I am rating the Fender FA-115 acoustic guitar at 10/10 for bang for your buck. It’s not often that you get a full-sized dreadnought under $100 with a solid spruce top and built-in tuner, let alone quality tonewoods up and down. The Fender FA1 is capable of very loud volume with rich, deep bass. If you are looking to learn how to play acoustic guitar or just want something decently inexpensive that will help motivate you to practice more regularly then this is definitely the best option out there.
Value For Money Rating: 10/10
BUILD QUALITY
Overall I’d give it an 8/10 mainly because of the pickguard and bridge pins. In my opinion, it would have been better to have a basswood or mahogany bridge with rosewood bridge pins for this price range. But I guess you can’t get everything at such a low cost!
Build Quality Rating: 8/10
SOUNDS
This guitar sounds great. You’d be surprised how rich and full it sounds even without an amplifier plugged in which is a testament to its solid spruce top. It also projects very well so playing live shouldn’t be a problem unless you’re in a really big hall where the sound might get lost too easily. The tuner works like a charm and there is no need to tune often as long as you stay in tune while playing.
Sounds Rating: 9/10
ACTION, FIT AND FINISH
The action and intonation were great straight out of the box. I had to tune it and play a bit before the sound settled and became warmer but even then I wouldn’t know how to improve on that! The pickups weren’t too high or low and the cutaway is also very functional.
Action, Fit And Finish Rating: 10/10 FINAL THOUGHTS If you’re looking for an affordable dreadnought acoustic guitar under $100 with a solid spruce top, this is probably your best bet no matter what style of playing you are into. It’s well built, has good tonewoods in all areas (solid spruce top, mahogany sides and back, rosewood bridge), is comfortable to play with good action and intonation plus comes with all the essentials you need for beginners including a built-in tuner. Easy to connect your mp3 player or whatever to jam along or just use as an acoustic guitar without an amp! I would recommend this guitar to anyone whether they are a beginner or advanced player.
