Welcome to our page about travel guitar. Some people think that the best friend of a man is the dog, but there are musicians that will maintain that the appropriate travel guitar is a much better road companion than the dog. After all, it needs quite less care, it can be strummed around a campfire unlike the dog and it can be kept quiet in the hotel room and on the bus.
Selecting the most suitable traveling guitar for you depends on your individual preferences and goals. Before purchasing the best travel guitar for you, you have to answer several questions for yourself first:
- Are you purchasing the traveler guitar for yourself or it is meant as a present to someone else?
- Does your guitar have to be smaller than regular full sized guitar or you would like a full-size instrument that can use some beating but sounds good?
- Does your preference go to an electric or acoustic guitar for traveling (or both, do you require the possibility to be plugged in)?
- Do you need a travelguitar to record or perform small gigs?
- Would you rather like to have a minimal, tiny backpack acoustic guitar, one that is very convenient for traveling but you can use it for practicing or for campfire setting?
What Exactly is the Travel Guitar?
Guitars are wonderful instruments, but they are quite bulky. For guitar players, the size is not such a problem as for tuba players or upright bassist, but it is an issue compared to vocalists, harmonica players and flautists. To solve this size problem and the difficulty of traveling with a guitar, makers have developed guitars that are smaller in size than the regular ones. They come with all of the basic features, and most of these guitars come with full-size necks, but these instruments are small enough to travel easily with them and in many cases, they are designed so they can fit in the airplanes’ overhead compartments. These instruments are called travel guitars, and the models we feature on our website are the pinnacle of innovation when it comes to functionality and portability.
Tips About Selecting the Best Traveler Guitar
There are few choices involved in purchasing a traveler guitar. Whether you would like an electric, acoustic or electric-acoustic guitar; whether you would like a guitar that is as small as possible or a guitar that is close to a standard size guitar; and whether you would like a mini guitar or one with a small body and full-sized neck.
You should bear in mind that you cannot plug in acoustic travel guitars because their sound is produced in acoustic way. These guitars often sound thin in comparison to full-size acoustic guitars but still, they could sound wonderful. The sound of electric travel guitars is produced via magnetic pickups. The acoustic-electric guitars produce their sound via piezo pickups which produce a sound that is much more similar to acoustic guitars than the magnetic pickups sound.
You can find traveling guitars, such as the Traveler Ultra-Light which come in a size that as is small as can be and therefore maximum portable. However, such guitars feel strange in the musician’s hands and because of this, other slightly bigger instruments are produced that have more full-size guitar feel.
And also, there are travel guitars with miniature size and you can find mini guitars with necks that are full-sized. The miniatures, such as the Baby Taylor, are, in essence, full-size guitars as it comes to their properties, but everything on them is smaller. There are traveler guitars with full-size necks connected to smaller, sometimes much smaller body than this of a standard guitar.
To sum up, travel guitars are a wonderful thing – inexpensive, very functional and each example of them varies in its idiosyncrasy from all the rest. There are examples that sound better, examples that feel better, traveling guitars that are more portable, examples that are designed with more creativity, but after all, each of those examples of guitar travel has its purpose. Every particular travel guitar can find its person and could be perfect for this person. Which one is the best traveling guitar is up to you.
However, this guide can be quite useful for making an easier choice, even if you focus your attention only on a few prominent players in the field.
Select a Miniature or Travel Guitar that is Ready for the Road and Suitable to your Budget and Music?
That is the choice for the guitar player? You want a guitar for your road trip, but you are not willing to put at risk of damaging your precious acoustic or electric guitar. And you have taken the decision that it is already time to buy a new travel guitar to use on the road. It is a good decision, but take a pause for a little. There are a few aspects you should think about before purchasing your new traveling guitar with your not so easily earned cash.
Why buy a traveling guitar?
Besides scratches and scuffs, the road can be very dangerous and harsh for your guitar, especially if you cover a bigger territory. The everyday changes in the humidity level are dangerous for the finish of the guitar, the electronics and tonewoods. So what can be done in this case? The answer is yes – buy a travel guitar!
With the guitar travel:
- You can feel more relaxed because you do not have to worry about causing damage to your favorite or main guitar.
- With a travel sized guitar, you can have more space in your tour bus or car. You can fly with your guitar easier than before, owing to the new musician-friendly rules about instruments by FAA.
- You can select from electric, acoustic, or electric-acoustic travel guitars when the time has come to choose the perfect travel guitar for you.
So, let out a relaxed breath and just leave the very much loved and expensive guitar at home and enter the huge world of the small best traveler guitars!
