Travel guitars

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
I bought a book called Getting Plucky with the Ukulele. It has a photo showing all the different size ukes right next to each other for comparison. I goes from the bass to the microlele which he says is the size of a refrigerator magnet. ;D
 
You're right, it's an addiction. I have 2 sopranos (for grandkids), 2 concerts, 1 tenor, 2 baritones, 1 banjouke. There's another one somewhere ...

Depending on your experience with the bass, and my experience playing one at the Kala factory demo room, I might get one.

Can't see me buying a micro, but the luthier has one hanging in his shop.
 
I would like to buy a micro but it would be basically a wall hanger since it would be unplayable. I currently have one soprano, one concert and one tenor. I have no desire to get a baritone since I have such a great guitar already. But who knows how I will feel after I go a few weeks without buying one. ;D ???
 
I have no desire to get a baritone since I have such a great guitar already.

No reason for you to buy a baritone. I came the other direction - bought a baritone because I liked the sound, and playing it convinced me to buy my first guitar.
 
As a guitar player, you'd be disappointed with a baritone uke.
 
I have a Martin LXM in a gig bag as a travel guitar - it's smaller (smaller than a parlor), made of laminate but still sounds pretty good. It can take fairly serious changes in temp and humidity and doesn't seem to care. To be honest, I'd just as soon it DIDN'T say "Martin" on the headstock or the bag (I actually used fabric paint to paint over the gold Martin logo on the gigbag), because people immediately assume it is an expensive guitar.

http://www.swee****er.com/store/detail/LXM

My main mandolin stays at home and I travel with an Eastman 604 in a humidified hard case. The Eastman, although factory made in China, has a nice tone to it. In the mandolin world it is considered a cheap mandolin, although it'd set me back about a grand to replace it. The $50-$100 mandolins you see in stores are just about unplayable and don't sound very good out of the box - once you've spent several hundred dollars setting the thing up, you might just as well have bought a better mandolin.
 
For some reason, amazon shows all versions of the Little Martin as "unavailable", but it's "in stock" at the Swee****er link you provided.
 
I ran into a guy playing one on the rim of the Grand Canyon and he let me play it. Very nice guitar, as all Martins are.
 

Attachments

  • Tom 2010-03.jpg
    Tom 2010-03.jpg
    201.1 KB · Views: 18
Finally decided that this is not for me. It's a great travel guitar (small form factor), but has a 'wide' neck. It's also less sonorous and has lower volume sound than 'full size' acoustic guitars. It's not available with electronics, so you're limited to the sound from the small sound box. Thanks to amazon's return policy, it's on it's way back.
 
Tom - I just learned something that really helps me out. You probably already know it but I will repeat it just in case you don't. To make playing the Bb chord easier place your thumb behind the headstock. It is a bit awkward at first but I think in time it will feel more natural.
 
Aye Tom, that helps with a number of ukulele chords. I didn't think about mentioning it, but I now realize that you probably didn't need to do that with a guitar.
 
I had a Martin and never really liked it.  The bass always sounded muddy to me.  I sold it and bought my first Taylor.  Then I bought another, and another, and another.  My latest is a GS Mini that sounds really good amplified, and better than I expected when played without an amp.

I wish I had known sooner you were looking for a travel guitar.  Since I don't fly for business anymore I would have let you try my Baby Taylor.  Great action, acceptable tone.  So it goes.

Is the backpacker you bought the old triangular body?
 
I am surprised by the reviews.  I've played several of those and didn't find the tone 'sonorous' at all.

The Baby Taylor would have cost more but it comes with a hard case and has a real guitar shape that doesn't slide off your lap.

The reason they make these without a truss rod is because the scale length is shorter so there's much less tension on the strings.  I have a custom acoustic that has a steel bar under the fretboard rather than a truss rod and while it sounds great most of the time if I forget to humidify it regularly the neck changes and I get buzzes when playing up the neck.  It has a very close action.
 
I have owned my Martin Backpacker for close to 20 years.  The guitar has gone everywhere with including some backpacking trips; it has served me well.  The sound has improved as the wood has aged.  There are times where I will bring the backpacker, when I know other guitars will be at a camp out just to have a little different sound.
Good luck with yours.  BTW I did lower the action by almost half and it is a little easier to play.
 
Back
Top Bottom