A cheap way to grate the ends off your kids fingers and put them off the guitar for years. An instrument which feels wrong and sounds wrong is not a good place to start. Look for something like a Yamaha Pacifica as a starter guitar, would be my advice.

Unless you *want* to put them off...

3/4 electrics do not play well at standard tuning and are therefore will be no use for learning as the teacher will be at standard tuning.

The shorter scale means the strings need less tension to bring them up to pitch resulting in the strings buzzing on the frets unless you either :

Tune these to G tuning instead (non standard and different to teacher on full size, confusing to kids!)
Or raise the action, making it HARD to play.

3/4 classicals do no suffer the same issues which is why almost everyone buys classicals for kids that need a 3/4.


I've had the misfortune to work on these elevation guitars and their other main flaws are that the springs in the trem are too weak and the trem raises up on tuning making it hard to tune and raising the action. Also the gearing in the machine heads wears out and breaks quickly.

Something much better to start on would be this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Valencia-3-4-Classical-Guitar/dp/B002ED29T6/ref=pd_sim_sbs_MI_1 Also available in 1/2 size. Okay it's £41 instead of £26.98 but it has a really nice sound and nylon strings which aren't as taxing on little fingers.

I learnt to play on a £20 acoustic from Argos. I'm still here.

As an alternative can get an air guitar for FREE! :confused:

Seems inexpensive.

A cheap way to find out if your child has the aptitude for this instrument.

A cheap way to grate the ends off your kids fingers and put them off the guitar for years. An instrument which feels wrong and sounds wrong is not a good place to start. Look for something like a Yamaha Pacifica as a starter guitar, would be my advice.

Unless you *want* to put them off...

if a kid wants to play then a crappy guitar shouldn't stop them imo
can't even describe to you what i learned to play on...
this is dirt cheap, it has to be hot

Ordered.

Badgie - It's nice to have a sorted instrument from a recognised manufacturer but..........

The Pacifica is, so far as I can tell, a full size guitar and........

It is at least five times the price.

That puts it out of my price range for my smallish daughter who has recently expressed an interest and already has plasters on her fingertips.

I'll let her have a go at this and then, if she does alright, she and I can save up towards a decent entry level adult guitar in a year or two.

We all start somewhere - my first guitars were the equivalent of acoustic orange boxes but I still enjoyed playing them until I was able to get something a bit more METAL.............in the form of an Aria Pro 2, all spiky and wicked!!


Ahh, memories..............

And how many more started on a £20 guitar and gave it up?
I'm with Badgie. There are reasonable entry level guitars that will give anyone the best chance of actually enjoying their playing. This doesn't appear to be one of them.

By giving them something they want but going for something that will probably put them off you essentially save yourself the costs involved if they actually took to it. So on that strand of logic it's probably not a bad shout, and a great money saver. If you're buying for less devious reasons however and actually want your kid to enjoy it then either spend a bit more for something reputable new or try looking second hand. There are a lot of barely played guitars out there, and some aren't half bad.

3/4 electrics do not play well at standard tuning and are therefore will be no use for learning as the teacher will be at standard tuning.

The shorter scale means the strings need less tension to bring them up to pitch resulting in the strings buzzing on the frets unless you either :

Tune these to G tuning instead (non standard and different to teacher on full size, confusing to kids!)
Or raise the action, making it HARD to play.

3/4 classicals do no suffer the same issues which is why almost everyone buys classicals for kids that need a 3/4.


I've had the misfortune to work on these elevation guitars and their other main flaws are that the springs in the trem are too weak and the trem raises up on tuning making it hard to tune and raising the action. Also the gearing in the machine heads wears out and breaks quickly.