My problem is I don’t know how to play steel guitar. The Gretcsh is a fine instrument I suppose.

I think this is the best one for a beginner or intermediate. Tried a cheaper one but broke within two weeks. This is one that will last a life time.

Thought I'd get a better lap steel than the cheaper one I bought earlier this month (btw, it had a leg mount so badly warped that the leg wouldn't screw in). The Grestch came with a major crack in its neck and no apparent damage to the shipping material. I paid twice as much as the first guitar to try and get better quality...no such luck. Highly disappointed as I'm wanting to learn to play and don't want to spend a ton until I have a better idea of my potential skill.

First me, since I am writing the review.I play the Dobro. I am an advanced Intermediate Level player.I have owned a Gretsch Dobro and now own a Paul Beard solid mahogany.I used to be a Banjo player but now only play steel because of left hand issues.There is a lot of misunderstandings, mis-used words and mis-information about steel guitars and musical instruments in general. It is important to know who YOU are and WHAT you want out of a guitar.With that in mind, here is my review.The Gretsch G5700 Electromatic Guitar. Gretsch does a great job on their guitars and offers very good quality for the price range. This lap steel fits that description. Who is it for? A total lap steel beginner up to a mid level Intermediate player. A pro would enjoy playing it but would probably be investing the big bucks into a pro level guitar. So if you are making the leap into lap steel playing or realize that the really low priced, cheaply made stuff is interfering with your learning, this is the guitar for you. It’s a good one!!Tuning this guitar. You CAN NOT tune this with a clip on tuner. Those who say they can either have perfect pitch and don’t need a tuner at all or have a very much badly tuned guitar with broken strings. You need a pedal tuner. Something “in line” from the guitar output to the amp or an amp that has a built in tuner. I use this one on Amazon: Amazon.com: Donner Dt-1 Chromatic Guitar Tuner Pedal True Bypass: Musical Instruments.Pedals. This is a LAP steel guitar not a pedal steel guitar. The pedal steels have rods and things you work with your legs to change string tuning mechanically. This is NOT one of those. The pedals you can attach are electronic, like the tuner I mentioned. They plug in AFTER the guitar output. If you want them, you can research and experiment. They are not necessary except for the tuner pedal.Strings. This is a C6 guitar and comes with appropriate strings for that. You can not tune these strings to an E tuning. E tuned guitars are generally 8 strings or more. Having said that, let’s talk about C6 strings. The ones on here are garbage. You might want to try tuning them once just to hear the guitar and make sure it’s in good working order. They will break pretty soon and don’t really have good sound quality. I recommend you buy these strings, D’Addario Pro Steel EPS 500. Then use the 6 strings appropriate for C6 tuning as marked on the side of the box. They will sound fantastic and won’t break, if you stay within a half or whole note of the strings capacity. There are 10 strings in the box and you can toss the ones you don’t use. They are meant for 8 string and 10 string guitars. It might be possible to use D’Addario Pro Steel EPS 490 and tune this guitar for E ranges, but I don’t know for sure. I bought a cheaper separate 8 string lap top guitar for that, a Rondo Music SX. That way, you don’t have to restring your guitar to play in a different key. The only way to actually hear what the strings actually sound like is to attach headphones to the guitar directly. That way, the amp is not coloring the sound.Noises and sound. Another point of confusion. A buzz has to do with the STRINGS. They are either tuned too lose or hitting the frets, if the frets are raised. On this guitar, there are no frets, only markings. So if the STRING is BUZZING when plucked, it is not tightened to the note. It is way loose. HUM is electronic. It can come from the guitar pickup, the patch cords, anything you have in line between the guitar and the amp and the amp itself. To determine where the hum is coming from, connect the guitar directly to the amp. Change the patch cords, if you have hum. Wiggle them. Most likely the pickup on this guitar will NOT hum. Chase the hum down elsewhere.Sound. After the guitar and its strings, the sound comes from the amp. You can mess with volume and tone on this guitar. Set them to neutral, set everything to neutral on your amp. Then you know what your amp sounds like. Your on your own after that.Bottom line. This is a great guitar. Do not be afraid to buy it if it meets your needs.

Has great quality of sound. Very pretty finish.

It sounds great and is well built. For the price you cannot do any better.

I bought this guitar a couple of years ago, and I have really gotten in to learning it in the past year. These things are pretty simple, so there's not a whole lot that can go wrong. One thing that I noticed is that the fretboard did not lay completely flat (this had no effect on the sound or playability), but I took it off and glued it down, now it looks perfect. I have also added legs to it. I bought plain table legs from a hardware store, stained them, and they work great. I was able to place the sockets in such a way that I can still lay the guitar on my lap comfortably when I don't want to use the legs.I think the pickup is totally sufficient. It can get a little hot, and the highs can be a little much, but if you roll the tone knob back about 1/3 of the way you get a real sweet tone. I play this through my Peavey Deuce, and it sounds sweet.I am a C6 player, and using this guitar I can get all the country twang I want. the notes and chords are all there, you just have to find them.In conclusion, I think that this is a very solid guitar. I am planning on getting a pedal steel in the near future, and this guitar has been a great way for me to get into steel guitar. With this guitar, you can get used to using a full-size tonebar, metal finger picks, and volume pedal. I have been able to work on many aspect of my steel guitar technique with this instrument, and I think it has been a great introductory steel.

Great lap guitar This is different to me and I love it already.