Fender DG-7 Acoustic

Let's see, had a "Made in Indonesia" sticker on the box when it arrived. I got it for Christmas 2001, and Musician's Friend had them fairly cheap because they said the DG-7s were being discontinued or some such thing (apparently not true). Box contained: guitar, a warranty/registration card, and lots of packing foam/paper and stuff. Your basic acoustic, I'm sure the features have been run through many times below. Everything you'd expect, except maybe a truss rod or some sort of neck adjustment, but fairly basic/entry level components. I give it a 7 because it is essentially average features that work a bit above averagely well.

It was/is my first/only acoustic guitar, so I don't have a lot to compare it to, besides some of my friends' guitars that I have played. A Taylor I played once (sorry, don't know model) was much brighter and responsive, everything about your technique could be heard and stood out (good and bad). The DG-7 has a mellower sound, a bit bottom heavy, but overall a nice balance. The very highs (high e string at the 9+ fret) are fairly thin and tend to drop away quickly. The guitar does not sustain very well, but it has the original (read, old) strings on it right now, I am going to get them replaced tomorrow. I play on a Praise and Worship team, and it accompanies vocals very well, and you can easily change the sound of the guitar (boomy lows, trebly highs, etc.) by experimenting with how you mic it. I give it a 6 because it sounds about like a 6. Nothing wrong with the sound as fas as I hear, but nothing uber-outstanding either.

Hmmm... the action. I'm also hoping to get this fixed tomorrow, because from the factory it isn't so good. It is acceptably low on the lower five frets, but from the seventh or eightgh up, it gets ridiculous. It is very nearly impossible to play anthing intricate up there because of how high it is, aka Incubus's "Mexico". Everything seems to fit well, no flaws, the finish is holding up well (except for where my case is coming apart on the inside, and slightly marring a place on the finish, but this is not the DG-7s fault), so 2 out of 3 ain't bad, right? It gets a seven.

This guitar is a brick $hithouse. I play this guitar about constantly and there is no visible wear anywhere, besides the aforementioned marring from the case. It only came w/ one strap button, and I never had a second one installed, so I don't know how durable they would be. I gig with it every week without a backup, the only thing that could happen would be a broken string (which hasn't happened to me in almost 4 years of playing, guess I'm lucky) or a high-speed encounter with a Mack truck. I depend on it every week, and it hasn't let me down yet.

Never had to deal with them.

I've played for nearly 4 years, my only other guitar is a Rogue ST-3 (I know, I know, but it was my first time, and it was cheap) electric. If lost/stolen, I may not replace it right away, would probably go acoustic-electric shopping. Heck, I'd go acoustic-electric shopping NOW if I had the $$$. But as of right now, I'd probably borrow my friend's Samick until I had enough saved up to buy a higher end guitar. For a beginner, this is perfect. A very small investment, and if you don't like playing after all, or you wimp out cuz it hurts your wee wittle fingers, then you can recover most of your meager spent funds by selling it. And if you do like it, then this guitar can grow with you. I didn't begin to play better than the instrument until I few months ago, so I'm going to try to update the instrument to get it back ahead of myself. Plays well, sounds pretty good, will go on forever if you don't physically destroy it.

This Fender DG-7 was made in Indonesia in 1999 if I'm reading the serial number correctly. It has 20 frets. It's a laminated top. The back and sides are made from meranti, which I don't know what that is. It's a dreadnaught without any electronics. The tuners are the standard silver Fenders tuners. Not sure what the neck scale is but it's a little fatter than my Stratocaster neck. It has a rosewood fretboard, of course. One of those cowboy teardrop pickguards too.
No accessories were included.
I have to give it a rating of 1 since it doesn't really have any features..but I don't mean to imply that's a bad thing.

