Fender Review: DG-5NAT

History:

Purchase: I bought this from a shop called Hooters (terrible joke, i know) in St. Albans, near London for approximately £105. That's the current equivalent of $189.55. I bought It because of the low price, and my trust in the brand.

What I Like About This Fender DG-5NAT: Fantastic appearance is the first term that comes into my head. Mahogany body, natural design, though it's also available in sunburst and black. Rosewood fretboard, nice looking headstock and a black scratchplate with the Fender logo written in white across it. (the logo's only decorative, and will come off in a couple of days. It's only made of a very thin sheet of plastic.) Great sound too. Starting from the top of the guitar; the nut's made from plastic, so those of you you like to stick to the classics might want to get a bone or graphite nut, but I don't think it will make much diffence. The Strings are Steel Fenders; they provide a great bass section, with a deep, strong ring to them that's great for soloing, and an equally good if not better treble section (bass refers to E,A and D and treble to G,B and top E, by the way) which has a very light, resonant sound, perfect for atmospheric riffs. Put together the strings give a fantastic combination and won't require much changing, they're easy enough to change when needed, though. The Bridge is angled, and also plastic. To summarize the sound in one word i'd use either fantastic or flexible, because this guitar will sound brilliant over any genre. I myself use it for jazz and blues mostly, and couldn't ask for a better, richer sound. Bassiccally a great guitar, except for...

What I Do NOT Like About The Fender DG-5NAT: The tuners. They are the guitar's only downfall. Because of their durability. They're 18:1 grovers (I think) so they handle well, but if you play too hard they'll go out quite easily. But then again it's an acoustic, so you won't really play too hard, will you. Apart from that the guitar is perfect, no problems whatsoever.

Fender DG-5NAT Quality Rating: Very well crafted. It has a mahogany body with a 20 fret rosewood fretboard; perfectly straight with fret markers on the 3rd,5th,7th,9th,12th,15th and 17th frets. So you shouldn't have any problem finding your way around. Nothing much else to say really, apart from the fact that it's an extremely well made guitar for the price. I'd definately get it if I were you.

Review Summary: As I said I'd buy this guitar. Great appearance, great sound, great price. Obviously try it out beforehand, but be prepared to like it. That's all. Hope this has been helpful.

Rating of this Fender product: 5

This Fender DG-5NAT Acoustic Guitars Review Submitted By: Joe Davies

Review Date: 2004-09-26