Are you looking for the lightest electric guitar? Then, you’re in the right place. We have found and reviewed the top 5 best lightweight electric guitars available on the market right now.
For children and beginners, the lightweight guitar is apt to choose. In addition, the shoulder strap load can make the practice sessions less painful and allow you to continue playing the guitar for longer durations.
Most of the iconic guitars are the ones that are heavy and weigh between 15 to 25 pounds. However, the market certainly offers lighter options, which look good and are of superior quality.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at our list of lightweight guitars below (weight comparison included):
Best Lightweight Electric Guitars – Comparison Table
Ibanez JEMJRWH Steve Vai Signature 6-String Electric Guitar (Editor’s Choice)
Crafted with a mahogany body and a Wizard III Maple Neck, the guitar appears premium and smooth to hold. In addition, the Rosewood Fretboard, Tree of Life Fretboard Inlay, and Jumbo Frets offer different aesthetics to the signature guitar.
Things We Like
Construction
Over the years, Steve Vai’s signature guitars have emerged as iconic as the player himself. The Ibanez JEMJRWH Steve Vai Signature 6-String Electric Guitar crafted with acrylic vine inlay and the instantly recognizable monkey grip handle is a treat to beginners.
Sound & Playability
The sound produced using the two Quantum humbuckers, and one Quantum single-coil pickup completes the five-way switching quickly.
Concerning playability, the slim and comfortable neck allows you to pull off the lighting-fast runs and arpeggios easily. When you lay your hands on the equipment, you will understand that it was built to perform.
The Ibanez’s standard double-locking bridge facilitates the player to maintain tune stability even during heavy pitch bends. In addition, the pickups sound, especially the single-center coil, comes with a unique sound of its own.
The tremolo bar comes with an efficient fastening system that allows a player to adjust the bar irrespective of the position. In addition, it has a height position that does not interfere with the tone and volume knobs while being very functional.
Epiphone Les Paul SPECIAL-II Electric Guitar
Although expensive, Epiphone, a Gibson Les Paul, is the best lightweight guitar and does justice to its price for quality and value. Les Paul Special II is a perfect alternative to the original Gibson Les Paul. Available at a 1/10th price of the original, Les Paul Special II offers the same quality and playability.
This guitar is available in a vast number of colors. It offers high-quality clean sound for the acoustic notes. Also, the guitar presents a wide range of tones suited for both experienced and amateur players. The c-shaped neck is short and is easily manageable by both kids and beginners. More importantly, thanks to the fantastic pinewood body, the durable construction makes it usable for years.
Things We Like
Body & Neck
The premium finish is all thanks to the mahogany body and the bolt-on mahogany neck. The fingerboard is made from rosewood and offers 22 medium jumbo frets coupled with simple inlays.
The light flat body is available in ebony, heritage cherry sunburst, and vintage sunburst options, making it easy for players to see over the next and play the guitar.
Modern Electronics
The two open-coil humbucking pickups for the bridge and the neck are responsible for the great sound.
The strings, pickups, Tune-O-Matic bridge, and the setting are among the popular features generally available with the expensive Epiphones.
Tonewood Combination
The tonewood combination not only makes the guitar look beautiful but also durable. With proper care and maintenance, the guitar will last for years of multiple plays.
The fantastic hardware is appreciable in addition to the impressive welcoming sounds it generates.
Solid Strat-style Bridge
The most notable feature is the great bridge that comes with diecast tuners. It lets you perfectly tune, offering extra-tight sonics that produces extra sustain when the guitar is played.
Fender Squier by Vintage Modified Stratocaster Beginner Electric Guitar
Struggling to offer quality products in the 1970s, Fender has come a long way in offering world-class electric guitars. The Modified ’72 Telecaster Thin line borrows the famous 2nd incarnation from the 70s era. Squier comes with the updated two-big coil pickups that produce an excellent sound, larger and thicker. Also, it comes with a gorgeous hollow ash body and a white pickguard (Pearloid) along with a smooth maple fingerboard and neck.
Things We Like
Body & Neck
This guitar comes with a perfect fit and finishes the neck that is comfortable to play and use. The model is available in black and vintage white color that matches the pickguards. Its double-cutaway body has been crafted with solid basswood into a bolt-on C-shaped maple neck.
On the other hand, the maple fretboard shows a glimpse of the vintage tint besides offering smooth playability. Lastly, it comes with 21 medium jumbo frets.
Hardware
The guitar comes with the trip of pickups similar to the original seventies Strat. The Duncan-Designed SC-101 single coils offer a reliable upgrade to the simple stock single-coils. However, a simple controls department, the master tone, and the volume pot add elegance to the overall design.
There is a five-way pickup selector switch integrated into the design. Complementing the hardware are the chrome vintage-designed tuners and the vintage-style tremolo bridge that is synchronized and has a whammy bar to the onboard vibrato while doing a flick of the wrist.
Sound
The easy controls, coupled with 3-single-coil pickups, offer a clear and bright tone with perfect versatility. The guitar is equally suitable for blues, jazz, and classic rock.
ISIN Full Size Electric Guitar
The ISIN Full Size Electric Guitar is a perfect guitar for music lovers who are on the verge of starting their careers. In addition, the overall build makes it a perfect option for beginners looking to learn to play guitars.
Overall it appears to be an excellent guitar, thanks to the black fender plate over the surface. The entire body has been well-protected, and the guitar comes with a power cord, guitar bag, plectrum, shoulder strap, and amplifier. In addition, this electric guitar features a full-sized Maple-Basswood electric guitar that is available in a variety of colors.