I play alternative rock. Stuff like Nirvana all the way to punk and beyong to the Goo Goo Dolls. This guitar is good for that sound. It's a lot flatter than any other acoustic you would probably find. I hear the low-end Yamahas are very competitive with this model. I haev to be honest and say the sound isn't special at all. I think it's fine for a bedroom guitar or in your living room or by a campfire. I've taken it to open mics before. Mic'ed the soundhole and it performed well.
There's not a lot of variety to this. There's really nothing to like or dislike about the sound. You won't find it bad or special. I'll give it a 4

The action was just OK when I bought it. I took it to a guitar tech and it needed some adjustments. This was made in Indonesia off an assembly line most likely. Several frets needed to be filed, the nut had to be nudged over a bit. About $50 of luthier work. I gotta say after that this is the best playing $200 guitar you'll find. The action is pretty low and works well for rock. I highly recommend putting in the work to make this a good guitar.
I think the top was either bookmatched properly, or it's just one big piece. I see no discrepencies with the way it's fitted. Other than a few frets there weren't any problems with it. Even the cheap tuners keep a tune well. Actually, I'm surprised how well it stays in tune. I actually keep this guitar in an alternate tuning since I have another acoustic.
This gets a 5 since it wasn't perfect. I would be surprised if you bought one of these brand new that didn't need some work.

This guitar can take as much abuse as any acoustic can. It's a tough little s.o.b. I knick it quite often and there's no severe dents in it. Just some little scrapes here and there. But it's a cheap guitar. It's character. The finish is fine though there is one flake at the base of the neck. It's been there awhile and hasn't grown any worse. The fretboard is nice. It's not caving in from my constant playing. And I do play this alot as it sits in a stand easy to grab.
Someone else listed the top is flaking. Not mine and I've had it for three years.
The bottom strap button (was no top one) did come out.
I would depend on it. Only you can hurt it..it won't hurt itself. I wouldn't gig with it now since I have a better guitar. But I would use it as a backup. Maybe put an ibeam in it and use it live if I needed a differently tuned guitar. There's no shame with this axe.
The hardware is standard..but I think it'll last awhile. At least three years.

I've dealt with Fender over a different guitar. They were nice and called me back a week after our first conversation.
I'm not sure how long this warranty is. Probably not long at all.

I've been playing since I was 18. Got serious about three years ago. I'm 36 now, but let's just say I have three years of serious playing.
I have three other guitars, a strat, another Fender acoustic and an epiphone electric. This is my songwriting guitar. My friends grab it when they walk in the door. In a way it just kinda fits everyone. They know they can't hurt it.

I didn't know guitars that well before I bought this. I didn't know about laminated tops or solid woods or koa or rosewood. I'm more educated now on these matters.

With my experience I would not buy this guitar again. If it was stolen I'd be pissed mostly because of the sentimental value. This is a great learning and knock around guitar. But if it was stolen I'd either live with the loss or buy something that's a higher end product.

What do I love about this guitar? It's comfortable. It's really nice to have one guitar you don't have to worry about. There's nothing about it I hate. The best feature though is the neck.
I didn't compare this with other guitars when I bought it. I was just "cool, an acoustic." I chose it because of the price.

Do you not have a guitar to beat around? Teach a child on? Hit the Honky Tonk Man over the head with? Buy this guitar.
Do you play for a living? Do you want to plug in and grow to the guitars exceptional qualities? Then don't buy this guitar.

I do wish I could plug it in. I wish there was more versatility..but it's a cheap guitar. You can get them much cheaper now than the price I paid.

Lastly and most importantly: If you buy this guitar factor in the luthier cost. You should probably do that with any $200 acoustic. This will not be perfect out of the box. But a good luthier can make it very playable. I'd suggest that even for the most novice of players. You'll thank yourself.

This model was made in Indonesia. Seems like it's a laminated body. The body is dreadnought shape. Had a tortoiseshell pickgaurd on it that I decided to rip off the other day and it was made of a sticky plastic which made me laugh. Doing this also cause some of the laminate top to peel off so now there's a lighter space where the pickgaurd used to be. A basic acoustic I guess(!)

What I don't like about it is it has only one strap button on the base of body, so in order to attach a strap to the guitar, you have to loop the other end onto the headstock behind the nut. Pretty inconvenient if you ask me.

I bought it as part of a 'Fender Acoustic Starter Pack', which came bundled with a soft case gigbag, a tuner, a strap, an Allans key-wrench and a new set of fender acoustic strings.

