Startone CG 851 1/8

Bought this for my 1yo for Xmas after he showed great interest in his 3yo brother's 1/4 version of this instrument.

There is practically no difference in size between this (1/8) and the 1/4. I've decal'd the boys names on the fingerboards of the guitars (which have no dots on them FTR) to help tell at a glance which is which, such is their similarity.

This functions perfectly as a first guitar. It's cheap enough that I don't care if it gets absolutely smashed or drawn on or whatever else a toddler could do to a guitar.

It's also good enough to serve as a real instrument. I took a while to get this into (A tuning) tune. It felt if I tuned it straight up something would break. But now that he's had it a while it keeps okay tune and sounds fine.

The action is pretty high, so much so that fretting a note bends the pitch. But it doesn't need to be a virtuoso instrument at this stage. The good thing is that when he's old enough to learn properly I will likely shave the bridge down and set it up better.

A pretty good result for about thirty bucks.

I must start this review that saying this is mostly a toy, however a very good one!

I really liked the Yamaha guitalele concept (a friend of mine has one and the quality is really good) but I was definitely not going to use it as a main instrument, so I didn't want to spend that much money on it. I got this one and I'm totally satisfied because price is almost a third of the Yamaha one.

Quality is good, the thing can tune quite alright though intonation is not excellent. Action is good and overall it is a good product. I even recorded some tracks with my Superlux PRA D1 mike (which is a budget one!) on my Line 6 Pod Studio (so added some colour to it) and results are outstanding for the price.

Bottom line: this is great for playing at home, travelling, going to a park or camping, you can even record some beautiful sounds with it! Just don't get it as a main instrument.