Are Cheaper Guitars WAY Better Than they Used to Be? | Donner Guitar Vs Fender Stratocaster 

I honestly couldn’t tell much of a difference. They both sounded great! By the way, that last tune over backing track-you think you could do a full performance with it? I quite liked it. It was peaceful and reflective. It helped me think.

I thought that the donner sounded better.

I have the Donner Strat. I just can't seem to justify spending $1,100 more when they both sound so similar.

Superb demo! Thanks for posting. 👍

Excellent comparison, I found the fender seems to be slightly higher output, but other than that, I'm quite taken with the donner.

Excellent comparison video.

I just found this video. I’ve been debating getting a Donner strat and going off of this video, I definitely think I’d be plenty happy with it.

You just earned a new subscriber! Hoping to get a Donner guitar and beginner lessons from your page

They both sound great. The Fender has a better overall sound but the Donner is close. For the price though I would go with the Donner. The Fender doesn't sound 6 times better.

I own 3 Squier electric guitars and I love them. I also like the Squier lineup of guitars, but I think they are way overpriced now. I mean $450 for a classic vibe strat and tele is a bit much. Yes they are good guitars but that’s not that inexpensive. They can say it cost more to build them but companies like Donner, Harley Benton, and Jet just to name a few are proving that you can build a quality guitar at a lower price.

Ordered a DST-400 can't wait to get back playing and recording :)

The split screen comparison with both playing the same riffs at the same time was most interesting to me. The performance-to-cost ratio on the Donner is ridiculous! Would love to hear a comparison between the Donner and one of the better Squiers too.

I have the Squire paranormal series chinese made cabronita thin line with the white pickups. It is absolutely stellar at $449.00 I have the Donner thin line telecaster with hum bucker pickups for $160 and it is absolutely stellar and came out of the box setup and ready to play--that was a complete shock and surprise. I have cheap Glarrys that needed serious setup work done--but the donner is the best value that I can see for the money right now. I can't find any issue with it. I have a Monoprice upgraded stratocaster for $250 USD and it has wilson bridge and wilson alnico pickups. It sounds absolutely fantastic and is a joy to play. I have a few cheap monoprice telecasters which are wonderful to play, but needed some minor setup--and pickup height adjustments etc. Love them. These low cost guitars are far better than anything we could get our hands on years ago. The guitar building industry has matured and is making guitars finally accessible to the masses. Love it.

I've played a cheap $300 Monoprice R66 Les Paul clone for years, loved it to bits. Recently got a $190 bass from Donner had have really enjoyed it this far.. Totally worth it to be able to record some clips for fun and post them on RU-vid. Now I'm looking for a strat, and doubt I'll drop more than $500 on one so this video was helpful! How do some of the squires compare?

Bought a black Donner guitar it's good and it's also heavy got it on black Friday as my first guitar I was really excited to play now I've been playing for almost 2 years now I also bought a glarry burning fire as my second guitar very good guitars

Although I still await delivery, I just bought one of those Donners. I was NEVER getting a Strat by Fender or Squier. I'm not a huge fan of guitars I consider too "vintage-y." The Strat you played in this video is a pretty decent example of what I'm talking about. It's a very fine guitar that sounds great, but it's not very far off the mark of that same Strat that Leo and company threw out there in 1954. The Donner, with its "Fat Strat"-type humbucking bridge pickup and 2 point vibrato bridge, is a bit more modern and therefore that much more my style. Even at that, this is the mildest-looking guitar I've bought in years. I don't have any Mosers or any of those F-series guitars from ESP/LTD, but most of my guitars are considerably more metal than this, for all that I'm no one's idea of a metal guitarist. The truth, though, is simply that many, or most, or maybe even all of the features that make a guitar good for the metal guys work for me, too. I don't dig the looks of everything, but I often enjoy some fairly aggressive styling. I own 2 RG types (one's a real RG), a cheap Jackson Dinky (Don't knock it -- GREAT neck!), and I LOVE these axes, and like the looks of many guitars aimed at the metal player. The only way I was getting a guitar this conservative is if it modernized the classic Strat a bit ... but I already said that the Donner checks that box. At this point, the only things I'm sure I'll upgrade are the string trees and the nut. The string trees are a possible source of tuning instability and I already have others to swap in. I also my have a nut that will serve. The fretboard radius may be a little short for me at a mere 9.5 inches, but if worse comes to worse I've got a spare neck with a 12 inch radius fretboard I can turn to. Now comes the possibility of leaving in the stock pickups! It'd be nice. Later!

I thought it was a great comparison! I think more people should be comparing $170 guitars to $1300 guitars. And guitars in the $400-$600 category. Such as MIM strats from the 90-2000's. Let's see how the law of diminishing returns is at play. I'm still waiting for someone to open the the Donner ST400 up and look at the workmanship/electronics etc. It may be me as I've just ordered one! Thanks for the great video!

