test modifications plus a white tele could be nice to have. When received it was well packed and looked very elegant - instead of pure white it is sort of a light cream - very nice. tuned it up, made a minor intonation adjustment and really liked how it played. The neck is comfortable and the pickups while not exactly hot have their own clear voice and are keepers. Now if I want to mod I need to get another one. Even my wife likes it.
DS P.
Excellent products, worth three times their cost. I upgrade the electronics to make mine SIX times the cost !!
denis g.
It arrived early and it is a gem! It has a beautiful look, and the finish is not amateurish at all. The tuners hold up great, and it stays in tune between practice sessions. The satin neck is perfect for moving up and down, and the tone is just what I was hoping for. I have already recommend this incredibly affordable guitar to friends.
Timothy M.
I bought the Donner Telecaster in white and I'm really impressed with it. The white color body that I ordered is difficult to find in a reasonably priced guitar so I was really pleased that Donner had this color available. When I unboxed the guitar the finish and build really were very good for a budget guitar. There were no flaws and the guitar itself has a nice neck and body weight. The fret edges were really well dressed with no fret sprout which is common in a lot of other budget guitars but not with this Donner model. I changed the strings and polished the frets and oiled the fretboard and then it was ready to play. The string action is really excellent and I did not have to change the bridge saddles to compensate for the height of the strings nor did I have to adjust the truss rod. This guitar is really ready to play right out of the box! The pickups sound good with a good tonal range between the neck and the bridge. The tuners are better than average. If I would compare this guitar to a Glarry or a Squier Bullet I would say that the Donner is a better guitar in fit, finish, general quality and playability. Overall, I am very impressed with this guitar and may buy the Stratocaster version. Thank you Donner!
Anik D.
Guitar is exacly as expected.
Timothy D.
It's a well made guitar and the only thing truly cheap is the price. It has double the value of the price paid easily and with pickups and fret polishing, new strings and intonation, and a bit of fretboard oil, it stands tall with a $400 plus Fender any day. You can save $15-$40 on pickups if you can wax pot yourself. Otherwise, I used a $20 hotrail copy in the bridge and potted the neck and put down some shielding. I'd gig with it. I got white. It was perfectly finished except frets. They needed light polish. Very classic. String through body adds sustain. The pickups are hot enough, but a bit microphonic on the bridge especially. 5 Stars for overall. 3 on pickups. 5 Stars on bridge string thru. Tuners are solid. Nut was cut close to perfect. I honestly can't complain. It surprised me. Truly. 4.5 stars rounded up. I'd have loved a guitar like this as a beginner. And, I like it now as a 28 year veteran. Will buy other models.
Eric Z.
Excellent guitar when it is setup. I've always wanted a snow white T style guitar and Donner doesn't disappoint. I've played many Telecaster guitars over the last 45 years. Some great and some not so great that should have for the money. The guitars from Donner are highly regarded on YouTube and the price performance ratio for what you get is as good as or better than a Squire at twice the price. Donner has a good reputation and stands behind their products which is something else I like.
Laura W.
I was impressed by the weight. It's a nice 7-8 lbs, which is about the same as a Fender Telecaster.
No sharp frets at all, so my fingers were safe. This really impressed me as well, as cheap guitars almost always have sharp frets.
Decent nut. No complaints
My one problem though, from the 10th fret onwards, is unplayable if you lower the strings. The frets are uneven, so if you lower the action (which you will have to do for it to be comfortable) you will need to get the frets leveled. Luckily I know how to do that, but it can be very costly to get it done professionally. I'm talking over $100 costly.
Final thoughts: if you are just learning and doing chords, this guitar is great. But if you want it to play as good as a $500+ guitar it's going to need some fret work on the 10th and up.
Sound is great for the price, I recommend raising the pickups a touch to really make it sing. So out of 10, it's an 8/10
Gina
I work for a company that decided to do an online giveaway of a electric guitar. I was tasked with finding one and decided on this. I’m very pleased with my choice! It looks great, and more importantly it sounds great! I don’t know a ton about guitars but the guy in the video I posted has been playing for over 25 years and he says this is a great choice for someone new to the instrument . I’m super excited for whoever wins our giveaway because this guitar is great. I’d definitely order this again.
