Description
Review of the Fender CD-60S Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar (All-Mahogany)
This is a full-size dreadnought acoustic in an all-mahogany construction with scalloped X bracing, chrome die-cast tuners and a gloss finish, sold as a right-handed instrument on its own. It is aimed at beginners and returning players who want a conventional strumming guitar from an established brand rather than a bundle of accessories around a cheaper instrument.
The model number is 970110022, and the listing dates it to March 2019 with a two-year limited warranty.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Scalloped X bracing. The braces under the top are shaved thinner between their contact points, which lets the top move more freely under string energy. That translates into more volume and a livelier response than the heavier bracing common on cheap acoustics.
- All-mahogany construction. Mahogany top, back and sides gives a drier, more midrange-focused voice than a spruce top: less sparkle, more fundamental, and a note that speaks quickly. It suits vocal accompaniment well because it does not compete with the voice.
- Chrome die-cast tuners. Enclosed gears keep dust and grime out and hold their setting without lubrication, which is where budget open-gear tuners fail first.
- A 25.5 inch scale with a C-shaped neck. Standard full-size scale means every capo, string set and piece of tuition material applies normally, and a C profile is the least tiring shape for a developing hand.
Cons
- The fingerboard wood is stated three different ways. The Amazon product title says a rounded walnut fingerboard. The specification table says mahogany. The feature bullets on this page say a rolled rosewood fingerboard. Three sources, three woods, and no way to know which arrives. Walnut and rosewood are both plausible fingerboard materials; mahogany would be unusual, since it is soft and open-grained.
- The pickup configuration field reads Combination. This is an acoustic guitar with no electronics described anywhere in the listing. That field is meaningless here and should not be read as evidence of a fitted pickup.
- Nothing is included with the guitar. The size field reads Guitar Only, and no bag, case, tuner, strap, picks or spare strings are listed. That is a genuine gap for a first purchase.
- The listed 9.45 pound weight is the packed figure. Shipping dimensions of 44 by 17 by 7.4 inches confirm that. The guitar’s own weight is not published, which matters for anyone choosing between shapes.
Detailed Product Description
The body is a dreadnought, the large square-shouldered shape that defines the modern steel-string acoustic. It is the loudest of the common outlines with the strongest low end, which is why it dominates country, folk and bluegrass playing. The construction here is mahogany for the top, back and sides, which is unusual: most acoustics pair a spruce top with hardwood back and sides. An all-mahogany top produces a drier, punchier sound with less overtone sparkle, and it tends to sound more even across the strings.
Bracing is a scalloped X pattern. The X brace is the standard steel-string structure, carrying string tension across the top while leaving the areas between the braces free to vibrate. Scalloping removes material from the braces where strength is not needed, so the top moves more.
The neck is mahogany with a C profile, and the fingerboard material is where the listing contradicts itself, as described above. The listing also describes the fingerboard edges as rolled, meaning the sharp corner where the board meets the neck has been eased. That makes a new guitar feel considerably more comfortable than a square-edged one.
Scale length is 25.5 inches with a hard tail bridge and light gauge phosphor bronze strings. Phosphor bronze is the standard acoustic string alloy, warmer than plain bronze and slower to corrode.
What Comes with the Product
The listing states one right-handed Fender CD-60S dreadnought acoustic guitar. The size field reads Guitar Only.
What is not included: no gig bag, no case, no tuner, no strap, no picks, no spare strings, no stand and no lesson subscription. Anyone buying this as a first guitar will need at minimum a clip-on tuner and a bag before it leaves the house. The beginner accessories guide covers the rest of the list, and what belongs in a starter bundle is useful for comparing this against the bundled alternatives.
Who It Suits
This suits an adult beginner or a returning player who would rather put the whole budget into the instrument and buy accessories separately. It also suits a singer who wants an accompaniment guitar, because the mahogany top’s midrange focus leaves room for a voice in a way a bright spruce top does not.
It suits less well a child or a small-framed player, since a full dreadnought is a large body. It also suits less well a fingerstyle player who wants a balanced, articulate instrument across all six strings; a concert or grand auditorium shape is the better fit there, and body shapes explained covers the differences. Anyone who needs a bundle rather than a bare guitar should look at a package instead.
How to Maintain
Keep the guitar in a case or bag away from radiators, windows and unheated rooms. An acoustic top is thin and moves with humidity far more than a solid electric body; dry winter heating is what cracks tops and lifts bridges.
Wipe the strings after playing. Phosphor bronze corrodes from skin oils faster than it wears from playing, and dull strings make any acoustic sound worse than it is.
Oil the fingerboard once or twice a year if it is an open-pored wood, which walnut and rosewood both are, using a dedicated conditioner rather than furniture polish. Check the neck relief with the seasons; action and setup covers how to judge it.
Tips and Recommendations
Stay with light gauge strings unless there is a reason not to. That is what the instrument is set up for, and heavier sets increase tension on the top and change the action.
Buy a clip-on tuner alongside the guitar. It is the accessory used most and the one this listing does not supply.
Warranty & Support Information
The listing states a two-year limited warranty covering defects in materials and workmanship from the original date of purchase. That is a manufacturer warranty against faults rather than cover for damage, wear or setup adjustments, and it runs from purchase rather than from the date the instrument was made.
Product FAQ
What wood is the fingerboard? The listing gives three different answers: walnut in the product title, mahogany in the specification table and rosewood in the feature bullets. The contradiction is not resolved anywhere in the product data.
Does it have a pickup? No. The Combination entry in the pickup configuration field does not correspond to anything described in the listing, and no electronics are mentioned.
What comes in the box? The guitar alone. The size field reads Guitar Only and no accessories are listed.
What strings does it use? Light gauge phosphor bronze on a 25.5 inch scale.
Similar instruments sit under acoustic guitars. Comparable Fender models include the solid mahogany CD-60S, the Fender CD-60 dreadnought and the Fender FA-125.
