A few months back I was introduced to what is, in my opinion, one of the most innovative musical inventions I have ever seen. That invention was the SoloEtte travel guitar.

While perusing various guitar players on YouTube I stumbled upon a great clip of master classical guitarist and Grammy award winner Sharon Isbin performing on what was one of the most unusual looking, (and frankly, coolest), guitars I have ever seen. The guitar had an ergonomic body with the headstock at the bottom of the guitar. There was no ‘real’ body to guitar other then an aluminum frame that gives the perception/feel of a body. The guitar immediately caught my attention and I began doing some research. It turned out that the guitar was the SoloEtte travel guitar.

I contacted Rossco Wright, the owner of the company, and he sent me out the Jazz Songbird model for review. I already knew their guitars sounded remarkable because I saw Sharon Isbin, (Director of Julliard’s Classical Guitar Dept.), playing the SoloEtte, yet I was eager to play and hear one for myself. (There are also great sounding clips of jazz guitar master John Stowell playing the SoloEtte on YouTube).

After inserting the tubing of the guitar, (this took all of 30 seconds), I plugged the guitar into an amplifier and was blown away. Everything felt and sounded amazing! When the guitar is plugged in it sounds big, full, warm, and beautiful. I have no idea how they did it, but they did, and it’s incredible!

I immediately realized how advantageous this guitar could be to me for the rest of my life. For example, I would never have to worry about the stress of traveling with a guitar ever again. Recently, when doing some work in Mid-West I brought the guitar on the plane and was actually able to practice while sitting in my airline seat.

I plugged in some headphones into the guitar, practiced for the duration of a three-hour flight, and didn’t disturb anyone. (Except for my funny looking guitar faces that are inevitable when I play). Not only does the SoloEtte serve as a convenient practice guitar, it can be used in any live situation and sounds astonishing. In fact, I have used the guitar on more than dozen gigs in the past month and it continues to amaze me. I wouldn’t hesitate to do any gig for any situation on this guitar.

The Jazz SongBird is intended for the archtop player. It includes an EMG neck position humbucker pickup that provides a fat/warm sound. The neck width is 1 ¾ and has a body radius 16”. The guitar features 22 frets, strap buttons, dot inlays and a cutaway frame.

All of the SoloEtte models are a solid-construction, disassembling frame-design, travel, practice, and performance guitars that can be plugged into an amp can be used with headphones. The frame comes apart and fits into a small carrying case. When the SoloEtte is disassembled for traveling, it’s only 33 inches long and no wider than a guitar neck.

Some outstanding guitarists that play on SoloEtte guitars include Sharon Isbin, John Stowell, Gustavo Assis-Brasil, and Don Latarski, among many others. The SoloEtte is made in the USA in Eugene, Oregon.

Review by Dr. Brandon Bernstein

Stow Away Travel Guitar Review by Janis Kreilis

Custom Red Back Apart

Not long before graduating from college, I got a job offer that I had long dreamed of: a truly jet-set lifestyle which would involve flying to far-away countries that I would never otherwise visit and not staying in one place longer than a couple of months. Still, a problem remained. Reminding myself of all the trouble I had gone through just to bring my full-sized guitar across the Atlantic once a year, I kept thinking, does this mean that I would have to give up playing the guitar?

This is where the Stow-Away from Stewart Guitars comes in. The key thing about this guitar is Woody Stewart’s patented clip-joint system which allows you to easily remove the neck of the guitar without taking the strings off. Once detached from the body, the neck can then be stored into a special slot inside the guitar’s body. The whole procedure is remarkably easy and takes about five minutes to learn, as Woody provides great directions for assembly and disassembly. After that, putting the guitar back together is a matter of seconds. Disassembled, the guitar—even when put in the well-padded bag that comes with every Stow-Away—is small enough to fit in your average carry-on. I have never had an easier time bringing a guitar back to Europe (mind you, though, that the airport security might be curious—I had to open my bag in Germany).

What separates the Stow-Away from other travel guitars is that it is not really travel-sized when assembled. The guitar features a standard-scale (25½") neck with rosewood fingerboard and 22 medium frets, and the alder body is only slightly smaller than that of a standard Strat. Having no headstock means that the tuners can be found at the bottom of the body—while it felt slightly unusual at first, I got used to tuning the guitar with my right hand in no time. The Stow-Away comes equipped with three single-coil alnico pole magnet pick-ups, a five-way pick-up selector, a volume knob, and two tone knobs.

Now for the subjective part. It has been two months since I got this guitar, and I love it (to the point that I haven’t picked up my good-old LTD). I have tried it with my 5W all-tube amp as well as the little travel-sized VOX that I bought for my future hotel-room practice sessions, and the guitar sounds amazing. With the treble up, the pick-ups give you a crisp and punchy sound both in clean and overdrive, but playing with the tone controls will bring out the mellower part of the guitar’s character. Each pick-up has a very distinctive sound, so this amazing instrument has a lot to offer. The sustain is amazing—especially given the slot in the body and the unusual build.

The Stow-Away feels and looks great as well. You can clearly see that Woody Stewart pays great attention to every little detail and his guitars are of the highest quality. The sleek neck feels great when playing, and the frets have given me no problem for now. My Stow-Away is black with a pearloid pickguard (other variations are available), and the dark chrome finish on the output jack and strap buttons only adds to the elegant look. For me, Stow-Away is way more than a “substitute” travel guitar: it feels and sounds like a great “regular” guitar, and I wouldn’t even think twice about bringing it on stage.

