3/4 Scale Electric Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

Please pay close attention to what you are purchasing because it is not what it seems. My daughter was so sad. The amplifier could fit in one of her handsMarcus

We now have 3 Sawtooth guitars. We are extremely pleased with all of them. We have an acoustic, electric, and now this beginner's electric guitar pack. Our youngest son won't put this guitar down. The black is a cool see through gloss. You can see the wood grain through the gloss finish. The guitar is of good quality. Much better than I thought it would be.The amp is portable, and can be used for headphones. Take note, that this is an amp that takes batteries (9 volt), or you can get an adapter for it. Comes with everything he needed to get started.Maximilian

Did not receive all items that was displayed with this package ( missing was Gig soft case bag ) one of the reasons why I chose this package, my grand son was disappointed. I will not recommend this item n I plan to counsel my account with Walmart cause i did not get what i payed for, enough is enough.Peggy

I bought this for my 5 year old after debating whether it would be worth it to go with a Jackson Minion instead. I ultimately decided that since he's so young I'd go with this disposable until/if he becomes "serious" about playing. For now, he's more interested in mimicking C.C. Deville, Jay Jay French, and trying to get "the keys to the Lamborghini." With this in mind, I found this guitar to be perfect. I must admit the first one I received had to be returned due to the B and high E strings laying on the first fret no matter the action or truss adjustment (the nut appeared installed too deep). The second one, while without the fret/string problem, simply doesn't feel as "solid" in all other aspects when compared to the first. We kept this second one, though, just because I cannot justify being too picky for a guitar in such a price range. That last point is really what one should take from any review on this guitar — or what one's expectations should be when they receive it. If one wants something with better hardware or quality, then you will spend three times as much. Granted, we're not talking thousands or even hundreds more, but this is what a decision to purchase this guitar is going to boil down to. With all of that said, should one have an issue with this guitar after receiving it, just know that the process for exchange couldn't be any easier. One other thing to point out — if you want to start doing your own guitar setup, this would be the perfect way to learn. Considering one will spend around fifty for a setup at the local shop, just buy one of these and learn to do it yourself. If you aren't willing to attempt setting it up yourself, then buy one of the name-brand short-scale guitars as it seems absurd to pay for a setup what one pays for this guitar in the first place.Where's my Aquanet?

This little Rogue is a really nice guitar. It's very well built – solid body & straight neck. It's simple, too – volume knob & a rockin' little humbucker. It's slightly smaller than normal, making it perfect for a kid or small-framed adult. It's even good for the full-sized player that travels/moves a lot & doesn't want too much guitar to have to pack around. This guitar is great for a beginner & for an accomplished player, too. I've also got the full-size RR100 guitar by Rogue, and they both play equally well. Both my RR50 and RR100 are the red/black color, and they're absolutely gorgeous. My advice to the beginner — Buy a Rogue acoustic or electric guitar for a great price, start learning to play, and as you get better & better, THEN you can go buy a $2,000 Gibson, Fender, Martin or Taylor. Mostly, though, HAVE FUN.jej-texas

I travel to Europe every month for business and wanted a practice guitar that would fit in my carry-on. I bought one of these and reshaped the headstock and positioned two of the tuners on the opposite side, and reshaped the body – cutting away everything not needed to play. With the neck unscrewed it fits perfectly in my carry-on luggage and often gets interesting comments from TSA screeners, but they've never had a problem with it. I could not have made a 100% full length guitar fit, but this 7/8th size is just right. The guitar needed set up work when it arrived, which I know how to do so it didn't cost me anything. The next was straight and the frets surprisingly level. The nut on my example was pretty close so relief, action and intonation were not terribly hard to set and are now about 98% of where they should be – a very serviceable practice travel guitar. The strings were junk so I replaced them with EBs (as I use on most of my other "real" guitars). I play it through an iRig into my iPhone and it sounds just fine. A better PUP would improve the sound, but the installed PUP is satisfactory for my purpose and most likely for any kid learning to play. The volume knob does get in the way of playing occasionally, as others have mentioned, but not so much and I have not bothered to change it out. Surprisingly, the tuners hold tune pretty well. Not as well as the Grovers on my Gib LP, but they hold pretty well over a week of playing in a hotel room. In the end, for a child that needs a reduced sized fret board or is more likely to just bang on the strings, or as in my case as a reworked travel practice guitar, this is a pretty good deal. However, if your child is likely to be a modestly serious student, or for an adult playing at home, I would buy a Squire Bullet or Affinity for a bit more.LarryC

