Donner DST-152R Electric Guitar Starter Set

I usually don’t write reviews but felt I had to on this guitar.

I bought this to experiment with and I don’t want to screw up any of my PRS guitars. I mainly wanted this guitar because of the fixed bridge and so I can down tune to drop C, etc.

First impression out of the box:
The guitar has simple,clean lines. The flat finish and satiny feel of the neck is actually pretty inviting. The fit and finish is really nice on the guitar I received – no rough frets, seem to be pretty level. I figured it would at least make a good project/ mod guitar. I had to adjust intonation on only two strings and adjust the action, which is normal. The only critique I have is that while the action is not bad, either the neck pocket needs to be 1/16″ deeper or the bridge saddles need to be slightly thinner as I couldn’t quite get the action as low as I like and it wasn’t the truss rod needing adjustment.
Sounds/playability:
While you’re not going to mistake the pickups for Seymour Duncan or the like they are pretty good for heavy rhythm playing. Running through the Boss ME-80 and a small tube amp I was able to get some good old-school Metallica tones, as well as some newer stuff like Seether. I was originally planning to drop new electronics in, but after a little tweaking on the pedalboard and amp I don’t think I will. I really enjoy playing this guitar!

I am completely amazed that this guitar is as good as it is. I’m already thinking about buying at least one more to mod.

I didn’t WANT to buy this guitar, but I couldn’t resist. $159 during the Black Friday sale…as compared to $258 during Donner’s OWN Black Friday sale. I had actually been eyeing this up for a while. I wanted a “metal” guitar, just for the aggression factor. When Fenderplay was having a deal where you get a free guitar if you sign up for lessons, I jumped on it. for $150, I got a Squier strat, amp, etc….basic stuff for a beginner, thought I’m not a beginner. I had already planned on modding the strat, so I got a HH pickguard and put some Fishman Fluence Moderns in it. It’s a good guitar, but certainly not a “pro level” guitar.

SO…fast forward to Black Friday, and I see this nifty little Donner that I had been looking at…I figured, what the heck, at least I can mod it. I already have a set of Seymour Duncan Invaders that I planned on putting in it.

BUT….I’m not sure I will, now. Shipping was good, it arrived a day earlier than expected. Nothing was wrong with the box, and visual inspection didn’t show any problems. Flat black all around, with a dark fretboard. The headstock is REALLY small, like smaller than Musicman small. I was planning on putting Hipshot tuners on it, but just looking at it, I know that the mounting plate won’t fit. Nice straight string pull through the nut to the pegs. Everything on the guitar is blacked out, which I like. It comes with a few cool little extras, like the string dampener. The gig bag is usable, but there are certainly better ones out there.

So….I start test driving it. There are no sharp fret ends. In fact, the fingerboard seems to be somewhat rolled. It’s very comfortable. After tuning it up, I tested for dead frets. Played up the entire neck and couldn’t find ANY dead spots. Decided to attempt some alternate tunings. Drop D worked well. D Standard was good, and even in Drop C, there was no fret buzz. Took off the back panel to investigate and there’s a pretty cool quick connect system. A PCB board mounted to the 2 pots, with 4 quick connects for the switch, jack, and both pickups.

At high gain, there’s a noticeable buzzing, which is expected. I just need to turn the noise gate up higher for these pickups than I do the Fishmans. The pickups are slightly microphonic as well. I could hear the screws on the backplate being unscrewed when I left it plugged in, so any bumping will be noticeable at high gain, again, depending on the noise gate. The buzzing is there, but not prevalent on a clean setup.

I wanted to be as detailed as possible to provide the best review I could. Overall, I’d say that of the 2 guitars, I would regret the Squier purchase more. I bought both guitars strictly to mod and make them what I want to make them. The Squier required more work than I anticipate with the Donner. The main thing that will need attention is the tuners, they have some play in them, so you have to tune down, then back up to pitch to tighten up the mechanical slack in them…you can definitely feel it when tuning.

If you want to get a guitar for a beginner, I would highly suggest this one. I didn’t really need to set up anything on it at all to get it working. As I said, neck feels good, frets are fine, didn’t check intonation completely, but up and down the fretboard it seems on point. I love the hipshot style bridge, as I’ve installed the real thing on many guitars.

The most important part of a guitar for a beginner is always going to be the neck. If it’s uncomfortable to play, then the won’t. This one does not disappoint at all.

He recibido la guitarra pero la caja externa venia en bastante mal estado incluso con un buen agujero en un lateral. La caja interna venia bien y la guitarra funciona. No sé si por algun golpe el afinador que venia con la guitarra no se enciende el fonfo de la pantalla y no se puede afinar correctamente. El resto venia bien. La guitarra es preciosa de estilo Fender y suena bien; me imagino que al afinarla sonará mejor. La fabricacion se ve de buena calidad y el resto de productos también. El amplificador suena bien para lo pequeño que es. Llamé a Amazon y despues de varias conversaciones se hiceron cargo en parte del problema del afinador defectuoso.

Den var as snygg och ganska bra för det lilla priset men förstärkaren var ganska sämst och fanns inte så mycket inställningar på ljudet på gitarren men det är nog bra för nybörjare

I love the guitar. It plays great. The only issue was when I tried to put on the trem it didn’t want to screw in freely so I stopped and took it out only to see the tip was stripped. Not sure what happen there but I planned to upgrade it anyway so I didn’t complain.