My 10yr old(at the time) Daughter bought an Ibanez Mikro. It was less than $130 brand new and not a bad guitar. Of course, everything is a little lesser quality then some but the only big issue I have see is with either the nut or the tuners. It seem to go from just a little flat to sharp with only a small move.

I am no guitar tech and haven't owned many. In fact the only benchmark I have is an Ibanez RG-710. The RG sounds a bit richer/fuller, is much easier to tune and stays in tune very well. I have no idea what the RG would cost new, I got it used, but I am sure it would have been a good bit more than the Mikro.

I have installed the same strings on both which make playing the little one good practice for using a lighter touch when fretting. The shorter scale and jumbo frets make is easy to sharpen the notes when fretting.

She is, at this moment, trying to play the beginning of Wipeout.