I always liked the Ibanez instruments and products. This guitar for the money has a great sound, is light and small, very practical for people with small hands, or for children. Playability is nice, the pickups are good, hardware is good. It's versatile also for all types of genre's. Ideal for rock and metal, shreds real nice. If you're looking for a good but inexpensive guitar, this one is a good purchase. It's not only for beginners, it's for all level players.John

Classic Ibanez body shape, neck, tuners and lightweight, like a scaled down Soundgear (SGR) series only sans the unnecessary active bass junk. Knobs are solid metal, not cheap plastic ones found on other low end Ibanez basses. Only thing bass needed out of box was intonation set. No neck adjustments needed and no significant buzz. Strings are round wound (my pref). Would not recommend this bass if you think you need (tone killing) flat wound. I'm not aware of anyone making flatwound strings for a 28.6" scale bass. Note: scale length of this bass (28.6") is shorter than typical short scale (30"). The strings on it are proprietary (Ibanez). You might be able to make some cut down long scale strings work (pain, wouldn't recommend) but the proprietary Ibanez strings are the way to go. MF doesn't sell them for some reason. You can find them online for a very reasonable price online. Buy a couple of extra sets. Pickups are jazz bass style and config (two volumes + one tone) which is my pref. I had zero issues with tone or volume controls. Pickups are all passive. Yah! And tone sounds great, classic jazz bass tones available including a nice Jaco-ish tone with 100% bridge pickup and tone rolled way down. Be wary of review comments from guitar players that don't play bass and buy this bass and suddenly have a lot of opinions about what this bass should and shouldn't be. This bass does not need the bridge, pickups, tuners or electronics replaced to make it a "pro" instrument. All this bass needs to be a "pro" instrument, is a "pro" player playing it. Tone is in your fingers. I highly recommend for beginners and I think experienced players will dig it as well, especially those that appreciate shorter scale instruments.mark5211

Really quite impressed with the quality of the instrument. It's pretty lightweight, looks good, and even has a really nice feeling satin neck. Think my little one is going to be chuffed!Paul

Great little guitar! Bought for my son to learn on. Similar build quality to a Bullet series. Frets are a bit scratchy but as you’d expect for the price. With a decent set up this could be an amazing guitar for the money. Very happy.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

READ ALL: Great little guitar for a beginner. I bought this for my sons (13, 11, 9) I've played for years and wanted something for them to learn on. The MIKRO does just that. The action is descent, pick-ups are average, tuning keys are a little weak (tune B4 playing) , effects are almost non-existent. It's not an instrument you would perform with-but it's a great little axe to learn on. I did have to take it to a guitar tech shortly after purchase- the frets expanded past the neck – making moving your hand up and down the neck down right dangerous – not to mention the e string would get stuck on the frets very easily (not under warranty). The tech said it was typical of the MIKRO (he is an Ibanez dealer)and was due to lack of moisture in the guitar (what can I say, it's winter time and I run the gas heat). Overall, I rate it as average. But I gotta say-for around $100 I've been too hard on it. I would buy it again and don't regret buying this one. But many individuals (on other sites) have claimed they perform on stage with this axe, and I just don't see it happening. Great guitar for smaller hands or traveling (I find myself taking it everywhere). Thanks to Ibanez for making an affordable, well made, and well functioning electric guitar that my kids won't "out grow" in a year.therealpastorpookie

As far as natural sunscreens go, this is the best! I will never buy another brand, and my mind is at ease knowing I am not putting toxic chemicals on my kids.shannon h

besides the weird booming sound coming from the amp when strumming, and the guitar constantly being out of tune. i would suggest this to a friend when starting out. however if you have more prior experience, get a better guitar and amp than this one. other than that, the price is somewhat equal to the quality of the guitar.thao

…so I purchased this as an alternative to my acoustic guitar. The 1st thing I noticed is how light it was. The maple neck was a different feel and gave me more accessibility to the frets. Once I got the guitar in tune I was surprised how nice it sounds. The amp is not the best, but if you don't have one, you won't notice. Overall I like this guitar. Thank you Fender for making an affordable electric guitar. I would get this again for a beginner. As I progress, this guitar is pushing me to upgrade to another Fender. It's that good. I have a lot of fun with this G-tar.No name

I have always been pleasantly surprised at the quality of these cheaper Squier Affinity and other similarly priced Squier guitars. I have played Squiers for decades, including jazz basses, Teles, and of course this Stratocaster. It plays as well as a guitar can play. It looks absolutely gorgeous. It sounds like any much higher priced Strats and the humbucker is a great go-to for playing leads without having to have a pedal boost or having to go to the amp controls for boost. It set up as well as any Fender I have worked on and I have worked on quite a few over the years. I would not hesitate to use this guitar on any stage or in any studio production. The frets needed no top or side dressing and no leveling.bobvarns

