Donner Hush I Silent, Travel Guitar Review. Is It Worth It?

Today we are checking out the donner hush I Silent, travel guitar. Crazy features at a low price.
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[@alexandersprout7992]

Thanks for playing it without an amplifier. I feel most other KZbinrs were paid by Donner to review this guitar to shill. Great review! Thanks again!

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Thank you sir! Yea I felt that if it was advertised as an acoustic should at least show it acoustically. Everything I have reviewed has been out of my own pocket, but even if companies were to offer me things I think it would be unjust to people to not be honest about things. Should be aware of what your purchasing before you buy. Thanks again!👍

[@user-hm9xh2ox3f]

Miles... I agree with your analysis completely. I got one of these as a gift a few months ago for travelling when using airplanes. I was surprised at the quality out of the box as well. Like you, I adjusted the action and I was good to go. I'm thinking about using it on stage as well. I subscribed to your channel... Keep up the great work! A new fan! Love to hear more of the luthier comments. I have been playing for over 50 years now and am always learning new ideas about guitars and other string instruments from luthiers. Might have been a profession for myself in another life. Thanks Miles!

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Thank you much sir, it is a lot of fun if I do say so myself 👍

[@pentachronic]

Would love to hear this on stage through an amp modeller. I have one on order (Hush guitar).

[@Humiliated1234]

Hi I'm currently doing a summery review of this product, to answer the question" can travel/minimilistic guitars be your primary guitst and ok for beginners to use?". Can you describe your experience with it would you say this is something you can use as your primary guitar and what is an upgrade that is definitely needed ?

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

I'm going to be brutally honest, it is great for a beginner/intermediate player. And I think I cover this in the video. But it is simply another tool, as far as replacing my main guitars, I would say no, I went after it because it offered something different. I can carry this around and noodle on it much easier than my other acoustics but it simply doesn't replace them. As far as upgrades, I did a full setup and dressing right away as it needed it. Replaced the string trees that were on it and the nut and saddle and that was it. But it was fine without those upgrades. I'm also not a fan of the tuners but haven't found an option for that yet. I hope this helps.

[@KubaMroczynski]

Sir, this review and also the comments you gave below are top notch. Been looking for something to play when the baby sleeps in the next room - I look no further. This plus nylon strings will be my choice. Thanks for a great job you did!

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Thank you very much sir! I greatly appreciate it 🙏

[@preparationoftheelect2023]

2:34 hahahaha so funny, the cat is playing with the guitar tag thing 😂

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Yea, he loves to steal the show. And be all up in our business 😅

[@preparationoftheelect2023]

@@MilesMcNallyLuthierie hahahaha!

[@leecasss]

Nice review! You can get the guitar much cheaper than your quote. The guitar stays in tune pretty well. I mainly play slide. I plug this guitar into my pedals and amp and play it like my normal Strat, but only when I'm travelling. I installed strap locks; one next to the lead jack. I disliked using the hex wrench for the dismantling and installing of the metal body shapes each time I travelled, so I drilled right through the holes and body and put in brass bolts so that I can use a normal screw driver. It looks fine: like it came like that. Also I didn't like the way the tuner sat on the end of the neck so I made a split dowel to fit top and bottom. Now the tuner sits snugly instead of wobbling. I've got photos and could post them if you tell me how!

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Not sure how to post photos on KZbin comments to be honest. But you can always send them on my Instagram I'd love to see it. I swapped some parts myself as I didn't like some of the stock hardware choices. Plan to do some other mods to it as well though I was very happy with it out of the box all things considered. Also swapped mine to a nylon at the moment and quite like it like that.

[@countrymonkOSB]

I totally kept looking around, trying to see who let the cat in my dang house!! It sounded like it was coming out my dang chimney! Then I realized it's on the video... 😁😁. But honestly, thanks for the informative video. Was the action hard to correct? Something a novice can fix? BTW, the cat is damn adorable! This was one of the most informative videos I've ever had the pleasure of watching.

[@metalguru5226]

Your feline friend stole the show. I love it! Great review and thank you for posting this. I just ordered one since they're on sale for about $120 USD here in Australia.

