I am a disabled veteran who decided playing a guitar would help me with some hand issues. I had seen many of the slick infomercials om HSN and decided to buy one. I got the Duende. I don't play every day or bang out tunes. I am still learning the scales 4 yrs later. 8 mo. after i bought it a Tuner peg just started spinning around and it could no longer be tuned. It was under warranty and i sent it back in for a replacement. So i get my second guitar and i have only played it about 30 times since i got it in 2009. Well here we go again, I was trying to tune it and the SAME TUNING PEG BROKE !! Now it's not under warranty, but i'm going to se if ESTABAN will replace it, or is he only arouind for the MONEY !! He spends the whole show saying how well made they are. I bay IT'S A RIP-OFF !! I TELL ALL THE VETS I KNOW TO STAY AWAY!! Mabey I'll call when he sells them again on t.v. and see if he will answer why they are so poorly made. VERY UN-IMPRESSED !!!!!!

Havin been playing fo 30+ years, I know that some guitars just need a little neck adjustment and better strings to make it sound OK, and sometimes pretty darn good for a "cheapo".
My curiosity got the best of me...I bought one...took it out of the box..TERRIBLE. Put on new strings and it actually made it worse. I took my $20.00 strings off and paid $60.00 to send it back. The Rosette looked like a glued on picture. The binding was extremely crude, the action was too high for Evel Knievel to jump and was impossible to adjust. Bottom line, if you feel you HAVE to buy one, give up music as a hobby and take up shark wrestling...IT'S THAT BAD!!!
The guitar he plays on the infomercial couldnt possibly be one of these pieces of absolute GARBAGE.

I cant belive what people are saying .I have five estaban guitars.I also Have a Fender Gibson and yamaha.And i will but any of my estaban 's with any other guitar.I am 54 years oul and have played most of my life.I have herd fender fans put down Gibson and Gibson fans put down Fender.I also have never had trouble keeping any of them in tune.My vintage legacy is my go to guitar.

I've had this guitar for awhile and at first ir was nice and I really enjoyed
it. It may not be of the highest quality but you get what you pay for...but
after a year or two the whole thing starts to fall apart. Don't waste the
money. Save for something real nice and high quality

The bridge is too low. The strings rattle. Not very well made at
all!

I bought my Esteban Acoustic Guitar about 12 years ago. It was the first one he sold on tv. The first package that went for 3 payments of $33. The color is blonde. I have never had a problem with it. It holds a tune great. I record all my songs using it. I love the action and the rich tone. A few years ago my ex singer bought a yamaha acoustic and mine blew his away. Every song on my page was made with Estaban's guitar if you don't believe the sound...http://www.myspace.com/579316946
Check it out. I will buy another, great guitars for a good price and they do last...I'm also a musician and have been playing for over 20 years so I have played allot of guitars through the years.

I bought 2 guitars on eBay just to see what the gig is all about. Fireworks guitar was terrible,just garbage. Classical guitar with roses could be used as an ornament but it smelled so bad it made me sick and I kept it in garage. Esteban is good gitarist, I have all his CDs,but with guitars he totally blew it. I am not sure that he even knows how bad these guitars are coming out of China. He tried to use his popularity to cash in on guitar sales. He could have build these guitars with real wood (instead of particle board) in the US or in some shop in Mexico owned by US company to keep check on quality. Guitar could cost between $300-$350, a bit more expensive,but he would have a real thing. Now,he has guitars made of terrible particle board that cannot be tuned (possibly hazardous for health given all toxic products coming out of China),the poorest possible quality of everything else on guitar and ruined reputation with many people and fans. I was thinking to hose down guitar with roses to get rid of stink, but I actually opened it up (I cut hole in the back of guitar) to see what is inside...I'd rather not comment on what I saw (this is when I really got mad at Esteban and almost threw his CDs to garbage too, fortunately I did not). These guitars are really an attempt to make quick cash gone terribly wrong, an example what a lust for money can do to a rather nice people (it cannot cost more then $10 to make this guitar in China, probably even less then that). So, if you want an ornament in your room and don't mind a smell of a dead horse,, buy this guitar. If you think you will play this guitar and learn new instrument and spread music arounf...please do not bother with this terrible box shaped as guitar. You can buy $250 Yamaha nylon string guitar and start spreding the gift of music. Last thing, it definetly seems that guitars Esteban uses in his commericals are made in US from real wood (you know, like spruce, mahagony, rosewood, etc).

The only reason I gave it a 0.5 was because of the training DVDs. This guitar cannot be tuned even with replacing strings and building up the bridge. For less than half the price I purchased another guitar to learn on. I struggled with the Esteban for three months before giving up for over a year. I have now learned to play my first song in less than three weeks with a $100 guitar. I also contacted QVC when I purchased the Esteban and they were not even appologetic about the problem just told me to mail it back. I am suprised a professional would sell such poor quality and put his name on it.

The guitar is so poorly made that even a professional shop was unable to tune it properly. I was told they see them regularly and rarely can be tuned completely. I struggled with the guitar for weeks and finally gave up. Contacted TV program where purchased and was blown off. I told them they should be ashamed to sell a product of such poor quality as many people believe because it is an Estaban it must be of good quality. I also was unaware during ad that this is not even made of wood. I finally purchased a guitar for half the price and am happy learning to play. I

I bought the Estaban black steel cutaway dreadnaught, off ebay (about 2 years ago) because of a friend's recomendation - I think he got his from HSN. I have to say I'm happy enough with it and like my friend, also recommend it.
The Estaban was a welcome addition to my collection - I already had a vintage Fender Mustang and a Yamaha classical acoustic and an electric bass, all which are very different from each other, as is this guitar. The Estaban's action is pretty high, but it has a decent enough intonation, the high note frets (made easy by the cutaway) seem accurate and it certainly hasn't fallen apart as some reviewers claim.
I hadn't played it much, until recently buying a Seagull 12 string. I couldn't believe how much easier it was to play than the Estaban so I decided to try and improve things. I started with a new set of Martin light strings. It's not only relieved fingering effort but also improved the sound. Next I'll work on lowering the action - sanding the saddle and even the nut a bit. It's a good idea to optimize any guitar's action to suit the owner. I should have done this when I got it, but it took the 12 string (comparison) to make me realize how poor it's action really was.
I can't say I'd recommend this guitar as shipped, to someone just learning to play (which seems to be Estaban's target customer). They'd probably get so frustrated and PO'd, they'd never continue to play. On the other hand, they may not know any better and push on regardless. For me, it's fine, a good starting point - it just needs a little help. I think most seasoned players would agree.
I obviously didn't need the 10 training CD's or chord chart that came with the package, but the practice amp, guitar and case are easily worth what I paid!