Best Guitar Starter Pack (2024 Update)

besides the weird booming sound coming from the amp when strumming, and the guitar constantly being out of tune. i would suggest this to a friend when starting out. however if you have more prior experience, get a better guitar and amp than this one. other than that, the price is somewhat equal to the quality of the guitar.thao

…so I purchased this as an alternative to my acoustic guitar. The 1st thing I noticed is how light it was. The maple neck was a different feel and gave me more accessibility to the frets. Once I got the guitar in tune I was surprised how nice it sounds. The amp is not the best, but if you don't have one, you won't notice. Overall I like this guitar. Thank you Fender for making an affordable electric guitar. I would get this again for a beginner. As I progress, this guitar is pushing me to upgrade to another Fender. It's that good. I have a lot of fun with this G-tar.No name

I have always been pleasantly surprised at the quality of these cheaper Squier Affinity and other similarly priced Squier guitars. I have played Squiers for decades, including jazz basses, Teles, and of course this Stratocaster. It plays as well as a guitar can play. It looks absolutely gorgeous. It sounds like any much higher priced Strats and the humbucker is a great go-to for playing leads without having to have a pedal boost or having to go to the amp controls for boost. It set up as well as any Fender I have worked on and I have worked on quite a few over the years. I would not hesitate to use this guitar on any stage or in any studio production. The frets needed no top or side dressing and no leveling.bobvarns

Really awesome guitar for beginners. The action was a bit high for me but it was easily adjustable. Been using this guitar to play in Central Park and it has great resonance and sound. Definitely a great quality acoustic guitar for someone starting out and doesn't want to break the bank. And the guys at Sam Ash were super helpful helping me pick it out!HUNTER

I'm a beggining player, and so I went into the store not knowing anything about guitars. I was instantly helped by an employee, and was drawn to this guitar. It is great quality and sounds wonderful. The kit is really useful and saved me some money. Defiently would recommend this guitar to beginner and novice players alike, and will defiently be coming back to this store!Christian

A very good starter pack. Through time, the the strap and soft guitar case will be upgraded to a strap of personal choice and a hard case for better protection during transport, but, they are fine for now. The guitar itself is of very good quality and could easily last a lifetime with proper care. The tuner is a necessary piece of equipment and the extra set of strings is a welcome idea. I believe this purchase represents the higher-end of an entry-level guitar package. One note about Guitar Center. We took the guitar to Guitar Center for tuning, fully expecting to pay a fee. Overall, the feeling of the store is that of the old style family owned business. It was refreshing. The staff won't steer you toward the "slower" moving stock like big-box stores are now doing. The kids were "blown-away" with the comprehensive array of instruments and of the staff encouraging them to "give it a whirl" even though they knew a sale wouldn't be made that day. We weren't charged for the tuning and we left with the staff encouraging us to "come back anytime". We plan to… In just an hour or so, Guitar Center established themselves as the retailer of choice for any further purchases of instruments or repairs. I believe we made a good choice selecting the Yamaha Starter Pack and with Guitar Center handling the transaction.Stan

I got mine a few weeks ago and just started learning how to play. The sound of the guitar does sound great as is and I was able to get it in tune easily. The guitar itself is amazing quality. The wood finish looks beautiful and near perfect, not one imperfection that I can see. The spruce top looks great too. The edges are finished in black accents to match the bridge pins giving it a nice touch. The neck is perfectly straight and the frets are smooth on the edges as I move my hand into different positions up and down the neck. The quality of wood appears to be nice as well. It seems to stay in tune reasonably well since I don't have any other guitar to compare it to. Recently it survived the 7.8 earthquake in Ecuador and is now my lucky guitar. I am very happy with the purchase and look forward to many years of use.sa_ecuador

