Startone CG851 1/4

I wanted a small portable guitar and to experiment with shorter scale lengths.

Specs

The guitar is very small, smaller than would you think from the pictures. What I didn?t notice before I bought the guitar is that it has narrow nut length. It?s a bit difficult to play especially with the big nylon strings. The quality is ok for such a cheap instrument, the intonation is quiet good. I made some adjustments on the bridge saddle to fine tune the intonation. One thing I don?t like is the string spacing at the nut. You can see from the pictures that the outer strings are not near the edge of the neck, and that makes the neck feel even narrower. I used some tools and open the slots toward the edge of the neck and the improvement is noticeable.

The scale of the guitar is quite small, so if you want to tune the guitar in standard tuning you have to use extra hard nylon strings.

Sound

It plays and sounds fine. You cannot expect big bass sound, but it?s good for its size.

Conclusion

PROS
-cheap
-small size
-decnet quality
CONS
-narrow nut
-not perfect string spacing at the nut

For kids the guitars is fine, for adults who want to experiment with shorter lengths scale guitars, or want a small, portable instrument some adjustment are required. I am satisfied with this product.

I think the target market may be kids, but there are many who use these kind for travel. So, from this perspective, these are my notes:

Pros: Cheap. Small, the body fits in a backpack with the neck sticking out which I bag. I also use a 1/4 gigbag. Very good sound actually. I like the sound of top 3 nylons; tone is clear and easy to sing with (baritone). Surprisingly loud for its size.

Cons: Requires tinkering to get most out of it, see below.

Easy: I tuned this one 5 semitones up so it's exactly the same as standard with capo on 5, including fret lengths; ADGCEA. The strings become too loose for standard EADGBE.

Moderate/hard: The strings are too close together, and they don't sit in notches near the hole (!). I widened the strings and sawed small notches in the white part near the sound hole. Guitar stays in tune and strings are as wide as on a normal electric guitar.

If you want to attach a strap, you'd have to remove strings and drill a hole and attach at least the bottom nut. Though, the guitar is so light the strap may not be necessary.