Modified Loog Mini Electric
Loog makes great guitars for kids. They feature small sizes with 3 strings to make it easier for kids to learn. They're a bit on the pricy side with their electric models starting at $189. I'd occasionally seen them on eBay and ignored them, but saw one recently that was only $35 used and said what the heck, I'll buy one and see if I can modify it to make it better.
Here's the original from eBay. Note the clunky shaped headstock which I decided to cut into a Fender shape. Note the white fret marker dots which are virtually impossible to see against the light maple neck. I used a Sharpie to make them black and also did that to the side dots. Note that it only had 15 frets with just a blank piece of fretboard after that so you can't play all the high notes you might want to. I used a fret saw to cut the appropriately spaced slots and added 2 more frets of a similar height as the originals. Of course, I did a full fret leveling, neck angle adjustment and adjustment of the bridge saddles for proper string height and intonation.
It also sounded really crappy through the built in amp and speaker, mainly because the speaker was tiny and had no depth. I used a Dremel tool with a small sanding drum to enlarge the speaker cavity a bit and replaced the oroginal speaker (on left) with a bigger one with more depth to it (on right).
Because of the very short 16" scale, I decided to tune it D - A - D and used 36 - 24 - 14 gauge strings.
Overall, it turned out great. It plays a lot easier with the set up work and the clearly visible fret dots. I can play notes up to the 17th fret instead of just 15. It sounds much better with the upgraded speaker (and even better if you play it through a real amp). And it looks a lot cooler with the Fender headstock. Well worth $35!
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