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| Want to find a good child size guitar - Beginner Questions - Guitar - Guitar - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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ukendoit Approved
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I know, I said "good" and "childsize" in the same sentence. But seriously, I have a 6 year old daughter who see me playing my guitar and now wants to learn. I've been looking around and found the HAG250P at http://www.musiciansbestbuy.com. It's a childsize hohner and I have had really good luck with low end hohner guitars. Does anyone else have any experience with this guitar or store? Or maybe someone has a better suggestion? Thanks -Chad
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charles92027 Approved 
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If she's set on guitar, I recommend a baritone ukulele. They're about the same size as child sized guitars, but only have four strings, which is much much easier to learn than six (I only have four fingers). If she's not set on guitar, I say get a soprano uke, for the same reasons, with the addition of the frets being closer together than the bari.
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UkeForever Approved 
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I know Vineyard is/was making a fairly low-end nylon six-stringer. Intonation is OK. Neck is pretty small for small hands. Haven't played the Hohner, but I'm guessing they're probably pretty close. I do have to say that you should stay away from the likes of Guitar Center/MusisiansFriend for child/small scale guitars. Their "entry level" guitar marketing is downright criminal, with bad enough instruments (and gullible enough parents) to make any poor kid quit music forever within the first few weeks. Poor intonation, setup, etc. The Baby Taylor is a nice short-scale steel-string, but intonation is not always there. The Art & Lutherie series by Godin has what I'd call superior entry level guitars (an oxymoron?), and dare I say, the AMI short-scale is a guitar that your child will own and be proud to play for years to come. It has a fairly wide & thick neck, so if your child is under 12 and/or has smaller hands, it may not be the best choice. They make a nylon version. The size is a traditional Martin 000-S. Cedar or spruce solid top. Under $200, and superior sound. I'd put the sound of my new A&L against any "brand name" (Read Martin/Taylor/Larrivee) of the same size in the under-$1000 range. Reviews at Harmony Central are pretty telling: AMI Cedar Reviews The entire line: Art & Lutherie Guitars The AMI Nylon even has a slotted headstock. Awesome. Will on these pages has some pretty good ideas for good sounding guitar values. Also, there is a thread somewhere 'Advice/opinions' all about parlour guitars. Good luck. Last edited on Wed Apr 19th, 2006 09:04 pm by UkeForever ____________________ Don't let the door hit 'ya where the good Lord split 'ya. John Rockwell's Crazy Songs 
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North Carolina Dan Approved
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Six years old is pretty young to start guitar in my opinion but I'm sure there are exceptions. The uke idea may be a good one. When I started (about 9) my uncle told me I could start learning if I could take my thumb and my middle finger and have them touch while wrapping them around the guitar neck. That young, I do think nylon strings may work best. If you use steel strings, try to get the strings set as close to the neck as possible without "buzzing" from being too close. There are a couple of adjustments (lower bridge and or tightening the truss rod) that may help. I have seen electronic guitars (I actually had one for a while) that chorded exactly like a regular guitar but there were no strings at the fretboard- just raised plastic that felt like strings. These are generally small and would be much easier to play while learning chords...I guess they still make them and the one I had was 50-60 dollars several years ago. The one I had could make about 4 different guitar sounds based on the setting you picked- a lot of fun.
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Will Approved 
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Consider trying out a Little Martin, a small-body, tenor size (short neck, 22" scale) guitar that sell for about $250. I've tried them out a local guitar stores, and they sound and play extremely well. They're sold as both a travel guitar for adults and as a beginner guitar for young kids. They're built to last and they sound much bigger than they look. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Guitar/Acoustic?sku=515880  Last edited on Fri Apr 21st, 2006 03:31 pm by Will ____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ |
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Griffis Hames Approved
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For a six year old I might also suggest a uke or a nylon string guitar (though many nylong string guiatars have wider fingerboards) However, I have played the Martins that Will posted above. I thought they were fine but I compared them side by side with a Yamaha FG junior and I thought the Yamaha was not only prettier but sounded and played much better (and for at least $100 less.) The Martin I played was going for $279 and the Yamaha was $119 with gigbag.
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Will Approved
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Speaking from personal experience, I agree that it might be better to start out a six year child with a ukulele, or perhaps a baritone ukulele (like I did) if playing the guitar is the eventual goal. I know that I tried to learn guitar by myself while in my mid-30's and I got nowhere fast, and it was until another 6 years until I tried again, but I started with a baritone uke.
