WAY good value for $99, and it arrived with the packaging intact. However, the design of the foam that surrounds the guitar is faulty, and the part of the resonator that covers the plastic bridge piece was bent downward, and pressing on the bridge. This was the result of the styrofoam packaging being in contact with that fragile part of the resonator cover, so any load on the package might not show on the outside of the box, but force bearing down on the package deformed the resonator cover. I disassembled the guitar to get the resonator cover off to be able to whack it back into shape with hard rubber tools, and found that the plastic bridge piece did not have any slots to locate/guide the strings, so I had to add those. There were a few fret ends that had sharp burrs on them, but they were easy to make smooth with small tool maker files. Also, the slot in the nut for the A string was somehow a "double slot", so the A string could sort of flop in and out of position, but I was able to file it to a compromise shape. SO, IN GENERAL, for $99 you will get a guitar that is probably worth MUCH MORE, as long as you can deal with the small quality control issues. UPDATE: Replaced the above mentioned "bridge piece" (the saddle) with a Replogle maple/ebony saddle. After researching how the saddle should fit, I discovered that the OEM plastic thing was WAY too loose fitting, it flopped about in the slot in the aluminum spider. After filing and sanding, and adding the slots for the strings to rest in (I used the spacing of the string holes in the tail piece as a guide for slot placement), the new Replogle wood saddle fits way better, and I believe it has improved the tone of the resonator.

Search on this item from other Amz sellers, and you'll find far more – and more mixed – reviews than in this listing. But I'm delighted with mine, so far – surprising value. Jerry Douglas wouldn't buy this, but it's perfect if you're just dipping your fingers into dobro.PACKING: Arrived in an oversized wedge box, enclosing a snug styrofoam coffin all around the guitar (including its top). No waste-reduction award for the styrofoam, but the guitar arrived fully intact.FINISH: Ridiculously gorgeous at this price. Beautifully applied 3-color sunburst top finish. (I'm assuming laminate woods all around, but the outside layer is straight-grained spruce.) Neck & back are nicely grained mahogany with a rich, dark natural stain. Fretboard is good ol' rosewood with an interesting diagonal grain. Neck has butt and scarf joints, but you have to stare carefully to find them. The top has 3 tiny color imperfections on or near the binding, but no one will see them but me.SOUND: Sounds like a biscuit-bridge resonator. Not a lot of acoustic volume (see ACCESSORIES), but the piezo pickup & 3-band EQ are effective in tailoring the amplified sound.PLAYABILITY: Action seems deliberately set medium. It's high enough to play slide, but low enough to play fretted (although that's a chore on the upper frets). The 1 real flaw in my copy is that the nut's high-E-string slot is cut too low, so the slide frets out on this money string. But inserting a little shim from a direct-mail plastic card works fine as a temporary fix. The nut isn't glued on, so it's easy for my guitar tech to remove it, to build up that slot or replace the whole nut. But that might not even be an issue, because see ACCESSORIES.ACCESSORIES: If you're buying this to play slide dobro, you might want to buy a Grover or AllParts "extension nut" (they're apparently the same) for as little as $6. This nicely raises the strings ~1/4" off the fretboard. Makes surprisingly little difference in slide playability or wolf tones, but by giving the strings more room to vibrate, produces significantly louder and richer acoustic tone. This is one way to get closer to "real" dobro tone. (Closer, but not quite there. Bluegrass dobro players get their rich honk by using a spider-bridge or tricone dobro, which you won't find in this price range.) Pro tip: Cut another strip of plastic junk-mail (or old credit) card, to protect the fretboard's finish where the extender's foot sits.Also, the "gig bag" included with this is a jokey thin dust cover with no padding. You can order a padded gig bag for under $25, or as little as $17 if you don't care about waterproofing, Make sure the specs are at least 41" long and 4" deep – this guitar's body, alone, is 4" DEEP before adding the resonator and bridge.The included strap is attractive, and the extra string set and clip-on tuner are nice to have when I need them.KEEPS ON GIVING: If you register your dobro with Pyle (online), they offer to send you an after-sale gift pack, containing a capo and a slide. Ask for it! The capo is a really sturdy Shubb-style capo. And the slide is fantastic: It seems to be steel plus a glass coating. So it gives you the rich tone of a metal slide, with the reduced string noise of a lighter glass slide.

Didn’t even have to do any setup work or tweak, tune it up and go. No fret issues, plays easy due to the smallish neck and Gibson acoustic scale length. Only flaw I found as a wire is messed up on one of the little screen cones. One of the fret markers Inc the binding is twice the size of the rest. Hey, it’s a black dot in white plastic binding, who’s cares. Had to clean off a little buffing wax. I’m telling you even the nitpicks but this is a hell of a good playing and sounding resonator guitar, but I want to be thorough. I didn’t like the 2 stickers on back of peghead close to the neck, one made in China and other was upc to register a warranty, which I won’t do. I’m not a fan of production stickers and the upc large one came off with no discernible residue. The made in China sticker is a heck of a lot tough to get the goo off. I might try rubbing alcohol next to get the adhesive residue off, I don’t like that gummy smear and the feel.Buy this and you’ll be glad.EDIT: forgot to add, in interest of full candid review, the cover plate is bent down over the bridge due to pressure from packaging. I’ll have to remove tailpiece and cover to try to straighten. Plays fine bent but doesn’t look good. Also, these use a cheap 1 piece saddle rather than proper resophonic split saddle to allow cone and spider tightening intact. So, if you have a rattle, you have to disassemble remove saddle, tighten screw holding spider to cone, and reassemble and hope it’s tight enough. If I get to that point, I’ll split a bone saddle and install a 2 piece saddle as it should’ve been from factory.