Although guitarists have traveled with their instruments in virtually every imaginable way, dragging a full-size six-string around can quickly turn into a chore. And while getting a guitar into the cabin of a plane has never been something that airlines encouraged, in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult (unless you’re Chris Smither). Even checking a guitar in a suitable case with the rest of the luggage has become less friendly than it once was, because luggage can no longer be locked and many airlines have begun charging for checked bags.

But you don’t need to be a frequent flyer to appreciate a small guitar designed for travel. If you enjoy taking a guitar along when you’re hiking or camping, or if there’s little room left in your car after loading up the kids to go on vacation, owning a small and lightweight instrument may make the difference between having music with you or not. In most cases, dedicated travel guitars are also built sturdier than most high-quality full-size guitars (this is especially true for those made out of composite materials), meaning that you can roam about without worrying about damaging a favorite ax. In addition, some guitars designated for travel have interesting tones that make them great additions to standard guitars both onstage and in the studio. Finally, many travel guitars are also excellent choices for children.

For this article, we rounded up six travel guitars that are notable not just for being diminutive, but for the inventive designs and innovations that make them roadworthy. Each is small enough to fit in an airliner overhead compartment. Most are also small and light enough to be lashed to a backpack or carried with a free hand. And it doesn’t matter if you’re a staunch traditionalist or a gadget-loving techie—there’s a guitar here that can satisfy your six-string jones, no matter where you’re bound or how you get there.

Blackbird Rider

SPECS: Carbon-fiber top, back, and sides. 24.5-inch scale length. 1³/₄-inch nut width. Made in USA.
PRICE: $1,599.
CONTACT: blackbirdguitars.com.

Carbon-fiber guitars have many merits in any configuration—durability, tuning stability, light weight, and when well designed, great tone and resonance. All these advantages make carbon fiber the ideal material for a travel guitar, too. And Blackbird’s Rider is one of the most interesting manifestations of that potential that we’ve seen—incorporating weight-saving innovations like a hollow neck and delivering tone and punch that would impress any player.

The Rider’s design, like that of many of the guitars in our test group, is unconventional by a traditionalist’s standards. The vaguely rectangular shape of the body means the guitar fits in one of the slimmest cases in the test group—just 12 inches at its widest point. But that narrowness also makes holding the guitar somewhat awkward without a strap—an issue that Blackbird addresses by offering the NeckUp guitar support as an option ($29.95).

Outward appearances aside, the Blackbird plays and sounds like a well-built, high-quality, almost full-scale guitar should. The medium-low action makes barre chords, bends, and legato runs easy. But the most pleasant surprise is the variety of sounds, colors, and tones a player can summon from the Rider. In terms of volume, no one will mistake this guitar for a full-size dreadnought, but the Blackbird is still bold and bassy with a lot of clarity on the high end. And though it can sound a little compressed under heavier pick attack, the guitar has great dynamic range that enables the player to be more expressive and to work on techniques involving touch and nuance.

The Blackbird Rider is a well-conceived and well-executed guitar. It’s not an inexpensive instrument by any measure, but it delivers unusually big tone from a small body, and it’s a feast for the eyes for those who enjoy technology and striking design.

Breedlove Passport C250/CM.T

SPECS: Solid western red cedar top. Laminated mahogany back and sides. 19.1-inch scale. 1³/₄-inch nut width. Made in Korea.
PRICE: $599 list/$450 street.
CONTACT: breedloveguitars.com.

Breedlove’s C250 reflects some genuine outside-the-lines thinking about how to build a travel instrument. Rather than struggle with delivering dreadnought-style sustain, bass, and tones from a short scale and compact body, Breedlove focused on the high-mid register where smaller instruments shine. So where other travel guitars set up their instruments to be tuned conventionally to E (on the first and sixth strings), the C250 is tuned up to A (as if you had a capo at the fifth fret on a standard guitar).

With a body shape that proportionally shrinks Breedlove’s original design to just 11⁵/₈-inches across its lower bout and with its typical tapered headstock, the C250 has unmistakable Breedlove pedigree. It’s built around a lovely western red cedar top and laminated mahogany back and sides, and Breedlove thoughtfully added nine-volt-powered L.R. Baggs Passport electronics. Besides an undersaddle pickup and an onboard preamp, the electronics include a handy chromatic tuner (why don’t all travel guitars come with an onboard tuner?) and a simple high/low tone-shaping section.

The C250 is fun to play and comfortable to hold, with or without a strap. Our review guitar came with low, fast action that facilitated nimble flatpicking and fast legato fingerpicking. The cedar top and deep body also gives the guitar a high volume ceiling that enables fast and aggressive strumming without obscuring harmonic detail.

Players with large hands, or those accustomed to spending most of their time around the first three frets of a full size guitar might find the C250’s fingerboard a little cramped. But even pickers with bigger digits can have fun exploring the simple two-finger chord shapes and mandolin-style flatpicking that high-tuned and capoed guitars can make sound so sweet. Playing with others may require you or your jam mates to be resourceful with your transposing skills—and in this way, the Breedlove can really help a player expand his or her vocabulary. Indeed, the Breedlove is more than just a smaller guitar, it’s an instrument that can get a player out of a stylistic or creative rut.

