Recommendation: Good 3/4 electric guitars?

NCo

I'm looking for a 3/4 electric guitar for my 8 year old son. He's been playing classical guitar for a while and

Most guitars I've seen online look like toys, and from initial research (including a Guitaristas Youtube review) it seems that short scale guitars have tuning issues.

Can anyone recommend a suitable guitar that will last 2-3 years? I'm obviously not looking for tonewood, mojo or high end specs, just a solid instrument as opposed to a toy.

Cheers.

NicoAdie

The Squier mini's are good, I've got a pink Strat, stuck 10s on it and never had any tuning issues.

hassleham

Another vote for the squier mini. Very good for the price!

Roundwound

NicoAdie said:

The Squier mini's are good, I've got a pink Strat, stuck 10s on it and never had any tuning issues.

Need to chuck 10s on my daughters mini strat  then as the tuning stability is pretty awful with the stock strings

guitars4you

I've never seen, played or found any that aren't much better than a toy - Bottom line is they never play in tune - Combination of poor fret work and/or bridge in the wrong place and/or shorter scale length - Tune up with an E chord, then play an A and listen to how bad it is - Or play G barre chord on 3rd fret and now play C at the 8th fret - Then either don't buy it if you are in the shop, or return it if mail order - Sorry but in my opinion they don't work - They are so bad I refuse to work on them ref any set-up - Spend 2 hours on one and you pick up a £100 bill and they'll still be crap 

Fine if just playing single note riffs and melody lines or indeed around pentatonic licks - But not chords - So maybe dangle a carrot this way until he can manage a full size guitar (not sure how tall he is) And keep the classical guitar going as well for chord work + other

elstoof

Only tried my daughter’s 3/4 scale P Bass and that’s been fine, not sure how the 22.75” scale guitars fare. Perhaps split the difference and try a Mustang in a guitar shop, 24” those

guitarjack66

Why not just get a steel string Acoustic for now? If he's been playing Classical it wont be much different and he can still play a cracking array of pop/rock/blues on it regardless?

idiotwindow

An 8 year old boy should be fine with a full size guitar. As others have suggested, perhaps consider a shorter scale guitar like a Mustang, but my daughter was fine with a normal scale length Strat from an early age. Something like a Squier Sonic Mustang for £150 will be a much better guitar than any number of 3/4 guitars aimed at children.

NCo

idiotwindow said:

An 8 year old boy should be fine with a full size guitar. As others have suggested, perhaps consider a shorter scale guitar like a Mustang, but my daughter was fine with a normal scale length Strat from an early age. Something like a Squier Sonic Mustang for £150 will be a much better guitar than any number of 3/4 guitars aimed at children.

We've tried full sized guitars, too heavy and the neck is too large. He isn't the buggest 8 year old, unlike some of his class mates who can pass as teenagers.

Would you happen to know the total length of the Squier Sonic Mustang? I can find the wight online (under 6 lbs which is great), but no mention of dimensions.

PAL

I would just buy a regular sized guitar.

BillDL

The "3/4 size" or "3/4 scale" description is often misleading.  I agree with the others in that a guitar with a reduced scale length is often very difficult or impossible to intonate and play in tune.  Nothing to do with the quality of the hardware or the accuracy of the tuners, but more to do with the fact that the thicker gauge strings you usually need to keep the tension feel make it harder to intonate on the shorter scale.  Most 3/4 scale guitars actually aren't 75% of the scale length though.  Examples are the Cort G100 Junior and Jackson Dinky with a 22.5" scale that's 88% of a 25.5" scale, or Squier Mini Strat and Jazzmaster with 22.75" (89% of scale), Ibanez Mikro at 22" scale (86%).  In contrast the Vox SDC-1 Mini I acquired recently is actually a 3/4 scale guitar.  It is clearly based on a Gibson styling and has an 18.75" scale (75% of 24.75).  That guitar is impossible to intonate properly despite trying different gauge strings.  The closer you get to a full scale length, while still being a "reduced scale" guitar (eg. Mustang), will work out much better in the long run.

It's a pity that the SX SST62+ guitar has a trem bridge rather than a hard-tail one (an unnecessary complication for a learner), because they are actually quite well made guitars and they have a 610mm scale (24" - like the Mustang and DuoSonic) i.e. 610mm of 647.7mm = 94% scale, which is just enough to make the fretboard of a Fender styled guitar more comfortable for a younger person without causing intonation issues.

https://www.guitar.co.uk/guitars/electric/kids?dir=asc&order=price

As far as Gibson styled reduced scale electrics are concerned, you have the Epiphone "Power Players" small range comprising just the LP and SG shapes in a limited range of colours for around £220.  They have a 22.73" scale which is 92% of a Gibson scale and would be 89% of a Fender scale guitar.  I haven't tried these guitars out though, so I can't recommend based on build quality or playability even though I have been meaning to buy one for a while.

https://www.epiphone.com/en-GB/Collection/power-players

richardhomer

Something like an Epiphone SG would be a far better choice. The shorter Gibson-style scale length would be more manageable than 25.5” scale instruments but way better in terms of intonation and tuning stability than a three-quarter sized guitar. And it can be ‘grown into’…

NCo

BillDL said:

The "3/4 size" or "3/4 scale" description is often misleading.  I agree with the others in that a guitar with a reduced scale length is often very difficult or impossible to intonate and play in tune.  Nothing to do with the quality of the hardware or the accuracy of the tuners, but more to do with the fact that the thicker gauge strings you usually need to keep the tension feel make it harder to intonate on the shorter scale.  Most 3/4 scale guitars actually aren't 75% of the scale length though.  Examples are the Cort G100 Junior and Jackson Dinky with a 22.5" scale that's 88% of a 25.5" scale, or Squier Mini Strat and Jazzmaster with 22.75" (89% of scale), Ibanez Mikro at 22" scale (86%).  In contrast the Vox SDC-1 Mini I acquired recently is actually a 3/4 scale guitar.  It is clearly based on a Gibson styling and has an 18.75" scale (75% of 24.75).  That guitar is impossible to intonate properly despite trying different gauge strings.  The closer you get to a full scale length, while still being a "reduced scale" guitar (eg. Mustang), will work out much better in the long run.

