Description
Review of the Vangoa Basic VDS-13 Acoustic Electric Guitar Bundle
The Vangoa Basic VDS-13 is a full size cutaway dreadnought acoustic electric in matte black, with a spruce top over mahogany back and sides, an okoume neck with a C profile, wooden bindings and a 25.5 inch scale. The electronics are a piezo pickup feeding a four band equaliser with a volume control. It ships as a bundle with a padded gig bag, spare strings, a capo, three picks, a self adhesive pickguard, a polishing cloth, a clip on tuner, a strap, an amplifier cable, an Allen key and a manual.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Four band equaliser plus volume covering bass, middle, treble and presto. Four bands is more control than most acoustic electrics offer at this level, and it is the presence style band that helps soften the hard edge piezo pickups are prone to.
- 18:1 sealed nickel plated tuners. The ratio describes how many turns of the button produce one turn of the post, so a higher ratio means finer control. Eighteen to one is a meaningful step above the fifteen to one found on cheaper instruments.
- Cutaway body, giving the fretting hand access to the frets nearest the body that a plain dreadnought blocks.
- Low action and smooth fret ends are both specified. Sharp fret ends are a common and unpleasant fault on budget guitars, and calling it out suggests it has been addressed.
- Amplifier cable included, which acoustic electric bundles frequently omit despite it being the one item the electronics cannot work without.
- Three picks in thin, medium and thick, so a new player can find what suits them.
Cons
- The specification table lists both the body material and the back material as mahogany while giving the top separately as spruce, so “body material” here means the back and sides rather than the whole instrument. It is a confusing way to present it.
- The fretboard is described only as “engineered wood”, which names no species. Engineered fingerboards are usually compressed hardwood composites and perform well enough, but the description offers nothing to confirm what is fitted.
- The proficiency level field lists both “Intermediate” and “beginners”, which is another sign the specification data was filled in loosely.
- The listed weight of 9.43 pounds covers the packed bundle rather than the guitar, so the instrument’s own weight is not published.
- The listing does not say whether the spruce top is solid or laminated, which is the specification that most determines the unplugged sound.
- No amplifier is included, so the electronics cannot be used until one is added.
Detailed Product Description
The top is spruce with enhanced X bracing. On an acoustic guitar the top does nearly all the acoustic work, and spruce is the traditional soundboard timber because it is stiff for its weight, which lets a thin panel move freely. Whether the panel here is a single solid piece or a laminate is not stated, and the difference is substantial, as the guide to solid top versus laminate acoustic guitars explains.
The back and sides are mahogany, which produces a drier and more focused sound than rosewood and is the usual partner for a spruce top. The neck is okoume with a C profile, the most common modern neck shape because it fits the widest range of hands without forcing an unusual thumb position. The scale is 25.5 inches, the standard long scale for a dreadnought.
The electronics are piezoelectric. A piezo element sits under the saddle and responds to pressure rather than to string movement through a magnetic field, which is how it works on an acoustic instrument. Its characteristic weakness is a brittle, quacking quality in the upper mids, and a four band equaliser is the right tool for reducing it. The preamp also carries a volume control, and the guitar can be connected to an acoustic amplifier, a mixer or a PA system. Whether an amplifier is needed at all is covered in the guide to do you need an amp with an acoustic electric guitar.
Strings are phosphor bronze, the bridge is fixed, and the body carries wooden bindings and a matte black finish.
What Comes with the Product
- The full size cutaway acoustic electric guitar in matte black
- A padded gig bag with storage
- A backup set of strings
- A capo
- Three picks in thin, medium and thick
- A self adhesive pickguard
- A polishing cloth
- A clip on tuner
- An adjustable shoulder strap
- An amplifier cable
- An Allen key
- A user manual
No amplifier, stand or hard case is listed, and the battery the preamp needs is not mentioned either way.
Who It Suits
This suits a beginner or an improving player who expects to plug in at some point, whether at an open mic, in a school or in a church hall, and who wants the accessories included. The four band equaliser and the fine ratio tuners are the two specifications that put it slightly ahead of the usual bundle at this level.
It suits less well a player who will only ever play unplugged at home, since the preamp adds cost and a battery to manage for no benefit, and it suits less well a smaller player, for whom a full size dreadnought is a lot of guitar. Worth comparing are the Donner 41 inch acoustic electric kit, the Ashthorpe dreadnought acoustic electric bundle and the Kadence Frontier acoustic electric. The wider selection sits in the acoustic electric guitars section.
How to Maintain
Use the polishing cloth on the strings after every session. Phosphor bronze holds its brightness longer than plain bronze but still reacts to skin oils.
Keep the guitar in the padded bag, away from radiators, sunny windows and unheated garages. An acoustic body reacts to humidity far more than a solid body electric because the top is a thin panel under constant tension, and the warning signs are a top bellying up behind the bridge or an action that climbs over a season.
Use the Allen key sparingly. It adjusts the truss rod, which controls neck relief, and a quarter turn is a real adjustment. Make small changes and let the neck settle overnight before making another.
Tips and Recommendations
Set the equaliser flat before adjusting anything. Four bands is enough to make a guitar sound worse as easily as better, and starting from neutral makes it clear what each control does.
Fit the self adhesive pickguard before playing rather than after. It exists to stop pick strokes marking the top, and applying it later achieves nothing.
Check the action at the fifth and twelfth frets on arrival. The listing claims low action, and confirming it early means any setup work can be done before bad habits form around a stiff guitar. The details are in the guide to guitar action and setup.
Product FAQ
What does the equaliser control?
Four bands labelled bass, middle, treble and presto, plus a volume control.
Is an amplifier included?
No. A cable is supplied but an amplifier, mixer or PA is needed to use the electronics.
Is the spruce top solid or laminated?
Not stated anywhere in the listing.
What is the fretboard made of?
The specification table says engineered wood, which does not identify a species.
