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Does anyone have experience with the First Act brand of musical instruments (sold at Toys R Us). DD wants the accordion, bongos, and percussion pack. They *look* like good quality, but I don't want to waste money on something that is going to sound badly.

 

Also... what are the options for buying guitars? I've checked amazon and my local guitar shop, but they don't have what I'm looking for, which is a 3/4 size green electric guitar. Shaped like a star or heart would be a plus, but has to be green. :tongue_smilie:

 

...oh birthday shopping, how I love thee.

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Does anyone have experience with the First Act brand of musical instruments (sold at Toys R Us). DD wants the accordion, bongos, and percussion pack. They *look* like good quality, but I don't want to waste money on something that is going to sound badly.

 

Also... what are the options for buying guitars? I've checked amazon and my local guitar shop, but they don't have what I'm looking for, which is a 3/4 size green electric guitar. Shaped like a star or heart would be a plus, but has to be green. :tongue_smilie:

 

...oh birthday shopping, how I love thee.

 

Check out Daisy Rock for guitars. I just saw small purple electric guitar shaped like a star in our local music shop yesterday.

http://daisyrock.com/faqs

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We have a First Act junior sized guitar. It has been well-used (in a pretend-only kinda way) for 7 years now and it is still ticking. I'd say it's tough. Ours keeps its tune (well, except for the little one UNtuning it by turning the pegs) very well. I don't know much about it's quality beyond that, but I think it's great for a non-serious/beginning guitarist.

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My ds started guitar on a First Act guitar because he was 6yo and it was the only one I could find small enough for him. It lasted for a couple years until someone, his brother, tightened the strings way too tight and the body popped off at the neck. It didn't have a great sound compared to his next guitar but was not expensive and allowed us to see if he had an interest in lessons and practicing or not.

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In general, don't buy a musical instrument from a toy, discount, or big-box store. A vast majority of these are going to be instrument-shaped objects, which real music repair shops will not TOUCH if they get damaged, and many will have issues which will make it hard for a beginning student.

 

I have had two students use First act guitars. One was OK, the other broke almost immediately. Neither stayed in tune particularly well-a student guitar should really stay pretty close to it's tune even between weekly lessons unless the student is playing with the tuning pegs, and the first acts needed tuning on a daily basis to stay close.

 

I have had one student try to use a clarinet from Target-don't know the brand, but I do know that within a month, the poor parent was renting one from a music store, because while the instrument LOOKED great, the keys didn't close properly, with the result that it was impossible for the kid to play the notes she was trying to learn to play.

 

Music teacher's boards are full of this sort of thing-and while some individual people will have good results, in general, you get what you pay for, and if an instrument costs substantially less than others of it's type, there's a reason.

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