Small Guitars (3/4 and 1/2 sizes): Reviews

Guide to Small Guitars: A guitar with a smaller size and smaller neck is well-suited for grown-up children and people with smaller hands. You get excellent sounding small guitars that also serve well as a travel guitar.

Types of Guitars Available for Children

For kids, depending on the age, you can choose from battery operated guitars to small sized guitars with real strings.

Children under five don’t really have the ability to play a string guitar, so a toy guitar that lights up and/or plays music using easy to touch buttons is more suitable. Toddler guitars come in bright colors, attractive designs, and with several buttons that make different kinds of sounds.

Once your child grows up (6 to 7 years), they can upgrade to small guitars with strings (or play a Ukulele).

These guitars are smaller in sizes compared to the normal size (3/4 guitar or 1/2 guitar). These smaller guitars have the exact same sound as an adult guitar but are made to fit the smaller arms and hands of your child. The neck is usually narrower and shorter to accommodate the kid’s fingers.

Why Use Small Size?

Did you know that smaller sized guitars exist, and are actually high-quality instruments that can be compared to their full-sized counterparts? There are several guitar players who prefer to play a smaller sized guitar (compared to say a dreadnought size guitar) as it offers better play-ability. Small body guitars are also perfect for persons of smaller stature – be it men, women, or growing children.

There are several advantages of using these small scale guitars:

• If you are an Asian, you are more likely to have smaller hands compared to Americans or Europeans. In that case, these will be a better fit for you. You won’t face any of the problems that you would face using a bigger instrument. It can be extremely uncomfortable to move your arm over the body of the guitar to play the strings, if the instrument is too big for the player. Further, if the body has more depth, this can cause further discomfort.
• A small scale guitar has a shorter neck and is perfect for those who have trouble getting their hands to wrap around the neck to play chords. In such a scenario, a down-sized guitar makes a world of difference.
• On most dreadnought or jumbo sized guitars, the sound from the bass strings can overpower the other sounds, but with the smaller sized guitars, is not the case
• You can also easily travel with a small body guitar.
• A small guitar can also be great for practicing on the move
• For growing children or teenagers, smaller guitars are much more comfortable to play. In fact, the 3/4 guitars can be used for several years (with due care).
• If you have been unable to comfortably play the right notes on a standard guitar, may be a small guitar will solve that problem.

Smaller guitars can have good sound
These sound good, almost as the normal sized ones; everything is scaled down except for the sound!

There are many wannabe musicians who don’t prefer small-necked guitars because they think of them as nothing more than toys for children. However, that is definitely not true.

While it is true that toy guitars made out of cheap plastic, authentic small guitars are high-quality instruments that can be compared to their full-sized counterparts.

In fact, you get good quality small body guitars from reputed brands like Martin, Yamaha and others.

Small Sized Acoustic & Electric Guitar

You can also choose from a range of small scale acoustic and electric guitars, designed for those smaller hands. Although most of these are perfect as a first guitar for beginners, these can also be used as a travel guitar for players of all ages.

Small Guitar Accessories

You will also need accessories for your small guitar, such as case/bag, stand and picks.

• Small Guitar Case
• Small Guitar Stand
• Small Guitar Picks

Read: learn to play guitar / lessons

Best Half (1/2) size acoustic, classical guitars

Half sized (1/2 size) acoustic guitars are quite popular with young students aged around 8 years (around 3’10” to 4’6″), who’re keen to start learning the guitar. Half size guitars measures the half of the scale of a standard size guitar and fits the small hands of kids perfectly.

For grownup kids and adults looking for a more portable guitar, a three-fourth 3/4 guitar will be more suitable).

Acoustic guitars are available with steel strings or nylon strings (referred to as classical guitar).

Here are some of the best half sized acoustic guitars.

Oscar Schmidt OCHS-A-U 1/2 Size Classical Guitar: The guitar features dreadnought body style for comfort and better quality sound. Spruce top, catalpa back and sides, mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard and bridge. It comes with full body and neck binding with stylish abalone accents. The Oscar Schmidts also have a truss-rod to allow you to correct any neck warping (due to humidity/temperature changes).