Guy
I have wanted a T style guitar for a long time.
The guitar was in a “foam bag” inside a basic gigbag. The gigbag was fit into a guitar box and then a rectangle box.
The finish is perfect, fit of all parts seems great. Frets are level with no sharp ends. The only con out of the box was that the saddle are a little wonky. Tuned up easily & all controls work as they should. I’ll give it a full set up before doing video.
So far it looks like a winner. Comes with gig bag, strap, cord & pick
KELLY K.
Terrific Telecaster! Was easy to setup perfectly with just new strings and tweaking the intonation and pickup's proximity to the strings. I absolutely love playing this guitar and the looks are stunning! Terrific Telecaster sounds!
Mike E.
I ordered the Donner Heavy Metal headphone amp and it got here in a couple of days. I had just got the Donner electric guitar and couldn't wait to try the little amp. It came fully changed and ready to go! I played for several hours and it still reads full charge. I'm very happy with it and my dogs are too. Now they can nap while I play Rockstar! Win-Win-Win!
Eric Z.
Playing guitar for 48 years and I love a Telecaster. The fit and finish is excellent. Didn't need to do much adjustment other than neck relief, intonation and string height for my playing style. I like a hot setup and the bridge pickup is at 8.24k ohms and for a stock ceramic single coil it pushes the front end with pedals very well. A great guitar at a fantastic price point. Well done Donner. I may have to get the black one!
Michael N.
Love dinner products and American made and great price and kit with the guitar . I bought the tele next I’m getting the strat for sure .
Bobby K.
One word: Perfect.
It was exactly what I wanted and more than I expected. I will be purchasing more Donner products.
Cletus F.
The tone quality that comes out of this guitar is amazing! I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the craftsmanship I found on it when I opened the box. But imagine my surprise when I plugged it into my amp. The pick-ups are solid. The size, the weight and the shape of this guitar makes it really comfortable to play. The set-up was not that bad either, I have not made any adjustments other than tuning and I can't put the thing down. I brought it to work to show-off to my buddy who also plays guitar and he was as impressed with it as I am. Good job Donner, keep it up!
Melvin S.
Good Guitar! Beautiful Guitar! Right Fit! I am pleased! Mel.
EEMF
My great nephew is a professional guitarist and guitar teacher, who likes to play many types of guitars. So I bought this Donner Telecaster for him. It’s designed like a true Telecaster, meaning the guitar body is crafted from a solid piece of wood (no hollow innards). The body + the neck total 39” in length. The pick guard is a sleek white panel mounted on the wood body, which is finished in the cool yellow and brown Sunburst design. The strings are steel. The case has a front zipper pouch, plus a side handle and adjustable shoulder straps. As you can see in the video, the cable fits in the Fender amplifier (not included).
As my great nephew explains in the video, this guitar has 2 bridges. Thus, depending upon the sound he wants to create, he uses the metal lever to choose one or the other (left or right lever position) or both (middle lever position).
He also explained that when the guitar ships, the manufacturer leaves the strings very loose. That way they won’t stretch or break during shipping. However, this requires a significant amount of time to properly tune the guitar before playing it.
We talked price too. My great nephew guessed the price to be between $279-$200. He was pleasantly surprised to find out it is much lower than guess. He said the quality and workmanship are definitely premium, while the price is very reasonable. This guitar is great for beginners and skilled guitarists.
Abraham B.
Excellent guitar - well worth the money. Very playable and sounds awesome. I did not expect such a quality guitar for the money. It really is superb! Very happy customer!
Colby H.
From the packaging to the fit and finish. I was totally amazed how good the guitar was
Mike T.
Great value for the money! You cannot beat the quality of these guitars for the money. Fit and finish compares to much higher priced instruments. Very happy with my purchase and would highly recommend.
John S.
I like it. Very solid. Great tone. Have already jammed a few times with it. Compares to Squire closely.
Willie P.
The guitar plays very well, right out of the box. Very nice weight, great tones in all 3 positions. I purchased it to use in church in my job as worship leader. It will do that and more!
Mike B.
