Rogue RA-090 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar (Mahogany) Expired

I've had two of these, both of which I worked on and sold dirt cheap to friends. They're very good for the price (hard to go wrong at $55), but the quality control is understandably lacking. One of the two I received was unplayable even with the factory setup (high action). I had to level the frets before it would note cleanly without buzzing and fretting out all over the place, then I shaved a bit off the saddle to bring the action down to something a little more reasonable. The other one wasn't nearly as bad, but both guitars had sharp fret ends that needed to be filed back. The finish on both guitars was a thick poly, which I don't think matters that much since they're all laminate construction and aren't going to sound like a high end instrument anyway. However, if you can do some set up work yourself (or if you happen to get lucky and get a good one out of the box), it's a good starter instrument.

On a side note, some of these all laminate, low end guitars are nigh indestructible. I have an Oscar Schmidt-branded acoustic from 1997 (low end import sold by Washburn using the Oscar Schmidt name) that's been rock solid in the two plus decades I've had it. I've left it strung with 13's, had it in damp basements, dry midwest winters, you name it. Despite having been exposed to wildly varying humidity levels and storage conditions, I've never had to touch the truss rod even once. No fret sprout, no cracks, no bridge lift, nothing. It sounds like a cardboard box, but the only way it could be more stable is if it was made out of carbon fiber. The Taylor I had, on the other hand... great guitar but it was temperamental no matter how hard I tried to keep it humidified.

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