My youngest wants a guitar for christmas, he is 6 years quite big for his age. What size guitar do I need? Can anyone recommend a good one that doesnt cost too much?

He would like electric but an acoustic would be good too.

Let me know

Cheers

My first guitar (when I was 6/7) was a three-quarter sized, nylon stringed classical guitar. I would recommend Nylon as opposed to steel, as it would hurt, a lot, especially at his age. Electric guitars are expensive...and perhaps a little more specialist.

Firstly, awwwww! He'll be extremely cool when he's 13 if he learns now...
I'm fairly certain you can get small electrics. Generally though, it's acoustics which are the problem for size because of those chunky necks. I would suggest looking for an electric which feels right to him rather than deciding on a size first. There isn't a definite size for electric guitars, you will find an amount of variation if you just go into the local music shop.
The electric/acoustic argument is going to come up I assume, I would say that a younger person would do better to learn electric because it will keep their interest, be easier to reach stuff on and there's loads more you can do on an electric, including everything which you can do on an acoustic. Check out Steve Vai, that will convince anyone Also, it's not hard to go from electric to acoustic.

Frumpybabes, Viohazard was 7 and a half when he started, and got a "53" scale - the equivalent of a 3/4 size. He has arms like a gorilla and hands like a bunch of bananas, but it was still a little big for him at that age - he had to stretch forward over it to pluck the strings, though his hands were comfortable on the neck. For a 6 year old, I'd recommend one size smaller - the "48" scale. There is a smaller size, but I think he'd be almost too big for that.

His teacher recommended an Aria Pepe, and it is a lovely instrument for a student, not too expensive (but to be honest, not dirt cheap either). Aria had this series designed as a Spanish-built classical guitar option for children and petite women with small hands. We've rented various student instruments in NZ on visits, and none of them have come anywhere near in sound. Viohazard now plays a full-size luthier-built classical guitar inherited from an uncle, and sadly I couldn't even say it was an improvement on the Aria - seriously, I'd post it to you if it wouldn't likely cost you more than buying one in the UK.

I am glad we paid out for a hard case though !