I bought this guitar as a mod platform. As such, some of its stock faults, while present, simply don't matter. Top to bottom: Tuners suck, swapped them within hours. Nut is plastic, will replace with my first GraphTech nut. Neck is very thin, very nice. Frets are a mixed bag, as they may need very little leveling or polishing, but the fret ends are the sharpest I've ever seen! Pickups sound surprisingly good, though I'm only barely tempted to keep them. Bridge is maybe okay, swapped it first thing. I should mention that the stock bridge was decked. This is no problem with an old campaigner like me, but a beginner would have frustrating problems with it. This is my first guitar with a conical ("compound") fretboard radius! Never knew it could feel this good! If you're buying one for a rank beginner, either set aside money for a good setup or find your newb some good lessons in maintenance on YouTube.Edwin

Great guitar for under $200 , got this for reduced price because of very faint blemish on the back of the body. This is my second Jackson , also have the Rhoads JS32 V. Been wanting this one for a while , it sounds and plays great. The tuners are fine and I lowered the action to my liking and have no fret buzz , none on my other Jackson either. These are solid guitars and build is great for the price , they're comfortable to play especially with the thin necks. They come pretty well set-up right out of the box unlike others in the same price range , the JS22 is right up there with some of my more expensive guitars , great tone and sustain. I play for a hobby and have several guitars and this is up there with my Schecter and Ibanez , this is a great guitar for a beginner or experienced player and also a nice addition to your collection. I've bought other guitars in this price range that were a mess and needed a complete set-up , for the price you can't go wrong with Jackson!Mike G.

Overall: This guitar is a real sleeper. The neck is just so nice to play really amazing and it balances really well. I have two of them when I get them I just rip out the electronics and put all new stuff. They play great out of the box though and you could use to pick up some electronics that are in them until you decide to get better stuff. The fundamentals of the guitar are almost perfect something about the angled headstock make it so the strings have just the right amount of tension on them and it plays great. The downside of this is that it doesn't come back into tune as well as a strat style headstock but since I don't use the tremolo much or even at all sometimes this doesn't bother me. I love the caramelized Maple neck it has a great feel to it the other one I have is rosewood and it's also awesome.John

Never played a seven before (20+ guitar owner) and actually was looking more towards a 6-baritone. But cripes, the sale price and hearing about how nice Jackson was making stuff…? Pulled the trigger. Still not too sure what the heck I am doing, but having a great time with it. Maybe I AM a nu-metal head after all. Regardless, it is fun to play. I was amazed that the fret ends weren't garbage, the they needed a bit of a polish, but were otherwise really nice. With the specs like carved top, compound radius, neck reinforcement (I think?), and maple board, the value is incredible. I'm a sucker for maple board too, really wish I wasn't, but I am and this thing is cool. Am I gonna play it all the time? No. But I might play it every day for a bit. Was really impressed with the pickups as well. Figured it would be a mud bath. Maybe the B gets more lost than I was expecting, but was way more articulate overall that I was expecting. I am assuming ceramics, and zero hangups about that. Cons: The tuning machines are poop. If you change direction, expect a 1/4 turn before anything moves. I mean they are pretty poor. And since it is a seven string, that is a touch more complicated to replace.Josh G

Got this guitar to get back into shredding again. Hadn't played metal since the early 90s and shredding is a good way to keep the arthritis from destroying the joints in my fingers and wrists. For the money, this is an overall great guitar. It does what I want it to and that's what matters. The only real gripe I have is the tuners. This is a guitar I can do a lot of mods on and not worry about lowering the value. For those who are beginners, this guitar is an excellent choice to get started on. For those who want to get into shredding – or get back into it as I am – you can do so without breaking the bank. This instrument is not on par with an American made Fender or Gibson but it will most certainly do the job it's designed to. A great buy!Chris S.

The Jackson JS22 Dinky is the best Sounding, and the best feeling guitar I own. I have used Washburn, Schecter, and a few more brands, but this one felt and sounded the best in my opinion. It has sharkfin inlays, amaranth fretboard, and the Jackson speed neck. My only complaints is that the stock tuners suck, and the pickups could be better, but still good enough for some Slayer songs. But get locking tuners. I will see if I can get some Seymour Duncan Invaders, or EMG H4 Pickups.Kawliga