It has a slightly bright sound on the unwound strings with a lot of lower bass end from the bottom strings. Not much of depth in the overall sound but it does get the job done. It's quite loud, which I think can be attributed to it's reasonably large size. I think that's where it gets the boomy bass end from too.

Open chords and notes sing, fretted notes sound quite duller. I find i have to really dig into the fretboard and get right behind the fret to make it ring clear. Played with a lighter touch it sounds ok but I found that in order to get a nice ring I have to really dig the frets. This should be discussed in the catergory below really though.

What I like about the sound is the volume, it's quite loud and strummed with a plectrum it can get it's sound across. My dislikes would have to be that it doesn't sound entirely balanced to me.

Action is very high! This was my first guitar - acoustic or electric - and I can only describe the feeling as if I was thrown in the deep end of the pool. Playing any barre chords was a nightmare when I first started. To the beginner I think that getting the barre chord right is the first real obstacle/test, and the high action on this guitar didn't make it any easier! However, once I had gotten used to its action (after developing callouses VERY FAST,) any other guitar I play is like butter now. Good for building up finger strength? ;-)

The finish was excellent when I bought it. It has now accumalated numerous bumps and scars from being played and lain around. My personal belief is a well worn guitar signifies a well loved guitar. If you're too careful with it, how can you really try get good sounds out of the guitar when you're too worried about getting a scratch on the body? IT'S FOR PLAYING NOT A MUSEUM PIECE. Sorry this rant applies to all kinds of guitars, not just the DG-7. Just make sure you don't do any dents on the neck, otherwise it's fine merely cosmetic.

The tuners work well enough. I do not plan to replace them. It's a inexpensive guitar and not worth investing anymore money into it. The wood is laminated plywood - not poor quality - just cost efficient means of building the guitar. My only real gripe is the nut fell off when I first changed the strings! It wasn't even glued on! So now the nut is held down purely by the pressure exerted by the strings, (a "floating" nut? :-D)!!

The rosewood fretboard is seriously drying up, though this may be because being a beginner as I was I was polishing the body with the guitar polish included with the DG-7 pack, and I thought that I'd clean the fret board with the polish too. BAD IDEA... use only lemon oil kids. Guitar polish on your fretboard will dry it up! Unless it's a maple fretboard.

Yeh this guitar is durable. I haven't been careful about it at all during the last 4 years I've had it and it still serves me well. I'm sure it will withstand live playing because it's a kind of guitar you'd either just sit down with it or stand up with it hanging on a strap. It's not the kind of guitar to be doing backflips with, mmkay? The finish gets dented and scratched quite easily, ESPECIALLY THE BINDING, which seems to be fake anyway.
I don't gig, but I take it that a backup guitar implies a guitar to use if the current guitar either breaks a string or the neck snaps off during playing or someone throws something at it when you play Tears in Heaven or Wonderwall in front of people for the 1034'th time and it collapses in your hand. And if any of those situations seems likely to happen then yes I will take a backup.
But no, granted the guitar isn't indestructible, I would try to use fresh strings before a gig and play sensibly, hopefully reducing the chance of anything like the above happening.

No experience with the Fender Company, but the people down at Manny's in Prahran are good people. My first guitar that I got with my Mum when I turned 18, and they were the most honest, friendly and helpful people. Apparently they only employ staff who are either working professional musicians or ex-working pro musos. And their follow-up customer service (VERY IMPORTANT!!) kicks ass.
If you live in Melbourne, go there for service and advice because they are good people, not places like Gallins Guitars across the street, or Fretted Instruments up the road who have an idiot of a guitar technician, they have bad people. I don't work for Manny's, I'm just an honest 21 yr old amatauer player who knows the good places respect all kinds of people interested in music and don't think your stupid questions are stupid.
This rating is for Manny's in Prahran!

