Encore ENC34OFT Natural Wood Three Quarter Classic Guitar Outfit

At around eight or nine a child shows a natural aptitude to want to play music – but the question arises as to what instrument will bring the maximum joy and pleasure to the budding musician that is fairly easy to learn? The acoustic guitar is the perfect instrument of choice because it is versatile; all styles of music – from jazz and Bossa Nova to rock and classical can be played on it with ease - and with the right grounding from day one and spending just an hour a day practicing, the acoustic guitar can be mastered very quickly - and can be played anywhere – even in the countryside.The drawback is that a child is too small to be able to play a full-size acoustic guitar and so the obvious choice is to play a three-quarter size guitar. Really good ones cost upwards of £300 + - which puts the instrument out of the reach of many – until now.What Encore have done is produced a high quality instrument with a beautiful warm tone at a low-budget price – and also provided a correctly tuned pitch pipe so that the budding guitarist can accurately tune the guitar to concert pitch and play along to professional performances. The guitar also benefits from a slender neck - which makes it very easy for a child to finger the chords.The package includes an instructional DVD – but sadly – the DVD is neither of use nor ornament because the ‘tutor’ (I use the term loosely) spends an inordinate amount of wasted time wittering on about getting comfortable when holding the guitar; very little time is spent on how to tune the guitar; and the tutor does not teach proper technique – nor does the tutor teach anything meaningful that a child can master and enjoy - such as a song or two – and so your child will come away bored and unfulfilled - with nothing to show for their efforts.The way to rectify this is to bin the supplied tutorial - without ever letting your child see it - and obtain a copy of Buster B Jones amazing tutorial DVDs called ‘Finger picking guitar from the ground up’. Buster gets you doing things properly right from the start – from tuning the guitar to how to form and change chords to which digits on both hands do what – and why.This DVD is not about spending weeks learning pointless exercises and boring ‘strumming patterns’ – your child will be playing TUNES straight away and will see how to play bass, rhythm, and lead guitar ALL AT THE SAME TIME like a PRO (yes really) with Buster’s unique method of teaching so that your child will MASTER the instrument AT PACE and not get bored with pointless strumming - and your child will come away with a repertoire of beautiful classic songs as Buster teaches your child how play properly; how to modulate (change key); how to quickly achieve syncopation; and how to perform techniques such as the slur; the slide; the hammer on; the pull-off; and ‘note bending’ right from the onset.A few things to note about the guitar - the strings are ‘relaxed’ when you receive the instrument – and so the first job is to TUNE the guitar using the pitch pipe.A few things to note about new strings – they will initially constantly go out of tune until the strings are ‘settled’ in – its how it is – and its nothing to get alarmed about.The second point to note is that a LOT of tension has to be put onto the FIRST string – the string with the highest note – to get it ‘on pitch’. This should be done GRADUALLY to avoid breaking the string. Should your child inadvertently snap a string, my recommendation would be to replace ALL strings with BALL END strings. This saves a LOT of frustration trying to tie knots that keep slipping loose.Finally – and I say this with a CAUTIONARY CAVEAT – The ‘action’ is the distance the fretboard and the strings when the guitar is ‘at rest’. If the action is set too high your child may experience difficulty when fretting the chords. The way to cure this is to de-string the guitar, removing the brdge, and lowering the bridge by CAREFULLY sanding off the BOTTOM of the bridge - a little at a time – so as to bring the strings closer to the fretboard – but not so close that the strings ‘buzz’ against the fretboard when the strings are plucked. If your child has difficulty pushing down the strings and you do not have the confidence to do this then seek out a local guitar guru and ask them to ‘set up the action’. Doing this pays BIG dividends.Once the guitar is properly set up and fitted with ball-end strings , your child will own and value a beautiful instrument that will provide years of pleasure until the time arrives when your child is ready to own a Gibson or a Selmer – which will last them a LIFETIME.Five stars

Like other reviewers - I searched for Left handed guitars - and this product came up top on the search results.After purchasing the guitar for my 8 year old, left-handed daughter - I contacted Amazon support to double check the item would be strung for a left-handed player. The response was a slightly worryingly quick, and immediate affirmative - absolutely - yes it would be for a left-handed player.==================================================10:35 AM(GMT) Me: Hi - I would like to confirm that the guitar I have just ordered will be strung for a left handed player... Is there ay way we can get that confirmed?We searched for left handed guitars - and the order we placed showed up as a "Best seller"... But some reviews suggest it is right handed?10:37 AM(GMT) Support(CSA): Thank you for elaborating the query.10:38 AM(GMT) Support(CSA): I have checked for this item and can confirm that its accurate for a left handed player.It will be strung for a left handed player.10:39 AM(GMT) Me: OK - thanks==================================================Guess what - the guitar arrived (on time) - but strung for RIGHT HANDED.....I appreciate I can probably learn to re-string it.. and will give me and my daughter something to learn together (and a few hours doing something I would rather not be doing!).... BUT - the complete contempt of the sales assistant, the total dis-regard for the truth - is very disappointing. Just seems the person could not actually be bothered to really help.. and is probably on some scheme to get through as many queries as possible - regardless.BAD SHOW AMAZON SUPPORT.

I placed the order for this guitar and was really thrilled by the fact that I was going to learn to play at last. I didn't want to spend a large amount of money as I wasn't sure how good I'd be, so this guitar seemed like the ideal choice.When it arrived, the packaging was bashed and torn. I tried not to let that bother me as things happen to packaging in transit, as long as what was inside was intact, I'd be happy. I opened the box and took the guitar out. There was a crack and a chip out of the body and the fret board looked like someone had been using the guitar at lunchtime. Sorry if this feedback puts anyone off. It's not meant to, I think it's important to give feedback such as this so that the seller can then do what they can to make sure other people have a really positive experience. The chip in the body could have happened in transit, I do accept that but not so sure how the fretboard came to be so dirty.Hope everyone else who purchased it is happy with theirs.

It isn't bad for a beginners guitar. I bought it for myself (an adult) to learn how to play. I ought to have gone for the full size as it is a little small between the frets, but that's my mistake. I'm still managing to hit some chords.It's steel/nylon strung, so it has quite a good deep folky sound. The package is good for a beginner to. The DVd is quite clear and consise, but basic. Though it has helped me find my feet as I was finding the books a little hard to follow. the pitch pipes are a nice touch as it did need some tuning.The proof will be in the pudding if I can actually play, but not doing to bad so far.All in I would buy it as a starter, but I could see that once I've learnt to play I will want something more professional.