Overall, this is a good guitar for the money. The fit and finish is good, the neck is nice. The electronics aren't great, but they couldn't possibly be at this price point. The major problem I have with it is that none of the hardware is a standard size, so it makes upgrading it nearly impossible. I had some spare tele parts sitting around and thought this would make an excellent donor guitar to add a better bridge and better electronics. A standard aftermarket bridge will not line up with the string through holes or pickup route. And, a standard tele bridge pickup won't even fit through the hole in the bridge that came with it. Basically, if you use it as is, it's a decent beginners guitar for very little money. Forget about trying to make it anything other than that.
John D.
Got a great deal , and equipment more than I expected, thanks guy's
Paul N.
Donner hit the bullseye with this guitar. The action was a little high for my liking but easily adjustable. New strings and it sounds great.
Good job to the Donner team for making such a great affordable guitar.
Fred K.
This guitar has a beautiful finish. The neck could be a little chunkier for my taste, but the frets are WAY too small to make bends as easy as I like. When I contacted Donner, all they offered was a discount on my next purchase. I've had good results with Donner's pedals in the past, but this complete disregard for my dissatisfaction has me thinking twice about buying from them in the future. Looks like I'll have t sell it and take the loss... Donner obviously couldn't care less about my satisfaction!
Hope❤️
Recently bought this Donner guitar for my friend who is learning guitar and quickly becoming a guitar enthusiast. Seeing as I do not know much about the guitar, I gave it to him and let him play with it. This is what he has to say about the Donner. "This guitars coloring is beautiful, the uses of the light and dark creates the perfect symmetry. The running pegs do not match the quality of the rest of the guitar, this making it hard to tune at times. The frets and neck are smooth. Strings are nice and light for beginners. Making it easier to play for a longer period of time. It comes with a light weight gig bag, that is an added bonus. The guitars shape fits the leg well, making it pretty comfy, but the lower bout is a bit blocky for my arm to rest on it. However, it does not take away from the ability to play this guitar in any way. The sound and tone is good with or without an amp. Overall for the price it is a great begining guitar." I am happy he was so pleased with the guitar. Being as picky as he can be, he gives his recommendation for purchasing this guitar without any hesitation.
Allan M.
Such a great guitar for what amounts to about $100 guitar. (if you include the 10' cord and padded gig bag) and it was about 3 days from order to delivery.
Inotation is spot on nothing needed to be adjusted.
The frets while rough (as in non polished) are already starting to smooth out, this doesn't bode well for longevity of the frets mind you but it is about $100. The fret ends are well cut and smoothed. They could use a little rounding but not a necessity.
The 'classic hardware' is a nice touch as is the branded name plate. The cuts are precise as is the neck pocket.
The neck pickup is routed and will fit a humbucker style (not sure of bridge as I haven't taken that apart yet).
I would like to change out the hardware for gold but it's not really needed.
Overall this is a great guitar for the price. And this is coming from someone that has played the instrument for going on 35 years.
Donner is a great company as well. The communication and their involvement with their customers is second to none.
Robert T.
I had purchased another brand budget tele style guitar and found it to truly be a piece of junk. I decided to give it another try with Donner. Boy was I surprised at the difference! Donner is selling a great quality instrument for very few dollars more than the other brands. The finish is great, the neck only required a touchup to get it right and the sound is right on. I will certainly recommend Donner to my friends!
Larry H.
I am the North Carolina Blues Man. I have many guitars in my collection such as an Epiphone Les Paul Custom, G&L Telecaster, and a Fender Stratocaster, this Donner Telecaster is a top notch guitar it is just as good an instrument as my other ones maybe even better.
Robert L.
I had my eye on the strat but thought, never had a Telecaster type guitar so bought it then my wife got me the strat type. I love them both but if I had to choose one it would be the Tele. She is awesome! I have become a Donner Dude!
Steve R.
Nice Brand new guitar. Played great. Nice color and I like the holes on back to put new strings on the guitar
Rolland D.
Vert good guitar for the price very impress
Rolland
Dennis H.
Excellent guitar. I was very surprised by how great it play's.
I will be buying more.
Slim.