It's a pity that the SX SST62+ guitar has a trem bridge rather than a hard-tail one (an unnecessary complication for a learner), because they are actually quite well made guitars and they have a 610mm scale (24" - like the Mustang and DuoSonic) i.e. 610mm of 647.7mm = 94% scale, which is just enough to make the fretboard of a Fender styled guitar more comfortable for a younger person without causing intonation issues.

https://www.guitar.co.uk/guitars/electric/kids?dir=asc&order=price

As far as Gibson styled reduced scale electrics are concerned, you have the Epiphone "Power Players" small range comprising just the LP and SG shapes in a limited range of colours for around £220.  They have a 22.73" scale which is 92% of a Gibson scale and would be 89% of a Fender scale guitar.  I haven't tried these guitars out though, so I can't recommend based on build quality or playability even though I have been meaning to buy one for a while.

https://www.epiphone.com/en-GB/Collection/power-players

Thanks for the detailed answer, I wasn't aware of the difference in "3/4" scales.

I suspect that scale length is only one part of it, whereas other factors include body size & weight, as well as nut width. We perhaps could get away with a regular 24" scale, but I'm not sure how the other factors I mentioned will feel comfort-wise for a child using an adult guitar.

The SX model you linked looks great, with a 38mm nut and a small body, I guess the trem could be decked. Have you tried it?

BillDL

I think a 38mm nut might just be a bit narrow for any fingers.  I hadn't actually noticed that in the spec on the Merchant City Music website and I think the spec is wrong.  On other retailers' websites that particular "reduced scale" version of the full size SST62 shows the nut width as the standard 42mm for that style of guitar, but then again some retailers show 648mm scale (full scale) when in the description they detail it as a reduced scale.  The one I played was one bought by somebody I knew for their 10 year old son and I set it up for him.  I definitely felt that the nut width and string spacing were standard and it definitely was a slightly shorter scale.  I left the trem so it could be depressed only because his son wanted a wiggle stick.

I'm actually confused by their model numbering.  I assumed that the + suffix referred to reduced scale version of that model, but it appears not to be the case as detailed on the SX website for their Strat (SST62+) and Tele shapes (STL50+) that show them as standard scale lengths:

https://www.sx-guitar.com/index.php/Products/detail/pid/26/id/116

What you are looking for is SST62+ 3/4/<colour code>

and YES the nut is only 38mm wide.  Strange that I didn't feel the string spacing any narrower:

https://www.sx-guitar.com/index.php/Products/detail/pid/26/id/133

robgilmo

I got my wee man (7) an Ibanez Gio 3/4 , its a fantastic guitar, it keeps tune (after a little nut work), it plays really really well and it doesnt sound too bad either.

Elwood

Solar guitars released a budget brand that are shorter scales and designed to be more accessible. Can't comment on quality, but may be worth looking into:

AB4.61MC – 3/4 S by Solar – Carbon Black Matte

scrumhalf

Pignose travel guitar?

CHRISB50

My mate bought his son a 3/4 Squier, but like others had lots of issues with tuning stability. I'll have to tell him to try 10's if that works.

From all the videos of tiny Asian kids shredding, and robgilmo's recommendation, I'd try an Ibanez. 

Plus your son is on to a winner if he gets to like pointy guitars from the start. It's taken me 30 years to appreciate them

Ddigger

I bought a Squier Mustang for my son when he was 8.  There is a photo from of him on here somewhere with it.  He will be 10 this year and just starting grade 3.

It is strung with 9s, intonates fine, holds tuning ok.  One of the the songs in grade 2 was Should I Stay or Should I Go and it was still in tune after two and half minutes of the exam track.  I think we will go to a set of 10s next time we change strings.

He does play my guitars and doesn't seem thrown by the longer scale or larger necks.  However, the smaller body of the Mustang makes it easier to handle and he can play for a fair while standing up, plus he has taken it to school and goes to friends for band practice (soft case and back straps).  He would struggle with a full size guitar walking all that way.  He loves a Les Paul, but needs a strap even sat down and doesn't manage more than about 5 minutes.

The Squier is only the cost of about 10 plus guitar lessons, so that is where all the money will go.

 I don't plan on buying a new guitar for him anytime soon, this will do for a couple ml ore years.

skullfunkerry

CHRISB50 said:

My mate bought his son a 3/4 Squier, but like others had lots of with tuning stability. I'll have to tell him to try 10's if that works.

From all the videos of tiny Asian kids shredding, and robgilmo's recommendation, I'd try and Ibanez. 

Plus your son is on to a winner if he gets to like pointy guitars from the start. It's taken me 30 years to appreciate them

I believe the Jackson mini guitars are pretty good too; I saw a video of someone playing Steve Vai's For the Love of God on a mini Rhoads and it sounded great

photek

Got a Squier Jazzmaster mini here, needed the works, nut slots lowering, fret ends sorting, a couple of frets reseating, intonation, frets polishing etc but with a set of 10’s it’s superb. Plays in tune all over the neck and stays in tune.

100% not a toy.