Esteban Unknown Guitar

I've been a musician for most of my 61 years. Started out on an old 'Stella' acoustical guitar that belonged to my grandfather and went from that to a 'Danielectro' electric instrument. My wife ordered this Esteban package from the Home Shopping Network after one of Esteban's performances and sales pitches. The instrument itself was beautiful, but it's functionality was at the bottom of the list. After tuning it up the strings rested almost 3/16 of an inch above the frets AT THE NUT END making it almost impossible to chord. The old Stella that I learned to play on played easier and had a lot more tone than the Esteban did. After emailing the company 3 times about the condition of the instrument and giving them ample time and opportunity to respond, I ended up boxing the whole thing back up and returning it to HSN for a credit. I would NOT recommend this instrument to anyone who is wanting to learn to play - let alone a seasoned player. About the only working feature that I DID like about it was the built in pickup and EQ.

Being a country music style player this guitar does not have the 'gusto' needed for an acoustical instrument - even if it had been playable. Tinny highs and a lack of real good lows doesn't make for a good sound on stage. Even playing through it's built in pickup on numerous different amps didn't make any difference. My PRIMARY instrument is pedal steel guitar and I have several different high-end amplifiers that I use. None of those could make much difference in the tonal quality of the guitar.

WHAT "factory set up"??? It comes with an instruction manual telling you how to adjust the neck to start with! You shouldn't HAVE to make initial adjustments on the neck of ANY guitar as it's received from the factory.

I would not depend on this guitar for any type of actual performing. Now, it's pretty enough that it just MIGHT make a good wall decoration in some country stores or restaurants.

Ahhh. . . . here's what sets Esteban's company apart from all the rest! I emailed them FROM THEIR OWN WEB SITE 3 different times over about a three week period describing the problems with the guitar. Not ONCE did I get any sort of reply. So their customer support is basically NONE.

I've been playing for 50 +/- years. Other than the two instruments listed above I've owned a pre-CBS Fender Stratocaster, a Fender Telecaster, and an acoustical guitar that I had hand made. In the 70's I fell in love with the pedal steel guitar and that has been my primary instrument ever since. I own and play a Sho-Bud professional, a Sho-Bud Pro II, and a GFI Ultra. These are played through any one of several amps I own, but usually through one of my Peavey Session 500's or my Nashville 400.

I wouldn't even ATTEMPT to replace the Esteban - even if I had keptit if it came up stolen. If I'd had the opportunity to play one before my wife ordered it I would have told her not to waste her time.

standard finish, lacquer on some cheap wood. tuners that hardly stay tuned and a fretboard made out of fiberglass I'm assuming with frets that feel like barbed wire. made in china. included a gigbag, strap, cheesy instructional video, a tuner that can't tell the difference between D and E.

very dry and dull sounding when you can actually fret the chords right.

the action is just horrible. it is extremely hard to fret any chords and when you play most open chords, only 2 or 3 notes can actually be heard because the rest of the strings are muted. the action is so high that you have to physically strain your fingers to finger chords and you still can't get them to sound right.

the fretwires are poorly filed and can cut you if you're not careful. the nut is cut so deep on the higher strings that they do not sit well and rattle around. and the truss rod feels like it will break the neck if you try to adjust it

this guitar would not withstand live playing because its so horrible you will either smash it on stage or light it on fire or maybe both. the only reliable thing about it is that you can count on it to disappoint and and frustrate you every time you pick it up to play.

got it through HSN.

It is absolutely atrocious that some people can praise these guitars. I've lost my faith in humanity that someone who claims to be an accomplished guitarist can put his name on this piece of crap and market it to people.

I've been playing for 7 years now and I've owned a barrage of guitars ranging from jasmines, squires and no names, all the way up to taylors, martins, guilds and gibsons. we got this guitar for my sister on a whim for a starter guitar and the only reason i haven't destroyed it is because she likes to keep it in her room as decor. don't waste your money on this guitar. I'm so embarrassed to even have on in the same house as me that i almost didnt write this review because it would no longer allow me to deny any relation with it. Esteban, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Black, Cutaway steel string guitar. Came w/ nice case, strap, dvd lessons and amp.

I was a music major in college years ago in piano and woodwinds. I did learn a couple of chords on the guitar when I was a child. However, a beginner none the less. No style as of yet, but would like to learn classical and flamenco. The amp seems to work fine w/ no sound issues.

I had to tune the guitar when I received it. I don't see any issues in the guitar.

Well considering that I am not a professional and am learning only for myself this seems to be a moot point. So far so good.

Warranty for a year, never have needed to use it.

