Epiphone Songmaker DR-100, Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar - Natural

I have owned other electric guitars but am still a beginner so my input is limited the physical quality of this model guitar. I tend to go overboard when buying things and like to stick to the higher end products. But from all my web searching this seemed to be a good guitar for beginners for a cheap price.It came in a well packed box with plenty of foam padding wrapped around the guitar. Unpackaging this guitar i was so excited the sunburst looked amazing and glossy. After close inspection i found a few flaws. But keep in mind these are not hand made like gibsons. These are machine made in china and hand inspected.First thing i noticed were the strings. There was a fair amount of rust on the strings in some spots and the low E string actually had the winding gouged off in one spot.Second was the paint on the top of the body had some imperfections around the sound hole. Things like the black paint didnt have perfect coverage on the inner lip of the hole.Third was the edging around the back had a spot where it didnt have enought acrylic coating like something had touched it while it was wet.Fourth was there was excess glue on the nut and it didnt fit perfectly flush to the fingerboard.As said i cant really comment to in depth on the sound or how it plays since i am still a beginner. But to me it sounds good. Nice bright tone to it and stays in tune pretty well.With all that said after changing the strings i love the guitar. I told myself i was not going to go overboard on another guitar to try and learn on. All things considered even with its few imperfections it is a great guitar and Epiphone is a name brand(china made gibson). But to be able to buy a name brand musical instrument for 100 dollars to learn on is amazing. I would not think twice to buy this guitar again if i had to.

It's basic. But it looks great and sounds great. I don't need a $500+ acoustic... I'm not playing live shows. This is just something to strum away on when I don't want to use one of the electric guitars.The coolest thing is that the sunburst color really pops. Epiphone did a great job on the paint. The sides and back are just medium stained while the front is black with the orange burst. There is trim around the body pieces. The pick guard needs a good heavy wipe since the plastic sticker leaves residue. The Epiphone E is proudly displayed.Guitar stays in tune. Comes pre-strung with decent strings. I prefer a slightly lighter gauge, so these will be changed as soon as these start wearing.Includes a truss rod which you should NEVER use. I don't know why they included it. You can literally snap the neck if you don't know what you are doing. On a guitar this affordable, I just play with the factory setting. But if you want to raise the neck (to make the strings closer to the fretboard) then please have someone do it who is experienced with this process. Otherwise it's a $120 mistake.Came packed tightly in a good box, wrapped in protective covering and padded with much bubble wrap. Does not include any picks or capo or extra strings. No case. No strap. So basically it is the guitar as is. No frills. Which is good, because I hate paying for cheap accessories that I won't end up using or just replacing anyway.If this if your FIRST guitar (congratulation on getting a terrific guitar from an amazing brand!) I recommend getting picks if you so desire (I use Fender medium gauge celluloid). Also a strap if you want. A capo is important for many songs, so make sure to get one soon. And a tuner - mainly I use it when re-stringing (make sure it can tune both electric and acoustic - you set it against the guitar for acoustic and plug in for electric). Avoid a lot of the lumped together bargain deals on Amazon, these are usually lower quality. And a stand and case are also nice. Make sure to stow the guitar away from traffic areas since acoustics are much touchier than electrics (mostly), knocking it down can do irreparable damage if it dings the body, especially the back.Bottom line: don't get one of those off brand sub $100 guitars. I have read too many horror stories. Epiphone crafts good guitars and I have played many of their instruments over the years. My favorite guitar is the Epiphone Les Paul Classic (in black!). And since I don't want to spend $2500 for the Gibson version, Epiphone is just fine.Until you hit about $350, this is arguably one of the better guitars out there. At $350 you can get some amazing Yamaha acoustics and can even select your body material (love the mahogany). But sub $300, there are a couple of Fenders and a couple of Ovations that are good, but this is a solid choice.My one negative is that this is made in China and then inspected in the US. But for this price I guess you can't get an American or Japanese made guitar. Sadly those are going to start at about $500 for most quality brands.

I'm still learning, but after comparing it to others in stores and of my friends I like it more than most guitars that are 3 or 4 times the price. They obviously needed to take some shortcuts to make such a nice looking, well built, quality sounding, easy to play guitar for this cheap, but they are mostly inconsequential. For example, the pick guard just has a printed logo instead of the metal Epiphone applique found on their higher end models. There isn't a built-in tuner but you'll have an easier time tuning with an external tuner anyways, I love my Snark SN-5 Tuner for Guitar, Bass and Violin, it's cheap and easier to use. Also, there isn't an amp output on it, but it can play very loud acoustically and if you're starting out it's unlikely you'll need to amplify beyond that anytime soon. The only reason to pause before buying this one, is if you want to use an amp or a game/e-learning app like Rocksmith 2014 Edition - PC/Mac (Cable Included), you'll need the amp out and a modern PC or game system, and you'd probably be better off with a cheap Epiphone electric. Also, the strings seem a little lighter than some others I've tried, it seems to me that this makes playing notes easier, at the expense of a little string buzzing until your technique improves.Overall, I think this guitar is an exceptional value, it has it where it counts at a price that's fantastic.