I am rating this product two stars simply because of the accessories that comes with the guitar. 1st I would have liked a bit more instruction on how to use the tuner. It would have been helpful to know where to put it on the guitar. The book that comes with it does not offer any information about how to actually use the tuner. (I now know that it goes on the head of the guitar thanks to YouTube.) 2nd I'm not a fan of how the Guitar for Dummies is written (personal preference) and 3rd the guitar case is way cheap. The zipper broke after only 3 days. I would suggest that if you planned on carrying your guitar around, like for instance back and forth to lessons, that you order another carrying case because this one is unreliable. Now about the guitar itself, I really like it. I am new to playing the guitar and I wanted an inexpensive guitar to start off with just in case I lay it down to never pick it up again. I would only recommend this product to a friend for the guitar itself. Accessories that came with it totally sucks. Oh and by the way it also came with an allen wrench that I don't have the slightest clue what I'm supposed to do with it. Oh I forgot to mention that I broke a string on the first day but I believe that was due to the lack of instructions that came with the tuner. News flash you are selling this bundle based off the For Dummies series; so why assume that the people who are buying this bundle knows how to tune a guitar.Alekskya

The guitar is not setup. I am new with zero experience in guitars. When i went to misic class, my teacher said that it needed a setup as tunes are not coming up correctly. Cost to do the setup and correction is more than the price of the guitar. Unfortunately i joined music class after the return dates had passed, so unable to return now.Kartik

What a brilliant guitar and superb value package! I have owned ‘real’ Gibsons over the years and bought this outfit as a birthday gift for my granddaughter who is learning to play. She has had a fender acoustic for a couple of years and now wants her own electric guitar. I chose this outfit as having previously owned one in the past I like Epiphone guitars. Before giving it to her I thought it best to check it over and set it up but there was nothing to do really, after tuning this guitar was perfectly playable right out the box! The feel, balance and weight is very like my Gibson and the sound is superb. The amp is excellent and packs enough punch to put a smile on your face too. She’s delighted with the built in tuner as well as the other essentials included in the outfit. What’s not to like? I can’t find a better value package!W O.

My original review still stands, but I made cosmetic-only upgrades for less than an average couple's meal at a casual restaurant that makes this look much, much more expensive. No tuner, pickup or pot swaps. Replaced black plastic parts with cream, added cream pickguard, replaced chrome tuner knobs with Klausen-style ivory-look knobs. Installed chrome pickup covers. Replaced speed knobs with gold top-hats.Easily done to make this look like a proper Les Paul. I'm happy with the looks for the little extra money spent.Steve

As the song says: "I'm a Sucker for a Cheap Guitar". I own over 30 – some cheap, some not so cheap. This one arrived perfectly set up: low action, no buzzing, no sharp fret edges, easy to play – amazing for a guitar in this price range. Although not great, the pickups even sounded acceptable. It's heavy, which to me means good, though not as heavy as my Gibson. It's OK-looking, but needed something to enhance it – a pickguard. I added one and it looks much better – more expensive. Instead of cutting off part of the guard to accommodate the knob as I've seen some others do, I drilled a hole big enough for the nut on the body underneath the knob to fit through the guard (see photos). Since the guard isn't much thicker than the nut, it allowed the guard to fit flush with the body and the knob to turn without any restriction of motion, and the pickguard is not butchered. It's a very clean look – like it came that way – not modified. So, I am pleased with this instrument, and would recommend it to anyone for any purpose: especially beginners to play or someone like me who just collects cheap guitars to hang on the wall of their studiio.Steve

Amazingly, this guitar is actually not too bad for a beginner. It has a decent sound, the amp is of acceptable quality for a beginner, and it actually stays in tune fairly well. You’re not going to get up on stage and play with this one but it was certainly a good investment for my 12 year old son who is just learning to play.Reviewer 14267

I would have to say that I was highly disappointed in this guitar set. I purchased one for my son as he is very interested in learning the guitar. It was purchased for his Christmas gift only to open it up on Christmas for it to not work at all. So we brushed it off and said “things happen.” We decided to purchase another one after having to explain to a 5 year old that he can’t play with his guitar on Christmas. Just received the second guitar only to find that it does not work either. Please find another option as these guitars are poorly made and for the price I can’t believe that they would sell something like this. BEWARE you have been warned!CHUNT