Again a beginner and am please w/ the guitar so far. Good sound, and on the contrary to others, I have found it easy to play. Notice I didn't say easy to learn. Nonetheless, very happy w/ the guitar. Paid 179.00 brand new. I did break a string and broke the extra string trying to restring it. I took it to the local guitar shop and bought new strings and they showed me how to properly restring the guitar. Anyhow, the owner of the store was suprised with the guitar and told me that I made a good purchase. Told me that he couldn't even sell just the guitar for less than 300.00 dollars. Others in the store complimented me on the guitar.

I have played a guitar for 35 years. I bought the acoustic electric model and have been very happy with everything except I wish the strings were a little closer to the neck. For the money, I think this is an excellent buy. It is sure a nicer guitar than the beginner guitar I started out on. No it isn't in the same league as the quality guitars, but for $200.00, I think it is a bargain. Take $200.00 into your local music store and see what you can get. I don't know how long it will hold up, but for the price, you can get your money's worth. This is one of the very few things I have boughten that I actually got more than I was expecting.

I got this as my first guitar. Pretty standard features. You get what they say you get (although it isn't close to as good as they claim). But all of the stuff I got worked fine. The case is actually pretty nice.

It sounds pretty awful with the setup and the strings that it comes with. After switching to nicer strings, it sounds ok. Definitely not a guitar that sounds good though. The amp is pretty pathetic too.

After reading other reviews I guess I got lucky. Although all of the hardware and the way it was put together is pathetic, my guitar was actually acceptable. No sharp frets, strings weren't that high(still high though), and the neck wasn't too bent. Overall, it was pretty bad, but it worked.

Everything is wearing down(tuners, paint everywhere, bridge, etc.) but it still works after a couple years.

I really wouldn't bother. Just get a new DIFFERENT guitar.

It was my first guitar and I almost quit because it sucks to learn on. But I forced myself to learn, and now I don't really mind it. I've played cheap guitars that my friends have (fenders, ibanez, and some no-names) and they definitely played so much nicer and sounded better. The quality of this guitar really is crap. Overall this guitar isn't worth buying especially because I actually got one that worked and I don't even like it. But on the bright side, you get a pretty nice case. Also, if you learn on this guitar, then any other guitar that you decide to buy in the future will be a major upgrade.

Finish (Painted, Black, what else to say about it.)
Body Style (Cutaway)
Tuners (Actually nice looking, like on my buddy's Martin. But, the screw on the side of the tuner tends to loosen every 30 minutes or so, thus a wierd vibration noise from the screw pops up to say hi).
Neck/Scale (Fat for a steel string guitar)
Accessories (Gig bag, cable, strings, strap, shady amp, the worst guitar instruction DVD's on the planet. I have been playing for about 8 years, and got so mad after the first disk I threw the rest away instantly. Estaban is not trying to teach you to play, he is mearly showing how much better at flamenco and marenge he is than the average consumer.)
What year was it made (2006)
Laminated top
Controls (Volume, tone 3 way.
Pick up config (Piezo)
Pickups ( I don't even know)
Body and Neck woods. (All plywood to my understanding)

Its not really a bad guitar, just a bad Christmas present.

It fits my music style well, seeing I usually play in my office, or in the back yard after a few beers, so I can only blame my drunkeness to the guitar sounding bad. Once you change out the crappy cheese cutting strings, and put some martins on there, it actually sounds pretty rich.

Action....hahaha, hard to get used to, I went from electric to acoustic in my playing, way to fat of a neck on this thing, almost as wide as a classical guitar. Hard to get barre chords to play with skinny hands.

I don't know how durable it is, for 200 bucks I would expect much.

I will never get this guitar repaired, if it needs it, I will donate to WWF and let them use it to entertain the mindless youth of this great nation.

Decent guitar, horrible instructions, not worth the money to buy, and pretty much a crappy Christmas present from the parents, would have rather them give me the money for gas and beer.

My friend purchased this guitar with the intent of taking guitar lessons from my husband...instead of going with us to GC to pick out a beginner guitar for a couple hundred, she bought this ... thing... she didn't know anything about music or guitars, and only knew that the guitar was known as a 'world class musician' and that the guitar was a great value...sheesh...she's a smart girl, complete w/masters degree - but boy - did she get a piece of not-so-good equipment. The features as they are loosely called simply suck. I have a $99 fender 15watt amp that sounds far better than this nasty little amp that came with her kit. The finish was kind of nice, shiny black, but that was about it.

Surprisingly the sound was very nice, rich and tonal with a very full sound. Not too bright, not too deep. This is assuming you can get your hand around the neck to hold down the strings, and you can get past the frets without cutting yourself. My friend was really frustrated because she found it really difficult to play the guitar and couldn't understand why she was so frustrated...I picked up her guitar, played a simple C-G chord set up and had scratches on the inside of my fingers from the sharpness of the frets toward the top strings. Nice.

