enyaNova Go Carbon Fiber Travel Acoustic Guitar | 1/2 Size Lightweight Moisture-Proof Guitara | Adult & Beginner Portable Guitar with Gig Bag & Accessories (Black)

I have been playing the Enya Nova Go Carbon-Fiber Acoustic 1/2 Size (33 inch) guitar for about 1 week. I purchased it for $219 as part of a package including a gig bag, allen key (for truss rod adjustment), cleaning cloth, two adapters to use gig bag strap as a guitar strap, and an extra set of D'Addario acoustic strings. I am extremely pleased with purchase as I detail below.I have been playing guitar for 25 years and usually play a full size (41 inch) dreadnought acoustic guitar or a 39-inch telecaster-style electric guitar. I purchased this guitar specifically for use as a travel guitar and to use around the house (e.g., in the living room, where my kids or dog might knock over or otherwise damage my more expensive full size acoustic guitar). I have never owned a carbon-fiber guitar in the past but have been very interested in their increased durability and resistance to temperature/humidity changes. When I saw this guitar package on Amazon, I was intrigued enough to try it and I'm so glad I did.The features/measurements of the guitar are well described on the Amazon webpage so I will focus my review on the pros and cons of this guitar for it's two advertised uses, as a travel guitar and as a beginner guitar.OVERALL:-the sound quality, sustain, and volume are all very nice and, frankly, much better than expected for a guitar of this size and price point; the musician definitely benefits from the top side sound port. It should be obvious, at least to more experienced guitarists, that the volume of this guitar will *not* be the same as a full sized guitar but it's very adequate for its stated purposes (travel, beginner).In particular, low tones on this guitar sound better than expected. Usually, smaller scale length guitars have more treble (higher pitched) tone and the bass tone on this comes out very nicely. I was playing some rock tunes with power chords and thought the sound was very good.-the guitar is very playable. The fret wires are all smooth and the fretboard surface is comfortable. The neck relief, action, and intonation of the guitar were good right out of the box (confirming Enya's advertisement information indicating that the guitar should arrive with a suitable factory set-up). In particular, the zero fret makes for a very comfortable action in the first fret and F/Fmin/Fmin7 barre chords are easy to play on this guitar (slightly easier than my full-size acoustic, which has a nice set-up and is not difficult to play). My hands are large adult male hands and I have no problem playing this guitar in the first 5-7 frets; further up the fretboard, there is the usual difficulty with fitting multiple fingers in for certain chord shapes but this is going to be a similar problem on any travel-sized guitar.-the sealed-gear tuning keys work well and the guitar holds tune very well; I played for 3 hours yesterday with no change in tuning-the use of the gig bag strap as a guitar strap is novel and does save some space when packing/traveling. The guitar comes with two strap pegs and these adapters were easy to use. In a pinch, this would work fine but I would prefer a wider strap so will probably still pack a strap if I plan to play it standing upAS A TRAVEL GUITAR:PROS:-small size 33 in-gig bag, which is *very nice*. Rather than soft neoprene cloth (or similar), it's soft shell and maintains shape very well, has a nice soft interior with a compartment for storing items (eg capo) under the neck rest.-entire guitar is carbon-fiber (except for saddle, strings, and tuners) so the guitar can be played in any temperature/humidity or with significant swings in temperature/humidity without worrying about it causing damage to your guitar or causing frequent changes to tuning. For me, this is great for going to the beach (heat/sun on the beach shouldn't be a problem), going camping/hiking, etc.-very lightweightCONS:-none that I can really see for travelAS A BEGINNER GUITAR: I usually recommend beginners start with a budget electric guitar because, these days, budget acoustic guitars (<= $200) are usually very difficult to play even with a set-up from a luthier (which would add usually at least $100 to price). Most cheap acoustic guitars have very high action (strings are set high from the fret board) meaning more finger strength is required to push them down against the fret wires AND for a beginner who has not developed callouses on their finger tips, this is a major contributor to finger pain that can lead a lot of beginners to give up the instrument altogether. There are, however, disadvantages to an electric guitar as a beginner guitar, mainly its decreased portability and the cost of additional equipment (amplifier, cables, pedals, etc). In my opinion, this guitar overcomes most of the problems of budget acoustic guitars as a beginner guitar and I would include this guitar among my recommendations for beginners, especially for a beginner who likes musical styles more suitable to an acoustic guitar (folk, country, etc).PROS:-excellent budget value, including a gig bag, good strings (D'Addario) with additional set, included strap-portable -- beginners should practice at least 4-5 days per week and portability improves the ability to fit practice into schedule-will likely not require a set-up by a luthier to be playable by a beginner; mine came with action that was very comfortable and, just to test this, I had my wife (who has NEVER played guitar) play a F minor barre chord (with my instruction) and she was able to do it and get fair sound. This would be impossible for a beginner on most budget acoustic guitars.