This guitar is beautiful and easy to tune. I got the pink version. At first I was a little concerned how the color will look in real life. However, when the guitar arrived it was beautiful. An absolute delight to look at. I will say for the price this guitar is solidly constructed. The straps and electronic tuner that comes with it is awesome. It also came with several plastic plectrums. The guitar itself is a good size but not heavy. Yes, I love this guitar and I will recommend it. Now, please note that I am not a professional guitar player, so this is ideal for my intended purpose. I do not know how a professional guitar player will view this since their expectations might be different.Edekin

Although the style and look of the guitar is amazing, along with all of the accessories, the biggest issue is the making of the guitar. The strings placement above the neck and along the guitar is too high up. It needs to sit parallel to the whole neck. It rises higher near the body and slowly lowers along the neck. Not a big issue if you know how to play the guitar, but for a beginner and for quality sound, the strings need to be hovering directly parallel along the whole guitar.Helaman H.

Ultimately, this guitar is terrific! It seems to be one of the few Squiers that has better than not appointments (considering the fact that they are generally "bare bones" in terms of body woods, etc …) If you're new & want a good single coil strat sound…..yep…….if you know what you're doing already & want a strat you can woop on……yep…..if you want a nice sounding guitar that would normally cost a few $$ more for equal quality?? ……..still yep…… Automatically, add a couple sets of strings to your cart too (I snagged a couple DR Blues 10-46 sets, although the stock Fenders don't sound bad at all honestly) & stretch em on! The only tuning issues I experienced was due to needing to stretch em out a few times to stay tuned (***….tug the string from bridge to nut, back n forth like you were playing a chello with a bow hahaha ….., while also continuing to tune them back up repeatedly). From there, you should be dialed & throughly enjoy this killer, cost efficient strat just about as much as you'd appreciate one that cost a grand!!! Cheers!!T Dogg

This is an incredible guitar ! I bought it as a modding platform, but after having spent a few hours with it, I quickly decided it what mostly stay untouched. These are economic tuners, but man do they stay in tune. After polishing and dressing the frets, graphite-ing the nut, and replacing the strings, I had to tune twice in a 2 week period ! The original plan was to replace them with vintage style tuners, but why waste the money, they're great ! I bought the shell pink, and the color, fit and finish are perfect. It weighs 7.5 lbs, so on the lighter side, which I love. The neck has a better looking wood grain than my Vintage Modified '70s, and about the same feel, at least I don't feel a difference. I don't know if it's because of the top load hard tail bridge or what, but this guitar is VERY resonant, and sustains forever. The pick ups are definitely not top of the line, as the price implies, but they sound really good. My original plan was to replace them with Kent Armstrongs, but I really liked the neck PU a lot, and while I don't have strong opinions either way about the middle and bridge, I thought I would try replacing the electronics first. I installed a Gunstreet Wiring Shop Blender harness (blends neck and bridge PUs), and now I get all the tones I could possibly want. I'm definitely keeping the stock PUs ! Like I said, with a little fine tuning of the set up, it plays and sounds like a dream, looks fantastic, and is priced incredibly well. I couldn't recommend it more.Playin for fun

This is my first electric guitar. It is well made and arrived in great condition. The Scan set up is a real plus and ensured it was ready to play straight out of the box. Everything you need to start your guitar journey is in the package. The included amp is small and simple to use. More than adequate for practice and home use. The Fender Play Instruction is well worth looking into. Overall an excellent package worthy of serious consideration.Heathpk

The guitar came in really good packaging and not a single thing was wrong with it. The guitar sounds fine and surprisingly good quality for something this cheap. Great starter guitar for anyone looking to start practicingEddie

Purchased this guitar pack as a gift for my younger sister who is interested in having a guitar just to cool around on. The guitar itself is pretty nice, but the included amp doesn’t work and it doesn’t have an obvious way to turn on. No on/off switch and the volume knobs don’t click it on either.Clayton

Although the style and look of the guitar is amazing, along with all of the accessories, the biggest issue is the making of the guitar. The strings placement above the neck and along the guitar is too high up. It needs to sit parallel to the whole neck. It rises higher near the body and slowly lowers along the neck. Not a big issue if you know how to play the guitar, but for a beginner and for quality sound, the strings need to be hovering directly parallel along the whole guitar.Helaman H.

