Description
Review of the YMC 30″ Kids Electric Guitar Pack With 5-Watt Amp, Gig Bag, Strap, Cable, Strings, Picks and Wrench, Guitar Combo Accessory Kit, Black
The YMC EG30-5W-BK is a 30 inch children’s electric guitar sold as a complete pack with a battery-powered 5 watt amplifier and a full accessory set. It uses a double-cutaway basswood body, a maple neck and fretboard, a single-coil pickup and a chrome hardtail bridge. The listing aims it squarely at right-handed young beginners rather than adults.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- A 20 inch scale genuinely fits a child. Short scale means the frets sit closer together, so a small hand can form a chord shape without stretching across four frets. This is the single biggest factor in whether a young beginner sticks with it.
- The amplifier runs on a 9V battery. No mains outlet is needed, so the guitar can be played in a bedroom, in a car or at a grandparent’s house. For a child this removes a practical barrier that adults tend to overlook.
- The accessory set is unusually complete for the size. Gig bag, strap, cable, spare strings, picks and a truss rod wrench are all supplied, which covers most of what goes wrong in the first year.
- At 21 frets with a hardtail bridge, the setup is simple. A fixed chrome bridge holds tuning better than a cheap tremolo and gives a child nothing to knock out of adjustment.
Cons
- The scale length is stated two different ways. The specification table gives 30 inches, while the description gives a 30 inch guitar length with a 20 inch scale. The table figure is the overall length of the instrument, not the vibrating string length, and using it for sizing would be misleading.
- The body wood is inconsistent. The table lists body material as “Wood” while giving basswood for both top and back. A field that says only “wood” carries no information at all.
- The 9V battery is not included. The amplifier will not make a sound on arrival, which is a poor first impression on a birthday or Christmas morning. Buy one in advance.
- A single-coil pickup and one volume knob is the whole electronics package. There is no tone control and no pickup selection, so the guitar has one voice. That is fine for learning but offers nothing to explore.
- Strings are listed as stainless steel. Stainless is stiffer and harder on soft fingertips than nickel-plated steel, which is the usual choice, and children’s fingers are exactly who this matters to most.
Detailed Product Description
The body is a double-cutaway shape in basswood, finished in black. Basswood is soft and light, which keeps the guitar at 5.84 pounds as listed, though that figure includes the amplifier and accessories in the shipping carton. A child holding just the guitar will find it comfortably light. The double cutaway also means the upper frets stay reachable, which matters on a short neck where notes crowd together.
The neck and fretboard are both maple. A maple board is finished rather than open-pored, so it needs no conditioning oil and wipes clean easily, which is an advantage on an instrument a child will handle with sticky hands. Twenty-one frets over a 20 inch scale gives narrow spacing, so a small hand can reach a full chord shape comfortably.
Electronics are a single-coil pickup with a volume control knob and a hardtail chrome alloy bridge. Single coils are bright and will hum near screens and dimmers. The included amplifier is rated at 5 watts, which is quiet by adult standards but loud enough to be heard clearly across a bedroom and, importantly, not loud enough to dominate a household. There is no mention of a headphone output on the amp, so quiet practice options are limited.
What Comes with the Product
The pack includes the 30 inch guitar, the 5 watt battery-powered amplifier, a nylon carrying case, a shoulder strap, an instrument cable, a spare set of strings, picks and a wrench.
The 9V battery for the amplifier is not included, and neither is a clip-on tuner, a stand or any instructional material. A tuner is the most worthwhile addition, because a child cannot tune by ear and an out-of-tune guitar sounds wrong no matter how well it is played. The guide to beginner accessories covers what else is genuinely useful.
Who It Suits
This suits a right-handed child of roughly six to eleven who wants an electric rather than an acoustic, and a parent who wants one box that contains everything needed to make a sound. The battery amplifier makes it practical as a gift for a household without a spare outlet in the child’s room.
It does not suit a left-handed player, since only a right-handed version is described. A teenager will outgrow a 30 inch body quickly and should start on something like the LyxPro 36 inch kit. Alternatives at the same size include the WINZZ EGM100 and the ZENY 30 inch kids kit. Sizing is set out in the guide to choosing a guitar size for a child.
How to Maintain
Remove the 9V battery if the amplifier will sit unused for weeks, because a leaking cell will destroy the terminals. Wipe the strings after each session with a dry cloth, since stainless strings corrode less than nickel but still collect skin oils.
Store the guitar in the supplied nylon bag rather than leaning it against furniture, which is how most children’s instruments get broken. Keep it away from radiators. The supplied wrench adjusts the truss rod, but that is an adult job and should be left alone unless the neck has visibly bowed.
Tips and Recommendations
Buy the 9V battery and a clip-on tuner before the guitar is given, so the first session is not spent hunting for parts. A cheap set of nickel-plated light gauge strings is also worth having on hand, since they will be noticeably kinder on young fingertips than the stainless set fitted at the factory.
Keep the amplifier volume low. A 5 watt amp sounds best well below maximum, and pushing it into distortion masks mistakes rather than helping a child hear them. If quieter practice becomes necessary, the quiet practice options guide covers the alternatives. More instruments sit under kids and junior guitars and electric guitars.
Product FAQ
What is the actual scale length?
The description gives a 20 inch scale on a guitar 30 inches long overall. The spec table figure of 30 inches refers to total length, not scale.
Is a battery included for the amplifier?
No. The 5 watt amplifier requires a 9V battery which is explicitly not supplied.
Is a left-handed version available?
The listing describes a right-handed instrument only. No left-handed option is mentioned on this page.
How many frets does it have?
Twenty-one, according to the description, over a 20 inch scale with a maple fretboard.