I bought my black metallic Squier Bullet eight years ago when GC was having a Columbus Day sale. I was looking for a guitar to which I could permanently mount my Roland GR-33 guitar synth's GK2a pickup. Previously I had the pickup mounted on my '96 Strat, and I didn't like this fit because I couldn't close my Strat's case with the pickup installed. I have a gig bag for this Squier, and it fits fine in the bag with pickup installed. Anyway, about the guitar. Right out of the box, it played great, requiring only a minimal amount of action adjustment. I was surprised at how good the pickups sounded, it being a Bullet and all. But the humbucker sounds especially nice when playing the guitar through my Marshall. The neck pickup has a decent sound, but not quite up to the snuff of a good alnico pickup. Still, for what the guitar cost, I really can't complain. If I want to, at some later date, I can always change out the neck pickup to a better alnico model. One thing I especially like about this black Bullet is its looks. The photos here at GC don't show it off all that well, but the guitar body's finish is metallic and the pickguard is a heavy metal flake. It looks spectacular under the lights. And the black hardware does a great job of completing that black look. The Bullet's body is thinner than a typical Strat or Squier Affinity or Classic Vibe body. The result is a light weight guitar, but there is no sacrifice in tone.Michael

Purchased the Squier Affinity Telecaster from local GC store. They had this and a bullet in stock. I chose the Affinity due to the overall feel and fret ends we're more smooth. For a sub 250ish price guitar you cannot expect it to play like a 1000+ price guitar and I totally get that. Now I did expect it to at least stay in tune. One thing to add however is I am uncertain how long this particular guitar had been in stock. Now after a few hours of playing I noticed I could not get this guitar to intonate. No matter what I did the low e and a string always sounded sharp. I ended up replacing the stock tuners with locking tuners, cleaned the fretboard, gently filed and lubricated the nut, and replaced the strings with Ernie ball 9's. Now she is in tune, intonation was a breeze and she stays in tune. Sounds like a whole new guitar.Steven

The guitar itself is quite nicely built, but the app, which is supposed to help your kids learn the chords etc. is demoralizingly bad. It's hard to explain to a 5 year old why, after following the daily items (tune your guitar, practice some chords etc.) they don't get the points for completion. As a software engineer, I fail to see why it's okay to leave this basic functionality broken. Furthermore, the app appears to be abandonware. I see no updates or fixes. The 'Games' section has been 'coming soon' for months. The app should be removed from the site as a selling point, since it is basically broken. Just be aware when you buy this guitar, the app is not going to work.Ben

My 6 year old really loves the thing. She strums it and goes to it often without prompt. She can’t really get her fingers down onto the fretboard to play a chord, but she knows that those cards are instructions. She carries them around and tries playing them with the guitar on a flat surface. She also still doesn’t have a great sense of the guitar as an instrument, that’s to be taken care of, and not banged around like a toy. I think by the time she’s 8, this thing will be perfect for her. If you guys made something a little more towards the toddler end of the spectrum, I’d pick it up in a heartbeat. I understand and greatly appreciate that you’ve scaled down a real electric guitar. Phenomenal concept. Greatly happy with it. If there was something a little more durable, and a little easier for little fingers to hold the notes, I’d pick that up for sure. Great idea, great product, pretty nice app.James C.

Bought a Loog mini for my 9y old. He seems to like Guitar and I can play a bit , but whenever we tried on my Ovation he got very frustrated. Heard about the Loog 3 string and it made sense to me. Well my some loves it!! He’s learned the basic chords now because hit little hand can actually get around the fret board and he is so excited! As I’d dad, I’m I admit – this is a really well made guitar and I love messing with it !!John S.

Amazingly, this guitar is actually not too bad for a beginner. It has a decent sound, the amp is of acceptable quality for a beginner, and it actually stays in tune fairly well. You’re not going to get up on stage and play with this one but it was certainly a good investment for my 12 year old son who is just learning to play.Reviewer 14267

I would have to say that I was highly disappointed in this guitar set. I purchased one for my son as he is very interested in learning the guitar. It was purchased for his Christmas gift only to open it up on Christmas for it to not work at all. So we brushed it off and said “things happen.” We decided to purchase another one after having to explain to a 5 year old that he can’t play with his guitar on Christmas. Just received the second guitar only to find that it does not work either. Please find another option as these guitars are poorly made and for the price I can’t believe that they would sell something like this. BEWARE you have been warned!CHUNT

I picked up the Surf Green Ltd Ed. Bullet Mustang a few days ago off the rack. They had two. One had rusty strings and sharp frets but the one I picked was almost perfect. These Mustangs are great for smaller learners and older guitarists that may enjoy the lighter string tension due to the short scale. I love the sound of both humbuckers. The bridge one gives you a nice grungy Nirvana like tone while the neck is smoother but both love to be driven. I picked up the Imperial Blue Mustang HH a few weeks ago. They both use the same humbuckers, The only difference I believe is the wood type, Basswood vs Poplar. Both guitars are quite light with the Basswood Surf Green one being somewhat lighter.These Mustangs are ideal for modding but for now I've only changed the cheap pickguard on this Surf Green one, putting a Tortoise Shell on it. So far I'm loving both of them and my Fender P90 Mustang is getting quite lonely.Tingman

