- What are Esteban guitars like?
- Are Esteban guitars still being made?
- Find out if they are worth your hard-earned cash
- Also check out What Happened To Firefly Guitars? (All You Need To Know)
Esteban guitars were controversial guitars that were popular during the early 2000s and were made famous by a charismatic salesman named Esteban.
If you were looking to buy a new guitar, you might have heard of this name or might have seen the commercials back in the early 2000s.
This is a topic that brings up a lot of confusion, so in this article, we will clear up the mystery surrounding Esteban guitars and figure out whether they are worth paying attention to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEEue6riAK4
So who exactly is Esteban?
Stephan Paul, who goes by the stage name Esteban, was a classical guitarist that performed locally in Southern California and Phoenix.
While he was a relatively unknown musician, he was tremendously active within the local music scene. He did everything from playing in clubs, and hotels, and releasing albums, to teaching students.
Perhaps one of the only significant musical experiences that he had was when Esteban got to study with the classical guitarist legend Andres Segovia.
Although Esteban is not mentioned in any biography of Andres Segovia, Esteban claims to have studied with Segovia for five years and even claims to have gotten his stage name from Segovia himself.
Esteban got his first commercial success after being picked up by American entrepreneur Joy Mangano (famous inventor of the “Miracle Mop”), who put him on Home Shopping Network where he soon became the face of budget guitars on TV.
He had a natural charisma and was an excellent salesman. People caught onto his persona which ended up working as a kind of promotion for his own music. He would go on to sell over 132,000 CDs, whilst also reaching the top 54 entries in the Billboard 200.
Soon after, Esteban released over a dozen new albums in just a couple of years and was featured in various magazines, infomercials, and instructional DVDs.
What is an Esteban Guitar?
Esteban advertised two mainline guitars on his informercials. which he advertised as being able to work as an acoustic guitar, a classical guitar, and an electric guitar.
He also stated that Esteban guitars are the most comfortable guitars that “everyone from kids to seniors can play and express themselves.”
In his famous tv infomercials, Esteban sold his guitar for “3 easy payments of $33”, and promised buyers that they’d receive a guitar that is worth hundreds of dollars.
It came with a soft case, extra strings, and instructional lesson DVDs with hours of lessons personally taught by Esteban.
All of this sounded too good to be true at the time which led both Esteban and his guitars to receive heavy criticism due to what was perceived as a disingenuous and unrealistic sales pitch.
In fact, Esteban guitars are still being made fun of by guitar players online and are treated as a running joke by the guitar community.
The two main models of Esteban guitars were called Esteban AL-100 and the Esteban AL-200, and they were part of what was called the Esteban American Legacy Collection.
But the two guitars were identical, with just a few minor adjustments like the herringbone design around the sound hole, or some small decoration differences.
There was also a kid’s version available called the Esteban Children’s Classical. It was basically the same guitar just with a smaller scale.
But what did an Esteban guitar look like and play like?
It’s an acoustic-electric guitar with a fairly typical dreadnought body, you can compare it to something like a cheap Yamaha acoustic-electric guitar.
It has steel strings with cheap wood construction and a cheap onboard electronics system for plugging into an amplifier.
Featuring a spruce top and rosewood on the sides, along with a maple neck. For decoration, it also has a brilliant white mother of pearl binding around the edge of the body and neck.
Although they were advertised as being both classical and electric guitars, the reality is Esteban guitars are just a cheap-sounding acoustic. Made with low-quality materials to keep the production cost as low as possible.
The playability and comfort were not the greatest, at a push, it might make an acceptable beginner guitar. Even the frets were known to randomly fall off. It didn’t exactly instill any confidence in the player.
In his infomercials, you can see Esteban playing the guitar like a classical guitar, but the Esteban guitar is technically a steel string and isn’t suitable for classical playing as a real nylon string guitar.