-comes in a number of fun colors (I bought charcoal gray), which would be attractive especially I think to child and adolescent beginners-strap pegs in placeCONS:-Neck dive - because the body is so lightweight, the guitar does have some pretty substantial neck dive (when positioned on your lap, the neck is heavy enough to pull the guitar downwards, rather than having it balance nicely and horizontally). This is not a fatal flaw, and experienced guitarists generally have a set of strategies to deal with neck dive, but a beginner needs to be aware that they will need to find a position they can play this guitar in where the neck remains in a stable position WITHOUT using the palm of their fretting hand to support the guitar (your fretting hand needs to be free to move around the fret board without having the extra job of supporting the weight of the neck).-not really a performance instrument; this is a great guitar for practice, travel, songwriting, etc but is not loud enough to perform in most venues (certainly not with other instruments). This will not be a problem for most beginners, who will usually want to wait a while before performing publicly and, at that point, would likely be willing to buy a second guitar. However, if money/space is very tight (ie, having/buying two guitars is not ideal) or if you're an especially brave beginner guitarist who wants to start playing open mics etc right away, this guitar probably won't be the best option for you

First of all to level-set my credibility as a reviewer: I've had a casual interest in the instrument for 20 years now. I'm no professional but I do have an pretty good idea of what I like or don't like, and I've played a lot of different instruments in that time. I do not consider myself a luthier, "audiophile" or any other kind of expert on the instrument, so for this review I'm just sharing my impressions as an educated consumer. I bought my guitar at full price and nobody asked me to review it.I've been looking at "travel"-class guitars for years now and never found one that really checked all the boxes for me, especially an acoustic. They were either not 'travel' enough or felt too unlike a regular version of the instrument to play, too expensive or too fragile. Often more than one of these things, sometimes all of them.This little axe rocks my socks! It's a puny little guitar; even with the dimensions I was surprised how small it was in person. About the size of a banjo, maybe a little shorter than that even. Don't let that stop you though because it packs a heck of a lot of sound into that little package. Surprisingly loud and quite bright, and if I didn't see it being played I wouldn't guess it wasn't a larger wooden instrument. The action was nice and low out of the box, no buzzes or dead-zones and thanks to the carbon fiber and ABS materials that won't change with temperature or humidity. It has a truss rod but I haven't felt the need to touch it. It was de-tuned for shipment, but after tuning and stretching out of the box it has not required re-tuning.The fret board is pretty comparable to an electric guitar in nut width and neck thickness, but with the shorter scale. A great guitar for little people with little hands and short arms! This would make an above-average first guitar for a kid (or a smaller adult) who is learning to play with a caveat I'll discuss below. For a kid especially being both right-sized and unusually durable. Throw in a clip-on tuner and you have everything you need to find out whether or not you want to play the guitar. It came double-boxed and in the case and was in perfect condition upon opening.The whole thing is one molded piece with metal hardware and plastic pegs. In addition to being resistant to the elements, the materials are quite tough and probably won't show wear easily. They advertise it as being okay in the sun, in the cold or getting wet which are all big guitar no-nos but I haven't had occasion to abuse it in any of those ways yet. It feels tough enough that I wouldn't think twice about tying it to my backpack and hiking it off into the wilderness, or throwing it in the back of the truck to just have with me everywhere.It's not too heavy, but it doesn't feel like a toy either. I went with the black one and find it to be a fine-looking instrument, but there are a few more exciting options if black isn't your thing. It comes with a custom case color-matched to the guitar, extra strings, an Allen wrench for the truss rod and a positively huge microfiber cloth. The case has a pocket you can store the strings, wrench, cloth and a tuner in as well as a removable strap, and it also comes with some little dongles that let you attach this strap to the guitar. The attachment points are both on the body, electric-style and on a strap it feels a lot like playing an electric with a weirdly thick body.As for cons, there isn't much. The neck is heavier than the body, so it doesn't balance well in the lap and works best with a strap even when sitting down. The fret board is a bit less slippery than finished rosewood, meaning if I don't fret carefully it's noisy when bending (kind of a creaky, buzzy noise where the pad of my finger drags on the fret board). This is the only caveat to using it as a student guitar, as bending is one of the core guitar competencies and it is one of the few things that I find harder to do well on this guitar than others. I can play very carefully and avoid making the sound while bending, so I'm going to try to just train it out of me. The other thing I'll say is the strap is functional as a guitar strap, but not great. Definitely better than not having a strap, but it's pretty short on me (I'm about 5' 10"). If you are an average-sized or greater adult and have any other guitar strap, you'll probably prefer to use it. In its capacity as a travel guitar I do appreciate that a strap is included and attaches to both the case and the guitar.After playing this thing I've come dangerously close to grabbing one of their ukuleles, and I don't even play that instrument yet. With nylon strings there wouldn't be any issue on bends because you wouldn't have to press very hard and having the setup dialed in out of the box like it was with the guitar would save me some time if I ever decide to learn :) A pity they don't make a carbon-fiber travel mandolin, I'd buy it!5/5, would buy again.