1/8 guitars are the smallest guitars for kids that exist. They are designed for kids between 3 and 5 years. Thanks to the small size they are also often considered as a perfect travel guitar. You can easily slide this smal guitar in your backpack and take it on every airplane as hand luggage. The name of the guitar does not mean that it only measures 1/8 of a full size guitar.
Quite the contrary, the size refers to the scale (the scale is the length between the bridge and the nut of the guitar head). The scale of a 1/8 guitar measures around 17 inch, whereas a standard sized guitar measures 25.5 inch. Based on the total length we can say that that a 1/8 guitar is about 30% or 7.5 inch shorter than a standard one. The small size gives the impression that your holding a toy guitar in your hands but it’s an actual guitar. In case you are looking for a guitar for toddlers or babies, consider rather a toy guitar.
When looking for such a small guitar we’ll quickly realize that it’s quite hard to find one in that size. And indeed they aren’t many of them on the market. So why that? The difference between a 1/8 and the next size (1/4 size guitar) is not that huge. So quite a few guitar teachers even recommend to skip this size and to go for a 1/4 guitar. Moreover, when looking for a 1/8 electric or dreadnought guitar you won’t even find one model. They exist only as acoustic classical one, which is absolutely reasonable. Obviously, kids are beginners and for these little guitarists classical nylon string guitars are the first and is many cases the best choice. Nylon strings are just more comfortable to start with as they hurt much as less at the beginning.
Best 1/8 guitars and alternatives
When looking for such a small guitar we’ll quickly realize that it’s quite hard to find one in that size. And indeed they aren’t many of them on the market. So why that? The difference between a 1/8 and the next size (1/4 size guitar) is not that huge. So quite a few guitar teachers even recommend to skip this size and to go for a 1/4 guitar. Moreover, when looking for a 1/8 electric or dreadnought guitar you won’t even find one model. They exist only as acoustic classical one, which is absolutely reasonable. Obviously, kids are beginners and for these little guitarists classical nylon string guitars are the first and is many cases the best choice. Nylon strings are just more comfortable to start with as they hurt much as less at the beginning.
When looking for those small guitars you should also take a look at guitaleles. The name already tells you that it has to be kind of a mix of a guitar and a ukuelele. It has a higher tuning than standard guitars and that’s gives her a sounds which reminds us on a ukulele. However, since the Guitalele has six strings it is a guitar. The Guitalele is an excellent choice for kids as well as for adults. Just keep in mind that a guitalele is using a different tuning than a guitar.
Next smaller guitar: Toy Guitar/ Ukulele
Next bigger guitar: 1/4 Guitar