Even his lesson books and instructional CDs do not cover any usable guitar fundamentals or beginner-friendly material, and they are just videos of him playing simple chords and songs.
Perhaps the only good thing about an Esteban guitar might be its long-lasting sturdy build, and there are a lot of reviews talking about its durability and sturdiness.
Even though the body and the neck are bulky and uncomfortable, they will last you a long time providing you’re willing to press the odd fret back in.
But are they worth it?
No, Esteban guitars are not a reasonable investment in any scenario. Unless you want one just to laugh with your friends about how bad they are, the recommendation is to stay clear!
Even if you manage to get one of these guitars for under $100 online, Esteban guitars are not worth the price and you are better off buying another affordable instrument online.
Esteban guitars are poorly made cheap acoustic guitars with some cheap electronics, and there are so many better options for inexpensive acoustic-electric guitars from bigger (and more trustworthy) brands such as Yamaha, Ibanez, Epiphone, Cordoba, Luna, or Washburn.
If you looked into buying one of these, we recommend you reconsider and spend couple more bucks to buy a quality guitar at a similar price.
Another aspect to consider is that Esteban guitars are extremely hard to re-sell, so you should be prepared to own the guitar for a long time should you ever decide to get one.
The hype of Esteban guitars died down pretty quickly after the early 2000s, so there just isn’t the demand for them outside of novelty purchases.
Are Esteban guitars still being made?
No, Esteban guitars have not been in production since the early 2000s, and you can only find used Esteban guitars online.
It is almost impossible to find any information about where Esteban guitars were manufactured, which makes it even more suspicious.
But the good news might be that there are plenty of people trying to re-sell their Esteban guitars online, so it won’t be a problem buying a secondhand Esteban guitar of your own.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we looked at the mysterious Esteban guitars and uncovered some of the truths behind this elusive brand.
While complete beginners might have gone for these guitars back in the early 2000s, nowadays Esteban guitars are not taken seriously as playable instruments by the guitar community.
We have access to so many high-quality guitars offered at a bargain price, so we highly recommend first-time players take a look at other brands instead of Esteban guitars.
Well HELL!!!! I was misled and steered me down the road of disbelief.. I never played mine, it even came with a little Gorilla amp, kept it in the case, and even had it signed by ‘Uncle Ted’ himself, (if you know-you know). So, I guess with the amp (still like new), and Uncle Ted’s signature and symbol (seeing how his signature brings upwards to $500), I might have made a profit.
I bought an Estaban for $160.00 delivered..!
It was tough on the fingers but took it to a music shop and spent another $120.00 to lower the saddle adjust the neck and put Martin bronze strings on it and made it very playable…!
I was divorsed working two jobs and very much alone…The Beater (the Estaban) was my best friend for years…I learned 50 songs on it..!
Still have it but IT takes a back seat to my Guild cutaway but I still play it and it still plays songs I forgot I knew..!
That being said…I could have bought a better guitar for the $160.00 plus the additional $120.00…but I have that story to tell so it was with it I guess…LOL..!!!
I bought one of the Esteban acoustics a few years ago. It was a very decent instrument, but I let a good friend talk me out of it. These guitars are mostly “eye candy” but I recently found the ‘cadillac’ esteban & I am considering buying it. It’s at a local pawn shop for $100.00. I deal with that shop a lot & I think I can get it much cheaper. It would be a good novelty for my grandson, but I’ll keep it for awhile. The action really sucks, but it looks great.
I am pretty pissed myself.i got a legacy 2000 esteban,Esteban, a keith Urban guitar from qvc online and they both had letters of authenticity that came with them. Brand new conditioned never played in the case and all,a pawn shop wouldn’t give me ac50 dollar loan for both of them
Esteban, average guitar player at best, got money hungry, wanted to make a quick dollar and took advantage of the ignorant, with help of a questioning marketing and false advertising, funny that all those promoting the product were clueless about what a real guitar is and sounds like.. what do you expect to get for under a hundred dollars? Junk!
