Traditional Electric Guitar with Built-in LED Lighted Learning System, Sunburst (FG-521SB)

I really liked the Fretlight concept. I bought an FG 421, Strat copy, about three years ago. From the beginning it would not stay in tune. Since I have other "real" guitars I decided to keep it as a learning tool only. BIG MISTAKE. I lost interest in it because it sounded and played terrible compared to my 86 strat. I found the diodes difficult to see when holding the guitar in playing position. I found a good local luthier and after he proved himself with other guitars, I gave him the Fretlight to see if he could make a decent guitar out of it. I was prepared to change the tuners and put a EMG loaded pick guard on it in hopes of making it playable. After adjusting the truss rod, leveling the frets and doing a total set-up on the guitar it still would not stay in tune. He then discovered that the plastic electronic fingerboard was separating from the neck base on both sides. This GUITAR IS GARBAGE!I spoke with Greg at Fretlight and even thought he sounded genuinely interested in helping me... The bottom line is that it is out of warranty and It will cost me $200 to fix the neck on my own with no guarantee that the fingerboard will not break in the process. That does not include the $300.00 it will cost for new tuners and the EMG plus the cost at the guitar shop of installation of the upgrades and a new set-up.Greg is willing to "try" to fix the neck and my only cost is shipping it to Fretlight. They will "try" to repair it and pay the shipping back to me. Greg spoke to my Luthier and doesn't think the repair is going to be successful… His best advice is to buy a new one. RIGHT… Waste more money at Fretlight!!! I am retreating to my original position. I will use it as a learning tool for chords and scales. It is useless as a playable guitar and therefore it's ability to teach songs and work with GP 6 is hobbled. I would not buy a guitar from Fretlight without a lifetime warranty… They have design flaws and are made cheaply… THEY WILL NOT LAST!!!

I purchased a Fretlight 521 sunburst with the upgraded shelby pickups & N-Tune in 2013. A year later the fingerboard (the area where you play your chords) began to seperate from the neck. This caused the guitar to sound too sharp or too flat. It was under warantee at the time so I sent it in for repair. It's been a year and I picked up the guitar to play some music today and one of the notes was off... So I took a closer look and found that the fingerboard had begun to seperate between the 9th and 12th frets. I did some google searching and found out that this is a pretty common thing for the fretlight guitars from a former employee who's sole job seemed to be to repair guitars who's fretboard had seperated.My personal experience with the guitar has been mixed. It sounds nice when new, but the light up frets are a novelty and not all that useful in my opinion.In retrospect if I had the chance to do it all over again I'd much rather have one of the new epiphone models with the E-Tune automatic tuner than a fretlight. I don't feel that the product has helped me become a better guitarist, and the product itself simply doesn't last.

Guitar quality is just OK. It was very un-playable when I received it. I actually had it professionally setup including fret dressing and I is still not even remotely close to the class of a Fender, Gibson, PRS, etc. The action remains high as the bridge saddles just can't go any lower, and the neck starts to curve up towards he bridge. Truss rod was adjusted as well. With that said, it is a great learning tool for scales. Other downsides are the noise from the LEDs when they light up. I am looking for a solution for that. On the software side, I think it could improve as well. he software for scales is done in a long list forma. When you choose a scale type and hen the key everything works fine, but when you go "back" o the scale list you need to scroll down all the time. It could be better organized for ease of use.

Requires a bit of setup, but the fretlight system does exactly what it is supposed to do. It is helping me learn new songs and techniques. The software is easy to use and the looping feature while being able to change the playback speed is great.

Loving learning on this axe. Sounds good enough to me, and the LEDs are incredibly bright. Not the easiest thing in the world to see them while holding, you do have to lean over a bit, but thats ok. The software is great too.Best part - as with any new guitar you're going to want to have it set up before you play it. I have a friend who does that professionally, and he worked on mine. He found that some of the screws on the bridge saddles that are adjusted to set the intonation of the guitar were stuck - he couldn't budge them. So instead of risk damage he just gave it back to me with that message. I reached out directly to Fretlight and they immediately responded with an offer to take it back for repair, or as I preferred they are sending me new bridges to replace the ones that are stuck. Now that's customer service!