Prestige 19½" scale electric / child's guitar

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Prestige are one of those interchangeable brand names that we see on Japanese-made electric guitars from the 1960s and 70s. This one is a bit more unusual than most in that it is a diminutive shortscale guitar with a scale length of just 19½". It was most likely supposed to be a child's guitar, although of course - depending on playability - it could be tuned up as a soprano or piccolo guitar. It's a very simple affair, with a very crude bridge assembly, just a single volume control and no tone, and a single pickup (which does appear to be a gold foil unit, still popular with some and raided from cheapo guitars like these for their tone).

Currently being auctioned on eBay with bidding at $19.99 at the time of writing.

G L Wilson

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1982 Japanese Matsumoku-made Aria Pro II Urchin Junior model

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We've looked at a 1980s-era Matsumoku-made Aria Pro II Urchin before, but I hadn't reaslised that they also made this 3/4-scale "Junior" version of the Urchin which the seller tells us was manufactured in 1982. (I could have done with a short-scale guitar like this recently for a piece that required playing in an A-a tuning).

This guitar is currently listed on eBay Uk with a Buy It Now price of £315.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Firefox mini Les Paul

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I'm afraid there's not much I can tell about this Firefox mini Les Paul - but that it's probably Japanese and probably from the 1990s... I find short scale guitars interesting instruments if you don't try to just use them as regular guitars... I once bought a cheap small strat for my kid and it sounds surprisingly good: in open tuning it becomes a kind of electric mandolin with unsuspected possibilities... I'd be curious to hear how these humbuckers sound in higher pitch.

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Here comes Noddy... (No, not Noddy Holder from Slade... the other one...)

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I feel it would be rather mean of me to make any disparaging comments about this nylon-strung acoustic guitar decorated with what appears to be wrapping paper featuring Enid Blyton's "Noddy" character (a citizen of Toy Town, his neck was made from a spring which meant that his head was always nodding, hence his name). It brought a smile to my face, and kids will probably love it, so that's good enough for me.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Vintage Mini Beat Kids Guitar

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Cannot find anything about this Mini Beat small format guitar for children, but that it's probably italian, and that it has a built-in amp and speaker in its case like the Silvertones back in the 1960s, though looking much cheaper!

If you know more about it, you know what to do!

Bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Kids make electric guitars - If they can, you can

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This is - in the words of Ninja from Die Antwoord - unexpected. The ending soundtrack of the video is so bloody cool, it all but brought tears to my eyes. But then I am a big old softy. I'm not going to say too much - just check out what's going on here. I hope you enjoy it and it inspires you.

David in Barcelona - Happy new year. Off for a break. Back in 2011.

[Thanks, David, for all your great posts this year. Although we've blogged about these Brooklyn kids making their own electric guitars before, it's fantastic stuff and does bear looking at again! - G L Wilson]

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

A rather inexpertly-realised Snoopy guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

It's a long time since we've looked at something genuinely crappy on here, but checking through the eBay listings this morning I was pleased to find this horror with which to share for your amusement.

We've seen kids guitars with built-in amps like this before. Very cheaply made, with incredibly incompetent artwork, and most certainly breaking the copyright ownership of whichever cartoon character it is supposed to resemble.

Imagine someone playing this. You'd look at them and think, "What is that supposed to be?"

G L Wilson

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Strange Fernandes Guitar

I'm not sure what to say about this very peculiar looking Fernandes Guitar. It's not a model I've ever seen before. Possibly it's a guitar intended for the Japanese market only. It appears to be quite a diminuitive guitar, so my guess is that this is aimed at children, and that it has an on-board amp and speaker (the big black "hole" near the bridge). Does anyone recognise the logo underneath the red button on the upper horn?

Killer Pegasus guitar

I'm not quite sure why this horrible looking white thing should be named after a fantastic flying horse from Greek mythology, but apparently this Killer Pegasus mini guitar is a rare discontinued model. I wonder why they discontinued it. I mean, everyone must have been clamouring to get themselves one of these, surely?

By the way, it's actually only got a single pickup. What appears to be the front "pickup" is not a pickup - it's a mini speaker set into a pickup surround, so presumably there's a small on-board amp too. As if this thing was not ugly enough to start with, they're trying to encourage you to take this thing out and about! I'm of the opinion that it's one for locking up in a darkened room.

The seller says it is a "Perfect gift for your kids, girlfriend or wife!", so reading between the lines this is not a guitar for real men. Women and children only, eh? Well, if I was on a sinking ship with this I'd quite happily bung it overboard to make room in the lifeboat.

Brooklyn kids make electric guitars

How cool is this? For several years now, Paul Rubenstein has been showing schoolkids in Brooklyn, New York, how to make electric guitars.

The kids each design, cut out, build and paint their own six string creations. They even get involved in the electronics side of things, winding their own pickups and building amps too!

Music lessons weren't like this back in my day. We used to have a "music trolley" laden with beaten-up drums, tamborines, glockenspiels, and those most hated of noise-makers, recorders. A ghastly discordant racket was the result. We could only dream about guitars.

What better way to get kids interested in music than to explore the science of how a musical instrument such as the guitar works, to take the hands-on approach and build these instruments, and then to play and record them?

Congrats to all the kids for their cool designs, and to their teacher Mr R for dreaming up the scheme in the first place!

Crazy rabbit guitar

I think that the creature featured on this kids' guitar with built in amp is supposed to be a rabbit with very skinny ears. The position of the pickup makes it look as if the rabbit is playing the harmonica through its nose. I'd have loved an electric guitar when I was a kid, but I'd have preferred something like I'd seen people playing on Top Of The Pops, not something quite as embarrasing-looking as this. Gotta love that turnip headstock, though.