Acoustic Day-to-Day Resource
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Guitars For Smaller People Or Children

If you are looking for a guitar for your child, there's really no reason to go out and buy him or her a full size guitar. A small person probably can't reach over the body and the frets will be spaced too far apart for little fingers to play. You need to get something better than the toys you find in department stores but still not full size and professional quality.

If your child wants to learn classical style music, you're in luck. The nylon string guitars are smaller and a Korean import nylon string guitar can be had at a low price.

If however, your child wants a steel string guitar, the choices are fewer. You'll need to find a smaller bodied guitar than a dreadnaught. The salesperson should be able to help you out on this. They are usually referred to as "Concert", "0", "00", "7/8", 3/4", or "1/2" size. If these are still too big or can't be found, check out 2 guitars made by Taylor. The "Baby Taylor" and the "Big Baby Taylor".

You also want a guitar with a "Short Scale Length". The easiest way to find this is look at the neck. Count the number of frets between the "Nut" (tuner end of the neck) and the body of the guitar. A guitar with a long scale length will have 14 frets and are usually more common. The guitar you want only has 12 frets between the nut & guitar body. These guitars are easier to play because the strings don't have to be tightened as much to reach proper pitch and the frets are closer together. Also install light gauge strings on the guitar to help if needed.