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.

It doesn't look like it has a tremelo.

You only bought it last week!

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.

Great for smashing up at the end of a gig.

My niece got one of these and it was impossible to stay in tune. Pretty impossible to play as a result.

I can't vouch for the 3/4 classical guitar approach mentioned above, but it can't be any worse than this POS instrument.

I used to be a part-time guitar teacher but it got harder and harder to find students as guitar music hasn't been 'in' for a while. Now if I did dubstep producing lessons.... I'd have to kill myself. The guitar I linked to at Amazon above is from Normans, who are fantastic http://www.normans.co.uk/

In the Argos Q & A someone asks if it has a "whammy bar". The answer is no.

Can't see a lefty option

Let's face it, it's a toy. Argos is not big on musical instruments. However toys now look more like the real thing due to improved technology in China. If you want a toy this is fine, if you want a musical instrument, then listen to the advice of those on here who have made the effort to give it.

In answer to 'lagigolo'. I suspect that your comment is a little tongue in cheek, but I doubt toy makers are going to make left handed versions.

BE CAREFUL with argos ebay they DO NOT have the same level of customer service and I personally had a VERY bad experience with them. I would not recommend them to anyway ! + never use them again!

If someone desperately wants to play, then you don't need to spend that much on a guitar. But a bad electric is a lot less manageable than a bad acoustic.

I would recommend that those wanting to start learning guitar DO start on acoustic and then progress to electric. There are too many 10 year olds who bash out the most awful power chords on the highest distortion setting, and think they are "good".

^^^^^^^^^^

Oh you don't half sound old!!

That's the fun bit!!

Haha. It was about 10 years ago!

I bet you are younger. I'm a grizzled old fart, but let the kids have their fun, the kids just wanna rock......

be warned ...its rubbish..doesn't stay in tune...wont put your kid of but it will just be left there...it's not really a proper guitar..the machine-head is odd never seen its' type before and there's only a volume button...better of paying more...looks so much better in the pic...im glad you posted this as i forgot to send it back but will now.

Couple of points

Seems a neat little thing.

Doesn't have a tremelo. It is fixed bridge. No hole for trem arm despite the photo as described by crunchie above - i think they may have used the photo from their full size version of this guitar.

Haven't had a chance to muck about with it yet - literally just taken it out of the box. Will need some work to reduce action but saddles seem about as high as they can go so it may just need some adjustment there.

No comment yet about tuning, strings may need to settle or may not even have been installed very well. In any event, I've bought these from amazon for less than £9 for three sets which should be okay

Will update further once I have had a chance to set it up.

Ok - I can give a bit of a better comment now.

This is clearly a budget guitar, but it is far from unplayable and, certainly in terms of my own experience, I think some of the comments so far have been a bit unfair.

I've spent a couple of hours fiddling with saddle height and intonation and it is getting to quite an acceptable set-up, with an action
which is around bang-on 1/16" at the 12th fret on top or bottom E. It's pretty playable at that, and that's without making any effort to adjust the truss rod which I'm loathe to do as the neck seems in reasonable shape to me.

The guitar does lose a little bit of tuning after it's been thrashed for a little while, but nothing too massive, especially as the strings have settled somewhat. When I fit another set I'll make sure they're wound a few more times on the machine heads to give them a bit more stability. Can't do that with the fitted strings as they've been wound on and then cut once they're fitted.

Despite being a bit of a shorter scale, the guitar doesn't suffer too much from string rattle at standard tuning - certainly not as bad as I had feared - and I would maintain that it is still quite playable, and certainly good enough for a beginners electric. The smaller size suits my daughter perfectly (a shade over 5 foot tall and small build) and it means the guitar is far more comfortable than a full size which weighs about twice as much.

I'm looking forward to hearing it through an amplifier so if anybody spots any decent deals for 10-20W practice amps, post them.


In short, I think this is a perfectly decent little entry guitar and it is an utter bargain at £26.

Managed to pick up a bargain Line6 micro spider amp (plus a natty Pacifica 112 for myself) plus extras for £85. Bargain.

The Elevation guitar sounds canny through the little amp and my daughter is well chuffed.

I've been after the half size version of this for ages and didn't know you could get them from Argos!
I plan to drill out all the fret markers and replace them with LED's and use it as a lighting feature on the roof of our bands tour van!!