Dean Playmate Evo J 3/4 Size Electric Guitar  

None really

Poor quality throughout, tuners junk, intonation impossible, Bridge placement mounted with no thought to intonate. You can almost intonate this guitar but adjustment screws jam into the string. lower strings adjustment needs to be all the way back on bridge and then comes the string jamming with adjustment screw. Fretboard cheap and glued a little to one side. 3 way switch makes noise when used. This guitar could almost be playable with a little more thought from the Einstein's who designed it. Do not buy this guitar for your child's first guitar. Poor craftsmanship, Bad all over. Pass on this one.

Dean?

Stay Away

2 humbucking pickups, 6 saddle top load bridge, volume and tone controls- I got the black finish model - it looks great, sort of like a mandolin and a Les Paul guitar had a baby!

Everything looks solid. Neck construction is very well done, fret ends are smooth. Action is low and comfy.  There is a tiny bit of fretbuzz, but all in all its extremely well made. It sounds fine thru the amp.

I also tried the Avalanche guitar (small strat shape guitar) in a store - those are really well made too.

I considered finding one of those Hofner Shorty guitars, but this one from Dean was a lot easier to find online.

I got this for myself for travelling, but would not hesitate to get one for a kid or someone with small hands to use as a first guitar.

So far so good!  Down the road I may get new tuners or new nut if there are problems but other than that its doing fine out of the box.

Dean also sends the allen wrenches to set the height of the saddles, and to adjust the neck truss rod, plus a cable to plug into your amp. They also give you a simple instruction sheet for adjustments.  All of that is a really nice touch.

I would have preferred more or better finish on the back of the neck, but thats about the only really obvious thing that seems budget about the guitar.

I might do a little bit of setup work on it myself, but out of the box its very comfy and playable. No audible string buzz thru the amp.