Kevin V.
have not had a lot of time on it yet but over all its a nice little guitar.The only really disappointing part of the guitar is the neck pickup.I will probably upgrade that in the near future.Also, the string stops on the back of the guitar fall out when you change the strings.I will glue them in at some point.I also would like to rub a little linseed? oil or something similar into the fretboard to darken the appearance,is thier anything Donner would recomend for this? Kevin Virnelson
Alain T.
Nice gitar very good quality and faster delivery
Faye
Great guitar! Well done Donner!
R Shain
Overall this guitar is a phenomenal value. Notwithstanding its price, the build quality is equal to other guitars from different brands being sold in the the $500 range. Although the materials and construction quality are superb, the pickups are the weakest point. For those who aren't aware, the pickups are the "microphone" of the guitar. They are supposed to translate the audio signal to an electronic signal which can be reproduced by the amplifiers. They should have the ability to distinguish not only different notes, but different volumes. In other words, if I play softly the amplified music should sound like it's being played softly. If I pound on the guitar it should sound like I'm really playing it heavily. These pickups are very binary in their ability to detect sound volume and it’s easy to play too soft to where a note isn’t heard or too hard to where it is too loud and stands out. However, it's not difficult to upgrade the pickups on a guitar and the quality of the build makes it worth upgrading these and getting a proper setup. There was one issue with shipping in that they didn’t loosen the strings before packing it up. A guitar should never be shipped tuned or the neck can warp. Luckily that did not happen in this instance, but I would advise anyone ordering it to specify that they should send it with the strings loose and to check the neck when they get it.
Eren
I've owned and given as gifts a number of Donner (or sister company) instruments over the years--ukuleles, guitar, keyboard, violin, , harmonicas, amps, and many accessories. They have always been great beginner or intermediate instruments at tremendous value. The is Donner DTC-100S Telecaster-style electric guitar is no exception and I highly recommend. I'd been looking to replace my electric guitar for quite a while, and really wanted a telecaster inspired style. Donner just put this one out and I jumped at the chance.
Ryno D. Bones
I've bought several "cheap" guitars in the past...Some swings were a miss, but this one is a homerun. Everything about it exceeded my expectations. Compared to the FireFly (which I adore) I picked up a few years back, this is a whole different league of inexpensive guitar. I've seen Donner all over the place on YT and guitar sites...figured it was time I got one for myself. Very glad I did.
This is almost identical in looks to my first guitar, a mid-70's Japanese No-Name I picked up in the early 90's. The finish is absolutely flawless. Metal is shiny and the pick guard is layered perfection. Neck and fret board are perfect right out of the packaging, too. I didn't have to go over the edges of the frets with my sanding board, or anything. That's something I DID have to do with my FireFly. Didn't have to adjust the truss either. Aside from tuning I literally didn't have to do anything.
I love the WEIGHT to this guitar. This is solid basswood body. That's just how it is with inexpensive guitars, so I am not surprised. However the neck appears to be real maple. Very smooth. Fret board is also a solid wood, but it is stained darker. Along the edges there is some slight stain imperfections, but nothing distracting.
Playability-wise, this has very low action. There isn't any noticeable buzzing on the strings. Super easy and smooth for someone with smaller hands. The pickups and electronics seem to do exactly what you would expect. Volume knob works, tone knob works. No issues. The pickup switch has three settings (the description says 5??), neck pickup, body pickup, or both pickups. Sound isn't overly unique but I prefer just the pickup under the pickguard. Sounds like the 60's to me. Haha
Things I wish were better: Case. This comes with a cheap nylon gig bag. I wish it had a soft shell case instead. I'd gladly pay a bit more for something better. Strap is also pretty meh. It's just a thin brown nylon strap. I have a nice padded leather strap already on my dreadnought so I'll just swap them out. Not a big deal.
In this kit, you're really just paying for the guitar. The accessories that come with it are mediocre at best. Luckily the guitar is completely worth the ticket price. Beats out any Fender or Gibson I've tried in the same price range, for sure. Overall quality really reminds me of an Ibanez I used for several years. This just feels right in my hands. Old-school cool, old-school sound. Paired with my Fender Champion 20 amp....Excellent all around. Very pleased!
