Traveler Escape EG-1 Travel Guitar Review

The Traveler Escape EG-1 is a travel-sized guitar with full size sound. The EG-1 is co-designed by John Carruthers for Traveler Guitar and the craftsmanship put into this axe shows it.

Whether it was tone, awkwardness, poor action or thin sound, travel guitars of the past have always been encumbered by something that just wasn’t quite right. That has changed with the EG-1. When I first pulled the EG-1 out of the shipping box, I was amazed at the size and weight. Obviously, since it’s a travel guitar that fits in an overhead airplane bin, it’s going to be small, but still, this thing is like a baby. However, we all know the old adage about how big things can come in small packages. The EG-1 delivers.

First, the guitar features a single humbucker pick-up, Alder body, maple neck with an ebonized rosewood fingerboard with 22 frets. I immediately needed to play this guitar, so I sat down with it and plugged in the Pocket Rock-It headphone amplifier and tuned it up. Let me say this, if you don’t have a strap, the EG-1 is a bit awkward when you rest it on your leg in a sitting position. However, beyond that, the sound is amazing. For a stock pick-up, the humbucker delivers big, warm sound. If you’re looking for a hotter sound, though, you may want to switch it out.

The action on the EG-1, for an electric, seems a bit high to me, but it’s really not bad out of the box. It’s also easy to adjust with the top-slotted bridge posts. The fat frets are also a plus. The overall feel of the guitar is pretty stout, even though the neck is relatively thin. I purchased the blue stripe model and I love this finish. From a looks standpoint, it reminds me of a fast car with a wicked racing stripe.

My one complaint about the EG-1 is how hard it is to re-string. After my first session, I decided to go with a lighter gauge set of strings. Due to the design of the guitar, re-stringing it is pretty tough, but after a call to their customer service department (thanks Dave!) I was able to get the job done.

Overall, this guitar is a great investment if you travel a lot. It stays in tune and has great sound, so you can rock wherever you go.

Traveler Escape EG-1 Features:

• Full 25-1/2″ scale
• 5 pounds light and only 29-1/4″ long
• Built-in Pocket RockIt headphone amp with distortion and clean tones
• Fits in airline overhead compartments
• Alder body
• American hard maple neck
• Fretboard: Ebonized rosewood
• 22 jumbo frets
• deluxe gig bag

Traveler Speedster Travel Guitar Review

Perhaps one of the newest innovations to hit the market concerning travel guitars is the Traveler Speedster guitar. It possess the ability to emulate the sound, feel, and look of a solid-body, full-size guitar; and, it’s perfect for any frequent traveler who would like to keep their chops up while on the road and/or concerned about damage to more conventional, valuable models.

Although the Traveler Speedster looks deceiving, the neck has the normal scale of 22 frets, with its width being narrower than a Gibson guitar, and closer to a Fender Stratocaster. It has a comfortable, detachable arm rest which helps it feel like a conventional guitar. The entire package comes with an attractive soft case(can be used as a carry-on), a pick, and a manual you will need regards to tuning and assembly.

This is not a guitar that I would use on a recording session or any gig situation, simply because of the single coil pickup which makes the tone sound deficient, if not a bit weak.   Overall, the sound quality is not that bad for a travel guitar, and as mentioned before, the neck is regular size, so players who have larger hands need not be concerned with any complications.  [UPDATE:  All New Traveler Speedster's come with a dual-rail Humbucker.  In no way is the sound or tone deficient but instead quite amazing.]

Although the action of the guitar was just fine as set by the factory, you can easily adjust the string action by raising the height and/or lowering the roller bridge. The tuning pegs are cumbersome, so extra care will be needed while tuning the guitar. The only disadvantage to the aforementioned roller bridge is the way the strings wrap around it provide an inconsistent tension distributed to the strings. This can make tuning this guitar a nightmare, but still easier to tune than any guitar with a floating tremolo bar.

Overall, I do recommend the Traveler Speedster, despite what I consider to be minor flaws in design. While the tuning system will take you some time to get used to, you will be able to adjust your tuning fairly easily within 2-3 weeks of practicing it. Even more encouraging is the fact that it can withstand knocks, bumps, etc. and still keep its tuning – thus reducing the fear of the tedious process of tuning this guitar. The easy portability of the Traveler Speedster, and full-size feel, make this an excellent choice.

Brian’s Input- there is several things im doing to make it a awesome guitar. I put in two micro switches, parrallel serial, cut out coil. Seymour Duncan pickup will be installed , I hope this isn’t a 95 dollar mistake. The original pickup does sound pretty good. The soider joints should be checked on anything from china, they put stuff together to fast, I used to soider for a living, yea i spelled it wrong. Not quite sure how I’m going to address the peg mounting for the armrest, you need the armrest and it works well. butt mine in on there kind of wobbly and will ruin the guitar in the long run. It needs two screw downs…. you cant put weight on something with a cheesy peg that doesn’t go all the way through the hole. I hope I don’t mess it up taking the peg out and making a secure screw down like with the strap screw. which was done nicely. It would be great if the company would just send me another one to replace the peg. I sent in the warranty but of course it isn’t useful now anyway. I don’t want this guitar gone for a day anyway. The ernie ball slinky 11 to 48 strings were a big improvement for me, and the guy who said tuning this guitar is hard …. I have to laugh. This is the easiest guitar to tune, plus it stays in tune. I love it. Feel free to take any positives out of this and compile a shining review if you like , I have no problem with that. For anyone stuck in a reclined chair or wheel chair etc. girl etc. this guitar is your only low cost and big bang for the buck you can get. I could find no other guitar to suite my needs at all. Plus its really a beautiful guitar. Have a great day -Lizard

Traveler Speedster Features:

• Full 24-3/4″ scale
• 4 1/2 pounds light and only 28″ long
• Fits easily in airline overhead compartments
• Dual-rail humbucker
• Volume and tone controls
• Upper armrest detaches for travel
• high quality gig bag

Ministar Castar Travel Guitar Review

The Ministar Castar is a travel electric guitar that is designed to resemble a Stratocaster and is great for playing rock music. The price is relatively affordable at $199.99. This type of guitar is great for travelers because it is extremely portable. It can be taken just about anywhere. It will even easily fit in the overhead compartment of an airplane. Even though the Castar weighs only 3 pounds, it has all the features of a full sized Stratocaster.

