However during the rest of my holiday in the US i happened to visit a small music shop in NY where i saw a unbranded travel guitar which had a conventional body ...and boy did it boom !! Certainly louder than the Go Guitar i have bought at $300. This one was only for $90. On my return home i did some research on the internet and find that there are a few brands of travel guitars available with a conventional body as opposed to the funky shapes akin to the Go guitar or the Martin Backpacker.

I have narrowed down to two choices. 1) The Washburn Joey at $80 something and 2) The Baby Taylor at $240 something . Im going to be in New York again in October. I would be grateful if i could get some feedback on which one would be better value for money ?? ..given that i want to stick to acoustic blues with some bottleneck thrown in.

Thanks a ton in advance .

Cheers

Taken it into the cabin of airplanes two or three times with no hassle at all. Fits right into the smallest of overheads.

also caught my 4 year old literally standing on it in its case which made my blood run cold, but there wasn't a scratch , dent or crack

I've tried the Martin backpacker which was very disappointing. If you fingerpick, I'd give that a pass quickly.

I confess to actually liking the sound of the little travel guitar that you brought to IGS San Diego. I thought it played and sounded fine for a travel guitar, rather punchy and distinctive for such a small little beast.

I have a Baby Taylor. I love it and likely will never sell it. But I bought mine before ever having had the chance to play a Larivee Parlor. The Larivee Parlor guitars are all solid wood and I'm told that they are based on an old Martin design. More than just a travel guitar, I think they sound especially good for fingerstyle blues.

Another option that hasn't been mentioned yet is this half size Style O made by Fine Resophonic guitars in France. Check it out at: http://www.fineresophonic.com/custom3m.htm

Gentleman luthier and IGS San Diego Alumni, Charles Freeborn, mentioned that he has ideas for a travel guitar employing a short scale and a mandolin sized Dobro cone. How's that coming along, Charles?

Incidentally, my most "traveled" guitar is now my National Reso-Phonic Style 1 Tricone. It fits just fine in the overhead in a gig bag.

Thanks a lot for the inputs. I think i am veering towards a Baby Taylor. Adrian would you be kind enough to check out the over all length of your Ibanez ....i know a Baby Taylor is 33 & 3/4th inches ..dont seem to find the full length of an Ibanez Mini dreadnought any where.Any inputs at all on the WashBurn ? Scott thanks a ton for the link on the samll resonator ...that will have to wait for a couple of years ...but it looks beautiful piece.

Thanks again

Sounds good but I hope you don't recycle that razor blade at work.

The Tommyhawk travel guitar played by the likes of Hambone on his new CD. http://www.tommyhawk.com/specs.htm

The Tacoma Papoose sounds great. This guitar as well as the Tommyhawk are tuned a fourth higher than standard. The Papoose now comes in a variety of solid tonewoods. http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/items/PAPOOSE.htm

By the way, Taylor recommended that the Baby Taylor be tuned to F# the first two years it was in production. Later they changed recommendations to standard tuning.

I own the Larivee Parlour (great for breaks at the workplace, kept under my desk), the Martin Backpacker, and the Tayor Baby.

Thanks for the tip on using the Baby Taylor for slide. Tried it yesterday with great results.

Back in India after 10 days in New York . Acquired my Baby Taylor (Mahogany) within half an hour of hitting Manhattan form a Sam Ash store ..followed by tons of guitar literature from a store called the Colony Music store ..so got loads of material to supplement the nuggets hoarded back from IGS - SD.

Thanks for all the inputd ..wish i could have afforded a Larivee but the Taylor is excellent value for money.
Charles - id be keen to know about the results with the resonater you are building . BTW saw your post on Woody,s forum referring to my post on harmonising . Have been working on his advice with good results. I should have a template on improvisation that works on most genres.

Shall sign off for now .

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Originally posted by stewdog:
I own a Baby Taylor and really enjoy it. Sometimes you just don't want the the D-18 in a trunk or worse for a week. Everyone really gets a kick out of it until they play it and then the envy starts. As most of you here know the travel guitar thing takes on its own life. I want other travel guitars almost as much as other fine full size. The mini martin is cool and I see Gibson has a new offering as well. But have you seen this one? Check it out...http://www.brunner-guitars.com/index.htm

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Unbelievable! I just saw these advertised in the June 2005 issue of Acoustic Guitar. Here's a working link: http://www.outdoorguitar.com

quote:

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Originally posted by plunger:
I own a Baby Taylor and have trouble keeping it in tune. Any suggestions?

