Dean Playmate Mini Acoustic Guitar, 1/2-Size

by Dean Guitars

Product Features

• 1/2 Size Student Steel String Acoustic
• Chrome Hardware, Set Neck
• Signature Dean Bridge
• Chrome Tuners

Product Details

• Item Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 30 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B0002F5EKE
• Item model number: PLAYJTJ
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,474 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)
  • #31 in Musical Instruments > Guitars > Acoustic Guitars > Acoustic

Product Description

Dean Playmate Mini Acoustic Guitar--Half Size, Full Sound

The Dean Playmate JT-J is an incredible acoustic guitar for a beginner, child, or traveler. This half-sized sized guitar features traditional construction with a set mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard and chrome hardware. As small as this guitar is, it's no slouch when it comes to sound or construction. Take it on the road or play it at home, the Playmate JT-J acoustic guitar won't let you down.

Looks as good as it sounds.

Solid Body and Features
Featuring a hardwood laminated linden body and a solid spruce top for a superior blend of rich tones, this guitar also has a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard—complete with 18 frets even at the 25.5-inch scale. The Dean Playmate JT-J acoustic guitar also comes with pearl dot inlays, sealed tuners and celluloid bindings. This is a six-string guitar that uses steel strings. This specific Playmate JT-J acoustic guitar comes in satin natural.

Excellent for beginners and for travel.

Quality Materials
The guitar top is the part of the instrument that most affects the sound. It is also the most delicate part of any high quality acoustic guitar. The grade and thickness of the wood used, as well as the bracing structure, have a huge impact on the instruments sound. The idea of applying an arch or curve to the top is appealing because the added strength of an arched top should allow for the use of a thinner and more lightly braced top. This is why Dean Guitars takes the care it does when making every guitar in its line.

Ideal for Travel
The Playmate JT-J acoustic guitar is ideal for travel, whether just next-door for a barbeque, down the street to a local function, or across the country. With the right case (sold separately), there isn't anywhere you can't go. The JT-J acoustic guitar is small enough to fit into overhead bins or next to you on the tour bus.

What Kind of Guitar Does Your Child Need?
Starting with an acoustic guitar is the best way to go. It is less expensive and it starts them out on the traditional way to play guitar. An acoustic guitar like the Dean Playmate JT-J is a good starting point because of its small size and solid dependability.

Features:

• Linden Body
• 18 3/4" scale
• Maple neck
• Covered Tuners
• Celluliod Binding
• Mosaic Rosette
• Designed for very young children to learn the basic guitar skills.
• Gloss Natural

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

144 of 154 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Feelings, September 23, 2004

By 

Hopefully Tomorrow - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dean Playmate Mini Acoustic Guitar, 1/2-Size (Electronics)

We all know Dean Makes great guitars, yet this one, does NOT have a trust rod. If the neck is bent or over time moves from the pressure of the strings the guitar is garbage. This guitar will NOT last you very long, certainly not a novice. You are better off paying extra (like 70-100) to buy a guitar with a trust rod. This will enable you to bring the guitar to a repair man. He can fix the neck of the guitar so it is playable. Guitars without trust rods are harder to tune and do not stay in tune. Dean makes a great guitar, but you get what you pay for. Hope this helped.

52 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Just a bit more than a toy., February 21, 2005

By 

Rene (Connecticut USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dean Playmate Mini Acoustic Guitar, 1/2-Size (Electronics)

The main points for me in deciding to buy this little guitar were the cheap price and the affiliation with Dean Guitars. As a long-time guitar player, it can be a lot of fun to play a little guitar in places a full-size guitar won't work, like in the car. I believe an experienced player will get more out of this than a beginner. Although the quality of this guitar is higher than a toy guitar you find at retail toy stores, it still leaves much to be desired in terms of easy playability. Even with a zero fret, the action on this guitar was way too high. The result was that it was hard to play and hard to tune because the intonation was off. These are the least desireable things for a good beginners guitar. What I did was to file down the grooves in the bridge to lower the action. I also put new strings on the guitar--light gauge because the guitar sounds best tuned to A, in otherwise standard tuning. With these changes, it's become a fun guitar to play. For under $30, I wasn't disappointed by the plastic fretboard, painted-on binding or cheap tuners. The finish is nice and the bridge is distinctive. So, I'd say it's a good toy for an experienced guitarist but a bad guitar for a beginner.

47 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Price You Can't Beat This Guitar, November 11, 2004

By 

Mark D Burgh "Music, Writing, Art, Film, Hist... (Fort Smith, AR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dean Playmate Mini Acoustic Guitar, 1/2-Size (Electronics)

I bought this Dean JTJ for a few reasons: price, size (my hands are small), and the sound. The Dean JTJ gives me a lot of pleasure to play and I'm always glad I bought it. It's not a deluxe Gibson, Martin, or Taylor guitar, so you may not feel that the JTJ is on par with those pricey, well-regarded instruments, but for me, an amateur looking for a practice guitar that wouldn't break my budget, or be so bad that it would fall apart quickly, I can't falt the JTJ. Now, I realize that there is no truss rod, but I've never had any tuning problems, and I play the JTJ nearly every day. And you know what, if the JTJ breaks, I'll get another one, but I think that the quality of this Dean guitar is better than that. In fact, I bought it in the hopes of passing it on to my daughter when she gets ready to learn guitar.