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While the idea of a guitar designed purely for travel is still fairly new, the range of available options is bigger than ever. If you're thinking about a guitar for your next road trip, holiday or business trip, we've put together this handy guide to help you on your journey!
The first 'travel' guitars were designed as scaled-down versions of traditional guitars, and while they were practical they often had little resonance or acoustic tone because of their small, boxy bodies. While these guitars still have their fans, forward-thinking builders have come up with a huge range of ingenious designs, often with removable necks or bodies, arched tonewoods and useful electronic additions. For example, the Yamaha Silent guitars come in steel string or nylon string configurations, and feature an onboard preamp and headphone amplifier, along with effects, EQ, tuner and pickup blend! This makes it an ideal choice for the travelling performer, or for those wanting to play long into the night without waking those nearby.
For those looking for a miniature traditional acoustic that is perfect for beach and picnic singalongs, there are a number of great options. The Alvarez RT26 is a fun and comfortable 1/2 size guitar that has a surprisingly loud tone, and the Yamaha APXT2 is the smallest travel guitar that we've come across, with a sweet, bright sound and onboard tuner, and is available in a wide range of fun colours.
If you're looking for a bigger sound, the Taylor Baby and Martin 'Little Martin' guitars are well worth a look. They both have flawless build quality, and a deeper, warmer tone. If you have a little more room available, the Taylor GS Mini is the most popular travel guitar in the world, and it's easy to see why - it has a lush, rich tone and one of the most comfortable necks of any guitar. There's a huge range of timber options available, but it's hard to look past the GS Mini-e Koa, with it's striking Hawaiian Koa construction.
Journey Instruments build some of the most technologically advanced travel guitars in the world. Designed as a full-size guitar that can be disassembled for travel, they have a warm, deep tone and can easily compete with their non-travel counterparts, and easily fit into an included overhead luggage bag. Their Carbon Fibre modelsare especially impressive, with a natural acoustic tone and bulletproof construction that can withstand fluctuations in temperature and humidity without issue.
If you're looking for something made here in Australia, there are plenty of wonderful options. Both the Maton 'Mini Maton' and Cole Clark 'Little Lady' boast all-solid construction, along with their legendary acoustic pickup systems. If you've never heard a Mini Maton through a big PA system, prepare to be surprised by it's incredible plugged-in tone!
While travel guitars are often thought of as inexpensive beaters, some high-end builders are challenging that notion. The Wee Lowden is Lowden's signature guitar, beloved by Ed Sheeran among countless others. It has a rich, lyrical tone that easily outshines guitars twice its size. Santa Cruz's Firefly model is an even smaller, world-class travel guitar with a sweet and shimmering tone dripping with harmonics, and Collings' Baby model is a scaled down OM2H, with all of Collings' signature clarity and depth. These guitars prioritise exceptional timbers and first-rate craftsmanship, and represent the ultimate small-guitar experience - perfect for an awe-inspiring couch guitar.
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