First of all, this is a ton of value for the price. I got it on sale which made it even a bigger steal. Now, this guitar needs a lot of setup out of the box. You should polish the frets since they are as coarse as beach sand. Otherwise, string bends will be impossible and will most likely damage the cheap supplied strings (which should be changed immediately as with most new guitars). Expect some fret buzz, so be ready to adjust the saddles and the truss rod (I like my action quite low so this was a minor tweak for me). The intonation was actually quite close to perfect, it only needed a bit of tweaking on the A string. The nut and string trees are the ones you typically get on Squiers, which are good enough but won't do wonders for your tuning and should be replaced unless you are patient enough to tune your guitar every so often. Be sure to change these first before changing the tuners/bridge if you have tuning problems, I haven't changed the tuners or bridge on mine and don't plan to – they just work. Finally, the pickups are surprisingly good for the price, not too mellow and you can get some nice tones from the bridge pickup. You might soon outgrow them, though, and might opt for better humbuckers or P90s. For all these reasons, this guitar is not the best as a first guitar or for beginners unless it gets a proper setup first or if you're really planning to learn how to setup or change electronics/other parts in a guitar. However, those are the same reasons (plus the low price and simple design) that make this a really fun modding platform, and if you don't feel like modding it, with the right amount of work it's still amazing. It's light as a feather and the neck is very fast; you can probably muscle through hours of playing with barely any effort at all. The stock tones are reasonable enough, and in my opinion it looks awesome. You can't get a better deal for the money once you're aware of the above.Carlos, M

I like this guitar because of the 24" scale length. Everything else was pretty bad out of the box. The strings were a 1/4" off the fretboard. The fretboard was super dry. There was fret sprout. The frets felt like sandpaper on bends. The E strings are too close to the edge of the fretboard. When you play you're constantly hitting the pickup selector switch. The finish on the neck is supposed to be satin but it looks unfinished to me and there are light and dark areas on the neck which look bad. It is the worst finish on a neck I've ever seen on a guitar and I'm going to have to put some kind of finish on it. Trying to load strings is tricky and not as easy as on most other guitars you have to bend the end of the strings to get them to load. So that is the bad. The good? The tuners are your typical Chinese tuners that come on all cheap guitars these days, and they are fine. The pickups sound good. The 24" scale is great and really fun to play bends on!Steve

A lot of the reviews posted here are for Strats, so I'm not sure what's going on. Anyway, I bought the red sparkle Squier Bullet Tele. The finish is gorgeous and that's what prompted me to do a spontaneous purchase. I have only experienced owning USA Teles, but I've played some Squiers that really impressed me. This one? Not so much. I don't detect any finish on the back of the neck although I'm sure it has a sealer of some sort. The body finish is nice, but the bridge hardware is cheaply made and I'll be replacing that for sure. Same goes for the tuners. I'm pretty sure it has some high frets because it goes dead starting at the 10th fret, but some of that was back bow. I loosened the truss and got rid if it, but now when I sight down the neck the forward bow is pretty obvious. I don't notice the frets being sharp on the ends. It now plays plays pretty good after sitting long enough for the truss Rod to settle, but I may need to tighten it just a little to get rid of some of the forward bow. The neck has a very comfortable profile. The body is thinner than my American Teles, but it doesn't bother me – in fact it's lighter which I enjoy. The body is Poplar and that's fine by me. I may leave the back of the neck alone for now because it actually feels pretty good, aesthetics are certainly lacking, but the body makes up for that. I'm sure with a little patience and help from my friends I'll have a nice instrument. All the basics are there. As is, it's not all that great, but still better than my first electric guitar! -!an old Kalamazoo single pickup thing with a bolt on neck back in the mid sixties. Like the title says, this thing has potential. I probably couldn't buy a finished body for what I paid.Ronnie

I bought my black metallic Squier Bullet eight years ago when GC was having a Columbus Day sale. I was looking for a guitar to which I could permanently mount my Roland GR-33 guitar synth's GK2a pickup. Previously I had the pickup mounted on my '96 Strat, and I didn't like this fit because I couldn't close my Strat's case with the pickup installed. I have a gig bag for this Squier, and it fits fine in the bag with pickup installed. Anyway, about the guitar. Right out of the box, it played great, requiring only a minimal amount of action adjustment. I was surprised at how good the pickups sounded, it being a Bullet and all. But the humbucker sounds especially nice when playing the guitar through my Marshall. The neck pickup has a decent sound, but not quite up to the snuff of a good alnico pickup. Still, for what the guitar cost, I really can't complain. If I want to, at some later date, I can always change out the neck pickup to a better alnico model. One thing I especially like about this black Bullet is its looks. The photos here at GC don't show it off all that well, but the guitar body's finish is metallic and the pickguard is a heavy metal flake. It looks spectacular under the lights. And the black hardware does a great job of completing that black look. The Bullet's body is thinner than a typical Strat or Squier Affinity or Classic Vibe body. The result is a light weight guitar, but there is no sacrifice in tone.Michael

