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List Price: $428.99
Sale Price: $299.99
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- One-piece maple neck and body with natural finish
- Features a Shadow under-saddle piezo pickup and standard 1/4-inch output
- Detachable lap rest frame
- Includes deluxe gig bag, limited three-year warranty
- Full 24-3/4" scale, 22-fret acoustic/electric travel guitar fits in airline overhead bins
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I've had various travel guitarsI have a Taylor Big Baby, and used to own a Martin Backpackerbut I was looking for something that was more portable than eithersomething small enough to pack inside a suitcase and carry on vacation. I wasn't looking something with great sound, or something stageworthy, just something with a full sized neck to practice on when I was away from home.
I tried one of the Travelers that comes with both piezo and magnetic pickups at a local guitar discount chain, and I liked the feel (though not the painted finish); it was the only model they had, so I decided to do a buit more research into the range. Back home, I looked at the Traveler Guitars web site, and this model caught my eyeno electronics, piezo pickup only, but it was light, tiny, and came in an attractive natural finish. And the price was right, too. I decided to chance it.
It arrived this morning, and I've been playing with it most of the day. Fit and finish is very good, if simple, and the feel of the neck is excellent. The neck in particular shows a lot of care, with all the frets carefully hand-filed and shapedno sharp edges here, like on so many inexpensive imports. Traveler is either doing a lot of QC on these guitars when they arrive, or they've found a really good shop to produce them.
Despite the odd shape and lack of a headstock, it's easy to play. I found that a strap was more comfortable for me than the clip-on lap support, but thanks to the light weight, even without the strap or the lap support it's easy to hold.
Plugged into a standard guitar ampa Tech21 Trademark 30the sound was not very goodtoo much of that piezo twang, and an uneven balance. But plugged into the high-impedance (10 megohm) input of my Acoustic Image Contra, the sound was surprisingly goodbetter than a lot of much more expensive, piezo outfitted instruments I've tried. Using my K&K Preamp with a short (6") patch cord also delivered a much improved sound.
In summary, I'm very happy with this guitar (in fact, I've got in on my lap as I type this). It's tiny enough to travel everywhere, and with the right amplification, it sounds very good. In fact, I'm thinking the Traveler bass guitar might be a nice addition to the collection, too.
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This is no Strat. It is no Dreadnaught. But it is a very nice little practice guitar. Fit and finish make it a real musical instrument, not a toy. Stays in tune. Sounds very good through a Rowland Micro Cube amp. I haven't found a satisfactory headphone amp yet.
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First of all I love this as a travel guitar. And I'm considering adding other models to my collection, even though I don't really need them. It took me a while to decide if I wanted the Original Escape, the Pro, or the Ultra Light-Acoustic or Electric. In the end I bought the Ultra-light Acoustic.
I wanted something super small so I wouldn't have some excuse not to take it with me on long overseas trips. I really liked the Pro, but I wasn't thrilled about the little wooden leg support. And unlike my ultra-light which I have the option of not using, the pro-needs the wooden leg attached to work, and it seems like it would take more time to set up. The metal leg brace on the ultra pops in a second (it looks weird but it works nicely!)
And there are a few reports of the pro and the wood brace cracking as well. So I decided to stay away from it.
The ultra Light has a nice ebony fretboard, the tuning is a little odd, but you quickly get used to it. Changing strings takes a little getting used to but isn't really a problem. The Guitar seems to stay in tune very well and the neck was nice and straight with no Truss adjustments needed..
There is no volume adjustment, so you need to adjust the volume from your amp. Sounds from the Pizo pickup is good, and when I went into my VOX AC-30 with a little overdrive sounded just like an electric guitar...
My major issue was the the string action, admittedly I like really low string action on acoustics and ones that tend to play like electrics(I like taylor acoustics for this reason). But the action as shipped was usable at the low frets, but at the higher frets above about 12 made flat picking a chore.
However I simply adjusted the saddle (basically a guitar setup procedure where you file/sand down the saddle until you get to the string height). If you know how to do this aready it is pretty easy on this guitar as the saddle is removable, if not then any guitar shop/Luthor will do it for you.
Once I adjusted this, I love the feel. I have acoustic strings on it and it feels a lot like my Les Paul or my Taylors. (Note it has a 24 1/2" scale which is on the low side of what is considered a standard. Les Pauls are ~24 3/4, Strats are 25 1/2". But it is certainly normal, not short like some of the other funky travel guitars out there.
To compare, I did first buy a Washburn Rover which had glowing reviews, however I thought it was a piece of junk. Very toy like and had terrible neck feel and string action. Returned it right away. However this is a very playable guitar even for an experiance guitarist like my self. Good for travel and just practicing on the couch.
However be aware that with acoustic strings you aren't going to get much sound out of it without an amp (compared to a normal acoustic). I don't really care since I often play or practice my electrics not plugged in. So this probably isn't for you if you want to sit around the campfire and entertain. However I would recommend for an easy guitar to take with you anywhere.
In it's case it is really small and easily carried over shoulder and can be wedged into a tight space in a bag bin on an airplane. Looks kind of like a short shotgun when in it's case..
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The Traveler Ultra Light serves it's purpose as an easily packable full-scale travel guitar. Put on a decent strap and it's not hard to get use to playing. The problem I have encountered is that it does not have a built in headphone amp and I haven't found one that is very compatible with it. The Pocket Rock-it sounds pretty good but the positioning and size of it make it awkward to use since it gets in the way of your strumming arm. I bought a Dean Markley travel amp with a 3" speaker and it doesn't sound very good with the piezo pick-up on the guitar. Its very "quacky" and plastic sounding. Plugged into a full-size amp, this guitar sounds great but that kind of defeats the purpose of the travel concept. I have never tried the Traveler Pro-Series, which has the piezo pick-up, single coil pick-up and stethophone or the Traveler Escape, which has a built in headphone amp but I would recommend those over the Ultra-Light. The materials on the Ultra-Light are high quality and it is very well made so I would think other products from this company are as well. I will probably buy another Traveler brand guitar in the future.
After looking at many of the travel guitars I decided to purchase the Traveller Ultra-light. At 3 pounds and 28 inches it fits nicely into my 28" rolling airline bag. The quality is excellent. I use it with a laptop computer as an amp while on the road. I am very happy with this Guitar.
