Moving Strings

For most pickers, a travel guitar is an old beater to take on the road. (My college guitar was an old flamenco model someone was throwing away; it was used not only for music but as a canoe paddle and in hand-to-hand combat.) But since 1991, when Martin introduced the Back-packer, an ingenious little sliver of a guitar shaped roughly like a broom, a travel guitar has become a specialty item that can cost upwards of $5,000.

For me, the best value is the Traveler Escape MK-II. It’s basically a small-body electric whose headstock and tuners have been taken off the end of the neck to reduce length, and tucked under the strings. I played it acoustically and it worked fine — small volume but a nice sound, not tinny at all. Lovely action; good feel to the neck, despite lack of head-stock; has the playing feel, if not the volume, of a high-end acoustic, but with the extra frets (22) of most electrics. Then I plugged in the headphones, and wow! Excellent sound, nice balance, crisp treble, rich bass. It’s one nice guitar.
$700 - travelerguitar.com

GUITARS ON THE GO

Some folks will want a small-bodied acoustic; some will want a lightweight electric they can play in hotel rooms to keep their licks in shape. Here are a few more travel guitars to choose from.

The Voyage-Air is a collapsible guitar for the touring pro who simply can’t stand to hand his or her livelihood over to someone whose idea of “special delivery” is tossing the case from the cargo hold to the baggage cart. As good as a $5,000 guitar — lovely tone, playability, gorgeous woods — but priced at under $2,000, this beauty hinges at the 14th fret, where the neck joins the body. Unscrew a single knob, lift up the head and swing it over toward the bridge, insert a special padded collar between the two halves of the fingerboard to prevent scraping, press three Velcro straps together, zip the collapsed guitar into its padded case, and voila! A backpack.
voyageairguitar.com

Click here for a video demonstration of this full-sized travel guitar by Jeff Cohen, CEO of Voyage-Air.

For Voyage-Air demonstration video

Both the Baby Taylor and the Little Martin are well-made small-body guitars that, although lacking somewhat in resonance and bass, are very nicely designed and built, easy to play, highly portable, and surprisingly loud. The Baby Taylor has a brighter sound, the Little Martin a warmer one. Both cost around $300; either way you can’t go wrong.
taylorguitars.com
martinguitar.com

The Miranda CFX-200 is the guitar for the serious classical musician. Open the case, take out the one-piece neck/heel/bridge/pickup/tuners/electronics and the two pieces of plastic shaped vaguely like longbows, and bolt them together with simple knob screws. The result is a guitar that is mostly air. Remarkably, it feels very much like you’re holding a classical guitar. The plastic sides are just flexible enough to feel firm but have a degree of give; the overall weight balance is authentic; easy action; consistent, nicely made frets.

First-time assembly took me 20 minutes, though with practice it’d be down to a minute or two. This is no campfire singalong guitar; at $1,300 it’s a perfectionist’s piece, something a demanding player would carry as a serious accessory. (A steel-string version is also available.)
miranda-tech.com

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