[@paulstead2108]

Thanks for the review, probably one of the most balanced and thorough guitar reviews I’ve seen - thank you! I’m looking for a ‘silent’ guitar to play whilst away caravanning with my wife, so that I never need to annoy the neighbours or interfere with my wife watching a film. One concern for me is that caravans and cars see wild swings in both temperature and humidity from the heat of a UK summers day to the cool of the evening, rainy days and bone dry ones. How vulnerable would such a guitar be to these variations in your view? The only carbon fibre travel guitars I can find are neither silent nor compact, so I may have a tough choice to make here.

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Thank you for the kind words sir🙏. To answer your questions, it is very compact so perfect for traveling when you need to minimize the space it takes up. As far as temperature changes, it is constructed like a neck thru electric so it is one solid piece so it is a little more stable being that it is on piece and will all move as one. But with that said it will still be affected by those changes. They offer 3 different woods you can choose from, can't remember the third but maple and mahogany are the other 2. Mahogany is a denser straighter grain and handles temp changes pretty well, and so does maple. I usually aim for either of the 2 as my climate here can get pretty brutal in the winter and very muggy, humid and hot in the summertime and I have had no issues with those woods as opposed to others. The one I have is mahogany. If you really want to go "silent" swap those strings out for nylon and it is about as quiet as you can get before silence but the pickup still picks up the strings very well, not that the steel strings were super loud but still decently audible from 10-20ft. Hope this helps👍😊

[@craigbrown7157]

If money was no concern, would this or the Yamaha be easier for a beginner to learn on?

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Depends how serious the person is. This donner is a lot of bang for the buck and has features, like the tapering neck profile that the Yamaha doesn't. The big peek for this one is it is a great player and very budget friendly. The Yamaha is a better made instrument but comes with a higher pricetag to show it, but I would honestly say this donner isn't too far behind. They also have a different feel primarily because of the body construction. I like the donner more because where as it is an "acoustic" it feels closer to an electric than the Yamaha does and I'm more an electric player. Not to say it feels exactly that way but it's closer. To learn on is always a tough question I always recommend a mid tier instrument because it's budget friendly but will also feel better to play, a big problem with "beginner" guitars is they are so cheap for a reason and a lot of quality/things that make an instrument comfortable get overlooked.

[@womplestilskin]

I really enjoyed your review. Cat is so cute too. One drawback of the neck is it's a sharp point on the back. If youre a constant barre chord player your thumb has to press pretty hard on what feels to me like a pretty sharp point. I'm on the acoustic so the tension is higher but do you find the same on the silent Donner? (generally I find the neck comfy other than that)

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

I don't find it to be sharp, it's a pretty gradual. I am also more of an electric player these days so I find it a nice in-between from acoustic to electric. The tension of the strings is tight but not as tight as a normal acoustic. But I personally find it very comfortable. I may eventually convert mine to a classical with nylon strings though as I have several steel string acoustics.

[@womplestilskin]

@@MilesMcNallyLuthierie One interesting thing is that Donner called the neck the threadneck in the DO series acoustics, but theres no mention of "threadneck" in the Hush-I literature.

[@Guitarin90seconds]

Nice review… subbed! Show the kittie…needs some screen time!

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Thank you so much sir🙏 I'm sure he would love to 😅 always has to be up in our business 🤣

[@muhdsafwan3710]

so this guitar can only be played when the battery is inserted?. means that this guitar will not work without a battery even i plug into amplifier? sorry for my broken english

[@leecasss]

Need the battery to work.

[@Chadwinw]

@@leecasssyou need a battery to use headphones you dont need a battery if u use your own amp

[@sixfix79]

My sons surprised me with one of these guitars for father’s Day. I have a feeling that it has stainless steel frets as they are not magnetic. Would anyone happen to know for sure about this. Also there are no sharp ends on the frets as they have allowed for the wood to shrink as the frets do not completely go to the edge of the fretboard as there is a very slight gap. thank you for a very interesting and informative video and I did not hesitate in subscribing to your wonderful channel

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Thank you so much sir🙏 yes I do believe they are stainless steel as best I can tell. I recently converted mine to a nylon string and am greatly enjoying that. The only issue being the string retainers on the body are sharp so it shaves the nylon from time to time when I tune so I'll have to swap those. I was very impressed with this overall for being a budget guitar. Hope your enjoying yours as well!

[@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars]

Stainless steel you're right is not attracted to magnets, but nor is regular 'nickel steel'. Believe me, I tested it myself just to answer this question once and for all :) The only wire I found to have even the slightest attraction to my very strong neodymium magnets was EVO gold - and that barely even moved but at least it DID move a tiny bit up close to the magnet :)

[@richard96548]

How quiet is it to others if headphones are plugged into the guitar? Trying to get a silent guitar that I can play on while my family is sleeping.