Things We Like
Solid Packaging & Variety of Colors
Despite being affordable, the guitar comes in an attractive-looking solid package. It is also available in different color choices, making it appropriate for a person to choose the one matching his/her taste.
Light Yet Strong Construction
The guitar is light in weight and is characterized by a thin body with a perfect radius neck, unlike the Ibanez or Strat. Thanks to the maple neck, it is lighter to hold and smooth to touch.
Lasts For Years
The solid build quality under the price bracket it is offered makes it a value for money equipment. However, it does require regular maintenance, such as taking off the knobs carefully, cleaning the strings regularly, etc.
Tiny Yet Powerful Amplifier
The guitar comes with a tiny yet fantastic amplifier. It also comes with the normal bells and whistles of the basic solid-state that is standard across packages. Despite some extra noise due to minimal shielding, the cables work perfectly.
BCP Acoustic-Electric Guitar
BCB Acoustic-Electric guitar’s cutaway design produces bright sounds. The performance-ready guitar offers an advantage to the players by enabling them to reach higher notes. In addition, the balanced sound profile, thanks to the 4-band guitar pickup, allows you to adjust bass and treble levels.
Hence, you can expect to produce the perfect sound both at home and on the stage. The equipment comes with four guitar picks, replacement strings, a capo, a guitar strap, and a cleaning cloth.
Things We Like
Weight
It’s the lightest guitar on our list – just 4.6 pounds!
Construction
The 41” full-size acoustic-electric cutaway is integrated with the 4-band EQ-7545R guitar preamp. The solid construction makes it a perfect option for players of different skill levels.
It is easy for both a beginner and a kid to start playing. The top, back, and sides are crafted using the linden wood, while the neck is constructed using the Okoume wood neck.
Playability
The guitar comes fitted with digital clip-on tuner clips over the headstock that adds convenience and precision tuning. The 10W guitar amp, in addition to the amp, further improves the aspect of playability.
How to Pick the Best Lightweight Electric Guitar for a Beginner or Kid?
Learning to play an instrument is one of the best formative activities you can give to your child. It not only trains them with musical skills but also instills creativity.
While learning an instrument, a child also learns about hard work and self-discipline.
Just like us, children also have their preferences when it comes to music. So it won’t be surprising that you end up knowing that your child loves rock and heavy metal.
Hence, give them a chance to learn something new and enjoy their favorite music. It is possible that by allowing them to discover their talents, they might grow up and become a famous guitar player someday.
Electric guitars are one such popular instrument that can help them grow musically. The market today offers several options suiting almost any need or budget.
Selecting the right guitar for your child comes with benefits that may last a lifetime. As per some research in neurosciences, it has been revealed that learning a musical instrument can help a child become stronger in emotional, cognitive, and social development. It can also improve coordination of fine motor skills.
Some experts even believe that learning any musical instrument can help achieve success in different walks of life. Therefore once you select the perfect instrument for your child, it can pave the way to his/her success. The following elements need to be considered while purchasing an electric guitar for your kid or a beginner.
Inspection & Playability
Choose a guitar that has been adjusted for easy playability and thoroughly inspected. Buying an unadjusted guitar can lead to several difficulties while playing.
If your child cannot play the guitar or has difficulty pushing the strings, he may not like the experience. They would never experience the development of fine motor skills or cognitive benefits associated with learning to play a musical instrument.
On the other hand, most people do not question the playability of an instrument while purchasing it. Yet, it is among the most critical yet overlooked aspects when buying a guitar. Expecting them to be perfectly built and ready to be played once out of the box is not always true.
Especially the affordable entry-level guitars are made from inferior quality materials and woods. That makes them difficult and, in some cases, impossible to play because the strings are too high above the fingerboard. The scenario thus requires extra force to push them against the frets.
The quality of construction can heavily influence your child’s ability to play an electric guitar successfully. Also, the accuracy of the adjustments offering easier playability is something that largely affects the learning experience.
If the child repeatedly practices on an unadjusted or poorly adjusted guitar, it will send the wrong message to their muscles and brain. Eventually, it will make it impossible for them to learn with agility and accuracy, leading to uneven, unsatisfying, and choppy results.
Therefore, we can say that a properly adjusted instrument is the key to a better opportunity to learn, grow in self-confidence and self-esteem.
Size of the Guitar
A large-sized guitar will make it difficult for a child to reach with both hands easily. In addition, it will be uncomfortable and painful if the arm is raised as high as the shoulders to reach the guitar.
Over-reaching the 1st fret puts children at a technical disadvantage as the muscles are stretched out. That makes it difficult for them to move their fingers over the fingerboard easily. A child enjoys more and succeeds in playing the guitar only when the size is right for them.
Select a Guitar which Your Child Prefers
Kids often request a simple guitar instead of an acoustic or an electric guitar. If they do so, it is better to understand how they can be motivated and do things that encourage them to pursue their interests.
Some children might be satisfied with a nylon string or a steel-string acoustic guitar hoping to get an electric guitar in the future. But, on most occasions, a child will be motivated only if they get an instrument they imagine playing themselves in the future.
For example, you wouldn’t buy a basketball if your child wants to buy a soccer ball. Hence, motivation and interest will primarily help them be successful with their instrument.
So, What’s the Best Lightweight Electric Guitar?
After reviewing our list of the top 5 lightest guitars, it is evident that the specs matter a lot when choosing the perfect one for your child. Beginners need to have a great experience when starting off to ensure they love their music for years.
If you want to buy a lightweight guitar that does everything perfectly, ISIN Full Size Electric Guitar offers a pretty good product.
However, if you would like to gift a premium product and get inspired by legends, Epiphone Les Paul SPECIAL-II Electric Guitar is simply the 1st choice.