Jasmine S35 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar - Easy Play For Beginner, Pearloid Dots, Sitka Spruce Top, 20 Frets, Rosewood Fingerboard, 6 Strings, Phopher Bronze Light Gauge (012-053), 25.5" Scale

I want to start by saying that most of the very few negative reviews on here are because these individuals do not know how to set up a guitar, or know that most new guitars need to be set up in the first place.I think it may be done to save labor, but the truss rod is often not tightened, and the saddle is too high.This guitar also has the capability to sound like a $400 guitar, but this will cost 20 in extra parts. A TUSQ saddle and a new set of strings. I prefer medium-light for these lesser expensive guys, if the action is set correctly, it will be easy to play and sound beautiful. These are not necessary, but for all the reviewers who say this doesn't sound as good as some of the nice ones, put the new saddle on and the new strings, set the action, torque the truss rod, and you have yourself a wonderful sounding guitar.Regardless of your experience with guitars, an easy test to see if this guitar needs to be set up is to stick a quarter under the 12th fret. If it has room on top of it before it touches the string, it will need to be set up. Proceed to step 1, if the quarter fits just perfectly with no room, congrats, you got lucky, you are ready to play.1.) If you are new to guitar, I would highly recommend taking it to a guitar shop and having them set your action. This will usually cost 20-30 bucks but will make this guitar play really nicely, and your progression as a guitarist will be effortless instead of very difficult. I dont recommend spending the extra money on a new saddle or new strings for a beginner. To them, this thing will sound full bodied as it is, and you can switch out the saddle and the strings in 6 months or a year when you replace the strings anyway.If you are not new, or new but handy with little repairs and such, go on you-tube and type in "how to set up your new guitar" A great video of how to set it up. For anyone experienced with guitars, the sound quality will be pretty good stock, but to make it resonate and sound full bodied and amazing (like a true solid spruce top guitar) change out the saddle for a TUSQ or something equivalent and buy some Ernie ball Earthwood medium light 80/20 strings. Together they run $20 and once your action is set correctly and your truss tightened perfectly this thing will sound like a $400 takamine, No joke.I keep referring to the action, this is the amount of space between the frets and the strings, it is the most crucial part of setting up a new guitar and will make ease of playing, sound quality and the whole experience fantastic. The way to decrease action is to loosen the strings enough to pull the saddle out and sand it down 1/32 - 1/8th inch depending on how much is needed. This process takes less than 10 minutes yet many players don't know how, or don't know that this is an option.Many reviewers on here say that the "action is too high" which it may be, but it is VERY easy to fix, and makes or breaks any inexpensive guitar. Please don't listen to the bad reviews from the individuals that have not yet set up their action correctly, this is a takamine (Taak-ah-mani)which is a fantastic brand that makes fantastic quality guitars, do not be fooled by the price tag. This is a beauty, and is simple but perfect for any person with a spare 100 bucks.And honestly, I would not buy any guitar upgrade until you could afford a Seagull s6 (roughly $400) as the seagull will play like a $1,200 guitar. DO NOT waste your money on any other cheap guitar out there, and remember... when you buy a new guitar, it needs to be set up!You now know more than 90% of the people out there, so the next time you hear someone saying "the action is way too high" or "This cheap guitar doesn't have sustain" or "this doesn't sound full bodied like the nice ones." Just smile and know that all they need is to buy a new saddle, some new strings, and adjust the action (all less than 20 bucks if you do the work yourself). I have seen friends buy $1000 guitars and never sand the saddle down, it makes me sad.I know this is long guys, but thank you for reading, I highly recommend this guy, and I highly recommend the seagull s6 as the next guitar upgrade. Have fun playing!

Well built, beautifully finished, ready to play out of the box guitar. Surprisingly good tone and easy to play. At used like new, it is an astonishingly good deal at $70. I put together guitar “ kits “ to donate to kids who would otherwise have no access to learning an instrument. This guitar is so good, I bought another one.

Obviously I don't have a ton of experience or knowledge about guitars and what they should sound like. For the inexperienced novice who wants to try out guitar, though, I've got a lot to say. First off, this price can't be beat anywhere, especially since they normally tack on so much for shipping. Secondly, it's pure luck when you get it, but that has nothing to do with the guitar. The packaging was solid and I didn't feel that anybody had sat on my box, kicked it, or thrown it around. It came in a huge box and then in a smaller, triangular shaped box for the guitar. Due to the shipping, of course, the strings were horribly out of tune so if you don't know a darn thing about guitars and tuning or music, just buy a guitar tuner, I recommend the Korg CA-30 or anything similar. You play a string and the red lights will tell you if it's sharp or flat, green is in tune. Also, learn that the thickest string is E, then A, D, G, B, with E being the thinnest.Now for the guitar itself. I don't know if anyone else mentioned this but there's only one button at the bottom of the guitar for a strap. There's also no strap included and I think you have to either install another button yourself or tie it to the neck underneath the strings. I don't know yet, but that is a small drawback. However, since you can play without a strap, I didn't take off points for it. Second, that horrendous sticker needs to go and it's easy to peel off. I found that there was a teeny-tiny layer beneath it of clear plastic so I pulled that off too. The sound is great, takes awhile to get used to how hard you have to press so there's no buzzing noise (I think that's called action and people have commented that it's high on this guitar). But I figure if you get used to high action, other guitars will be easier and it's not a big deal. Either way, if you're playing guitar for the first time your fingertips will hurt, right?I love the guitar for the price and the sound, it really makes me happy to play it every time. No picks, but I never wanted one, I love just using my fingers. There's no case, either, but a good hard case will run you almost as much as the guitar itself. If you're planning on flying with it, I'd say get a soft case and carry it on and hope they can stow it in a closet somewhere. Here's what it boils down to: if you've got $100 and you want to learn to play the guitar, this is your chance. My friend who plays guitar just as casually as I do (although for much longer) bought his first Takamine for $400. I'm not going to put out an album or write my own stuff so I wouldn't be able to tell the difference in sound even if there was one. It's a great great starter guitar, I love it a lot and I've already banged it quite a few times and it still sounds fantastic. I was on the fence about it, took a risk since there were a lot of 5 stars and I wasn't disappointed. If you're on the fence, then hop on over to this side, this guitar is great!