Burswood Esteban Classical

I got the same guitar here as everyone else on this post...it was really something i wanted..but i was dissapointed to see nylon strings...i wsas pretty exited and began to tune the strings along with the video//i can tune it myself but the video said to go along with him...as i touched the tighting knobs they felt cheap..not a slid turn...they were a bit wobbly...i began to get a bit discouraged ...my wife got it for me because i saw it on hsn and thought for the price thats pretty good..i felt terrible as i played it...you can see its more of a student guitar and wont hold up to any solid playing...HERE'S WHERE IT GETS BAD.I HEARD A CRACKING NOISE AS I BEGAN TO TUNE THE LAST STRING...I FIGURED'WELL ITS NEW AND IT PROBABLY JUST THE WOOD STRETCHING...THEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN...I HEARD POP..I FIGURED I BUSTED THE STRING..NOT SO...THE BRIDGE THAT RAISES THE STRINGS OFF THE FRETBOARD..AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GUITAR CSHATTERED AND HIT ME RIGHT IN THE FACE....MY FEELING WERE HURT MORE THAN MY FACE...I WAS DISSAPOINTED MORE BECAUSE MY WIFE FELT BAD TOO...THE GUITAR IS BACK IN THE BOX AND ON ITS WAY TO ESTEBAN....I ON THE OTHERHAND AM GOING TO SAM ASH AND GETTING A NICE GIBSON ACOUSTIC FOR MYSELF...IT IS WORTH 159..NO DOUBT...ITS NO RIPPOFF...BUT ITS NO GIBSON EITHER...YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR KIDDIES.YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.....

SEE MY COMMENT ABOVE

This is a follow up to an ealier review. I have has this guitar for year and half, it is holding up extremely well. The varnish or paint on the fret board is wearing in some of the common positions and actually lends to a good aged look. I have banged this guitar around and it has quite a few dings, but is otherwise is good shape. We have used it on several recordings and it always sounds good. It you are a beginner and you don't want to kill your fingertips try this one out, for $100 you can't go wrong.

Came with a good deal of goodies. Case, Learning Videos, tuner, extra stings, pics.

I havent played much acustics before, but the sound outta this just seems awsome to me.I love it. I got this for my birthday, and maybe its a budget guitar, but man it mean alot to me.

It looks like an acustic, really the look for an acustic should be plain, unlke one from an electric. No dents nickd or scratches( maybe the company has gotten better?)

Seems to be very solid, I did have a few strigs that had this weird vivraty tone to it but i fixed that, and it just seems like something i can play everyday all day long.

I really dont know, havent need to contace them.

I would reconmend this guitar for beginners, and like I said before, I really havent played any acustic before. This is actully my second. And I love it. Seems to me like ill be keeping this for a while. It was signed by Esteban, and i am going to be watching those tapes.

there is nothing that really sets this guitar apart from the rest of the pack. good basic guitar.

i play mostly country. i have a slight problem with my fingers fitting in the frets but the sound is very rich when you really get going!

the guitar was in good condition when i got it. it reaked of glue, which ment that it was pretty fresh from the factory. the finish is nice but a little dark on the backside for my liking.

i think that this guitar is a decent one. pat green or willy nelson are not going to play on this guitar every night for one of their conserts granted, but it is meant for the student, not the touring pro.

there isnt much on the company "burswood" from what i can find. my guitar didnt even come with a serial number. all you can really do is play it hard for the 3 months until the HSN warrenty is up and then decide what you want to do.

this is just your basic student guitar. i have played for about 6 months and it is just right for my skill and my budget. my brother and my dad have been playing for a while, and i have messed with some awesome guitars, but this is not one of them! a good one to learn on.

I bought the Esteban Burswood steelstring guitar from the HSN. I didn't like it at all. The sound was muffeles and the strings were too high off of the frets. I sent it back. I got on line with the Esteban home page(estebanmusic.com). They were offering the same guitard from their own website. So i ordered the Classical Guitar from Esteban's own people and i love it. Sutr it is a cheap guitar. But it projects the sound quite well and is a beautiful piece. The machine is cheap and gaudy and i will change it out and put better strings on it and im sure i will have a fine beginners guitar for te a while to come. I will always keep it becaust i am an Esteba fan, but as i get more adapt to the guitar i will purchase more expensive guitars. but as an artist,,(gomezart.com) i feel that this guitar will do me well as i learn. I appreciate the true sound it gives. But i do not feel that it is a $300.00 guitar as theadvertizers proclaim. Don

My Style is Spanish classical music. I chose that style because my Mother and farhte"s grand parents were from Spain.

Everything on the guitar was beautiful except the hardware. It is a cheap gold color with some loose turning pegs.