My granddaughter is 7yrs old. I wanted to do something different for Christmas this year, so I purchased a acoustic guitar. I’m thinking 30inches will be a nice size for her. When I received it the box was small and without taking it out the box I knew it wasn’t the size I thought it was going to be! I made the online purchased but I wanted to return it in store, which I did with the electronic receipt! APPARENTLY SOMETHING WENT WRONG! The GUITAR WAS SENT BACK TO ME! Target sucks at RETURNS only to have them sent back to you! UghSexyAries2

Not sure why there are so many 5 star reviews on this product, because it is not a good guitar. I bought it for my daughter to learn on and it will not stay in tune no matter what you do. I even tried changing the strings on it and it just refuses to stay in tune. I guess if you're just looking to get your kid used to holding a guitar and pressing the strings it is ok for that, but I would recommend spending a little more money on something decent that your kid can learn on. I am a guitar player and I have the full sized guitar from BCP and it is an excellent value for what you get, but this one just falls flat. No pun intended. 🙂Andrew

Everything you need to get started if you've never played before. Everything is perfectly functional and works. I decided to get this kit after seeing some youtube reviews – the guitar is great for the money, punches above its price point, is easy to upgrade, etc. The neck came perfectly adjusted, haven't checked the tremolo yet. This kit including an amp and cable is the real kicker, and makes this an absolute steal for the price. The amp is a lot larger and louder than I expected for being essentially free and has built in gain and tone adjustments so you can get a more 'metal' sound out of it without any effects pedals. The cable is short and the weakest point here, replace it with something good. But it'll still get you playing right out of the box. The rest of the accessories (strap, picks, gig bag) are extremely cheap and not really worth keeping, but hey – they were basically free. The gig bag in unpadded, unlike when you buy the guitar without the amp.Alex

This is my very first strat-style guitar. It came well set-up. The action was nice and low, fret ends were dressed nicely with no sharp ends. There was some buzzing unplugged on the low E, but wasn't noticeable when plugged in to an amplifier. I bought this on sale. The entire kit was only $10 more than buying just the guitar – which also was on sale. From my perspective that was a no brainer. Though, the gig bag you get with the kit is nothing more than a dust cover, unlike the padded gig bag you get when you buy the guitar by itself. The amp that came with the kit is good as a bedroom amp, and it has a headphone out, so that's a big win. It does have noticeable noise, so I don't use it as much as I'd like to. Overall, I'm very impressed with my purchase. Recommended.New User

I bought the first guitar for my daughter about 6 mos ago and it was great. Then I bought a second one for her to have at her mom's house. I expected it to be great as well and didn't think much of it. Since it has been at her mom's house, I've never had a chance to try it out. One day I had the opportunity to try it out and one of the string was rattling against the nut. It was a couple of months after I bought it before I knew, so we just lived w/ it. Unfortunate, but otherwise, it's a very nice guitar. I gave this 3 stars, but it was mostly our fault. Had I knew early on, I'm sure they would make an attempt to resolve the issue if I let them knew.Iris

Although the style and look of the guitar is amazing, along with all of the accessories, the biggest issue is the making of the guitar. The strings placement above the neck and along the guitar is too high up. It needs to sit parallel to the whole neck. It rises higher near the body and slowly lowers along the neck. Not a big issue if you know how to play the guitar, but for a beginner and for quality sound, the strings need to be hovering directly parallel along the whole guitar.Helaman H.

