I bought this for my son’s 7th birthday. He’s been watching me play guitar and has lately told me that he wants to play too. I think this will be fine for him to figure out if he wants to go further.

First off, the guitar. Once I stretched out the strings, it does stay in tune mostly. The “B” string goes out much faster than the others, but that’s not that big a deal. There are areas of the finish aruond the sound hole that aren’t finished well and parts of the fretboard that aren’t look rough. Despite this, the frets are smooth to the edge of the neck and isn’t rough for my boy’s hands. Notes sound correct up till the 9th fret or so- far more than he’s going to need. If you don’t look at it too closely, it looks like a real guitar. For the most part it even sounds like one.

The bag- its a nylon bag with handles and it is possible to carry the guitar in it if your child were to take it to a lesson. It is a bit difficult to get the guitar out of the bag without moving the tuners, but since the guitar is going out of tune all the time anyway it doesn’t really matter.

The CD- don’t get too excited about this. The CD is geared toward an adult audience, not to kids as I would have thought, coming as it does with a 3/4 sized guitar. But it does show how to change the strings and how to play a few songs. If you want to teach you kid how to play guitar, the Mel Bay Children’s guitar method is what I bought. It’s cheap and fun.

Overall, I didn’t think I got ripped off with this product. It was a fair price and will provide my son with what he needs to get started with guitar.

My son couldn’t quite fit with our full-size guitar. He began saving for his own. This was the perfect guitar for him. I was so impressed with 1) how extremely FAST it shipped to us (and he was glad he didn’t have to wait too long after buying it). 2) How nice the guitar is…it’s prettier than the pictured guitar here. 3) It comes with a bag. 4) It is affordable. 5) It has a very nice sound to it. It did take a while to tune it, but it’s staying tuned easier as we’ve had it a few months now. It really is the perfect size for my 7 year old…and he’ll use it for a few years *at least* before he needs a full size. I couldn’t be happier with the price, the purchse, the seller, the instrument!!

Got this guitar for a child. It’s the perfect size for an 8-11 year old.

Now, the guitar seems to be pretty well made for the price. There were some cosmetic flaws such as an off color spot on the binding, there are some glue bubbles where the top and neck meet, and the fretboard had some grime on it. Deal with the flaws, get some Murphy’s oil soap clean the fretboard. Guess what? It’s not a 00 Gibson. If you are expecting perfect cosmetics at this price you’re delusional.

Here is what you need for a starter guitar: 1) the ability to stay in tune, 2) easy to play, and 3) made well enough to last and STAY IN TUNE for about three years. That’s really it, everything else is unnecessary and wasted money. Will junior stick with his guitar lessons and practice diligently? If so, buy him a nicer guitar in 2 or 3 years because he will outgrow this one anyway. What if Junior loses interest in the guitar and uses it as a baseball bat? Well, at least it didn’t cost much. As a starter guitar, this guitar is more than adequate.

A note about the strings: they stretch out. Some reviews complained the guitar wouldn’t stay in tune which really concerned me. Part of learning an instrument is ear training, and it is *critical* that the developing ear hear correct notes. Well, the guitar I bought is staying in tune just fine. I unpacked it, tuned it up, and played it for a bit. Retuned, played. And so on. Point is, you’ve gotta stretch the strings out. Once you do, it’ll be just fine. The best way to stretch them is by tuning, playing, repeating until it stays in tune.