Cordoba Mini II MH: From a brand that makes quality classical guitars, this half-size classical guitar comes with standard tuning. Though half-size, the Mini II has a deeper depth that creates a well rounded tone.

Hohner HAG250P 1/2 Sized Classical Guitar: Hohner half size guitar is 30″ in length, perfect for for children aged 4-7 years. It features nylon strings, easier for children to play. Its cheaper, and more suited to smaller kids (than adults or grownup up children).

Pyle half-size Classical Acoustic Guitar: This 30″ Classical Acoustic Guitar bundle offers great value for money. Includes useful accessories such as Case Bag, Strap, Tuner, Nylon Strings, Picks. Overall, a great starter kit for a younger player.

Best Choice Products 1/2 size Kids Classical Acoustic Guitar: This 1/2 sized guitar is proper playable guitar with nylon strings. This beginner-sized classical guitar comes a bundle that includes a digital E-tuner, extra strings, picks, carrying case, and more. Smooth tuning pegs help to achieve the perfect sound.

Best 3/4 Size Acoustic & Classical Guitars

This is a great starter guitar for children aged between 8 to 11, and can also be used as a travel guitar by adults.

The size, playability, quality and affordability make these guitar an ideal starter guitar. Three-fourth size allows kids to comfortably hold the guitar and play something that they struggle to do on the standard size guitar. These are smaller but have good volume and tone, which is great considering the price point.

Here are a few recommended three-fourth acoustic guitars:

Yamaha FG JR2 3/4 Size Acoustic Guitar

The Yamaha JR2 is basically a compact dreadnought guitar based on Yamaha’s popular FG folk guitar series. Spruce top and mahogany-finish on body, produces nice acoustic sound.

Yamaha FG JR2 is a great starter guitar for children in the age group 7 to 11 years. And being a Yamaha, you can expect a quality instrument and this model is no exception. It sounds nice, warm and loud, and the 3/4 size makes it the perfect option for kids who are learning to play the guitar.

The FG JR2 is similar to the FG JR1 (that we have reviewed below); the only difference being that the JR2 has better finish, uses better wood, which makes it slightly more expensive. JR2 uses a different wood than the JR1 (Mahogany vs Meranti) and has a UTF (Ultra Thin Finish) on its body.

• Pros: Comfortable size, Excellent build quality, great for Lessons
• Cons: Slightly pricey (but worth it)

The Yamaha JR2 acoustic guitar is great for younger players, or those with smaller hands, or for someone who wants a lightweight, travel-friendly instrument.

Yamaha FG JR1 3/4 Size Acoustic Guitar

Yamaha is legendary for its quality and play-ability. The wood for the body is after careful selection and for JR1 too similar consideration has been given. It is easy to carry around because of its size, especially, if you are a frequent flier, this piece easily fits in the plane’s overhead luggage area.

Steel string guitar. Features Spruce top, Indonesian Back and Sides, Nato Neck and a Javanese Rosewood fingerboard and meranti body for solid, bright tonality and great looks, and chrome hardware. Includes Gigbag.

The guitar is lightweight because of the smaller size, looks nice and has a nice finish. The guitar produces a warm rich tone that you usually find on a full sized guitar. Surprisingly, this steel-string guitar also produces a loud sound and tone. Yamaha’s top quality craftsmanship is clearly visible on this musical instrument.

The out-of-the-box string action is pretty good, and can be played as is without any setup. Its also easy to re-tune (although it stays in tune for long).

The smaller size makes it comfortable to hold and play. The neck is also slimmer which makes it easier for kids with small hands to play. This one uses steel-strings (explained further down).

Yamaha APXT2 3/4-Size Acoustic-Electric Guitar

The APXT2 is a 3/4-size acoustic-electric guitar with steel strings. It features an ART-based pickup system and Yamaha’s proprietary tuner with great sensitivity and accuracy. Plug into a Yamaha THR5A for a great amplified sound! Spruce Top, Meranti Back and Sides, System68 Electronics, Built-In Tuner, Gigbag Included.

To Conclude

In case you are looking for better alternatives for your smaller arms, these are the ones to look for. Don’t just ignore them because they aren’t as big as the regular guitars; you’ll be pleasantly surprised to play them and a small guitar can actually sound very good.