Ashthorpe 38-inch Beginner Acoustic Guitar Package (Black), Basic Starter Kit w/Gig Bag, Strings, Strap, Tuner, Pitch Pipe, Picks

Great guitar! i bought this for my grandson's birthday, and he loved it! He is a beginner guitarist, and this guitar was perfect for beginners. it was thick with three C's and was really tuff. I thought the feel of the guitar was very homely and felt like it would go well in an HGTV bedroom. It came with a tuner, which was extremely helpful, since my grandson is a horrible guitar player. The strap fell off, but we won't worry about that... overall, a great example of modern human engineering, and art, would definitely recommend if you can breathe.

So freaking cool! I had no idea you could buy an acoustic guitar on Amazon until I seen a guy who got one for Christmas. My son has been wanting one forever so we got this one and it's awesome! The price is affordable but it looks expensive and it sounds amazing!

Do not buy this guitar. It sounds and looks great, but it can’t be tuned. Other people have noted this in their reviews, but I assumed that they either were not musicians, were inexperienced at tuning, or perhaps didn't realize that new string go out of tune quickly until they stretch out. Actually, they knew what they were talking about. These guitars are not tunable. Teaching someone to play guitar on an instrument that can’t be tuned, is like teaching someone to drive using a car with poor wheel alignment and malfunctioning steering. • I bought two 38" guitars, a blue and a sunburst version. Both had the same problems. If the strings are in-tune when they are open (no chord being fingered) then they will be out of tune when a chord is fingered. If you tune the guitar so that a particular chord is in-tune, then when the strings are strummed while open (no fingers pressing down on them) they will be out of tune. This appears to be due largely to the excessively high action (height of strings over the fret board) of the guitar. When a string is pressed to the fret board, it stretches more than it should, changing the pitch inordinately. I think there are other contributing factors as well, perhaps the frets are slightly misaligned, but I can’t say with certainty. It would not add to the manufacturing cost to eliminate these problems. It is simply a question of basic design and precision. • Excessively high action (height of strings over the fret board) makes fingering chords more difficult. Even for me, playing certain barre chords close to the nut (top of the neck) was a challenge. Standard chords that children will be taught first are all playable, but slightly more difficult than they should be, especially for little hands. • Sound quality, or tone as some people refer to it, is very good. I was surprised. While the guitar does not sound like a Martin (gold standard), it has a bright, snappy sound with plenty of resonance and overtones. It is a steel string guitar (instead of nylon like many starter guitars) and this makes a big positive difference. I enjoyed playing it in this regard. Given the price, it is excellent. I believe that the people who complain about the tone of the guitar, are really hearing the dissonance of poor tuning. If the guitar is tuned perfectly for a single chord, which is possible, it sounds great—pretty cool actually. • The paint jobs are great for kids. They are bright, colorful, and shiny. There are a few minor blemishes and imperfections, but so what. Given the price, they are wonderful. • Electronic digital tuner o Looks nifty, but it is not high quality. After tuning with it, I still needed to make small adjustments by ear. Not a good situation for a beginner player, but probably it is fine. To be fair, a Peterson electronic tuner (gold standard) costs as much as this guitar. o After turning it on, the user must select from chromatic, violin, guitar, bass, and ukulele. It remembers the selection the next time it is turned on, but it is easy to change the selection inadvertently. This is a poor design for children. But almost all tuners are like this. It is an inexpensive way for the manufacturer to provide value. Practically speaking, it is just a nuisance. Most people buy a tuner for a single instrument. o The single control button is extremely awkward and difficult to locate and press. Just a bad design. o Before it can be used, a paper tab needs to be removed from the battery. When the tab is pulled (to remove it) it rips, leaving in the battery compartment paper which still must be removed to activate the device. This happened on each tuner that came with the two guitars I bought. A very, very tiny Phillips head screw locks the battery compartment door. A jeweler’s screwdriver is needed to remove it. • Pitch pipe does not work well at all. A horrific little device, it is difficult to get sound from it. Looks like something they threw-in in a desperate and misguided attempt to compensate for the fact that the guitar cannot be tuned properly. • The guitar comes with a single instruction page (front and back) of useful information, which includes valuable instruction about traditional ways to tune a guitar. While well done, one gets the feeling that it is again a desperate and misguided attempt to compensate for the fact that the guitar cannot be tuned properly. Bizarrely, one side of the page also contains diagrams for fingering many different barre chords. Barre chords are for advanced players. Diagrams of basic chords that beginners need to learn first would be far more useful. • One must conclude that the people who are satisfied with these guitars and don’t return them are themselves not musicians, or don't have a good ear for music. Even an amateur musician should deem these guitars unacceptable.

You definitely get what you pay for. So this is a "first time" guitar for sure. The reason it gets 3 stars and not fewer is because the price is so low, so as far as value, it is worth its price. The action is atrocious, which is rough for a beginner. And it doesn't stay in tune well (also not great for a beginner). Lastly, the intonation is bad, so you might be in-tune for one position, but then a position further up the neck (or capo) puts it back out of tune. There are some positives, as mentioned, the price. But also the tone is nice and bright. Although it can get buzzy if not fingered properly. But there are a couple things you can do to improve the playability. The main thing is to remove all strings, take out the saddle, and sand it down several millimeters. There are tutorials online that help you figure out (based on the action) exactly how much material to remove. Do this first. Then also deepen the string grooves on the nut - you want the strings seated all the way in, nearly to the fretboard. Hope this helps you all!

I have no complaints, looks beautiful. This guitar sounds amazing for the price. You could use the tuner but as a personal preference I used a free app. Love that it came with the strap although it was way too short for me personally, but otherwise great. I would heavily recommend this to beginners or if you're just looking for a cheap guitar to add to your collection