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I had a similar problem with my boy's Baby Taylor. When we went to do a string change the neck was just a little loose. We pulled the neck off and cleaned all contact surfaces then reassembled with the fasteners tight. The new strings made a big difference in the sound and after the strings set in (we had to retune 3 or 4 times) the strings stabilized and it held a tune from then on. The Baby has laminate sides and back, but humidity changes can effect tuning on wood guitars. Storage should be in a hard case and possibley with a humidifier (ecspecially if its dry in your area in the winter). There s a "How to care for a wood guitar" pdf on the Taylor website that may help you. Hope this helps you out some!!

There are quite a few "Baby Taylor" size guitars on the market, of various quality (3/4 size "000" style shape - but a lot shallower). Some, like the Tanglewood TW15, use solid tone woods. These sound better but are more expensive and fragile than the laminate "beater" versions (which I prefer for their functionality).

The 23" scale of these guitars usually means some intonation issues (less margin for error). They lack depth and volume in the sound BUT they are absolutely fine for campfires, beaches and mountain huts or hotel rooms (for the more refined of you!). They are certainly all much better than the Martin Packpacker style of travel guitar.

I've got a cheap SX Baby (laminated mahogany). It came with a well padded gig bag - absolutely essential for a travel guitar. The laminated body (or composite body like the Little Martin) is an advantage if, like me, you travel to extremes of climate. My SX Baby has been in 100% humidity rain forest, desert heat and sub-zero. I even have had it freeze solid in its gig bag! I have mine strung with light gauge strings (12-54) but replace the .12 with a .13. I play it in standard tuning, bottleneck slide in open g or d. And I regularly use a nut riser and play it lap style.

Despite the recent security changes, airlines will still take them as your single item of hand bagage.

I really would not be without one of these guitars. They perform the "travel guitar" function exceptionally well - particularly if you are looking for a rough travelling companion, suitable for all conditions.

The Brunner "outdoor guitar" looks and sounds wonderful, but I would be loathed to take one on many of the trips I do - way too good a guitar for smokey mountain huts or beach BBQs. Also it looks more awkward to carry. Perfect for business travel however and those who need real quality tone to feel satisfied.

When my SX Baby (which I would not recommend - there are much better versions of these Baby guitars around) finally dies in some foreign field, I will probably replace it with an HPL Little Martin.

I now own a Larrivee P03 mahogany parlour and LOVE it. I've played many baby Taylors and the Martin version and found they don't intonate well above the 5th fret. The Larrivee Parlour is not really a travel guitar but it travels extremely well just the same.

I don't think anyone has mentioned the Simon & Patrick parlour guitar. I believe it is similar in size to the Larrivee Parlour and sells for around $200 new.

I'd love to get a Tacoma Papoose, especially the 12-string version. Frets.com has a custom one in their gallery made of Koa. Check it out.

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Gryphon/NewInstGallery/Guitar/Tacoma/KoaPapoose/koapapoose.html
A beautiful Papoose for sure, but priced in the stratosphere.

quote:

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Originally posted by Chris Drew:
Hey Robin, what's that softcase you have there in that photo?

I have a semi-hardcase thing for my travel guitar but I'm after something that I can roll up small & stash away when not in use...

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It is a "soft" case made by SX that came with the guitar, but it is basically a straight rip off of the Baby Taylor gig bag. The bag is cordura and so well padded that it wont roll up - you can fold the neck section down to stuff it away.

Taylor got it right when they introduced this size of travel guitar with a tough, functional over-padded gig bag in cordura plus strong strap attachment points. And SX got it right when they copied it I use two prusics loops off the gig bag D rings and a krab to attach the guitar to my mounatineering rucksac.

I've not seen a Little Martin gig bag, but I feel sure the company must have copied the concept - I would have!

Robin

PS - I'm just about to leave the house to go and meet a sea kayak group I have camping down the coast - my travel guitar is already loaded ready to come too

http://www.yamaha.co.jp/english/product/guitar/silent_guitar/index.html

Of course you need an amp. Thats where the Vox DA5 comes into the picture. This tiny wonderful sounding amp fits easily in a suitcase.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DA5

Guitars like the Martin Backpacker just don't make it in my book.

The fingerboard was a good width for a 23 inch scale guitar, and I liked the narrow frets, which gave just that bit more room for my fingers on the short scale.

The voice was really very good for a half-size guitar - very well balanced indeed. It was actually better in terms of versatility (strum, fingerstyle and slide) than the A&L AMI I tried it against, which surprised both my son and me. I needed a thumb pick to bring out the bass - but that can only get better as the top opens up. The neck felt really solid and the tuners were subtle enough to cope with the level of accuracy required on a short scale guitar.

The gig bag was perfect for travel - very similar to the excellent Baby Taylor gig bag.

As a travel guitar - this one is not going to disappoint. Hopefully it will age quite nicely as well.