Tuning for a little Dean Playmate guitar.

[jerime]

My daughter has a little Dean Playmate guitar that I believe is half-size. I'm trying to figure out what it needs to be tuned to for her to be able to play along with me in standard E tuning. When it is tuned to E the strings are too loose. Any ideas?

[guitarist21]

This is a pretty common problem for guitars of that size. My little brother has a really small guitar with the same issue and when he was remotely interested in it, I kept it tuned to F# or sometimes G. So low to high, that would be:

 

F# B E A C# F#

or

G C F A# D G

 

Ellen

[Tony Burns]

Its made to be tuned down a step or two - trust me on this one , if you try to put it in standard tuning the guitar will self distruct ( Im not kidding )

[Terry Allan Hall]

 

My daughter has a little Dean Playmate guitar that I believe is half-size. I'm trying to figure out what it needs to be tuned to for her to be able to play along with me in standard E tuning. When it is tuned to E the strings are too loose. Any ideas?

 

 

A buddy of mine is a "Little Person" and plays a Baby Taylor (because most standard sized guitars are uncomfortably large/long-scaled for him), and to avoid the floppy string issue of such a short scale, he uses medium guage strings (.056 - .013) so he can tune to concert pitch, yet still retain an easy action.

[Stackabones]

 

I buddy of mine is a "Little Person" and plays a Baby Taylor (because most standard sized guitars are uncomfortably large/long-scaled for him), and to avoid the floppy string issue of such a short scale, he uses medium guage strings (.056 - .013) so he can tune to concert pitch, yet still retain an easy action.

 

 

Pretty cool solution for standard tuning on smaller gits.

[Terry Allan Hall]

Pretty cool solution for standard tuning on smaller gits.

 

Yeah, it works out pretty well, and his is the best sounding Baby Taylor I've ever heard...much better "bottom" than they usually have, but the fact that his has the mahogany top might also be a part of it.

 

Now that he's getting pretty good at playing (he's been at it for about 1 year), his wife wants to buy him a better guitar as an anniversary gift...we're looking for a Martin 5-18 or something nice like that for him...

 

 

For comparison:

[brahmz118]

I've had over half a dozen First Act 1/2 size guitars in the past 3 years. Recently got a donation of the new pink and turquoise painted models with the rubber caps over the tuning posts. The First Acts might be flimsier than the Dean Playmates. And the Baby Taylor is probably leagues above either. I have yet to solve the dilemma of string choice.

 

From the factory I think they have extra lights tuned to standard. No open chord are remotely in tune.

 

Tuned one up to F# with D'Addario lights, and it improved the intonation and reduced the buzz. However it was hard for little kids to play without muting. And then it exploded in my cabinet one night. The pinless bridge pulled off and splintered the top.

 

On another one I tried D'Addario extra lights and tuned up to F#. I had one kid strum it somewhat heavily and one of the strings broke.

 

I put mediums on one and tuned it down to Eb. Bad intonation, and poor projection from the bass strings, but hard to tell if this was better or worse than standard tuning with lights.

 

I've given up on standard tuning for these guitars. Currently I have one tuned in Open A with extra lights, and another with lights in Keith Richards tuning -- Open G minus the floppy 6th string. I also need one in Open C for xylophone and white key piano improvs, so that is actually tuned CGCGCE -- the bass strings are super-floppy, but as a result so quiet that you can barely hear them. The others are all out of commission right now until I see the long term effects.