You get what you pay for. There's a crack on the neck of the guitar, nothing major but still very noticeable. Also, it's advertised as a guitar with nylon strings when only the bottom 3 strings are nylon, the top 3 are the regular strings guitars come with. The strings are so bad the tuner doesn't even know what string I'm playing (or the tuner is just a bad tuner). The capo and the picks are good quality but that's about it. The carrying case is see through and the strap is very itchy. I definitely wouldn't say this is for beginners. I even have a little guitar playing background from years ago and I'm struggling to pick it back up. The tuning knobs also point towards your body instead of the sides like they usually do. The circle around the opening of the guitar is clearly a sticker (has bubbles and is lifting in some areas). Overall, the only thing I really like about the guitar is the color. The black is pretty cool but that's about it. If you're looking to play guitar for a while, invest in one from your local music store but if you're just looking for a whatever/ "I don't care if this is severely out of tune with a poor tuner" guitar then this is the one for you.Kristen

This is a solid build guitar, perfect for beginners. Mine worked well right out of the box (after tuning, of course). The amplifier works well also, for what it is; a low-power practice amp. If you're looking for a way to start learning to play guitar without breaking the bank, this kit should work for you.CrashC

The guitar kit came in fairly quickly, but right away there was a problem. It came with five strings, with what was left of the sixth stuck in the guitar, the tuner was shattered, and the kit was missing the Allen wrenches and the picks. The box was loosely packed with no styrofoam or anything, with the guitar in the gig bag and the rest of the stuff thrown into the pocket besides the amp. Seems like it was either a rushed job, or all come boxed like that. The guitar plays alright once the strings were replaced, but it loses tuning pretty quick. Theres obvious signs of neglect such as body chips near the neck, and scratches on the pick guard. The finish on the guitar is pretty nice, and it feels alright in the hands. I wouldnt recommend if you expect everything to come as described in the picture though.jonaba4165

Great little set for beginners or even intermediates as you get the whole package. The tuner is very nice and works well. Everything to get started and the guitar itself feels very solid and has better than average settings for the sounds you'd want. The extra strings were fine but I'm adding a better quality set which I already had anyway. Either way you can't go wrong on this package. The amp has good settings and sounds nice. Overall a good buy.alsmith029

The new 400 modelOf the Donner line is one of the best I've ever seenI'm a luthierI bought every budget guitar the only oneEver came in goodImperfectMike Whelpley

A lot of the reviews posted here are for Strats, so I'm not sure what's going on. Anyway, I bought the red sparkle Squier Bullet Tele. The finish is gorgeous and that's what prompted me to do a spontaneous purchase. I have only experienced owning USA Teles, but I've played some Squiers that really impressed me. This one? Not so much. I don't detect any finish on the back of the neck although I'm sure it has a sealer of some sort. The body finish is nice, but the bridge hardware is cheaply made and I'll be replacing that for sure. Same goes for the tuners. I'm pretty sure it has some high frets because it goes dead starting at the 10th fret, but some of that was back bow. I loosened the truss and got rid if it, but now when I sight down the neck the forward bow is pretty obvious. I don't notice the frets being sharp on the ends. It now plays plays pretty good after sitting long enough for the truss Rod to settle, but I may need to tighten it just a little to get rid of some of the forward bow. The neck has a very comfortable profile. The body is thinner than my American Teles, but it doesn't bother me – in fact it's lighter which I enjoy. The body is Poplar and that's fine by me. I may leave the back of the neck alone for now because it actually feels pretty good, aesthetics are certainly lacking, but the body makes up for that. I'm sure with a little patience and help from my friends I'll have a nice instrument. All the basics are there. As is, it's not all that great, but still better than my first electric guitar! -!an old Kalamazoo single pickup thing with a bolt on neck back in the mid sixties. Like the title says, this thing has potential. I probably couldn't buy a finished body for what I paid.Ronnie