I would first like to begin with- I normally would be giving a 5 star rating of this unit/Squier, as I have typically never had problems prior to the recent/earlier this year upset regarding shipping containers/etc being paused/sitting in the ocean/etc, delaying container delivery. PLEASE READ ON FOR FULL EXPLANATION. Two imperative points- 1. The fret ends were so sharp, when I say it was not playable (both sides/neck in its entirety), I mean, it was not playable (THE DATE OF INSPECTION WAS EARLIER THIS YEAR, AND I IMMEDIATELY ASSOCIATED THE FRET ENDS PROBLEM BEING DUE TO THE SHIPS BEING DELAYED/SITTING IN THE OCEAN/ETC- It looked to me like maybe between March and July of this year, although, I couldn't quite make out the stamped month). As well, the serial # of the guitar, of course, was of this year/'22. I maintain/work on most all my guitars, and I normally would've tightened up the fret ends myself, however, there was a hairline crack on the red sparkle finish at the bass side neck joint (which i just couldn't accept, visually), as well as a small tooling gash along the top edge of the headstock. The replacement/reordered guitar arrives tomorrow. 2. THE NEWER UNITS (AS, ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS A 2022-BUILT UNIT) ARE TOP-MOUNT/STRING THROUGH THE BACK OF THE BRIDGE, NOT "STRING-THRU" as the description indicates (and, with Squier bridge mounting, these are 5-screw mount plates, which, if ever you want to upgrade your hardware, particularly, w/the bridge, you must find an aftermarket unit that is "string through the back", along w/the correct string spacing (with Squier, they're 54mm, typically), and you'll typically need to redrill given it's rare to find plates that have Squier mounting dimensions that provided string through the back holes. I'm upgrading to a Babicz, given the results found. Also, there are two string trees (the second being a tree for both the D and G strings), and it looks great, actually, with both. Overall, I was impressed with the finish, as it was nearly flawless (aside from the hairline finish crack mentioned previously). The fretwire/fretwork, felt great….I found maybe two or so "slight" dead spots, which weren't enough of a "ping", or string buzz to be of concern, or critiquing the fretwork negatively. Rather, I was impressed with the fretwork. As well, it's important to note that the mounting of the bridge, along with the neck positioning/etc, was spot-on. No misalignment of the bridge mount/etc (and the same goes for the nut spacing). I've always been impressed with what Fender/Squier/Jackson are putting out. The quality is typically quite high…as for this unit, the quality is high, but the results of the environmental dilemma with either being stuck in a container offshore, or, sitting in a facility for weeks/months/etc, have had quite the impact on this guitar. As an important example, I had purchased a Bullet Tele last year (the unit in Burst color offered here through MF), and it was/is flawless, and I completely upgraded every part. As I own approx'ly 53 guitars ranging primarily from ESP to Jackson (some of which in the better than $2K range), I love to take what's titled as a "beginner" guitar, and totally hotrod it with high end parts (such is the case w/this guitar). As mentioned above, I've reordered the guitar, as MusiciansFriend provided me a generous discount (without having to ask) to accommodate me. Upgrades- 1. Babicz Full Contact Tele "Ashtray" bridge Gold, 2. Genuine Fender Gold control plate, 3. Fender Infinity Gold strap locks, 4. Gold input jack Ferrule, 5. Custom built Gold Sparkle w/star cut-outs Tele pickguard, 6. Philadelphia Luthier Tools "Fat" neck plate/Gold w/gold neck mounting screws, 7. Earvana compensated nut (Ivory), 8. Philadelphia Luthier Tools Gold string trees, 9. Fender locking tuners, Gold, 10. EMG T-52 set (black), or, EMG T-set, Red., 11. EMG Gold Telecaster knobs. 12. Powder coated Red pickguard screws, 13. Gold pickup mounting screws. Beginner guitar?……no more (ha).Dave

I always wanted an ESP and after a lot of research I decided on this one as ideal for my needs. I mostly play at home but this sounds amazing through my Marshall. Pickups are great and it has a really nice shiny finish with the cream outlines. Feels nice to play, though the weighting makes it a bit difficult when sitting it is totally comfortable standing up. PMT next day delivery was really good, well packaged too.Lucie M.