Action : Extremely high, difficult for someone to get their hands around unless they have larger than average hands.

Pickups: so-so

Flaws, bracing, etc: The wood looks slightly warped on the top, dipping inward at the sound hole. The strings it came with were almost as good as baling wire, only much thinner. Once I replaced them with some light guage Martin strings (tried D'addario, but the wsound was still a little tinny) the guitar sounded pretty rich and nice, and was a tiny bit easier to play. The frets were sharp on each side of the neck, and were veryveryvery high.

I don't think this guitar would withstand anything but casual practice.

the Hardware seems decent enough, but it's pretty hard to screw up a nut.
Finish - I guess enough varnish will take care of anything.
Strap buttons - did not come with any.
Dependable - I don't think so
Would I use it on a gig without a backup? I wouldn't use it on a gig.

Not applicable. The guitar has seen about 2 hours of actual play time.

I've been playing about 2 years, my husband about 14 years (guitar and Bass). Together we own 2 violins, one 3/4 upright bass, a warwick electic bass, an acoustic alvarez bass, a subbass, a fretless bass (franken-bass, made from parts), fender jazz bass, tacoma roadking guitar, fender les paul electric guitar, gretsch electromatic hollow-body, and parkwood acoustic-electric (this is a pretty new guitar to the market, I think - amazing sound, solid wood throughout), rich and tonal, slightly bright but hits the low notes just right. www.parkwoodguitars.com - sold only at GC and musiciansfriend.com in the US.

After i played this guitar for the first time, I almost cried in pitty for my friend. She doesn't have a lot of spare money and buying the guitar in the first place was a big deal for her. When I realized what a difficult thing it would be to play, I changed out the strings using two different sets and didn't charge her, just trying to make it easier to play. There just isn't any way to get around the uncomfortable size of the neck, and the action and the frets being so poorly machined that they nick the player. My friend put down the guitar, she can't get rid of it and can't afford to start over. I lent her a nice little OLP electric to get her used to a guitar that could actually be played so she could feel the comparison. I would not get this for anyone for any reason. I wouldn't buy a guitar without trying it first, anyway.

I discourage anyone from buying this guitar. Or even taking it free. The softcase it comes with is pretty decent, however.

It was all together, nothing missing. Very happy with what I got.

Sounds good it need tweaked a little, get rid of the steel strings. Other then that it sounds good.

Evrything was fine, except for the strings and the bridge, if you spend about 50 or 60 dollars and get the bridge shaved down for a little better action and replace the steel strings you will have a nice guitar.

I think this guitar would without a doubt withstand playing all night. I would get a better strap for your self.

I had one problem and that waas the amp, whe nI plugged in the cord to the amp you had to wiggle it to get it to work. I e-mail the place I got it, they e-mailed me back and gave me a phone number to call. I called and talk to a girl named Melody she said to faz her a copy of the shipping invoice and she would send me a new amp, I didnt even have to send the old one back which I fixed at no cost to me in 15 minutes.

I have been playing for 13 years and I have played with alot of good guitars (gibsons martins fenders ibanez less paul ) this guitar is no high end guitar nut it is without a doubt one that is worth every penny, the finish is nice its not as cheap as those cry babys say it is, ( you only spent 2oo + for it) its definitly worth it thanks Esteban.

Plywood everything, buzzing frets, painted fretboard plasticy parts, but at least you can smash it. I give it 2 points, one because it is at least a guitar, and one for being fun to smash.

The strings vibrate when you strum them, and they sound horrible. Plugged in, it buzzes. When smashed, the guitar makes a wonderful sound. Bonus points for that.

Inch-high action, tuners falling apart, paint spills everywhere, and the frets cut me.

When smashed, it was sawdust in one minute. This was the second Esteban. The first exploded when I strummed it.

At least I can smash it for fun. It fell apart after one smack.

This makes a great instrument to smash on stage. If you want a real guitar, then at least go to a music store.

Beautifull sparks in the fire, truly. This guitar was left brand new at my house, dude just got it. now that says it all.

You will find that this guitar sounded GREAT.....when I SMASHED that bastard into a 1000 pieces. If I were the maker of this guitar, I would stab myself in the eyes w/ my chopsticks. Also sounded great in my firepit.

All I can say is that it truely does feel like crap, tweeked it out a bit then hammered it as loud as I could so I couldnt hear the buzzing. In every way this is a poor design.

I can say that that bastard lasted for a short while w/ me hammerin that sob. What little spirit it had did break in 5-10 sec.

wouldnt know but id guess no speaka.

Im not trying to be rude, its my nature, took the time to write so if you didnt know, you do now. go spend the money on a martin, youll have it the rest of your life. man youll be buried w/ that btch.