Electric Travel Guitars to Take With You
When you have an electric guitar for travel, you can also think about an amplifier for traveling. In case you do not want to bring an amplifier with you, some guitar models have a special headphone output that is practice-friendly with which you can jam out silently for the other people.
For the fans of the Strat, the company Squier produces a version of the Bullet that is ¾ scale and is called the Squier Mini Strat. It feels and looks like a regular size Strat and delivers a lot of sound for a wonderful price. It could also be used as a children’s beginner guitar.
If you want a guitar that looks more weird and alternative, you can choose some of the uniquely shaped travel guitars, such as the Ultra-Light and the Speedster. You can also go for the Hofner Shorty Electric, a model providing you with all of the functional aspects of a regular size electric guitar in a package that is scaled down.
The traveler guitar Speedster offers a convincing sound, detachable armrest and unique headstock-less design and it is a wonderful choice for all guitar players on the road.
When you are at home, your electric guitar for travel can bring special voice to your recording sessions and jams. When you plug it into your digital-everything modeling unit or a vintage go-to amplifier, you could be astonished by how multifaceted the little travel guitar is!
Acoustic Travel Guitars to be Taken on the Road
The acoustic guitars for travel are, in essence, guitars that are downsized exclusively for this purpose. Well, you can quickly purchase the first acoustic guitar you stumble on that is downsized, but there is a great possibility to end up with something more like a ukulele than an actual guitar.
If you spend more time traveling, and you cannot find enough space to carry around a full-size acoustic guitar, you can always choose a travel acoustic guitar. It may become a little difficult to discover a guitar that complies with your lifestyle and sound because of these guitar’s size, but you can find guitars for travel, such as the Martin Steel String Backpacker and the Washburn Rover Travel Guitar that regardless of their size, produce a very strong sound.
The extremely compact Martin Steel String Backpacker creates astonishingly strong acoustic sound due to its top made of solid spruce.
The guitars with travel size are very suitable for musicians who want to play on the road and save a storage space and avoid airline check-in issues. However, the smaller size body and smaller necks added to the somewhat lower volume provided by miniature guitars can be a turnoff for some people. You would like to have a standard guitar, but to be smaller. There are some acoustic guitars that are just a little smaller than a standard guitar that keep the shape and emulate most of the feel of their larger cousins. Instruments such as the Ibanez PF2MHOPN and the Luna Muse Safari Series are guitars that are ¾ scaled which create a satisfactory tone and very similar feel to the regular acoustics. They are also suitable for children and beginners because their shorter necks require less dexterous fingers in order to be mastered. These small traveling guitars look wonderful and come with attractive prices.
The travel acoustic Luna Muse Safari Mahogany ¾ Dreadnought is praised for its wonderful low-end response and meaty tone.
If you want the adaptability of the electric guitar but want to keep the acoustic guitar sound as well, you can take into consideration buying a miniature acoustic-electric guitar. Some of the wonderful choices are the Traveler Escape, the Yamaha APXT2 and the Martin LX1E Little Martin.
Similar to the acoustic-electric guitars that are full size, these guitar travel smaller variants come with built-in output jacks and preamps which means that when you decide to play in settings that are amplified, you are all set. In addition to anti-feedback circuits and tone controls, these preamps include in many cases a tuner, which is a great thing when you travel.
The Guitar Protection is Very Important
We would understand if we have not succeeded in convincing you not to take your precious full-size guitar on the road. You cannot find a hundred percent substitute for some guitars and sometimes there is no other option than to risk taking your expensive instrument on the road. If that is the case with you, you have to ensure the protection of your guitar, and you should use a case that can withstand the worst treatment of baggage handlers and roadies. The key to this is to get a case where your guitar can fit exactly or a case that can be modified to fit exactly. Some manufacturers sell cases with interiors that are moldable so the contours and curves of your instrument can be matched perfectly.
You can choose an electric or acoustic guitar case from a major guitar brand such as Gibson or Fender and you can also select it from a specialty manufacturer such as Gator Cases and SKB.
For example, the Pro Series Strat/Tele case by Fender is durable and can surely keep your guitar safe. The SG Hardshell Case by Gibson comes with a plush interior that is developed to keep your SG secured in place and it is custom designed. Moreover, the GWE Acou-3/4 Hardshell Case by Gator provides a stable protection for your travel guitar at an affordable price.
Take into consideration that if you are flying with a traveling guitar or any guitar, it has to meet the specifications by FAA and it has to have TSA accepted locks. Also keep in mind that selecting the suitable gig bag or case can be tricky in some cases.
More About Travelling With a Guitar
- Vagabonds Balance Size with Sound (Is the Instrument Compact)
- Airplane Travel With a Guitar (Policies and Measurements)