I bought this guitar in 2010 and it has been my main rig since. I bought it as a backup guitar to my ESP Horizon, which is my prized possession, but this EC401 never felt like it lacked any of the charisma the Horizon has. Surely, it's not quite as well constructed, but take that as no indication of build quality. This is beautifully constructed actually, with no real areas of weakness. The Horizon is just faultless, being a custom Japanese model. The first time I held one i was sold. Great weight, great resonance, great sustain, great playabilty. This thing absolutely shreds. The only things I've done to it are satin finish the neck and locking tuners. I have never, and will never regret this purchase, nor will I ever sell it. I've had no issues at all. Nothing needs to be done to it. I've just modded nine to suit my playing a fraction more, but they weren't necessary modifications. After gigging with this live countless times, I can vouch that this thing will stand the test of time.Slam

Amazing guitar. Was thinking about getting the EC-1000 but decided to save some money with the EC-401. Happy I did this guitar is amazing! The EMGs are freaking amazing and the playability of this guitar, especially with the thin neck, is through the roof. Highly HIGHLY recommend to anyone looking into this guitar. I cannot say enough about how silky smooth this guitar is. Feels and plays like it belongs in a much higher price range for sure.K P

You can't expect any guitar at this price point to sound great. You can't expect any guitar with a bolt on neck to sound great. You can't expect any guitar with a basswood body to sound great. But this guitar is definitely worth the tiny bit I paid for it. It stays in tune, the frets don't have any sharp edges, the action is not high. It may sound better if I changed the pickups, but most guitarists like to try out different pickups, so that's not a big deal. The important thing is that this is comfortable to practice on at home, which is a big expectation for a guitar at this price pointtheLonnie

Had to file sharp fret ends and raise bridge one turn. Then it played as well as many of my other guitars. The pickup switch doesn't always make good contact and has to be jiggled – which seems to be common in this kind of toggle. The finish appears to be opaque brown stain over wood, with a flat polyurethane(?) finish. The grain is barely visible but it's there. If you end up filing the fret ends like I did, protect the rosewood fret board with tape or something and use a very fine file. Makes a good beach and party guitar – If it's damaged at this price, who cares?Uncle Willie

First off, i have to say if i say anything negative, it should be taken with a grain of salt because in its price range, this is a great guitar. Right out of the box, i found the color not matching the image, however personally i found its true color pleasing. The guitar has a comfortable feel, not overly heavy, but not cheap feeling either. The neck feels comfortable, the tuners generally stay well in tune. i like the adjustable bridge, its a nice feature. The tone control is decently dynamic. the selector is a bit sticky sometimes, and that can become annoying. Also i find that the pickups are a bit close in range so as not to give the greatest differentiation, but still, its not an expensive guitar. So all in all, i recommend this model for the price, it has a good sound and i find it pleasing. it also has a lot of potential. I made just go crazy and drop some P-90's in there, who knows. lol 🙂 great for starter, or just a base for a custom.JDubya

I always liked the Ibanez instruments and products. This guitar for the money has a great sound, is light and small, very practical for people with small hands, or for children. Playability is nice, the pickups are good, hardware is good. It's versatile also for all types of genre's. Ideal for rock and metal, shreds real nice. If you're looking for a good but inexpensive guitar, this one is a good purchase. It's not only for beginners, it's for all level players.John

Classic Ibanez body shape, neck, tuners and lightweight, like a scaled down Soundgear (SGR) series only sans the unnecessary active bass junk. Knobs are solid metal, not cheap plastic ones found on other low end Ibanez basses. Only thing bass needed out of box was intonation set. No neck adjustments needed and no significant buzz. Strings are round wound (my pref). Would not recommend this bass if you think you need (tone killing) flat wound. I'm not aware of anyone making flatwound strings for a 28.6" scale bass. Note: scale length of this bass (28.6") is shorter than typical short scale (30"). The strings on it are proprietary (Ibanez). You might be able to make some cut down long scale strings work (pain, wouldn't recommend) but the proprietary Ibanez strings are the way to go. MF doesn't sell them for some reason. You can find them online for a very reasonable price online. Buy a couple of extra sets. Pickups are jazz bass style and config (two volumes + one tone) which is my pref. I had zero issues with tone or volume controls. Pickups are all passive. Yah! And tone sounds great, classic jazz bass tones available including a nice Jaco-ish tone with 100% bridge pickup and tone rolled way down. Be wary of review comments from guitar players that don't play bass and buy this bass and suddenly have a lot of opinions about what this bass should and shouldn't be. This bass does not need the bridge, pickups, tuners or electronics replaced to make it a "pro" instrument. All this bass needs to be a "pro" instrument, is a "pro" player playing it. Tone is in your fingers. I highly recommend for beginners and I think experienced players will dig it as well, especially those that appreciate shorter scale instruments.mark5211

