Description
Review of the WINZZ Hand Rubbed Series Left Handed 36 Inch 3/4 Acoustic Guitar Travel Bundle
This is a left-handed three-quarter size steel-string acoustic, 36 inches overall, sold as a travel bundle with a gig bag, a metronome tuner, a wall hanger, a strap, picks and a cleaning cloth. It is aimed at left-handed beginners, travellers, students and children, and it is one of relatively few small-bodied guitars built the correct way round rather than restrung.
Pros & Cons
- It is a genuine left-handed build, not a reversed right-handed guitar. That means the nut slots, the saddle compensation and the bracing are all oriented correctly, which affects intonation and tone in ways a simple restring cannot fix.
- X bracing under the top is the right structural choice. Crossed braces spread string tension across the soundboard, letting it stay flat under steel strings while still moving freely enough to produce sound.
- A dual-action truss rod is unusual at this size. Many small guitars have no adjustable rod at all. A dual-action rod can correct a neck that has bowed either way, which means the action can be set properly for years rather than being fixed at whatever it left the factory as.
- The accessory bundle is unusually complete. A metronome tuner covers both pitch and timing, and the wall hanger solves storage, which most bundles ignore entirely.
- Sealed gear machine heads keep tuning stable. Enclosed gears stay clean and turn consistently, which matters most on a short-scale guitar where a small turn moves the pitch a long way.
- No tonewood is named anywhere. The listing describes a “handcrafted body” and a “high density wood” fingerboard and bridge, but never states a species for the top, back, sides or neck. High density wood is a marketing phrase, not a material, so nothing can be predicted about the sound or how it will age.
- The specification table is empty. There are no published attributes at all for this item, so weight, scale length, nut width and body dimensions are unavailable.
- It is called a dreadnought at 36 inches. Dreadnought describes a large square-shouldered full-size body. A 36 inch three-quarter guitar is not one, whatever the shape of the outline, and the term is being used loosely here.
- Scale length is never stated. On a shortened guitar this is the single most useful number, because it determines both the reach and how slack the strings feel at pitch.
- The bundled tuner needs batteries that are not mentioned. Clip-on metronome tuners run on small cells, and the listing does not say whether any are supplied.
Detailed Product Description
The body is described as handcrafted with X bracing, finished in a hand rubbed style with white ABS binding around the edges. Binding is a plastic strip that covers the join between top and sides; it protects the most vulnerable edge of an acoustic and stops the end grain absorbing moisture. A hand rubbed finish is thinner than a sprayed gloss, which usually means slightly better resonance and a more matte appearance that shows wear sooner.
The fingerboard and bridge are described only as high density wood. In practice this phrase covers a range of dyed hardwoods used as rosewood substitutes on budget instruments. They are hard enough for the job and take fingerboard oil, but the lack of a named species means nothing more specific can be said.
The frets are nickel silver, the standard fret alloy, chosen because it is hard enough to resist wear from steel strings but soft enough to be levelled and dressed when it does wear. The neck carries a dual-action truss rod, which is a real advantage: it allows relief to be added as well as removed, so a neck that has gone backwards can still be corrected.
Three-quarter size instruments trade volume and low end for reach. A shorter scale reduces string tension at pitch, which makes chords easier to hold down, and the smaller body means less bass and less projection. That combination suits practice, travel and small hands, and the child guitar sizing guide sets out which body sizes match which heights.
What Comes with the Product
The listing states the bundle includes the guitar, a gig bag, a metronome tuner, a wall-mounted hanger, an adjustable strap, picks and a cleaning cloth.
Not included: spare strings, a capo, a stand, or fixings and instructions for mounting the wall hanger into a wall. Batteries for the metronome tuner are not mentioned either way. The wall hanger is a genuinely useful inclusion, since hanging a guitar where it can be seen is the most reliable way to make sure it gets picked up, but it does need screwing into something solid.
Who It Suits
This suits a left-handed beginner of any age, a left-handed traveller who wants a compact guitar to carry, or a left-handed child moving up from a smaller instrument. It also suits a left-hander who has been making do with a restrung right-handed guitar.
It suits less well an adult left-hander with large hands who wants full volume and low end, where a full-size dreadnought does considerably more, or a buyer who needs to know the tonewoods before committing. Right-handed players should look at the wider acoustic guitars range, and other options for left-handers sit in left handed guitars. The guide to left handed guitars for beginners covers whether to buy left-handed at all.
How to Maintain
Keep it out of direct sun and away from radiators. Small-bodied guitars with thin hand rubbed finishes react to heat and humidity change more visibly than heavily lacquered ones.
Wipe the strings after playing. Clean the hand rubbed finish with a dry cloth using the supplied cleaning cloth, and avoid household polish, which can soften a thin finish. Oil the fingerboard once or twice a year if it looks dry. Use the wall hanger rather than leaning the guitar against furniture, and mount it into a stud or a proper wall fixing rather than plasterboard alone.
Tips and Recommendations
Retune constantly for the first two weeks. Short-scale guitars go out of tune faster than full-size ones because the same amount of stretch is a larger proportion of the string length.
Use the metronome function from the first week rather than saving it for later. Timing is harder to correct once bad habits are set, and a beginner who practises to a click progresses noticeably faster. Fit a light gauge phosphor bronze set when the factory strings tire, since heavier strings on a short scale add tension without adding much volume. Check the truss rod adjustment a month in once the neck has settled under tension.
Product FAQ
What wood is it made from? Not stated. The listing describes a handcrafted body and a high density wood fingerboard and bridge, but names no species anywhere.
What is the scale length? Not published. The listing gives 36 inches as the overall size and calls it three-quarter, but no scale measurement is given.
Is it a real left-handed guitar? Yes. It is built as a left-handed instrument rather than a right-handed guitar restrung in reverse.
What comparable left-handed acoustics are there? Alternatives include the Vangoa left-handed acoustic kit, the right-handed WINZZ Hand Rubbed Series starter bundle and the Ashthorpe left-handed dreadnought acoustic-electric.