I bought the Donner 400. The only flaw I found is the neck flexes if you just give it a little pressure and then you hear the notes bend. I bought mine on eBay from Donner for $220 including shipping.

I have four Fender USA Strats and two Custom shop, yes they are great guitars but these were bought years ago before Fender started asking way too much for them. The Donner shows just how good todays budget priced guitars have become, you have to play a few of them to know just how good they are. Players attach far too much to the name on the headstock, if you want to pay the high asking prices that is your choice, but the Donners, Harley Bentons etc are good enough for less experinced players.

I own a Dommer DST-200-- a Yamaha Pacifica 012--- a Ibanez GRX20Z-- a IYV (Inyen Vina IPF-300) semi hollow body... Total cost before taxes $657... That's half the cost of one fender Strat or a Gibson Les Paul and they all sound great

I just bought a refurbished Donner DS 400 in black on Ebay for $106. Could not tell it was not brand new. No scratches and all the tags. It even came set up almost perfect. I don't think it sounds as good as Fender Player but it is a very decent guitar.

I purchased the Donner DST 400 green and I'm very impressed with the sound of course and the electronics are very solid and the two point trem system is interesting I wish they had done a little better with the saddles but nonetheless the problem I'm having is some dead spots in the Fret work which is required me to become a luthier after playing guitar for 40 years. The workmanship is pretty good on this guitar overall considering its price range. However I am disappointed that I have to work on it but I'll learn some new skills and I've spent some serious money on tools like stewmac's z file to do it right...I also have an Ibanez as73 tbc made in Indonesia..awesome sound ...very close to an Epiphone or 335 sound...needed a strat style 🎸 guitar.

Good video! My question is, did you play the Donner straight out the box or did you set it up?

First off, nice playing, you got skill for sure. In answer to your question, are cheaper guitars way better than they use to be, you bet they are! You should have seen the 2 x 4 first electric I bought in 1964 for $65. I'm not a Strat guy, I play a 66 Jazzmaster, but the Fender sounds slightly better, and I'm sure the build quality kicks butt, but there's nothing wrong with that Donner, it sounds terrific.

Donner sounded better on the blind test. On the clean tones, the Fender is clearly warmer, but I bet with some EQ on the Donner, you couldn't tell the difference. I just ordered a Donner DST-152.

nice video ,i own and have owned alot of expensive guitars ,but i really enjoy buying a budget priced guitar and upgrading it ,the donner sounds like a good guitar and probs pretty awsome with a few upgrades.....i really dont think you need to spend hundreds or thousands on guitars anymore ,alot are really overpriced when you can buy great budget guitars these days

I’ve been looking for an inexpensive guitar to start my guitar journey, and even though the guitars I’ve looked at are well under 200 dollars, you still don’t want to buy a complete piece of junk right? This is the best bang for your buck by far in my opinion. The kit includes a decent bag, a tuner, a decent cord, some picks, and a little amp to play on that’s rechargeable. I also chose A in the beginning. Right now these are on sale ( the whole kit on Amazon) for $167. Thanks for this video, I found my next guitar!

We definitely live in the day and age of affordable guitars being ridiculously good across the board. There's tons of stuff to choose from within 350-900 range. Donner, Harley Benton, Yamaha, Squire Classic Vibe, Fender Mex, Sire, Epiphone, Gibson Tributes - and that's just part of the list! I got myself an American made strat just because I wanted an American made instrument and I managed to find the one which ticked all my boxes for specs.

Having played a strat for 40 years, it was easy to tell the difference in sound. But the Donner is well worth the money for a beginner who may not continue playing

I thought the Donner was cleaner and easier to hear, the Fender sounds muddier and that's been my playing experience with Fender as well. I wasn't surprised when A was the Donner. The price for a "good" guitar now is a much lower hit to get people started, and it is awesome.

Amazing video!!! I was wondering if you feel the donner guitar is better than the squier guitar? Because I’m thinking about buying a squier to roadwear and maybe upgrade.

Donner's fizzy, hi mids are forward too. But really good pickups are also startlingly cheap these days, even some handwounds too, so.

Im thinking about getting that donner DST 400 and a roland micro cube for around the house playing, i've seen a lot of really good reviews on donner guitars 👍🏆.

Here's my personal recommendations for affordable brands: 1. Harley Benton (if you're in EU) 2. Donner 3. Glarry I use Harley Benton guitars all the time personally. 5 out of my 8 guitars/basses are Harley Bentons.

I picked the Donner because it sounds in tonality according to my opinion. I'm def getting one of these because it suits what I'm going for musically.

both sound very good. hard to tell much difference really

That amp would make a Playskool sound good. Just joking. In my experience the difference in expensive and affordable guitars is mostly in the fit and finish; that’s not to say there is no noticeable difference in tone quality. The finish on the frets and neck on an American Fender are tangible as compared to similar import versions but is it $1000 different, I don’t know. Bottom line is guitars are a great example of diminishing returns.