It is close to being a 5/5 guitar for me. It plays very easily with the condition that the back of the neck feels a bit weird to me right now, I have only played it twice though so through playing this might very well go away. It's a maple neck and the back is non glossy which I like but the thin nitro coating they have sprayed it with feels a bit weird under the hand, it's not sticky in the slightest, it's just nothing like I am used to. Might just be me, and as always this should go away with playing. I like the colour and design of the guitar. I like the neck in general, I am not a metal player and thinner necks aint my thang but this neck is thin but also comfortable with it. The pickups are good, I have two Seymour Duncans in my only other *metal* guitar and I am not sure which set I prefer. This one has a JB in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. The 59 is well capable of Bluesy, rock and even Lead Tones. The bridge JB does Lead and can get clear clean tones especially if you roll some tone off on the guitar. I hear some people complain about the harshness or more like the bite of the JB but I think that's unfair. It's true this guitar does Blues, rock and metal well but for modern metal it is in the ballpark but not quite there. It's more suitied to 80's thrash metal than modern stuff and it does all rock well and you can do Blues with it in the neck position. So it's not an out and out metal guitar and so I like it better for that. It is versatile. I play Pink Floyd on it and it sings. Performs well with any type of rock and if you want Metallica early metal tones and onwards this does it really well. I am not much into modern metal anyway so I am not too bothered. I did Motorhead songs the other day and it kills it. The tuners are Jacksons sealed ones or whatever they are ,so not locking as far as I know but it stays in tune really well, maybe because of the floyd rose on it, which works really well. My first ever Floyd Rose guitar and it impresses me with how well it works and not as hard as you think when it comes to changing strings etc. Lastly the price is very good for what you get which is always a selling point for me.And what yiou get is a proper set of Seymour Duncans and a proper Floyd not the cheap ones you get in low budget offerings in a guitar that looks the part, the headstock alone is worth having it for! I got it for 600 quid. Complete no brainer.R O.

I had never played a 7-string guitar before but had been thinking about it for a while so I decided on this Dinky after seeing the price and reading the reviews. I didn't want to spend a ton of money since I didn't know if I would like the 7-string. After having it and playing it for a few days now, I must say that I'm quite impressed. Like so many of the other reviews say, it's set up pretty well right out of the box. I noticed that it is very lightweight compared to my Telecaster, which I really like. Some people mentioned some rough frets but I didn't notice that on mine; it feels really good. It took some getting used to the extra string but I'm really having fun exploring the new sounds I can get with an extended range. The pickups are decent for the price and I'm really happy with it. I may look at changing them out eventually but for now I'm happy with them. I agree with a lot of the other reviews that say that Jackson could easily charge twice as much for this guitar as they do. All in all, this guitar is excellent value for the price. If you're looking for an entry-level 7-string to noodle with and see if you will like it, you can't go wrong here.Madd Dogg

Great guitar. Unbelievable sound for this price range. You can distinctly hear each string ring out when you strike a chord. Rich, sweet, balanced and full. Great play-ability after a truss rod adjustment. I still need to lower the action at the saddle and nut another mm, but the action is super fast and easy as it is right now. The frets are well crowned and smooth. They aren't sharp, but they do protrude at the ends a bit. Filing them back won't be a big deal. Otherwise, fit and finish was perfect. I've owned a lot of acoustic guitars in various price ranges and the more I play this, the more impressed I am. I wouldn't hesitate to gig anywhere with this. I'm delighted. It's a keeper.c-cat1

I am a semi-pro musician with a guitar collection. I bought this for my daughter, a lefty, to learn on. There aren't many short scale, lefty acoustics on the market. I was skeptical with the low price, but this is an excellent guitar. Well built and looks good. Sounds very good for the price and the fact that it's a plywood top. Nut and saddle are a composite bone material (most cheap guitars come with awful plastic appointments). I will have to do a set up to lower the action a bit, (b/c my daughter is a beginner with no callouses!) but overall very happy with this purchase.mandojam8k06

Good looking tradition wood, fit, and finish. High quality tuners. Nice tone. Good quality guitar and right size for a young player. Will last a lifetime with proper care. Good size for a travel guitar. Neck is wide enough for and adult. Can use and keep for an heirloom for the next generation. I have purchased four for my grandsons and set them up professionally. A guitar of lower quality can discourage a beginner. This model is a winner. No problems. Best in class at this price point. Thank you Oscar Schmidtdixiedangler