I bought my black metallic Squier Bullet eight years ago when GC was having a Columbus Day sale. I was looking for a guitar to which I could permanently mount my Roland GR-33 guitar synth's GK2a pickup. Previously I had the pickup mounted on my '96 Strat, and I didn't like this fit because I couldn't close my Strat's case with the pickup installed. I have a gig bag for this Squier, and it fits fine in the bag with pickup installed. Anyway, about the guitar. Right out of the box, it played great, requiring only a minimal amount of action adjustment. I was surprised at how good the pickups sounded, it being a Bullet and all. But the humbucker sounds especially nice when playing the guitar through my Marshall. The neck pickup has a decent sound, but not quite up to the snuff of a good alnico pickup. Still, for what the guitar cost, I really can't complain. If I want to, at some later date, I can always change out the neck pickup to a better alnico model. One thing I especially like about this black Bullet is its looks. The photos here at GC don't show it off all that well, but the guitar body's finish is metallic and the pickguard is a heavy metal flake. It looks spectacular under the lights. And the black hardware does a great job of completing that black look. The Bullet's body is thinner than a typical Strat or Squier Affinity or Classic Vibe body. The result is a light weight guitar, but there is no sacrifice in tone.Michael

I would first like to begin with- I normally would be giving a 5 star rating of this unit/Squier, as I have typically never had problems prior to the recent/earlier this year upset regarding shipping containers/etc being paused/sitting in the ocean/etc, delaying container delivery. PLEASE READ ON FOR FULL EXPLANATION. Two imperative points- 1. The fret ends were so sharp, when I say it was not playable (both sides/neck in its entirety), I mean, it was not playable (THE DATE OF INSPECTION WAS EARLIER THIS YEAR, AND I IMMEDIATELY ASSOCIATED THE FRET ENDS PROBLEM BEING DUE TO THE SHIPS BEING DELAYED/SITTING IN THE OCEAN/ETC- It looked to me like maybe between March and July of this year, although, I couldn't quite make out the stamped month). As well, the serial # of the guitar, of course, was of this year/'22. I maintain/work on most all my guitars, and I normally would've tightened up the fret ends myself, however, there was a hairline crack on the red sparkle finish at the bass side neck joint (which i just couldn't accept, visually), as well as a small tooling gash along the top edge of the headstock. The replacement/reordered guitar arrives tomorrow. 2. THE NEWER UNITS (AS, ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS A 2022-BUILT UNIT) ARE TOP-MOUNT/STRING THROUGH THE BACK OF THE BRIDGE, NOT "STRING-THRU" as the description indicates (and, with Squier bridge mounting, these are 5-screw mount plates, which, if ever you want to upgrade your hardware, particularly, w/the bridge, you must find an aftermarket unit that is "string through the back", along w/the correct string spacing (with Squier, they're 54mm, typically), and you'll typically need to redrill given it's rare to find plates that have Squier mounting dimensions that provided string through the back holes. I'm upgrading to a Babicz, given the results found. Also, there are two string trees (the second being a tree for both the D and G strings), and it looks great, actually, with both. Overall, I was impressed with the finish, as it was nearly flawless (aside from the hairline finish crack mentioned previously). The fretwire/fretwork, felt great….I found maybe two or so "slight" dead spots, which weren't enough of a "ping", or string buzz to be of concern, or critiquing the fretwork negatively. Rather, I was impressed with the fretwork. As well, it's important to note that the mounting of the bridge, along with the neck positioning/etc, was spot-on. No misalignment of the bridge mount/etc (and the same goes for the nut spacing). I've always been impressed with what Fender/Squier/Jackson are putting out. The quality is typically quite high…as for this unit, the quality is high, but the results of the environmental dilemma with either being stuck in a container offshore, or, sitting in a facility for weeks/months/etc, have had quite the impact on this guitar. As an important example, I had purchased a Bullet Tele last year (the unit in Burst color offered here through MF), and it was/is flawless, and I completely upgraded every part. As I own approx'ly 53 guitars ranging primarily from ESP to Jackson (some of which in the better than $2K range), I love to take what's titled as a "beginner" guitar, and totally hotrod it with high end parts (such is the case w/this guitar). As mentioned above, I've reordered the guitar, as MusiciansFriend provided me a generous discount (without having to ask) to accommodate me. Upgrades- 1. Babicz Full Contact Tele "Ashtray" bridge Gold, 2. Genuine Fender Gold control plate, 3. Fender Infinity Gold strap locks, 4. Gold input jack Ferrule, 5. Custom built Gold Sparkle w/star cut-outs Tele pickguard, 6. Philadelphia Luthier Tools "Fat" neck plate/Gold w/gold neck mounting screws, 7. Earvana compensated nut (Ivory), 8. Philadelphia Luthier Tools Gold string trees, 9. Fender locking tuners, Gold, 10. EMG T-52 set (black), or, EMG T-set, Red., 11. EMG Gold Telecaster knobs. 12. Powder coated Red pickguard screws, 13. Gold pickup mounting screws. Beginner guitar?……no more (ha).Dave