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Shouldn't be a problem. Pretty quiet as is. I swapped mine to a nylon string and it's even quieter.

[@sahilhanda4709]

Hi@@MilesMcNallyLuthierie thinking of doing a nylon string replacement , what strings do you suggest?

[@flyingformation1878]

Hi Miles thanks a lot for your great review. It is so nice to listen to some expert unbiased opinion. I want to get this guitar but is it possible to replace the tuning keys with after market ones? Yes or not would impact on my decision. All the best mate

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

The simple answer would be it is possible, but with the style it's limited. I have yet to find an option I like as I want to replace them as well. If the knurls were deeper on these they wouldn't be bad.

[@pentachronic]

Great review. What action did you have finalise on at the 12th Fret ?

[@preparationoftheelect2023]

Hey Miles, how did you fix the action on the guitar? I orddered this guitar and its on its way, so i was wondering as a newbie how do i fix the action when i get it?

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

The action is fixable just like any other guitar, and it will vary from one to the other. Despite what anyone tells you any instrument, tool ect will need some tuning when purchased new. Especially when ordered online. Many variables from the warehouse to your home. Temps, humidity you name it. If you're a novice I would strongly suggest bringing it in to have it looked over.

[@preparationoftheelect2023]

@@MilesMcNallyLuthierie thankyou bro 🙏 I'll definitely take it in

[@FestShreds]

The white chord in the background made me think that I had a crack in my phone screen

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

Sometimes you need a little scare in your life to remind you your alive 🤣 glad your screens 👍

[@korodski]

Metal tone?

[@MrTrda]

Great review, thank you.

[@scotti_tran]

Please try nylon strings. I would be very interested,

[@RickDeNatale]

It sounds like there are some intonation problems, and the bridge doesn’t seem to allow for fixing that.

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

It is a little. I only did a basic setup to complete my review on it. But it's a replaceable saddle just like you would do with and acoustic to fix that intonation. Being that it's only slightly off it would be easy to swap and slant the saddle parts to adjust for that. It's intended to be acoustic not electric though it can be plugged in.

[@6768lee]

Sounded out of tune

[@hwmbo727]

If your cat approve of it, that's good enough for me.

[@metalguru5226]

I agree. Two thumbs and 4 paws up convinced me. I've just ordered this guitar.

[@jasonsmith1133]

What would you think about gigging with this as it is?

[@lenhanthanhngoaingu3379]

Thanks for the video. Can you tell me how to turn off the guitar? The vulume nob is not designed to turn off the guitar, right? Thanks.

[@leecasss]

When you pull out your connecting plugs it shuts down.

[@lenhanthanhngoaingu3379]

Thank you@@leecasss

[@m.g.kroger]

It sounds very thin in all demos on youtube.

[@dpuppa988]

Big wrench is for truss rod

[@glebkovalenko4878]

like for the cat in the frame ))

[@Mr300zx90]

YOUR FRIEND LOOKS LIKEHE/SHE WANTS TO PLAY SOME GUITAR.

[@luthiferbuilds]

that things pretty neat

[@cubistone]

Five big mac and cheese. And fries on the side. To go

[@onesource9527]

Yeah......I think I prefer my Yamaha Silent Guitar. Admittedly, its more expensive. I've been wanting YoMamaHa to come out with a lapsteel in the same form factor. I play slide on the SG and it's much cleaner and confident sounding than a regular acoustic-electric. It's the electronics that nail it.

[@danielecanali5993]

….non si mette un campanello al collo del gatto od ad un cane diventano MATTI, si sente dal video che il tuo gatto nero ce l’ha…STRONZO!!! 😖😖😖

[@goodtimefolkrock]

Gtr is not equipped blu tooth? ......kinda crappy sounding but would be cool with a rechargeable battery and blu tooth for busking , parties , etc

[@alexandersprout7992]

Rechargeable 9V batteries exist

[@tomgunt3459]

I have one this guitar. Stock preamp no good I change it to install fishman sonitone it good sound more than.

[@MilesMcNallyLuthierie]

It's not the greatest, I can agree with that. But as a whole package for the price it's overall well worth it. I'll definitely have to look into doing that.👍

[@jaywong8023]

How did u fit it? where you able to use the stock buttons or you totally remove the box?