Last word about Woody Stewart, the inventor and maker of this ingenious design: you will hardly find better customer service anywhere. I had to get mine on a short notice because I was leaving for Europe, and, despite some delays on the manufacturing side, Woody managed to get one of his Stow-Aways to me on time. He also mentioned that I could always send it back if I didn’t like it. Thanks, but mine is not going anywhere.
Body

• Alder
• Body Size 18 x 12 x 3.5”

Neck

• Neck Wood Maple
• Fretboard Wood Rosewood
• Scale Length 25.5”
• Neck Length 19”
• Number of Frets 22 Medium
• Fretboard Radius 14”

Hardware

• Neck Attachment Clip-Joint™ Neck Connector System
• Bridge Slotted Hard Tail
• Tuners Linear Tuning System
• Pickups Three Single Coils - Alnico Pole Magnets
• Controls Five Position Switch, Volume, Tone, Tone

The Voyage Air VAOM-06 Travel Guitar is the ideal solution for musicians who want a travel-friendly guitar without sacrificing craftsmanship, durability or sound quality.

Unlike competing instruments, it uses patented design technology, featuring a hinged neck. This feature allows you to easily fold it in half to carry in a backpacker style carrying case, which is included with your instrument purchase. In fact, it boasts such a compact design that it easily meets the carry-on luggage requirements for all commercial airlines.

To be honest this hinged innovative design was the main selling point to me.  I can't believe nobody thought of this before but maybe they thought like I did.  I thought it probably won't stay in tune but I was wrong.  I'm amazed every time I pull it out of the case and open it up because its perfectly tuned.

I'm even more amazed when I start playing because it definitely exceeds my expectations for a guitar priced under $1000 dollars.  It actually sounds better than some other more expensive guitars I've played including a Taylor I own.  You will hear the following comment a lot, "wow, I can't believe how nice it sounds."  It also looks nice.

Featuring a beautiful East Indian rosewood fretboard, chrome plated tuning heads, and a distinctive pickguard, this guitar is perfect for those who don't want to forgo a stunningly designed instrument to obtain portability.

Featuring a bright, clear tone within all regions of the fretboard, it can tackle all genres of music no matter what strikes your fancy.

Constructed of durable African mahogany and a solid spruce top, you can count on the Voyage Air VAOM-06 Travel Guitar to perform expertly for years to come, no matter where your travels take you. This model is perfect for impromptu jam sessions around a campfire, family gatherings, and for those times when inspiration strikes at random moments. With this guitar, you never have to stifle creativity in favor of convenience because it is so easy to tote around that you never have to go without it!

Musicians who have particularly strict requirements regarding instrument playability can rest assured that each model is carefully inspected and expertly set up in the United States. This allows eager musicians to start playing immediately without having to worry about making adjustments to action or fret height.

This guitar is also perfect for touring musicians who must deal with cramped conditions such as tour buses or road vans on a daily basis. As seasoned performers know, instruments that are compact and easy to carry are indispensable.  Still, I wouldn't be surprised if you find yourself at home playing this guitar because you refer to it as your best guitar.

The Voyage Air VAOM-06 Travel Guitar is the ultimate in portability, playability and convenience for musicians with even the highest expectations. If you want an instrument that can exceed your demands while matching your active, globetrotting lifestyle, this is your perfect guitar!

Voyage Air VAOM-06 Features:

• Songwriter™ Series
• Select Solid Spruce Top
• Hand Inlaid 3-ring Soundhole Rosette
• 6-ply top binding
• African Mahogany Back and Sides
• African Mahogany Neck
• Select East Indian Rosewood Fingerboard
• Dot Inlay in Prewar-style staggered sizes
• Compensated Saddle
• Distinctive Voyage-Air pickguard in black
• Proprietary Voyage-Air Captured Nut
• Patented Folding Neck-Hinge System
• 25.5” Scale Length
• Traditional 1 3/4” Nut width
• Chrome Plated Die-Cast tuners .
• High-Gloss finish.
• D’Addario Phosphor Bronze strings.
• Includes Deluxe “Voyager” Carrying Case
• Thoroughly inspected & set-up in the USA

Check out Voyage Air for Additional Information and Guitar Models.  Check out The Perfect Travel Guitar:Voyage-Air Travel Guitar OM6 Songwriter for an additional offsite review by Wesley Lem.

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

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.

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

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

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.

UPDATE: OK, this post has been heading our front page for a while. Still I think its probably the most important question people want to know when looking to purchase a travel guitar.  For that reason I decided to add the dynamic leaderboard right here.  These are the travel guitars leading the way as voted by you, our valued readers.

If you want to place your vote click on one of the guitars below and go to the post, at the end of the review you will see interactive stars to cast your vote for such things as fit & finish, sound, playability, etc.  Remember, we are working to get more reviews but I'm not rich and don't have every travel guitar out there. I rely on you. Please help us and Add a Guitar Review or tell us which one we should try to get our hands on to review. Thanks.

Acoustic Travel Guitars

Electric Travel Guitars

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