This guitar features a maple neck with a 24-fret fingerboard, an adjustable bridge and nut, master volume controls, an on/off switch, 3 single-coil pickups, die-cast tuners, a tremolo bar, a leg rest rod, and extension rods to resemble a full-sized guitar body. It also has a one-piece construction to allow for maximum tone, sustain, and strength. The Castar is packaged with a strap, should strap rods, a gig bag, and an amplifier lead.

Even though this a great travel guitar, it does have some flaws. The tremolo bar will frequently come loose while you play. Also, the volume control does not work like a volume control should. When the knob is set to high the volume will not change for most of the turn. Then the tone will change when the volume is almost set to “off”. Other than these two flaws the guitar is designed pretty well and the playability is impressive for something so compact.

The sound is pretty impressive as well. The tone is comparable to a regular sized guitar. The pickups are custom made and they give a clear quality tone making this guitar sound great through any amp. The bridge pickup creates a great “twang”. The neck even feels like a Stratocaster neck. The action is quite low and can be adjusted to reduce fret buzz. It also stays in tune surprisingly well. The Castar is very easy to assemble and comfortable to play because it is so light. The adjustable floating armrest works great to comfortably hold your arm in place.

This guitar is basically made from one piece of maple wood, which gives it durability and strength. This product is a quality instrument with the exception of the volume control and the tremolo bar. It is ideal for the traveler and is less expensive than some of the other travel guitars on the market. This guitar is unique, but simple and fun to play. If you want the ultimate in portability, this is the instrument for you.

Ministar Castar Features:

• 3 matched B-M-F pickups
• 25 1/2″ Scale
• 22 Frets
• 1 volume, 1 tone
• 1 5-position switch
• Micro-Adjustable Vibrato
• Sit Rod
• Carrying Bag
• Cord and Strap

What is the best travel guitar?

So, you probably came here with this very question and your in search for the best travel guitar.  Unfortunately, this question can not be answered with just one answer.  There’s likely to be many factors which make the best travel guitar for you different then the best travel guitar for someone else.

This is especially evident in our review pages.  We asked people like you to give a honest take on the travel guitar they have and list why they like or dislike their particular model.  We received some pretty interesting responses.

Some people were relatively positive while describing their guitar and almost seemed to praise it.  Then at the same time they would turn around and rate certain aspects on a scale of 1-10 with a brutal honesty that did not bode well for the review.

So why the discrepancy?  Well, although nobody is a psyche major here at “Best Travel Guitars” we like to think we have answers.  We concluded that given the chance to describe and relate their life experience with the guitar people were more likely to shape their review around personal needs.  They took into account the reason they picked that model in the first place.  Reasons like, it was inexpensive or it was the most durable and smallest one they could find.  Within that context, they wrote the review with a positive spin because well, it filled the bill.

On the other hand, when rating the guitar on a impersonal system of 1-10 stars people rated the guitars based on what else is out there.  They made comparisons with a careful consideration of available choices, A or B.

With this in mind lets look at what guitar fills the bill best when it comes to needs.

Best Travel Guitars

	Best Bang for the Lowest Buck – The Amigo AMT-10 When we think cheap we think under 100 bucks.  There’s quite a few choices here but we recommend the Amigo AMT-10 with a solid spruce top.  Read the full review here.
	Best little traveling buddy – The Martin Steel String Backpacker If size is everything like it is when your backpacking then nothing beats the backpacker by martin.  This little guitar can take some abuse as well.  Check out the full review here.
	Best Buzz generator and most fun – The Washburn Rover We got a lot of feedback on this guitar when developing Best Travel Guitars and apparently a lot of people have it and love it – the buzz!!!  This is funny because I have 7 of these, yup 7, haha.  I got addicted to buying them on eBay and every time I see one for cheap I have a hard time resisting.  They are just fun to play and I love the sound.  I have to confess I  play the rover more then I play any of my other guitars.  When my friends come over they all pick up the rovers and we jam.  We can’t help it – we are sick with the washburn fever.  Read the full review here.
	Winner of 4 Awards – The Composite Acoustics Cargo Travel Guitar Best at taking a beating and keeps on playing Best sounding Best out of the box setup BEST OVERALL OK, I’ve heard this called the holy grail of travel guitars and its a easy choice for BEST OVERALL.  Nothing says durable like the Composite Acoustics Cargo Travel Guitar and the sound is just simply astounding.  Out of the box it was actually in tune and the action – PERFECT!!!  Its truly in a league of its own and this 3/4 size guitar sacrifices nothing for size. It’s a bit expensive but not overpriced considering the product.  If you have the cash the best travel guitar is a easy choice.  Check out the full review here.

Don’t be shy, were interested in what you have to say. So, what is the Best Travel Guitar according to you?