Casey Tran
I like that my guitar is built well, with a straight neck and great finish on the edges and where the parts of the guitar are joined. The sides and back are constructed of mahogany wood, and the spruce top has a matte finish. The action of the guitar is very nice. Chords are relatively easy to play without a lot of buzzing.
Brock
I want to start this review with what I consider to be the most important aspect of choosing an acoustic guitar. Is it comfortable? In a word, yes. The finish is satin and thin, the woods are high quality, and the guitar itself is just a little bit smaller. This combined with the lower cutaway in the body provide a very nice playing guitar without any sacrifice in volume or tone. I much prefer the feel of this guitar to my more expensive Yamaha parlor acoustic, which itself is a great guitar but a bit less traditional. The neck feels comfortable enough to play for hours without problem and is super easy to move around on. Some frets may need a little filing but that’s to be expected on any inexpensive instrument. Mine is still playable without a filing but the dusty end could use some attention.
Faye V.
I’m really hard pressed to find something I don’t like about this guitar. It’s missing a lot of bells and whistles, sure but it delivers a really solid instrument that can easily compete with mid-range offerings from other brands. And that I think is the biggest triumph here and why it’s so hard to find fault. It’s not perfect but it still feels like a more expensive instrument.
The frets aren’t perfect but they’re just as good as my Yamaha’s were at half the price. The fact that it feels perfectly at home with a guitar from a great manufacturer at half the price is pretty awesome. There’s truly a lot to choose from when it comes to acoustics and a lot of companies make great guitars. You can count this one among that list.
JC
The Donner DAJ-110 Mini Jumbo Cutaway Acoustic Guitar is an excellent choice for me. I like the quality of consistent tone across the strings. I find it to be a very tunable guitar, meaning that the G and B strings are tunable against the rest of the strings without a pitch problem, which I have found challenging in the past. The neck of my guitar is straight, and the strings have proper measurement above the fret. A height gauge is provided with the guitar along with a chord chart. The tuning pegs are of good quality and hold the tuning well.
I like that my guitar is built well, with a straight neck and great finish on the edges and where the parts of the guitar are joined. The sides and back are constructed of mahogany wood, and the spruce top has a matte finish. The action of the guitar is very nice. Chords are relatively easy to play without a lot of buzzing. I like the survival kit that came with the guitar - a high quality Gig Bag, Digital Tuner, Capo, Picks, Strap, extra set of Strings, and the neck adjustment wrench.
James
I was worried about the sound but it is quite alright for getting started with. It looks. Good. Comes with accessories and the only thing is it does not come with amplifying capabilities. But it's loud enough for indoor playing.
VC
Thus has everything you need to get started and offers great value. Everything is of a good standard and certainly more than good enough for a beginner. I particularly like the padded gig bag that comes with it. The only downside for me is that I fine the capo a bit too stiff. The guitar itself feels nice and looks cool.
Casey T
I have never owned a mini jumbo guitar before but I think I like it more than my other guitars. The size of it fits perfectly in my hands! The sound of the guitar is gorgeous and the accessories that came with it are also super awesome. I love the tuner and it makes it really handy to tune the guitar when I’m on the go. The color of the guitar is beautiful and I am extremely happy with this purchase! One of my new faves!
ND
I was surprised at the sound of this guitar. Not only was it unique from my dreadnaught and grand auditorium style guitars, but was pretty fun and easy to play.
Appearance/look/feel:
Overall I really like the way this guitar looks. I like the black tone on the tuning machines and the bridge pins, strap pegs etc. The finish is a really nice/natural matte finish - not glossy but still smooth. Overall I really like the look a lot.
Quality/condition:
I was surprised at how light this guitar is, especially given it’s size. It was packaged well and didn’t come with any scrapes, scratches or nicks. I don’t think this could take a beating, but at the price point I’d say this is a great campfire/take anywhere guitar. It felt really well set up, and I haven’t noticed any issues with frets, neck, action etc. Given it’s stock from the manufacturer, a professional setup I’m sure couldn’t hurt - but it sounds fantastic as is without it.
Sound:
The tone is kind of new to me, but I also haven’t had a jumbo or mini jumbo guitar before. It has plenty of volume, even when fingerpicking. I really like the really strong highs/treble on this, with just enough bass and mids. This thing was made for strumming though, can really cut through a mix/band I would say. For the price, it’s a fantastic tone, with some better quality strings would sound even better.
NOTE: the strings aren’t great, and are not comfortable to play (even as a 15+ year player). I’m going to swap them out soon with my go-to D’addario strings. I think it may make the tone even better (good as it already is), as I don’t think the stock strings are very good.
Features/Bonus:
I wish this guitar had onboard pickups/electronics, but it’s still really nice. The guitar itself is pretty basic, but sounds great as is. It came with a few generic extras with varying levels of quality/utility:
-Gig bag: decent, not super padded but more than just a cover. Definitely usable.
-Tuner: Didn’t seem to work great. I’ll probably use my phone or Snark.
-Capo: Very nice! Also goes well with the other black accents on the guitar. Aesthetically pleasing.
-Picks: Just fine
-Strap: Surprisingly good, though basic. It’s a fabric of some kind, which is nice compared to the plastic-y kind.
-Spare Strings: Will throw out as I think they’re pretty bad.
-Pickguard (?): Randomly came with this bendy, vinyl stick on pickguard (I think), but cut doesn’t match soundhole and will go in trash. That said, plenty of really nice aftermarket pick guards that could be added.
Big sound, looks and feels great, great bang for buck.
Samy K.
the guitar is very well made. the woods are beautiful, finish looks nice, and everything feels solid with attention to detail. mine has no sharp frets and looks great. factory setup was good, the guitar needed no adjustments and was ready to play after tuning out of the box. if came securely wrapped and well packed.
compared to Donner's other "beginner" guitar DAG-1C, the mini jumbo sounds more round, a little more depth and a little more sparkle and high end, which makes each note stand out, and allows for powerful chords. tone range and volume are there, and sustain is pretty good, unexpected for this lightweight. sounds really good to my ears.
the guitar comes with lots of accessories like gigbag, pretty good clip-on tuner, strap, picks, spare strings, and even a capo, so you'll just need a stand or wall hanger for it.
this is solid instrument, nice and easy to play, definitely a great first guitar for a kid, amazing value - recommended!
