Smaller/travel/ 3/4 sized guitars to investigate?

TimmyO · July 2019

My friend called me round yesterday to look at his son’s guitar - son is 8 I think nad has lessons at school for the last year but recently his guitar is unplayable - I took a look, it’s a properly cheapo nylon 3/4 thing that has a truss rod butI doubt it’s sortable (it kind of looks like the neck has just decided it’s now a wavy line and straightness be damned)

Anyway I said I’d dig out my truss rod Allen keys but that he should think about getting an actual guitar as opposed to a guitar-shaped object .

He asked me what to look at and I’ve not really thought about smaller bodied things before so - what could he look at?
I suspect he’d still like to keep the cost low but what’s a step (or more) up from the £50-special but isn’t a Taylor GS Mini level of cost?

ta for any pointers

BahHumbug · July 2019

One that I’ve used for pupils is the Vintage V880N. Small bodied with a slightly narrow fretboard. Might be a bit big for an 8 year old, but that depends on the size of the 8 year old. I think Vintage also do other smaller models. Anyway this model is just over £200 new, but they can be found second hand for as little as £100. I’ve found the fretting to be good enough to be able to obtain a nice low action - makes life a bit easier for new and learning guitarists.

Andy79 · July 2019

Let’s be honest. Any small acoustic around the vintage budget will make a great guitar for this purpose. I bought my yungn a Yamaha FG junior for 120 ish and it’s awesome.

VimFuego · July 2019

there was a thread about travel guitars a few days back, the basic gist of it was that vintage are the way to go.

TimmyO · July 2019

cheers chaps

GTC · July 2019

8 yrs old and having lessons at school? - perhaps it might be better sticking to nylon strings for now. Some the 3/4 and 7/8 size Yamaha and Cordoba classicals are very good value and get good write-ups. It sounds like he'd be used to the wider flat fingerboard of a classical

TimmyO · July 2019

Actually yes I totally omitted to mention that the one he uses is nylon strung!

GTC · July 2019

No you didn't omit that fact ("It's a properly cheapo nylon 3/4 thing").

I dabbled with the nylon strung Cordoba "Coco" Disney Pixar tie-in guitars (3/4 and 7/8) size a while ago - and if you are happy with the nicely laser-etched decoration on the soundboard and headstock, they are really excellent little guitars for a beginner. Great tone, short scale length and slightly narrower fingerboard than a conventional classical. They have a truss rod and are something a bit different.

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Smaller/travel/ 3/4 sized guitars to investigate?

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