What "Travel Guitar"????

AcousticJunkie

It appears that I will be doing a fair bit of travelling into Africa over the next year and I would like to do so in the company of something that might bring me piece of mind whilst being far from home - I thought that a guitar would do the trick....... Of course the problem is that you would like the guitar to last more than one foray into deepest darkest Africa. So which one should it be and what specs do I need to pay particular attention to?

There are a few products on the market that sell themselves as "Travel Guitars": The Baby Taylor, The Washburn Rover, The Mini Martin........

These are more traditional as far as guitars go but have limitations as far as sound quality is concerned (Which I guess is an occupational hazard if you are a Travel Guitar) How about The Yamaha Silent Guitar SLG110S................

I found some info on the forum from about a year back but would like to see if any of you have views on this issue.

singemonkey

The silent guitar is not really good for travelling, because you will definitely be asked to play for people, and others will want to play your guitar for others while you travel. Without lugging an amplifier, the travel guitar is not much good. The silent guitar is great for practising while you travel. But that's only one reason to take a guitar traveling and it will consistently disappoint your fellow travelers.

This is one circumstance where I totally recommend going fully acoustic. The only travel guitar I have experience with is the Baby Taylor which has surprisingly rich tone, good volume across all strings, and is just that much smaller than a full sized guitar to make you glad of it after a few weeks.

MikeM

+1 to all points Singe said. Smaller body than normal, wouldn't go for an electric one. Possibly the Martin backpacker if you really don't have the space..

Warren

Agree with Singe as well.

How will you be doing the travelling? If going mostly by air, keep in mind that it's not a great idea to let baggage handlers get their mitts on your instrument without a proper locking flight-case (which is itself likely to attract thieves). In that sort of case, a small-bodied acoustic (or Martin backpacker guitar / Washburn Rover / equivalent) is probably your best bit, as you could likely get away with taking it on the plane as a carry-on bag or at least have the cabin crew stow it for you.

Travelling by land affords more leeway, but I wouldn't personally go for an expensive instrument. Just something cheap, solid and playable. I wouldn't worry too much about sound quality, since your main objective would be to have something that you can use socially and for practice.

AcousticJunkie

Thanks for the input........ Singe's comments regarding playing for others was not something I had considered..... I guess I saw myself closeted away in a hotel room........ I will definately want something to carry on board as I will be flying mostly.....

Bob-Dubery

There's also a 3/4 size Breedlove to consider.

But the problem with these small bodied guitars is that they'll all be high tuned (a 3rd or a 4th above standard) and so they'll sound pretty bright and high, and the tuning may push your voice into uncomfortable places (or you have to change the fingering for any song you want to play). I actually think they make valid instruments in their own right - but that's another matter. If you want to do instrumental stuff on your travels or just practice they they'll probably do fine.

Personally I like the Taylor and the Breedlove.

Jack-Flash-Jr

If you don't mind Nylon ? go for a 1/4 or 1/2 classical... more cost effective than a steel, lighter and good sound.

DonRoos

I was reading the latest Guitar Interactive Magazine (http://licklibrary.ceros.com/iguitarmag/iguitarmag-issue-7-johnny-marr-guitar-interactive/issue7/page/1) recently and saw a very interesting gravel guitar on about page 188 called the Voyage-Air VAOM-04 that actually has a hinged neck so it folds in half and fits into a backpack. Not sure how you would get hold of such a thing here though.

Bob-Dubery

You know this is where one of those carbon fibre guitars would come in handy. Those are strong with a capital B. Let the airline toss it around.

BluJu

I got a cort earth mini. Arguably as good as the Taylor but way cheaper.

Airguitar

I'm an airline pilot and have been carrying guitars with me all over the world for 15 plus years.
I gave up on travel guitars firstly because their tone was uninspiring, and secondly because they tended to be so neck heavy that my playing suffered more than it benefited.

My favourite "take away" guitar is my squier Classic Vibe Tele and Korg Pandora. I also have a Chinese acoustic built like a Martin 00 which I love and took many miles with me in a gig bag with no damage.
My daughter claimed it, so now the Tele rides with me, and occasionaly my Takamine TAN15C, which is by no means cheap, but the way I see it, I bought the guitar to play it, so it's coming with me and damn the risks.

If you'd rather take a travel guitar, try get one in your hands and play it for a length of time before deciding to buy it. Their "Honeymoon period" can be short-lived and then you're stuck with a lemon. They have ZERO resale value..

Happy Hunting!!

Keira-WitherKay

i too am an acoustic guitar nut and although settled now in last 5 years i was travelling my whole life and have in depth investigated travel options........however the forecast is bad.....as any small acoustic travel guitar is mostly horrid .......... tonally they suck even the expensive ones.they just too small to have a good sound.......