The guitar itself seems to be built fairly well, the action seems good on it also. The outer edges of the frets seem a little sharp to me, which can be filed/sanded down to remove that. The guitar was packaged good and no visible damage has been noticed. The thing that I have noticed is, the amp is cheesy and has alot of reverb in it, which can be annoying. The one item that was not included is any documentation on the guitar itself, nothing, nada. I guess they expect people to know what the strings are, how to adjust the tone controls, and care for the item blindly.balance

This guitar has served me well for a little over 2 year it's every thing you need you could probably upgrade the amp to a better one. the guitar has held up but I'm noticing chips in the epoxy other than that excellent kitAndrew

Very nice guitar and amp. Amp sounds really good for size. Junk the strings and replace. Frets need to have ends sanded off a little. Stick out a little. Annoying. Other than that it sounds great. Very nice finish. I would buy a case if I traveled with it. Bag gives little protection. Its definitely a 4 star guitar combo. Would buy again. The electronic tuner is a good place to get started. Go buy a good one otherwise.crabtreedennis

I went into my local guitar center yesterday and had close to 1k for a new guitar. I'm pulling off fenders and Epiphones off the wall that felt like they needed a lot of work done. I find this thing just chillin in a corner and the very first thing I do to every guitar is run my thumb and pointer finger along the neck to see if there is any sharp frets. It was smooth. Thought buzz would be bad. There was none. Thought tone would suck. Nope. Needless to say I went home with it. It does have a very few flaws. Pickup selector feels weak, tuners are so tight that they cause some sounds when moving them (stays in tune though), and pickups sound weak. What it is for $150 is a step above what Squier and Ibanez throws out in their budget price range. I can't wait to mod this thing. Despite a few flaws I'm giving it 5 stars due to it's price point.Matt

Overall: I wanted a new guitar because I primarily play Les Paul's and wanted something different. I found Kramer guitars and did some research and liked what I found but didn't want to throw a lot of money at a brand I've never played. I have played and owned B.C. Rich, Gibson, Fender, Washburn, Epiphone, and Ibanez guitars in the past and thought I found what I wanted to stick with. My Kramer Focus arrived today in the awesome purple finish. All I did was tune it up and check intonation and it was perfect. Very low action, smooth fast neck, no sharp fret edges even with the maple fretboard and a Michigan winter! The low humidity sometimes makes the frets stick out. The guitar is just awesome, it sounds good in all positions buy the middle and neck pickup are phenomenol, no buzz at all! The bridge pickup is good but I think it could be hotter so I may change that, the tuners aren't perfect but they'll definitely work, after an hour of playing and using the tremolo it holds tune very well. I highly recommend this guitar for any player, and I will definitely be entertaining the idea of purchasing more Kramer guitars from zZounds!Alex