I feel it is a sturdy piece, a great finish, dont need strap buttons, with better strings and machine it will lasta long time.

what company? cant find it. :)

1 year playing. i own a steelstring Jasmin by Takamini. Good guitar that i will always keep. if i lost the esteban guitar that i bought from Esteban's web site i would get another one. I just wish the strings and machine on it were of better quality.

Made in China , 20 fret guitar with solid laminated top , with no model number, Mahogany neck , with case , strap , tuner , and instructional video

This is at most a 70 $ guitar with average sound.

The neck if this guitar is very comfortable for beginers to play , the action is low , and my 5th and 4rth strings buzz

This is a beginers instrument , YOu are jokin if you think this will last you live playin or even for a couple of years

Im sending this back , and getting my money back , dont waste your money on this piece of junk , and u will loose 10 bucks on shippin it back to them

This is not a instrument , this is a Chinese piece of furniture. I would recomend going around to a few stores and spending maybe a few extra dollars but getting a good instrument. For esteban to compair his 10 000 dollar guitar to this was a joke. and if u look closely on the informercial , he is playin his own guitar and not the guitar that u r getting. look around for sales in music stores and u can get a good 300 dollar guitar for around 150 bucks. Esteban , you should stop rippin people off.

Made in China. Solid wood, don't know what kind. No grain visible on sides and neck. Finish was horrible, scratches and dings everywhere.Edges of fretboard were painted with a marker. Tuners were cheap and gaudy. Came with a two dollar gig bag with a stuck zipper, no name set of extra strings and a STRAP...for a classical guitar! Also included three picks.

Three words...sounded like crap! I am a classical player and took a chance thinking I could have some fun with this guitar. I am an Esteban fan, and thought a signed guitar would be cool to have. Esteban, stop ripping people off! This is a twenty dollar piece at most!

Fret buzz GALORE!!!! This instrument cannot be compared to actual guitars or taken seriously.

This guitar would not withstand being played by a corpse. Again a laughable strap button! I can depend on it for firewood. I would be embarassed to show this guitar in public.

The company actually showed this guitar next to Estebans $10,000 classic and said it was something that could be passed on to your next generation. It is junk even for a beginner. Stay away from this guitar. Beginners : buy a Yamaha C-40, or an Epiphone C-10. For about thirty dollars more you will get a quality, name brand instrument and will not be disappointed.

DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS PIECE OF JUNK!!!

The neck has 20 frets. Guitar is made in china in 2002. It has a solid spruce top ( yes the grain is visable). It has a mahogany bridge the same as Martin. The rest of this all wood guitar, I have no idea what type of wood used. I know that it shows no grain. It looks like the neck was touched up with a magic marker in a couple of places. The strap peg on the bottom of the guitar is crooked. It has a wonderful high gloss finish, very well applied. The bridge needs to be worked on to bring the strings lower to the neck. The chrome tuners are manageable. Has a Herringbone stpipe down the middle on back. The rosesette is pleasing to the eye. Features Esteban's signature on the manufactures label. No model number anywhere on the label. Has standard black plastic pickguard. The strings are average quality. The neck does have a truss rod installed. Comes with gig bag, set of standard strings, picks,wrenches,strap. The neck is true all the eay to the top. It also comes with instruction video.

You will be heard. This guitar is loud. It would sound better with a better set of strings. Even with the stock strings it,s not a bad sounding guitar. Somewhat of a bright sound.

Action on the neck is true, all the way up.

I don't thike it would hold up on the road. Would need a backup on the road. Finish is adequate for home use. Since it has a truss rod, it should be dependable for home use.

No warranty.

For anyone who is doubtful, this guitar came 100 percent AS ADVERTISED. This is advertised as a student guitar. Detected no deception in their advertisement. The advertisement stated a couple of times that this is a beginners instrument. I use it just for plucking around the house and find it to be a great value for this purpose.

