Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

One of the other reviewers complained that their guitar teacher called this a "1/4 sized guitar" and it appeared that they felt they had gotten a bad deal. No, it is a 3/4 sized guitar - this is based on scale length and not overall size of the guitar - but it is small. This guitar has a 21 1/4" scale (normal is about 26" but it varies), a 12 1/2" lower bout and a 9" upper bout. This places it in the parlor size category, more or less, and it fits a child well. This is a fully functioning guitar with a solid spruce top, decent craftsmanship, and an adjustable truss rod. The action is acceptable (although it needs setup at the nut) and the tone is, well, there. You are never going to confuse the Yamaha FG JR1 for a $3000 Taylor. It is a $120 guitar. The main virtues are its size, playability, and price. For that $120 you get a well made, well designed small guitar suitable for all ages with enough tone and volume to hold its own in a small group. You can take it aboard any plane and place it in the overhead rack. If you are sitting around the campfire and have to fight off a bear with it, you are only out $120 and it is sturdy enough to tolerate at least one swing. The adjustable truss rod lets you change the relief of the neck in all sorts of conditions (assuming you are brave enough to do so) and a little filing on the nut by your luthier (don't try this at home unless you have some experience) will make it very playable for both finger style and pick. So it is not the top of the line, it works well for what it was intended to be. It sure beats the heck out of the so-called travel guitars which all sound like they are made from cardboard and look like the set designer of Avatar or LOTR produced them for orcs. If you are looking for a quality small guitar but are too cheap to pay for one, give the Yamaha FG JR1 a look.