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ |
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UkeForever Approved
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Will wrote: Consider trying out a Little Martin, a small-body, tenor size (short neck, 22" scale) guitar that sell for about $250. I've tried them out a local guitar stores, and they sound and play extremely well. They're sold as both a travel guitar for adults and as a beginner guitar for young kids. They're built to last and they sound much bigger than they look. Those little Martins--the $250-350 range ones, sound like crap to me. I've played samples at a few different shops. I realize that's a personal opinion, and that every guitar is different. Even the Baby Taylors, in my opinion, have some serious suckage going on. I don't understand how A&L comes in on the $200 price-point with such a superior product, but they do. I'd like to think it's because the owner wants young players hooked on guitar, and an easy-playing, great sounding guitar is just the thing to make new players keep at it... Of course, I could be swallowing the marketing hype. After playing my little Art & Lutherie for many many more hours (I took it camping last weekend), I must re-emphasize my above post. In that short-scale price-point category, it is the best sounding, and easiest playing parlour I've heard. I retune this short-scale guitar into DADGAD, open C, various iterations of open G (Gsus, and various dropped bass), and it intones as clearly as my expensive dread. How do they do that? My experience has been that some short-scale guitars become unplayable in open tunings. Lately I am very interested in some of the all-solid Chinese guitars, namely Guild's GAD line, Crafter, and Blueridge. Price points of $700-1200. It is obvious that these brands are competing with the Martin and Taylor lines with a price point of $2000-3000 category. I wonder if the sound competes. I'm going to have to do some driving to find dealers who are not so bullied by Martin and Taylor that they are afraid (or just plain not permitted) to stock their shelves with something that might compete. Way back when I bought my Alvarez Yairi, I found the sound to be incredible. The Japanese were building some awesome instruments in the 70s and 80s. I get the feeling that is happening with some of the Chinese-made instruments today.
____________________ Don't let the door hit 'ya where the good Lord split 'ya. John Rockwell's Crazy Songs
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Will Approved
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UkeForever wrote: Lately I am very interested in some of the all-solid Chinese guitars, namely Guild's GAD line, Crafter, and Blueridge. Price points of $700-1200. It is obvious that these brands are competing with the Martin and Taylor lines with a price point of $2000-3000 category. I wonder if the sound competes. Greg Nelson just posted a thread at this forum about his new Guild GAD-30R (auditorium-sized), and a few months ago, I bought a Guild GAD-G212 (12-string dreadnought). I've played these guitars, and they really sound great. http://www.ezfolk.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=1819&forum_id=32
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ |
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Will Approved
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Let's step back a bit and remember that the original post for this thread asked us for advice about an instrument for ukendoit's 6-year old daughter. I have a son who just turned 7, and while I own a Seagull Grand parlor guitar (a Godin Guitar cousin to Art & Lutherie's model), it's simply too big for him to be able to play it. I would therefore recommend a baritone ukulele, if playing guitar is the eventual goal.
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ |
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1four5 Approved 
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If you want cheap beaters, especially nylon stringers, there's no end to http://www.shopgoodwill.com just click on musical instruments. I always see kids stuff there, especially if you don't kow if they will stay with it, or are gonna beat it all up.
____________________ These are the good times! |
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UkeForever Approved
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I have a very admitted bias in the ukulele area, so I refrained from suggesting the baritone... but since it was brought up, I wholeheartedly agree with the recommendation! Greg Nelson's review is what got me looking at the Guild line. I found out that Crafter and Blueridge, like Cort, are Korean-made. I wouldn't be surpirsed if Cort builds them. I also read somewhere that Hohner underwrites Crafter. Another brand, Walden, is Chinese-made.
____________________ Don't let the door hit 'ya where the good Lord split 'ya. John Rockwell's Crazy Songs
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Will Approved
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UkeForever wrote: I found out that Crafter and Blueridge, like Cort, are Korean-made. I wouldn't be surprised if Cort builds them. I also read somewhere that Hohner underwrites Crafter. Another brand, Walden, is Chinese-made. Now that you mentioned it, my Lark In The Morning tenor guitar (actually it's a plectrum guitar because it has a 000-sized body rather than an 0-size, and a 25.5" scale rather than 23") is also Korean-made, and it has the fancy abalalone trim that looks VERY similar to Blueridge's BR-73, their top of the line 000-sized guitar, which I am interested in purchasing. The only difference I can see is that the Lark tenor guitar has a 4-string neck, while the Blueridge BR-73 has a 6-string neck. I've seen and played a number of Cort guitars, and they were excellent quality for the price.
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ |
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MGM Approved
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I would second the Art & Lutherie Ami parlor guitar as a good choice. It's pretty darn small, short scaled, and has a narrow fretboard. Plenty of young kids play bigger than this at my son's music school. The sound and intonation are very good for such a small guitar. I have one - it's a blast and easy to play. I've liked some full sized Hohners, but I don't know how their small, child-sized would sound. She may have her own ideas, like a full sized, cool-looking electric  .
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dittybopper Approved
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My 9 year old son has one of those little Hohners you are looking at and it is a decent sounding little guitar. However, he strummed around on it a few days and then complained that he couldn't form the chords because the fretboard was too large for him. He is now happily strumming away on my Applause Soprano ukulele and it looks like I will have to save the guitar for when he is a little older. For a 6 year old, I wonder if a baritone ukulele might even be too large - it is for my son. I recommend a good soprano uke. Good luck in whatever you decide. Dee
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| ezFolk Forums > Guitar > Beginner Questions - Guitar > Want to find a good child size guitar | |
