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Pros:
- Good Sound
- Affordable
- Part of a Bundle
Cons:
- Tuning Stability Issues
- Agathis is soft
It is an amazing thing to live in a market where product diversity allows everyone to have something they might enjoy having available to them. It is also amazing that this very diversity reflects on the guitar manufacturers, allowing them to produce several models in the same price range. Fender takes full advantage of this, offering the buyer several types of bundles with the same guitar to take home and love as a beginner. Let us take a close look at the Fender Acoustic Guitar Bundle and see what it has to offer to us.
Body Quality
The dreadnought is an incredibly popular body design for guitars, found in guitars within the price ranges of extremely expensive to affordable. This happens because the dreadnought, while easy for manufacturers to produce, offers many benefits to the player. The guitar projects the sound better and has a better bass response, which allows the manufacturer to concentrate in choosing the right tonewoods to balance the sound in a pleasant manner. Here the dreadnought has a great role, giving the guitar a strong sound and a deep, warm bass.
The top of the guitar is made of laminated spruce. While the spruce itself has a very nice and powerful resonation with the mid and high tones, the lamination dulls the sound slightly. Still the sound produced is vibrant and lively enough to have a positive effect on anyone listening to the music. The back and sides of the guitar are Agathis, a material that is becoming more and more prevalent in the guitar manufacturing world lately.
Agathis has many similar qualities to basswood, with the main difference being that Agathis is so much softer and less sturdy than basswood. You will have to be careful with your guitar to keep it from lasting damage, which agathis can incur easily if dropped or hit against a surface. Otherwise, the effect on the sound is nice, with the deeper and mid-tones having more detail brought out in them.
The neck of the guitar is Agathis as well. I have a certain distaste for this hardwood, especially in the neck area of the guitar. The idea is that the neck should be sturdy, and while this guitar does have a nice, sturdy feel to it, the soft nature of Agathis makes it easier and more prone to breakage. A dangerous idea by the manufacturer. Still, the neck is slender, allowing for easy reach to the very smooth and nice Ebony fretboard.
Hardware
The rosewood bridge of this guitar is a very nice addition. The rosewood itself is sturdy and acts as a great resonance spot for the lower bass tones of the guitars. Creates a much warmer, deeper sound for the guitar.
The nut and saddle of the guitar are synthetic bone, which is a good, cheap alternative to bone Still, this material is not as good in keeping the buzz of steel strings to a low level and might need replacing after a while of use.
The tuners on this guitar, just like with so many other affordable guitars, are not the most stable. The guitar tends to go out of tune after a few days and needs to be checked and possibly re-tuned every time you intend to play it. Still, easy to replace and fix.
Fender Acoustic Sound
The sound of the guitar is very powerful, prone to the bass side of things. The projection is extremely strong thanks to the dreadnought shape of the guitar. The low and mid-tones of the guitar are expressive, thanks to the combination of the back and sides tonewood, the bridge and mostly to the shape. The best part, thanks to the top wood, are the expressive and vibrant high tones of the guitar. A definite pleasure, the guitar will serve well for any beginner looking for basic sound to practice with.
Conclusion
When buying a bundle, one must remember that they cannot demand the best of the best. Oftentimes guitars that are part of bundles will have the very basics of sound covered, but will not last long after the person playing them has graduated from being a beginner. Yet, here we have, a fender acoustic guitar, part of a great bundle, that many beginners will find useful, even a little after graduating, even if the guitar might turn out to be not as sturdy.
Click here to view more from Best Acoustic Guitar for Beginners.