It is a no brainer unless you are rich or a proffesional.The yamaha Pacifca top end model also kicks the ass of fender.Guitars are very simple instruments and mass produced on cnc machines so really the pick ups bridge, tuners etc are what makes the difference but finish is equal from china and Indonesia

How is the 2 point tremolo

We just reviewed the Donner DST-152 R, and it's a little better quality than the one you just reviewed. The price was the same, but I got a $30 discount on Amazon. In my brother's hands it actually sounded very much like the fiddle in the Doobie Brothers tune "Smoke on the water ". In a very good and interesting way. It is waaaaaaaay better than the Squier Stratocaster we were comparing it to.

DONNER all day!🔥🔥🔥

Donner bro, I love Squier and Fender mind you.

Ok, to be honest, the quality of chinese made instruments improved A LOT the latest 10 or 15 years, they'r still been cheap off course, but they sound really nice and crunchy, the materials used in manufactoring as woods and mechanics for exampled reached a very nice quality, this Donner DST 400 is a clear probe of this development process, making of this instruments a very good alternativ for the beginners or simply the advanced guitarist that are looking for am alternativ or second guitar without breaking the bank.

I have the original Donner and just my luck they came out with this newer model. I was wondering if the few upgrades were better because their original model had junk tuners.

I bought a DST-400 and I'm not complaining

Im a great proponent of affordable guitars, but I can really tell the Fender here, because of that "extra 10%" in tone and richness.

I like the Donner Strat more

How do you get that sexy tone at 2:58? Someone please help

Fender maybe slightly warmer but not much

I ask in your last donner video but can you see how the donner pickups are made

Every video I watched show chasing the Donner was a guy playing single notes showing off. Not one strumed chords nicely.

Fender sounds a little bit brighter, probably due to the maple neck versus the rosewood neck? in the distortion playing, the donner was a tiny bit more muddy in sounds. All in all the Fender wins the sound comparison, but the Donner is so close, it splits hairs and is an absolute great value. Wow.

Donner after modded definately win hands down....and will come down to the same price range as the Fender....

Are Cheaper Guitars WAY Better Than they Used to BE?..............YES !!!

you can tell the fender is much sweeter.... but still not bad for a 200.00 donner

🤘

Which Dinner model is that the ST400????

B was fuller sounding but both were ok

the problem with lesser known guitars is that they wont hold up much value over time. yes it sounds almost as good as a Fender but try to sell a Donner on ebay and you will only get a hundred buck for a cheap guitar. the hardware wont hold up over time either. Sell an eleven hundred dollar Fender strat and you will get close to that years later... just my experience

What I find in cheaper guitars is not so much a tonal difference but a stability difference. There's a big difference in feel and stability in the neck of a cheap guitar vs an expensive guitar of similar style. I've had my friend's 40th Anniversary American Strat for a few years and it is WAY more stable than my Squier Deluxe Strat. When the Squier is "on" it's a great playing and sounding guitar. But that is very few and far between as the neck moves A LOT vs my friend's USA strat which doesn't move much throughout the year.

The name brands have inflated so much, that the cheaper ones start to feel better automatically.

B

It's $200 now, but still a steal...

Lesson/ Buy the Donner and spend extra money on great amp.

I think Fender charge too much for an electric guitar. This Fender should cost $500 bucks.

3:60 no reverb than the fender...

I.M.H.O. - Yes, the Fender sounds better, but does it sound $$$ Better ? - For me ?. No

Donner guitars are not that great you're better off going with a Jackson monarkh JS series guitar the qualities much better

I got dizzy watching your hands moving back n forth.

The donner isn’t 170$ it’s 230$

lol

they sound the same

Clean I couldn't tell a difference but as soon as you add some dirt the Fender sounds way better. The pickups have way more clarity to them. I'm sure the setup on the fender is mint whereas the Donner needed a full setup after unboxing. Will the Donner hold up better than the Fender? fuck no. Is the Donner a much better choice for a beginner? Absolutely.

Donner paid promotion like nearly all the Donner reviews 🙄

$170 vs. $1300 Strat is a false comparison. A comparison of a guitar 7X the price of a decent one means something is badly wrong. YOU figure it out or talk with a pro guitar repair/setup guy. YOU are not an expert... right? The video is another excuse to show off his playing skills.... and nearly no one plays jazz on a Strat.... Is Donner made in Communist China ? If it is, then the USA dollars are going there and what an item costs does not change that.

As an owner of the Donner DST-400, I can verify that it sucks. The tremolo system completely blows and the guitar will not stay in tune. I replaced it. I would buy the Fender. The Chinese make cheap shit. I was hoping that it would be better. Why didn't you utilize the whammy bar?

Dumb comparison. You can't compare bridge pickups like that. Like really, comparing a SC with a split one? Influencers that don't do their homework. Donner guitar is better than most all squiers and even a handful of lower end Fenders. Alnico pickups, 2 point trem. Squier uses ceramic pickups and mostly horrible trem units. I'm gonna make a video so I can show off my crappy playing.