Advice on cheap kids half sized guitar. Considering Thomann Classic Guitar 1/2

pug_

I'm looking for a cheap guitar for my kids that will sound at least something like a guitar, can stay in tune for more than an hour at a time, and has nice low action that's easy to play.

My kids are still quite young so I'm not expecting them to take lessons with it or anything like that. I just want something that can be used to introduce them to the guitar at their own pace and they can either take it or leave it after that.

I had a look at thomann and this looks reasonable enough, and by reasonable I mean that it's not made of plywood

Does anyone here have any experience with this particular guitar? Or can anyone recommend something that might be more suitable? Like I said requirements are minimal, but the absolutely max budget for this is €70-€80.

Something else I just thought of. I was thinking of tuning it to dadgad or something like that with the idea being that it should be easier for them to knock out something halfway tuneful without having to learn chord positions. Does this sound reasonable, or is there a better way?

martinedwards

pug_ wrote: »

it's not made of plywood

yes it is!!

that's what Laminated means.......

any cheap guitar will be ..... a risk.... as to playablity, though I did get a baby Dean a few yeas back for about £50 that was fine once I replaced the plastic nut & saddle for bone.

DADGAD is for fingerpicking folkies and needs some serious skills.

regular tuning and let them learn proper chords is a much better idea.

have they ASKED for a classical? do they listen to classical guitar? because if they want to play Guns & roses or KT Tunstal and you get them a classical, then they'll be disappointed.

pug_

Missed the word laminate in there, but did a bit of reading, and apparently laminate is the name of a process that produces plywood, but plywood is not the only thing that can be produced by lamination. Doesn't really matter anyway like I said this is just a cheapo guitar I'm after and you get what you pay for.

Do you have a link for the baby dean by any chance? I've no problem changing the nut and saddle if needs be.

Any time I've messed with dadgad myself (which hasn't been often) it's been because it doesn't take much effort to form open chords making it easier, in my mind anyway, to make something half way tuneful if it's just being banged on by a kid. It's entirely possible I'm not thinking it through properly though as playing for me and playing for a complete novice kid are two different perspectives which is why I asked the question.

My kids are 4 and 6, there is zero chance they will be interested in putting in the effort to learn chords in standard tuning yet and I'm not interested in trying to force them at their age. If they start to show an interest or any kind of aptitude then I'll show them a bit more. Right now it's just a case of them seeing their dad playing and they want to give it a go too, but there is no way I'll let them loose on my guitars. My wife plays the flute and they wanted to try that too so we got them some tin whistles, they can play the scales and twinkle twinkle at the moment, they're happy enough with that that for now, and I expect it'll be similar with the guitar.

As for if they've asked for a classical guitar they wouldn't have a clue what one is, nor would they care. I ain't getting them an electric it's too expensive, probably too heavy especially for the 4 year old, and expecting them to set it up, not blast our eardrums off, and remember to turn off the amp when they're done is too much yet. I'm also not interested in getting them any kind of steel string acoustic guitar it'd just cut the fingers off of them. Which is why I opted for a classical, sure the fretboard is a bit wide, but it's a pretty common first guitar, and the nylon strings make it a lot more kid friendly. Don't worry though if they ever do form a preference for any particular genre of music, and show an genuine interest in learning I'll get them something closer to what they want.

Alanstrainor

My opinion on a lot of cheap guitars these days, is that most are actually pretty playable. Go back even ten years, and a sub 100 quid guitar would be horrendous. But I'd say something like the one you've linked would be fine. Although I have no experience with it.

And your idea for getting an open tuning for them sounds great. At that age, just being able to play anything will be great. This will enable them to strum their first chord immediately. And being able to teach them to simply hold one note on one string to give them a different, but still relatively musical chord will be awesome.