HOWEVER i have recently discovered the vox mini3 batterry amp..........

they cheap about R1500 retail and about R1100 0r cheaper after the store gives discount ......... so very inexpensive but very nice.....

only 3W but pretty damn loud...and it has modelling and fx on it and 2x channels plus an aux input for ipod so it can take 2 instruments or a guitar and mic...........

i own 2 of them .......since i came to the realisation that they louder by far than any acoustic and are battery powered by 6x penlights (which means they can work anywhere in world with an easily available battery ) they also have a power supply but battery life is an incredible 27 hours ...... or longer ........ and can work on rechargeables too.........

the amp looks cool and i have 2 in white tolex .......

so now when you travel .......you can take an electric guitar which is built much more solidly to survive travelling and just pop this little amp into your suitcase ............

it;s pretty small and has great sound (truly one of the better small battery amps around ...the only other contender is the roland mobile cube but i prefer the features on vox for my needs ) .....and tough enough to take any knocks but small and light enough to take a small corner of your suitcase .. and battery power with a AA size battery's which are available anywhere (and battery life is real long ) all for about 1K ........

and a bonus is if you put an ipod thru it you have music where ever you are too.......... so not just for your guitar

if you don't believe my take on this ask icecream man (on forum) .....he showed his one to me and i was blown away and ordered mine the very next morning ........ it really sounds awesome and fully featured for the price ............

so i would take my mini 3 and an thinline acoustic like the yamaha silent guitar or even an electric guitar and be having great sound wherever i went ........
check out the amp on the vox site
http://www.voxamps.com/mini3/

i even have an idea to build this little amp into a guitar case ..so have mobile sound in one case .as airlines as long as you tell em in advance often allow one guitar case as "free " extra baggage ........ so an amp and guitar in one case is a great solution

so this amp has changed the way i see travelling with a guitar and means less stress about damaging that lovely acoustic and NOT having to try and put up with a thin twangy sounding travel acoustic, if you not heard a travel guitar just listen to a martin backpacker (marshall music woodmead has one ) ... or a washburn rover... or even the more expensive ones like baby taylor ..in fact any acoustic made with smaller bodies and you know it's a thin sound that has little volume and sounds more like a large ukelele than a full size guitar ......

and another concern is many of the travel guitars feature shorter scale length so unless you have tiny hands you will find it small to play on..

of course the other option is just buy a guitar when you arrive............. a full size acoustic ..... i've travelled thru much of the world and never yet NOT found a guitar store somewhere even in small places like bahrain ....then just buy a descent enough acoustic to satisfy your taste and donate it to someone when you leave ....... sometimes thats the cheaper option than dragging stuff around /risking damage and theft and taking up your weight allowance for flights

btw i have no affiliation with vox............ BUT i think this battery amp is a winner

Squonk

I have been researching this topic for awhile.

I have tried the Martin Backpacker, Washburn Rover and as practical as these may be in size, tonally there is a huge compromise.

The best bet, IMHO are the 3/4 size guitars and some of them have a big sound and are not far from a full bodied acoustic.

- Baby Taylor , played a couple of these and the tone is pretty decent, well made and playable
- Little Martin - these get great reviews, still have to test drive one
- Cort Earth Mini - also good value
- Vintage - the one I played was a bit dodgy at Music Connection, not in the same class as the Baby Taylor or Little Martin.

I suppose there are many reasons why you would want a Travel Guitar, if it's to put in the compartments during flights, then you would have to go for one of the funny shaped models, Martin Backpacker Etc. But first investigate the size of a 3/4 guitar, a lot smaller than you think.

I need a travel guitar for all the camping trips that we go on, 3/4 size is fine for me.

I am torn between the Baby Taylor and the Little Martin, and now the Cort Earth Mini(thanks Brendon)

say no more

Fingerpicker

My mate had the mini Martin and it always sounded like it needed to be re-tuned. Drove him batty. He's still batty.
I think the choice of guitar depends on whether you want to entertain or practice. If you just want to practice get something as compact and cheap as possible, preferably with the option to playback through headphones. Depending on the countries you will be travelling, be prepared to lose it to customs. If you bought it cheap this won't be too much of a shock. The Customs officials will try to extort "sales tax" Or " Import tax". Tell them that they can keep it and hand over a small pot of vaseline and tell them to shove it. In 30 years of travelling in Africa and Middle East I never paid a bribe.

