Daisy Rock Guitars Heartbreaker

Heart shaped 3/4 size guitar aimed at the teenage girl market ... or perhaps anybody else who would like a small heart shaped guitar. Bought in local the UK at my local guitar shop.

Small, light and simple is the way of things with this guitar. Body is basswood, neck is maple and fretboard is rosewood. All looks solidly glued and screwed together. This is the single bridge humbucker pickup version with a lone volume control. So not a lot to be said and even less to go wrong - which on balance with a cheapish guitar is probably a good thing. The pickup is a Daisy Rock branded item rather than being the Duncan "designed" models on the more expensive version.

Comparing with my Gibson Melody Maker is probably not exactly fair, but all I have to go by. So played through my Marshall AVT50 and 4x12 cab, it sounds fine, but lacks some definition and grit on the O/D channel. No tone control on the guitar probably does not help here and perhaps if I played around with the gain and tone on the amp for long enough it would be fine. Likewise on a Peavey practice amp it sounds ok. It would certainly benefit from a better pickup.

Made in China, so we are not talking lovingly hand built here. However, as said before all seems well screwed and glued together - so no complaints ...

... which is more than can be said for the setup and action.

When I tried it in the shop it was a total disgrace. No attempt had been made to set it up and once set up the poor finish of the frets was an issue. Full marks to my local shop (where I bought it) they sorted it out and also did me a reasonable discount on it - so I payed less than the on-line shops are charging in the UK. Anyway, I would beware buying one of these on-line given that it was unplayable in its factory state,

3/4 length so the tuning is a bit sensitive. Thankfully the tuners seemed to hold on ok once you have found the sweet spot.

Would you use it on a gig without a backup? Probably a question for my daughter should she ever get that far. It is basically a cheapish guitar and you get what you pay for. On the plus side there is very little to go wrong in terms of electrics and it all seems well put together. Only time will tell.

Cannot comment on Daisy Rock, but my local shop (Music Centre in Bedford UK) where I bought it were excellent given how bad it was in its factory state. Actually if Daisy Rock are happy to send out guitars in that state to the shops, then I think that says it all really.

So the rating here is for my local shop.

This is a guitar aimed at specific market and as such bought for my teenage daughter. Underneath the rather gimicky looks and pink paint, it is basically a solid and simple guitar which is all she needs. The factory setup is utterly dreadful, so buy from a decent guitar shop that will set it up properly and sort out any issues.

2003 or 2004, 1 lipstick tube w/ bridge humbucker, both Duncan Designed. Body probably basswood, fingerboard rosewood. Generic Gotoh-style tuners, hardtail Fender-type bridge. Black body, chrome hardware, white pearloid heart-shaped pickguard and knurled chrome knobs. Position markers are also heart-shaped. 22 frets on a short scale. The neck is designed to be accessible for smaller folk (teenage girls, specifically) but the board is comfortable and roomy enough so that my fairly large guy-hands still have adequate room to roam.

Played thru Fender tube amps. Sound is suitably jangly w/ the lipstick. The humbucker has an unusual voicing. The mids sound out-of-phase, scooped and clucky. Wouldn't work for some styles, but well-matched to the lipstick tube -- imparts a little jangle to the humbucker. With both engaged the sound is unlike anything else I've played -- suggests a "Bangles" Rick sound, without actually sounding exactly like a Rick. Not my everyday tone, but a different texture.
I tune it with a double "B" on top (two B strings instead of a B and an E.) This enables me to play standard-tuning runs, then use double-stops to get a "12-string" unison effect on the top notes. This meshes nicely with the inherent jangle of the electronics.

Well, a mixed bag here. The construction of the body, neck, and hardware is excellent -- tight, sturdy, no blemishes.
As for the setup, let's say it'd be generous to say that one had even been done before shipment. The fret ends were well-finished, but the tops had that gritty feel that you sometimes come across on cheap guitars -- like they never got a final polishing. I did that myself, with some micro-grit cloths and steel wool. Once smoothed, there's no buzzing, so the basic installation and leveling were not bad.
The nut was horrendous. It looked like someone had just run a jeweler's saw across the nut blank and forced the strings in; they all "pinged" during tuning, because they were binding badly.
The low E string was practically riding the top of the nut -- it was a good .020" higher than it needed to be. The bar tensioner (which sits across all 6 strings above the nut) was screwed nearly all of the way down, causing an impossibly steep down-angle as the strings passed over the nut.
I opened, and in some cases deepened, the slots, and opened little "vees" into them so that the strings could pass freely on their way to the tuners. I filled the tensioner's screw holes, then backed the tensioner out to give the strings a gentler down-angle.
A few bridge adjustments later and it played wonderfully. But: A guitar aimed at beginners should not be set up to be unplayable. What good is it to sell a beginner a guitar which causes them to become frustrated? It took me all of my limited know-how to get the Heartbreaker working properly.

Except for having apparently bypassed final inspection, this is a surprisingly solid little beast. There's no reason it shouldn't last a long time with ordinary care.

I bought this by mail-order, as a dent-and-scratch. That means somebody else had bought it before me, grown frustrated, and returned it. I'm not surprised, given the impossibility of playing it in its original condition.
That having been said, once set-up, it is actually a very sweet guitar, and at $219.00, something of a bargain besides. It's my only short-scale, my only lipstick tube, and my only novelty-shaped guitar (out of about 20.) It's very cool (if neck-heavy) and one benifit of its short scale is that I can play it in the front seat of my car at lunch time.