My mate Gezza a couple of reviews below got this guitar at the same shop a couple of months after me! So we've had the DG-7 for nearly 4 years. Surprisingly I've only been seriously playing for the last year and a half. Initially I took it home, got discouraged by the high action probably also because of the steel strings (as opposed to the nylon ones on other friend's classical guitar) because is was hard on the fingers and hands, so it was out back in the gigbag for 2 years while I went back to the piano, on which I was grew up playing on.
Then suddenly I really got into playing the guitar, enthusiasm spewed forth and hasn't stopped since. Currently I own an Ibanez RX20 electric and a Fender MIJ '62 RI Stratocaster that had spent their time playing through a little Peavey Blazer practic amp, and are now playing through a lovely Peavey Classic 30 tube amp. There's also a little assortment of BOSS pedals and a Vox wah that they sometimes run through. Recently I've picked up the bass, cos it's just great to lay the grooves, it gives you the OTHER side of the song and the music... and IMHO is way cooler than the guitar can ever be. :-)

I wouldn't have wished to ask anything that i hadn't when i purchased the DG-7. Although it was a hard guitar to play for a beginner, it's helped gotten me where I am now, and so in hindsight it was a very good buy.
If it were stolen or lost, I would buy another acoustic but not this guitar. Most likely a Maton.
What do I love about it? It is my first guitar, and it's been well loved so it has a huge amount of sentimental value to it. I didn't compare it to any other guitar because 1) I was a beginner that had no clue, and 2) it came in a starter pack that was perfect for me at the time.

Honestly, when I bought the guitar I had no idea what a Fender was or the history of the company. I did not know what made a good guitar or the differences between wood types, body shapes... I didn't know what 'action' was or what 'a good tone' sounded like... heck I didn't even know how to play a chord. I just couldn't tell the difference. And trust me, most people you are playing to - unless they are muso's themselves - have no idea either. I bought this guitar purely on the reasonable price and recommendation from the guy working in the shop. Now that I am relatively more experienced and knowledgeable about guitars and music I would like to say all these pickups, wood, hollow body/solid body, brand names etc. things are FINE and FUN for a bit of tinkering around with... but at the end of the day a guitar is an instrument, and and an instrument is a tool. That's all it is. Don't get too fussy with them and go bashing any other guitar/brand/country of origin, which seems to happen too much on Harmony Central. Unless it's 20 bucks and made like cardboard - if it sounds bad, blame the fingers playing it.

Overall I think this is a great guitar. Good to bash around with without worrying about getting scratches or dents. I do wish it had a lighter/lower action for playability reasons, but other than that it serves the purpose of being an inexpensive guitar for either the beginner or a player with a budget perfectly. It's cheap and gets the job done. Can't complain about that!

My guitar is a 2000 model dg-7. I am pretty sure it was made in Indonesia. It has 20 frets(i don't like that). It also has a laminated top which reeeaally sucks. I have no idea what the wood is on this thing. Maybe pine. It's a dreadnought guitar. It has a nice thin neck on it that really facilitates playing barre chords.

I bought this guitar last year. The guy at the guitar store said i should try it. I looked at the price and immediately thought it was gunna blow. But, to appease the guy, i decided to go ahead and try it. Boy am i glad i did! For the price i could have not found a better guitar anywhere!! This thing booms with sound. It's very loud and bassy with a full sound. It also has a very pleasast bright sound to it. This guitar could suit many styles. Also sounds really good with fingerpicking. I like almost everything about it. THe tuner screws start to come out after awhile. And the nut came off within 6 months but i got it put back on and have never had a problem with it again. But other than those two things this guitar has given me no problems.

This guitar came set up alright i guess. The strings sucked really bad so i replaced those right away. The action is alright but could be a lot better. But there is hardly any fret buzz so that is a plus. The only problem is the tuners and nut. But i got those taken care off. The wood can be scrathed and nicked really easy so you must be careful when it comes to that.

I have played with this axe live and it is really good. It holds up very well and is very solid. Hardware is really good. Finish can scratch and chip easily. It only has ONE strap button and that totally sucks. i hate that a lot. I dunno if i would gig again without a backup.

It has a 2 year warranty but i have never had to deal with it before.

Over all this guitar is great for a beginner and a advanced player. It holds up well and sounds great and would be a great investment to buy it, especially for soemone wanting to learn.

The guitar was made probably in '99/'00 in Indonesia. 22 Frets, Laminated Top (which is kind of poopy.) I'm not sure what kind of wood, but it seemed like pine to me, with a glossy finish. Plain old no frills acoutic guitar, no bells and whistles here. It does look nice.

