Quality Child Size Guitars?

[OldManC]

My five year old wants guitar lessons (which I'm more than happy to make happen), but I want to get him a guitar that, while small enough for his stature, is equal in quality to anything I'd buy for him if he were 17 and asking. I'm leaning electric for the time being but could go either way. I know of smaller basses out there but have no clue about guitars. Anybody out there have any experience or advice?

[Highlander]

Basic acoustic - keep it simple and don't overcomplicate it for him - a nylon strung acoustic will have strings that won't "bite" his fingers - you have to think of all the things that could put him off...

[Hornisse]

I was thinking of getting my 12 year old a Baby Taylor.  Not sure if that would be small enough for a 5 year old though.

[Lightyear]

I was going to say a nylon string classical guitar myself.  I'm sure there are plenty of junior sized instruments to choose from.

[OldManC]

While I'm sure he'll want an acoustic at some point, he's itching to get his inner Randy Rhoads on and, as such, I'm looking for a half or 3/4 size electric. Squier has one but I wasn't very impressed with one I saw a few years back. I'm considering this one:



http://www.smallguitars.com/catalog/299-1-2_size_KHS_1-2_size_strat_style_electric_guitar_with_tremolo

Musicians Friend has a couple small Epi guitars and a couple other brands, so I'm not sure yet. The one above got a pretty good review at the site (if it's real), as well as another review that mentions having to get it set up, but I'd expect to do that anyway...

[Dave W]

A lot depends on what you mean by 1/2 or 3/4 size. The one in your link says 1/2 size and it's 22.25" scale. Yet Fender 3/4 size (the first two versions of the Duo-Sonic) was 22.5" scale. The old 3/4 size Melody Makers and Juniors were 22.75" scale. The problem with any of these is that they don't sound as good as a conventional scale length, even if you pay big bucks for a vintage one.

If he can handle a 24" scale, you might want to look at the Squier Classic Vibe 50s Duo-Sonic. I haven't seen one in person but many folks over at the Tele Forum (TDPRI) just rave about how good the Classic Vibe and Classic Vibe Custom Teles are for the price. They're a few steps above the typical Squier.

[OldManC]

Thanks Dave, I'll check that out.

[Freuds_Cat]

My son is  nearly 6 and asking to learn to play. I have been hesitant to get him a reduced size guitar after I had a teacher tell me that in his experience he found that students tended to become attached to their instruments over time, not to mention comfortable with the size of the frets. He said it was a bit of a problem getting some students to move up to genuine sized instruments.

[Highlander]

If you definitely want to travel that road...

http://hubpages.com/hub/The-1983-Hondo-Chiquita-Travel-Guitar

[Dave W]

My son is  nearly 6 and asking to learn to play. I have been hesitant to get him a reduced size guitar after I had a teacher tell me that in his experience he found that students tended to become attached to their instruments over time, not to mention comfortable with the size of the frets. He said it was a bit of a problem getting some students to move up to genuine sized instruments.

I'm not surprised by that.

OTOH I consider 24" scale to be a genuine size. A Fender Jaguar is 24" scale. It's not as clear as the longer scales but it has its own thing going and doesn't have the tonal and intonation issues on the low E and A like the sub-24" scales.

[Highlander]

Forgot to add... found a UK link to a 22.5" scale length mini black Precision... bound to be something similar your side of the pond...

[gearHed289]

I bought my daughter the bass version of this - known as the Corsair - and it is most excellent!

http://www.amazon.com/Samick-Mailbu-Mini-Metallic-Finish/dp/B0002D02QM

[OldManC]

I've heard some great things about those small Samick basses. I'm thinking of getting one of those as well so he'll get some time with a 4 string as well. Thanks for the tip!

[nofi]

i bought my 6 year old grand daughter a uke because she wanted a 4 string "guitar" like mine. she already uses many top secret tunings.

[Freuds_Cat]

I have one of the Samick (Greg Bennett) P basses which he plays with a little.
I put some EMG Select pups in it and it really is quite good.





George was originally posting about Guitars for kids and my son Nicholas has told me he wants to learn guitar. I didnt realise that Samick also made them in guitars as well so thanks for that info.