I used to travel with a guitar if driving to my destination.
I was in the International Guesthouse (you can imagine) in Oshakati during the war years, playing my guitar and singing at about 10pm. Next thing there's this loud banging on the prefab wall and this voice booms out "SIT AF DAAI FOKKEN RADIO!" (it always sounds more official in Afrikaans). Well I take compliments in whichever form they come so I shouted back "thank you!"

Warren

Fingerpicker wrote:
I used to travel with a guitar if driving to my destination.
I was in the International Guesthouse (you can imagine) in Oshakati during the war years, playing my guitar and singing at about 10pm. Next thing there's this loud banging on the prefab wall and this voice booms out "SIT AF DAAI FOKKEN RADIO!" (it always sounds more official in Afrikaans). Well I take compliments in whichever form they come so I shouted back "thank you!"

:roflmao: :roflmao:

AcousticJunkie

Sheeeeesh... you guys are really full of great info......... How's that critical review FingerPicker got in Oshakati??? You have to travel far to get fans like that!!

It looks like I bit off quite a lot wanting to buy a guitar like this....... I will have to sing higher, carry a mini amp in my suitcase, use Vaseline to help at border posts, whatever I buy will have zero resale value and will, in any event, be taken over by my daughter and it will drive me batty. ?

The best piece of advice was from Keira who recommended that I have a guitar in each port........... Works for me...... ?

Thanks for the input.....

Airguitar

AcousticJunkie wrote: Sheeeeesh... you guys are really full of great info......... How's that critical review FingerPicker got in Oshakati??? You have to travel far to get fans like that!!

It looks like I bit off quite a lot wanting to buy a guitar like this....... I will have to sing higher, carry a mini amp in my suitcase, use Vaseline to help at border posts, whatever I buy will have zero resale value and will, in any event, be taken over by my daughter and it will drive me batty. ?

The best piece of advice was from Keira who recommended that I have a guitar in each port........... Works for me...... ?

Thanks for the input.....

Excellent summary!!!!

chilliepot

I did all these kind of comparisons a while back and ended up buying a Hora travel guitar. It doesnt sound as great as a jumbo but that is what you sacrifice for a small body. It has a teardrop shaped body.
The overall length is 8850 and scale length is 6150. So it has an (almost) standard scale length. It comes with a bag but I made my own hard case.
Im happy with what I got.

singemonkey

chilliepot wrote: I did all these kind of comparisons a while back and ended up buying a Hora travel guitar. It doesnt sound as great as a jumbo but that is what you sacrifice for a small body. It has a teardrop shaped body.
The overall length is 8850 and scale length is 6150. So it has an (almost) standard scale length. It comes with a bag but I made my own hard case.
Im happy with what I got.

Nice looking instrument:

I can see that a lot of volume would be sacrificed in a body like this. Hmm...

Keira-WitherKay

singemonkey wrote:
chilliepot wrote: I did all these kind of comparisons a while back and ended up buying a Hora travel guitar. It doesnt sound as great as a jumbo but that is what you sacrifice for a small body. It has a teardrop shaped body.
The overall length is 8850 and scale length is 6150. So it has an (almost) standard scale length. It comes with a bag but I made my own hard case.
Im happy with what I got.
Nice looking instrument:

I can see that a lot of volume would be sacrificed in a body like this. Hmm...

yeah thats the biggest issue with travel guitars............ and as a player you need to make one critical decision before you buy ...........
decide if you want a good sounding guitar or............... just one that gives some sorta sound but allows you to practise and play ....

also how important is the size issue...cos in reality unless you say on a yatch travelling the world in most other cases you can carry a normal small bodies acoustic easily .......... most travel guitars are NOT that much smaller than a small bodied acoustic ........ like a 00 ...... and at least the 00 sounds fuller and has a full scale length .....yes a hint bigger but if you flying it won't make a difference ...if your extra guitar case is a few cm shorter......since post 9/11 most ailines will NOT allow you to travel with your guitar in the cabin ..so it being able to fit into an overhead isn't critical....... as it's prob going in the hold regardless......... they worry more about weight NOT size unless it's a double bass ? and most acoustics are about same weight as a travel guitar within a small margin ...but will sound better when you play it

once you decide that it's easy from there .............

i have a 1/2 size nylon string which has a good neck on it but it sounds ok when you hear it alone..but don't dare A/B it with a full size nylon same goes for most all travel acoustics with small bodies........ they sound ok if you hear em alone in a small room ............ ? say no more.........

what i liked but they expensive is the carbon fibre travel guitars that "Blackbird" make they built tough and sound great but i don't think they that much smaller in size.......but just tougher to handle knocks on the road............... and are fully waterproof .but it comes at a steep cost compared to other travel guitars .but it sounds good tho

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