Fender Starcaster Acoustic Guitar Pack with Accessories - Natural

Comment: I recieved this as a gift for christmas, as I am learning to play guitar. I'm very happy with the sound and the play-ability of this guitar. I had no problems with workmanship quality or missing accessories. Understanding that this is a learning instrument and not a concert quality guitar, I'm very pleased. I will definitely replace the "gig bag" with a hard case, but other than that, this is a fun guitar to play and learn on as a beginner.

Comment: It's Christmas morning and my wife is very excited that I got her a guitar to learn to play. We opened the package and then played the DVD after reading the case that reads "On this DVD, an expert teacher will guide you through ALL (my emphasis) of the skills you need to get started today, from tuning to fingering and picking techniques to open-position and moveable chords."
Yep, it has all of that BUT the tuning instructions!!!! OK, back to the internet to find tuning instructions...
I might update this later once we get it tuned.

Comment: [...]
There must be a few versions, because some seem to have a stand and some not.
Mine was made in Indonesia, not China.

The construction and sound at this price is very good.
The assessories are poor to fair. Get a Korg CA-30 chromatic tuner which is not a lot of money.
Change the strings to lighter gauge coated strings. They are worth the extra $.
I highly recommend this for a beginner or player with limited funds.
I changed out the stock Fender strings which sound okay but leave a lot of corrosion on your fingers.
I have been using a lighter (11-52 and 12-53) gauge coated Ernie Ball set which I like.

After awhile, three weeks, I started getting a fret buzz on the two highest strings when fretting near the nut (low) end.
After some messing around with the tension a bit, I noticed that the nuts holding the tuners were loose and tightened them which helped. That could be because I live in a very dry climate and the wood shrank.
Loosening the tension rod about a quarter turn solved my problem.
Going to the lighter strings probably relieved some force on the neck, so caused a slight "hump" in the neck.
Loosening the tension rod allowed the neck to flatten.
If you have buzzing at the frets, try flexing the neck back and forward.
If the buzz goes away when the is neck flexed forward, loosen (to the left) the tensioning nut.
If the buzz goes away when you pull the neck back toward you, then tighten the nut.
Adjust in 1/8 turn steps or you can really damage the instrument.
There may be a slight dead spot, play, between tightening and loosening when adjusting the tension.
If you do not understand this then do not attempt the adjustment.
Take it to a music store if you are not handy.
Even expensive guitars can need adjustment due to humidity, string changes, or high action, so it is nothing to criticize this guitar about!

As far as the missing stuff, obviously open box, no tension adjustment, and other comments of a negative nature, I wouldn't accept any of that either, nor would I try to correct it twice. If the guitar played and looked fine, I wouldn't send it back. The assessories are not a deal maker. A decent guitar is. Fender should pay more attention these complaints. Just because it is cheap doesn't mean it has to be crap.

Mine looks, works and sounds better than I would have expected. The action is pretty good too. It is not a Taylor or Martin. If I wanted one of those I would get it from a music store.

Comment: I purchased this guitar at Costco recently. I played the display model and immediatly recognized
that it had a good sound and it was easy to play, the strings are easy to hold down. I had been trying some others at the music store that were much more expensive and this one sounded better.I'm cofused by the bad reviews. Good guitar for a good price.

Comment: This guitar is one step up from those kiddie guitars with the rubber bands for strings that you buy down in mexico, absolute junk.