It's a standard sized classical (about 39 1/2"). Made with a spruce top (even most cheap guitars are now) and the rest is identified as "all wood". However, no one at HSN would identify the other wood. They were even going to put me on the air to speak to Esteban as a "call in viewer" (a.k.a. purchaser) until they knew I was going to ask construction questions then I was told my question "wasn't suitable for the program, I should contact the company". However, no one at HSN could give me a phone number or even an e-mail/web address for the company and wouldn't get it from Esteban who was sitting right there. So I got "bumped off air". I've been playing classical guitar as an advanced amature/semi-professional for almost 20 years and wanted a "bang around" guitar. I'm disabled so it's a pain (literally) to get out so I decided to just pick this one up. It did come with 2 sets of cheap strings. It also came with a strap peg. (unusual for any classical guitar, pegs are usually only found on steel string guitars). Appearance wise, it has a natural finish to the spruce top instead of the classic sunburst (orange) of a standard spanish guitar. One reason I asked HSN about the "other wood" it was made of is that the only visible grain is on the spruce top and that's it. There is a company on e-Bay that sells another "no-name" brand called Lyndale that are twice the quality with a better sound for the same $100 price range. You only get one set of strings and a gig bag (soft bag) but the construction and sound quality are much better. Also included in the Esteban is a supposed instruction video they claim is worth $30 by itself. Esteban is actually a good/very good concert guitarist but a terrible teacher. An hour tape and he promises you will learn 2 songs. He spends 10 minutes of the hour telling you about himself and the history of the guitar instead of teaching a song. When he does start teaching, the first song is the Malage?a but he basically teaches you 3 chords and the first few measures of the song then moves on to the next song and only teaches part of that. Trust me when I say that Malage?a is several minutes (multiple measures) long. And the version he plays on HSN is a concert version of the song, not the one he teaches.

After the guitar arrived it was somewhat obvious what the "other wood" was. From the sound it is probably no more than a laminated pressed board. For a hobbiest or a throw around guitar, it really is okay though. Unlike others, I've had no problem keeping it in tune. In reading other reviews the people who had the biggest problems seemed, by majority, to have come from steel string guitars. I can't fault nylon strings of any price going out of tune for the first week or so, it's what they do. The more you play them the sooner that stops though. Nylon strings are very sensitive to hunidity and temp. changes at first. At playing for 15 minutes a day on average you can expect it to take even a couple weeks for the strings to finish stretching.

The overall sound of the guitar is pretty bright. Most classical guitars have a more mellow sound but that has to do again with the woods it is made of and construction (and eventually the mellowness will develop further with age). The range is still pretty clear (lows to highs). The harmonics get really weak around the 5th fret though.

As another reviewer said, the strings were not wound tight but in defence of the guitar maker I will say that it really is how you ARE supposed to ship any guitar. It keeps tension off the neck during shipping and for long periods of storage (so I had no problem with that). As another reviewer pointed out though, the strings that ship with the guitar are pretty cheap quality. I would rather have had one good set of nylon strings than 2 sets of cheap stings to make the deal sound better. Get yourself a set of Martin classical nylon strings and the guitar will sound noticably different.

While the guitar didn't have any digs, there are noticeable dull spots in the finish. I don't expect the finish on this guitar to stand up for a long time. It really could use a few more finishing coats.

I wouldn't consider using this guitar in concert. I'm in the process of considering whether to keep it or not. I have a concert instrument and the other no-name I mentioned (the Lyndale from e-Bay...which I'm beginning to think will probably become the throw around guitar). My niece is showing interest so I may give it to her as a first guitar.

I also mentioned that it has a strap button/peg. In 20 years of buying and playing I've never seen a Spanish classical with a peg. Maybe they just use the same body for their classical that they do for their steel string and change the head and tuning gear? I'll never know if the button is solid because you just don't use it in playing classical guitar.

As I mentioned, I was actually "bumped off the air list" to talk to Esteban on HSN because I wanted to ask questions about things they never addressed. So I can only guess what service would be like if it needed it.

I have been playing since the very early 80s. If it were lost or stolen I definitely wouldn't buy another. I have had other inexpensive guitars as well as a hand made Spanish concert piece. So far the best inexpensive one has been the Lyndale. Compared to the other inexpensive guitars I've had over the years, it has lasted the longest, already has a mellow sound out-of-the-box and the finsih has held up very well.

I did compare a number of guitars in the $100 price range and because I have purchased other merchandise from HSN and it has ALWAYS come as advertised, I trusted them on this one. My mistake though, after purchasing it I watched Esteban hawking this guitar again and noticed for the first time that he never ONCE played the classical guitar he was selling, he always uses a $3500 concert guitar. I didn't even notice it until after the fact; if the guitar he is selling is so good, why isn't he actually demonstrating it? You live and learn...and watch a little closer in the future.

It's a classical, not too many knobs, pickups, or designs, it's very rudimentary.

I haven't played too many nylon strings(this was a gift), but I'd be happy to know that they do get any better than this for the price that was paid

It came detuned, so I had to tune it before I could watch the instructional video. However, it does have this problem where about 4 of the strings go flat, slightly, were only talking about 1/2 of a semitone. Still it's enough to get annoyed about~

Never heard of this brand so I can't compare it or have I heard about it's other guitars, but judging by its feel I HOPE it will last as long as I have it and treat it right.

LIke I said it was a gift.

Like I said it seems to be worth the value, except for the staying in tune problem. I'll give it a...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................