If you're playing open chords with a pick, it sounds ok.The sound is pretty mediocre once you get into more advanced playing. Pretty full sounding. Anything other than that, lookout. I like a deep rich full sound, this thing was kind of bright/tinny and at times has a hollow sound.It's also got more buzzing than a beehive, there were about four or five frets that you get no sound from.

The guitar is well made in a conveyer belt factory sense. Everything works well. The action is decent, but a little clumsy at times, although we could also fault my fat fingers for that. It hold its tune pretty well.

I played with this guitar live a couple of times, you certainly could if you don't mind the sound of it. The hardware is pretty good, no doubt it will hold up. The great thing about this guitar is you could wail the hell out of it and it would be fine, it's a tough piece. There is only one strap button, which sucks, no one likes that. why do they make any guitar like that? I'd encourage you to rough this thing up, it'd give it some character.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing a couple of years, using my Uncle's guitar, I got this just to have something of my own. It's great for a beginner. It's cheap and durable. I'd recommend it as a first guitar. You don't get much on the trade in for these though, as I found out. I loved the simplicity of this guitar, but I grew dissatisfied with the tonal quality of it. It is what is, though and I can't fault it for that.

I don't know when this guitar was made, but I think it was made in Indonesia. It has 22 frets across a very thin neck. Depending on your preference this may be a good thing or a bad thing. This was my first guitar and I found it tough to play compared to my friend's classical guitar. The thin neck makes precision picking quite difficult for beginners. But once you get used to it, the thin neck means that you don't have to strain your fingers to barre a chord.
Apart from the guitar, for my AUS $300 bucks worth they also threw in a gig bag, electronic guitar tuner, extra strings, guitar polish, guitar cloth, some plectrums and a fender chord book. A very nice beginner's pack.

I listen and try to play almost everything, except really hard metal and hard rock. This guitar has a nice clean sound and makes those plectrum plucking songs such as Eric Clapton's 'Tears from Heaven' a real treat to the ear. The sound that this guitar makes is fairly loud, not noisy...loud, and it has a lot of bass. I should mention that my rating for the sound is based on how the guitar sounded AFTER I changed the strings. But I guess this is only fair, as the condition of factory set-up strings vary from one guitar to the other.

The factory set-up of the guitar was quite bog-standard. No major flaws and nothing to throw a party about. The only thing that I guess I could complain about was the condiion of the strings. Perhaps I've worn the strings out and only noticed it recently, or maybe indeed the guitar came with shitty strings, I don't know. But after I changed the strings, the sound was a lot cleaner.
The action of the guitar is quite high, and when combined with the thin neck can make it tough to play as I have mentioned above. But if you persist, you'll get used to it.

I've had this guitar for about 3 years now and it hasn't even got a scratch on it. I really try to take care of my equipment so I guess I wouldn't know how durable it would be if it was in the hands of some crazy nut. But overall, I think this guitar is quite solid. For what it's worth, this guitar still sounds as nice as it did when I first got it. Better in fact...since I couldn't really make any nice sounds at all when I first bought it, hehe.

dunno, never dealth with them

I've been playing for about 3 years now and am starting up a band. When I first got this guitar, I was put off by it because the steel strings killed my fingers. Initially I actually detuned the guitar so that the looser strings would be easier on my fingers. I believe that it hurts my fingers so much because of the thin neck and high action which forces me to press extremely hard on the strings to play for example...a barre chord. But the better I have gotten, the more I like this guitar. Since then I've also bought myself a Samick Les Paul Copy Electric guitar and recently, I've found myself spending more time playing the DG-7. I would say that I'd like to recommend this guitar to a beginner because the price for quality is extremely good, but I'm not sure if the steel strings would deter them from continuing to play (it almost happened to me), that would be a shame. But for anyone else who is already used to sore fingers, this guitar is an awesome buy. If it were stolen or lost, I would definately not hesitate to get another one if I could find it for a good price. Especially that I'm starting to really like this guitar...I would be really upset if I lose it anytime soon.
The last thing that I really liked about this guitar is that it forced me to be precise with my fingers on the strings. After I learnt how to play the DG-7, my electric guitar seemed like a kids toy when I bought it, it was so damn easy to play.
The way I see it is...you love this guitar a little more each time you play it.

