yamaha GL-1

It has a surprisingly pleasant sound. One might think of a guitar at this price and size as a throwaway kid's toy, but it is a serious guitar. It sounds like a precise, small classical guitar. The string spacing takes getting used to if you are used to a regular sized classical or even a uke. It is tuned to ADGCEA, which makes it like a Concert or Tenor Ukulele, with two bass strings and without the re-entrant G. It doesn't sound like a ukulele though. It sounds like a guitar. Uke players could easily jump on this and apply the same fingerings, but have a decidedly different sound.

This is not a guitar I would gig with, but it's great for the occasional novelty open stage. I bought it as a practice guitar to leave at work in a desk drawer. The supplied gig bag won't protect it if you take it around town but as noted above, existing tenor uke hard shell cases can be used.

I love the size of it for carrying around and storing. I can grab it and play it any time.

I can play pieces that I cannot stretch to on a regular classical. I use it to learn tough pieces that I transfer to a regular sized guitar once my hands are ready.

The smallness is a drag when you play on the higher frets. It is very tight up there.

The sound is very sweet and gets many compliments. The size is an attention-getting crowd pleaser.

The high tuning makes transposing songs from a regular guitar tuning a bit of a challenge, a bit like transposing from a guitar to a ukulele.

I would love to have one with a built-in pickup. Apparently there used to be a GLX-1 with a pickup but it was inexplicably discontinued. Perhaps it made it sufficiently more expensive to move it into competition with regular sized guitars, so it didn't sell.

The bridge is narrower that a regular classical guitar, so I don't know if an aftermarket undersaddle piezo could be found.