The guitar kit arrived in perfect condition by FedEx and went together fine. My wife, the gift recipient, loves it. The guitar, being new, is taking a little while to stabilize on tuning but it's working out okay. The red color is nice. My wife's only complaint is that the little amplifier doesn't have "fuzz" settings, but I told her they will come when she learns how to play. Individual pieces of the kit can be upgraded in future as desired.Kenneth

Very surprised at the value and sound of the Pyle Pro Package. The guitar looks great with woodgrain coming through the sunburst finish. Frets are finished nicely and the fretboard feels great. I am most impressed with the amp as I have 2 others the same size (more popular names) and this one sounds the best by far. Only issue I had was a slight adjustment of the string supports (for smaller strings on Strat style head). They were slightly misaligned but it took only seconds to fix. The strap isnt great (prefer leather ends), but used rubber strap blocks as a precaution. Overall, very happy and cannot believe the value offered for slightly over 100 bucks!Steve

I purchased this guitar when it was $95 off full price. So that kind of makes it a worthwhile purchase. Definitely not worth full price in my opinion. Poorly packed with insufficient padding in the box allowed two of the strings to be bent during shipping. I assume this happened during shipping. They wouldnt send bent strings right? Thankfully they provided back up strings… The nut is very poorly crafted. You can visibly see burrs and imperfections in the nut that cause the strings to ring out of tune on certain parts of the fret board even after tuning. The pick-up selector nob fell right off first time I adjusted it. I will have to glue it myself. When the notes do play out true the triple pick ups sound better than the Peavy beginner guitar I used to have– Which only had two pickups and came in a similar starter package but was about half the price as this guitar. I think if I research how to fix some of the issues I can make it playable. But this guitar is far from playable out of the box. Fairly poor quality control.Cody

I was looking forward to ordering this as my first guitar after taking some classes a couple years back. The shipping was remarkably fast–however, when the product arrived the amp was completely broken. Upon plugging the guitar into the amp and strumming, it would make a horrendous scratching, broken sound. Plucking strings has the exact same effect, and occasionally the amp will cut off after a second of playing. I've tried adjusting the dials, turning overdrive on and off, I even bought a new cord thinking that was the issue to no avail. To make matters worse I have called the customer support number multiple times asking if I could recieve a partial refund, or ship back the amp for a functioning replacement–every time I'm left on hold before the call disconnects, if I can even get through to begin with. The only reason this isn't a one star review is that the guitar itself works fine and looks beautiful! I wouldn't reccomend buying the full set if they don't bother to make sure one of the most essential parts is functioning before shipping however.James B.

I worked outside for my father for a good many weeks while the guitar was on sale, and when I got it, I had mixed emotions. After a few days, the gig bag started to rip and now theres a big hole in it. Its still usable, but it isnt really well made. Also the bag isnt really protective. Its more decorative. The strings on it and the other ones were both junk, my local guitar shop guy told me that himself, but strings are moderately priced, and most of the time they last a while, so thats not much of a deal. The amp is lower end, and the cable that plugs into the amp and the guitar started to show copper wire around 2 weeks after purchase. It still works, but it should have lasted longer. And the stand on the amp didnt hold up at all, the plastic on it broke and now it wont angle so the sound comes at your face. But other than that its a good purchase, i would just suggest to just buy the guitar alone, and buy the amp separately, instead of the kit, but that may get expensive, so check out those options and compare them to this product and decide for yourself. My local guitar shop guy told me that the guitar itself is great quality though, but there are more expensive guitars out there, its a great guitar to start out with. Another side note, not relating to the quality of the guitar, but for beginners, how to learn how to play it fast. I suggest buying Rocksmith 2014 with this for PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One and other game consoles. Although it is expensive, the cable that comes with it counts as $20 dollars of it, and it actually surprisingly works! I started playing the game in late june or early july this year and I learned pretty quickly, to the point where I am now thinking about combining lessons and the game together to speed up the learning process even faster. Now it wont turn you into Guns N Roses overnight, but its pretty effective.TheVanillaMiner