TechGearLab

We tested out four child-size guitars for this review, and the Yamaha JR1 was our favorite by far. Featuring a classic spruce top and sturdy craftsmanship, it's attractive and is the perfect compact size for a young player or even for a travel guitar. We were also pleasantly surprised by the fullness and clarity of the sound achieved from its smaller body. Steel strings will inevitably come with a bit of a learning curve for small hands, but the Yamaha's strings felt soft and pliable compared to the full-sized guitars we tested and will make for a great first guitar experience. Included with this petite guitar was the most robust accessory kit of all, including all the standard tools, plus a capo, a pick holder, and a string winder-- all handy gadgets. There was also some padding on the included case. 
In our testing, we found that all the miniature guitars had pretty glaring intonation problems. The Yamaha was not an exception to this rule, but it was more accurate than the rest, and we found that when it was tuned to itself rather than to an e-tuner, the intonation sounded more spot-on. This may just be an inconsistency that comes along with the shortened neck and shrunken body of mini-guitars. This case also isn't as convenient to carry because it lacks backpack straps.

We tested out four child-size guitars for this review, and the Yamaha JR1 was our favorite by far. Featuring a classic spruce top and sturdy craftsmanship, it's attractive and is the perfect compact size for a young player or even for a travel guitar. We were also pleasantly surprised by the fullness and clarity of the sound achieved from its smaller body. Steel strings will inevitably come with a bit of a learning curve for small hands, but the Yamaha's strings felt soft and pliable compared to the full-sized guitars we tested and will make for a great first guitar experience. Included with this petite guitar was the most robust accessory kit of all, including all the standard tools, plus a capo, a pick holder, and a string winder-- all handy gadgets. There was also some padding on the included case. 
In our testing, we found that all the miniature guitars had pretty glaring intonation problems. The Yamaha JR1 was not an exception to this rule, but it was more accurate than the rest, and we found that when it was tuned to itself rather than to an e-tuner, the intonation sounded more spot-on. This may just be an inconsistency that comes along with the shortened neck and shrunken body of mini-guitars. This case also isn't as convenient to carry because it lacks backpack straps.

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