Made in Indonesia..no idea what year it is....looks like your average acoustic guitar.

I went into the store and asked for acoustics under $200. The salesperson then brought out the Epi Acoustic(NOT Epiphone, the headstock says "Epi"), Fender DG-7 and Takamine. I played the Epi first, kind of dull-sounding..didn`t like it..anyway the wood is of poor quality and I`m afraid it might break easily.

Next, the Fender. I played and it sounded awesome. The chords ring out nicely and the sounds are rich. Amazing for playing Beatles songs! Next, the Takamine, it sounds the same as the Epi. Didn`t like it too.

I played the Fender for quite a long time before deciding to buy it.

Can`t really comment much on this but in the sound hole, there are some wood cravings left behind. When i shake the guitar, u can hear the wood cravings making sounds.

I would use it for live, why not? I wish there was a second strap button..strings are always in tune.

Never dealt with the company so I can`t comment.

I`ve been playing for four years. I own a Aria Pro Tele guitar, Hiwatt Custom 20 combo and now the Fender DG-7. I wanted an acoustic to play those lovely Beatles songs and also other classic rock eg LedZep.

My only complaint is the lack of a second strap button. Overall, I love this guitar.

Overall, I love

I bought this guitar when I was about 13 and it was my first guitar. No feautures and a straight up acoustic.

The sound is great for a cheap guitar. Especially with all of the crap I've put this guitar through in the last 8 years. It has about 200 stickers on it but it still sounds full.

Well, this doesn't really matter anymore with all I've done to it but it's a perfect acounstic.

This guitar can go through a brick wall if I wanted it to and it would probably make the sound better

Never had to deal with them

This guitar is my baby and I've a million guitars since I've bought this and this guitar will be with me forever. If I lost it I would buy another one. A trick to this guitar though, do not treat it like it can't be replaced, do not polish it, do not display, treat it like crap and it will love you for it.

Not many features its an acoustic although I found that I really like it a lot better than the Lotus strat copy I traded for it.

It has a nice full sound that is very pleasing and I feel that it has a great bass tone that doesn't buzz and it has great high tones

The action is a little off although the thing is pretty easy to play one flaw that I noticed is that it has a big body but that doesn't bother me too bad. the finish seems to hold up pretty good although the top is pretty thin

The hardware stands up fine and I probably would take it to a gig the only visible flaw that I can find is there is only one strap button.

Never dealt with em'

This has been a great first guitar and I plan to buy Fender for the rest of my playing career.

I'm no rich man, that's why I have this guitar. I really don't know when it was made, but it's just a regular Mexican Fender. It's a 22 fret I think, and a very crazy finish. Remember this cost me 150. The neck is pretty small for a guy that has a 4-inch middle finger and a 3-inch pinky. The tuners seem alright, not that bad. That's all i got.

I'm am a Beatles freak, but this really didn't tickle my fancy as much as I thought it would. There is a bright sound, but hardly any bass. It sounds full strumming it, and you can finger-pick it too. Anyway, it's good enough for me.

The action is good until you get to strumming. Sometimes, I smash my finger into the strings while strumming. Is it me? I don't know. I just think it's a bit too high. Playing barre chords are murder on my fingers....i'd rather not talk about it. Every thing else was fine.

This guitar is used by me for just fooling around. I'd probably wouldn't use it live. The hardware is decent, but the finish a bit weak. I was dissapointed when I found there was only one stap button. I sought revenge, just joking. It's a fine guitar, and since I'm only 15, and far from a professional, I would have you to use it without any back up

I bought this beast from MF. They always treat me right. It under warrentee, but since I'm so cool, i'll never use it. Joking.. the warrentee is for...i don't remember.

I've been playing since I was in the womb, wait, no I haven't. It's been two years as a bassist and a few months with a six string. This guitar is a decent guitar. It plays, and well. If it were stolen, I give the robber some money for taking it off my hands, Joking. Anyway, I would probably go for a Epiphone rather than get another. I just heard the Beatles used Fenders, so I thought it would be good. And it fulfilled it's perpose as the greatest guitar of all time!!!!!