I bought his package 25 years ago guitar case anp ect i had a goya made by martin in play the esteban all the time i church with friends and at conserts i do i love it have had many many praises of its sound and tone. Have nothing bad to say aboutthe guitar still play it today
I like my two matching black Malaguena Esteban classical guitars alot, I knew the first thing to do is change out the tuners because they break, then sand down the saddle and that’s all there was to it for great action and the sound is very good even though both Malaguenas have its own unique sound.
The binding and rosette sparkles, the frets don’t fall out, the neck stays true. I’m saying the two 23 year old Esteban classical nylon string cutaway’s are a fine guitar I wouldn’t sell for less than $1200 each, well, I might trade one for a Taylor nylon string cutaway.
As for the steel string Esteban guitars, forget it, the necks warp, the body bulges and twists, that’s my story.
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I just got through playing one of my Estabans. It still looks and sounds great. The action is as good as my seagull and my martin.I have another cut away that I had to sand down the bridge but it has great sound. They both have different sounds which I like. I put the dreadnought up there with my seagull as far as sound. Glad I have them. I had a country band for about 15yrs. The Estaban worked for about 5 yrs.
I just picked up a black Esteban American Legacy AL-100 used for $35 on FB marketplace. It hadn’t been cared for much out here in Arizona, but still in surprisingly good condition for the value and age.
The fretboard had been dried out slightly so the ends of quite a few frets were sticking up, I carefully fixed that with a small brass hammer and conditioned with fret board oil. Hammering the frets left some sharp fret ends out the sides, so I masked the neck up and spent some time rounding off the sharp edges with a cheap modified file (I ground and sanded off the sides so they are smooth to glide along the fretboard). I then sanded my work from 600 to 2000 grit, all to be finished off with some 0000 steel wool along all of the frets. I then replaced the bridge pins, nut and saddle with some cheap ABS extras I had lying around, spent some time cutting the nut and slots to proper height. The truss rod was pretty tight and the neck was back-bowed, frets buzzed out below 5th on every string before setup.
After resolving all these small issues and giving it a full setup, I got my action at the 12th fret down to 1.5mm on the 1st and 2mm on the 6th with no fret buzz. The guitar plays quite well now and has a full and lovely tone. I hate to say it but the Fender Newporter I recently got and love is going to take a back seat to this little diamond in the rough I found. The Opus III preamp on the AL-100 blows away the Fishman on my Newporter Player. I seriously can’t put this cheap thing down! I’m impressed with what can be done with this guitar even just as a base for a project. I went ahead and ordered a bone nut and saddle along with ebony pins and a new pickguard. lol this new to me guitar deserves it!
what about the keith urban guitar sold on qvc. is that a good one?
I found a Esteban Crystal Rock On guitar I’m thinking of picking up. Has anyone had any experience with this model? At $100. bucks Canadian I figured it can’t be that bad. I’m liking it for it novelty but can it play?
I still have my Esteban guitar I bought over 20 years ago, never played it, and it looks brand new, I also have the amp that came with it, I may hold onto it unless someone offered to buy it at a reasonable price.
I bought mine on HSN some years ago. Paid $59.00 for it. It made it‘s rounds around the family. Looks like the strings have been replaced again. Bridge is separating on the bottom. It sounds ok, but doesn‘t stay in tune. Sure not worth the money. The soft case, however, is actually nice. I‘ll keep it.
I bought 2 Este an guitars. Never been played. Would like to sell if anyone is interested. Thx.
Received a Rock On 2009 electric addition for a gift. I play for fun. To me it has a great sound and it looks awesome. But it is cheaply made. The inlet port cracked and I rigged it with my own concoction so I could plug the cord in. The battery lid latch broke and I had to rig that to get the battery in and out.
Some of the frets are sharp on the edges. I have 3 other guitars
Different makes, but I still like this guitar.