Official Luthiers Forum!

Well, I could resist no longer, and I broke down and bought a little 3/4 scale guitar for my seven year old. It's cute as can be -- a black flying-v, made in China, of course, but decent enough for a beginner. I've also got a Roland Micro cube on the way, so once I can figure out the setup on this thing, he'll be ready to rock!

The setup's the thing, though. Because of the shorter scale, there's very little tension on the strings, which seem to be crap anyway. The intonation is horrible, and I've already adjusted the saddles back as far as they'll go. I'm only about halfway to where I need to be.

Of course, the nut needs to be filed down, too, but my concern is that I'll do all this setup, and the thing will still not play in tune due to the lack of tension on the strings. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? I'm thinking I maight try some heavier gauge strings, but are there any other tricks that may be helpful here?

Thanks in advance.

Ken

_________________
Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

These really short scale kids guitars arent meant (designed ??) to be played in std tuning ..... at least not with light gauge strings... try tuning it in G .... and BTW .. the tuners arent exactly that great on them either, and will likely cause problems. Its also quite possible that the bridge is positioned wrong ....

I used to work on the odd one at a shop I did repairs in years back .. they never really worked all that well ...

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Hey Tony --

Thanks for your input. The higher tuning makes sense, though it's a bit surprising that that would be the standard approach. I have already noticed the slop in the tuners, though, again, I'm guessing they'd be a bit more responsive with more tension pulling against them.

Regarding intonation, my hope is that lowering the action a bit, and heavier strings, will bring it a bit more in line. If not, what are some more "drastic" options for extending the string length, without relocating the bridge?

Ken

_________________
Mountain Song Guitars www.mountainsongguitars.com

I've built a few 22-3/4" scale travel guitars and they do OK with mediums. Intonation and tone would certainly improve with heavies or higher tuning but a)you might wreck the guitar and b)you might make it hard for a 7 year old to play.

I believe Baby Taylor's come with lights at standard tuning and they recommend against mediums or higher tuning due to top failure.

I just gave my 6 year old one of mine (he took it to "show and tell" today!!) and I was going to try lights on it to make it easier for him to play. We'll see.

By the way, when I gave him the guitar, he went straight into the kitchen, grabbed a fat sharpie, and came back in to sign his name on the back! Funnier still was his mom actually screamed before I did. We convinced him to sign a piece of tape and put it on the guitar temporarily.

_________________
http://www.chassonguitars.com

Just found this on the Taylor web site...

http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/re ... .html#faq9

What kind of strings should I use on my Baby Taylor?
We install light-gauge Elixir NANOWEB strings (.012 on high E) on Baby Taylors. We recommend that you stick with lights when you replace them, and keep the Baby in standard tuning. After the Baby was introduced, we said that it would be okay to use F# tuning on the Baby, and that you could even use medium-gauge strings if you didn't venture above standard tuning. Well, our ever-vigilant repair guys, who are the ultimate judges of what works and doesn't work on our guitars, finally prevailed in convincing us that tuning a Baby higher than standard and/or using anything but light-gauge strings puts too much tension on the top of the guitar. Putting mediums on a Baby at standard pitch exerts about the same tension as lights exert in F# tuning, so neither is advisable. When there's too much "pull" on a Baby, the intonation and one's ability to keep them in tune become problematic.

_________________
http://www.chassonguitars.com

hi Ken,

As Kent points out, med gauge will help, but it could still be better. I dont know how you would possibly fix the intonation if the bridge is in the wrong place without moving it.

And for a drastic option ... I would take it back to where you bought it, and ask them to set it up, including setting the intonation. If they cant, get your money back, and look for another one that actually works properly - unfortunately, I can only wish you luck on this part. These mini guitars are half novelty, half guitar - in the fact that they only look like a guitar.

I know your child wants the thing, but in reality they arent all that good at functioning as a regular guitar in std tuning.

_________________
Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"