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 bought it because my 2 years old son like to come on my guitar.
When i saw this little guitar, he directly understand it was for him and began to handle it.

He was first playing some drums on it but he began to strum the strings as he saw me playing.

As an instrument, the sound of this guitar is poor and it doesn't stay in tune after (only) 2 chords.

But to be honnest, i didn't buy for it's sound quality but i have buy as father for an smile on my son's face.

And when i play some guitar, he want's to play with me with his one.

Conclusion:
- As an musician, this guitar is more a toy than an instrument
- As a father, it's 5/5 stars

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.