The Breedlove Passport’s unique voice makes it a great recording tool, too. I used it for some high-harmony chords on a tune I’d been working on in A minor and the C250 added a feel, richness, and texture much like a mandolin but with a little more bass depth. Despite the inherent limitations of a short scale and high tuning, this is a well-made, practical travel guitar that fills a lot of roles in a jam or studio with style and élan.

Emerald X5 Life Woody

SPECS: One-piece carbon composite body and neck. 25.5-inch scale. 1¹¹/₁₆-inch nut width. Made in Ireland.
PRICE: 995 euros.
CONTACT: emeraldguitars.com.

Alistair Hay and his Donegal, Ireland–based Emerald Guitars have built carbon-fiber guitars for a little over a decade. And though the company is best known for its full-size instruments, Emerald’s X5 Life Woody cleverly capitalizes on carbon fiber’s durability and rigidity, creating a highly playable and road worthy guitar.

With its redwood burl (other woods are available) veneer-over-composite material, the X5 Woody is an unusual-looking guitar. And those who prefer the look of visible carbon-fiber weave may opt for the more understated standard X5 Life model. But much of what makes the X5 unusual looking also makes it an uncommonly comfortable, playable, and musical travel ax. Extended upper and lower bass bouts boost the guitar’s volume in the lower-midrange, while the treble-side cutaway and dramatically tapered heel (made possible because strong carbon fiber eliminates the need for a heel block) enable comfortable fretting and whole-step bends all the way up to the 20th fret. And like many well-made carbon-fiber guitars, the X5 is set up with fast, easy, medium-low action that’s likely to remain that way over the life of the guitar.

The Emerald comes with a very natural-sounding, flexible, and tuner-equipped B-Band pickup/preamp system, in the event your travels find you in proximity to an amplifier or PA. When unplugged, the Emerald is a satisfying performer, too. Light fingerpicking summoned sweet, chiming tone, while heavier picking conjured fast-decaying barky tones. And though it might not be the loudest guitar in a circle of instruments, the biting quality of its sound when picked or strummed hard can help a player cut through a busy jam.

The combination of electronics, a full-scale neck, and other performance-oriented features like locking Sperzel tuners, actually make the Emerald a viable option for the gigging musician on the move. Factor in the Emerald’s smooth playability and a brilliantly designed cutaway that enables electric guitar–like access to the 20th fret, and it’s not hard to imagine an adventurous player using the Emerald in contexts well beyond campfire jams and late nights in hotels.

Martin LX1 Little Martin

SPECS: Solid Sitka spruce top. High-pressure laminate (HPL) back and sides. 23-inch scale. 1¹¹/₁₆-inch nut width. Made in Mexico.
PRICE: $419 list/$299 street.
CONTACT: martinguitar.com.

Martin was at the vanguard of the travel-guitar business when it introduced the Backpacker in 1992. The Backpacker’s bulletproof construction, slender bell shape and minute dimensions make it a favorite of actual backpackers, astronauts, and no less than Bill Frisell, who has occasionally performed with one.

Four years after the Backpacker hit the street, Martin introduced its X series, a range of guitars made affordable through the use of high pressure laminate (HPL) in construction. The X-series guitars were successful as entry-level Martins, and with their high level of durability and low cost, it made sense to create a miniature version for kids and travel. Thus the LX, aka “Little Martin,” was born.

Martin purists in the market for a travel instrument, but who are estranged by the styling of the Backpacker, will find a lot to like about the Little Martin. It has a modified dreadnought shape and traditional Martin headstock, both of which are scaled to travel-guitar dimensions. And though it was originally offered only with a body made entirely out of HPL, the guitar (like some other X-series models) is now also available with a solid spruce top as the LX1.

The LX1 feels reassuringly sturdy, and it’s one of the heaviest guitars in our test group. But the extra heft makes it no less desirable as a travel companion. It’s still a lightweight instrument and comfortable to play. The relative weight does seem to give the guitar a darker and huskier tone that lends welcome oomph to flatpicked phrases and first-position chords. Heavy strumming does produce some brash and blurry tones, while strumming with a lighter pick summoned the widest and most overtone-rich tone spectrum. But this is also a very loud guitar for its size; it’s surprisingly bassy and can kick out enough volume to remain audible in a jam circle.

It’s these contrasting aspects of the LX1’s character that make it an intriguing travel mate—colorful when strummed at hotel-room volumes, but loud enough for a rowdy campfire jam. It’s also rugged enough to weather tough travel. For Martin devotees and players who don’t want to be too precious with their travel ax, this might be the only way to fly.

Baby Taylor

SPECS: Sitka spruce top. Laminated sapele back and sides. 22.75-inch scale. 1¹¹/₁₆-inch nut width. Made in Mexico.
PRICE: $398 list/$299 street.
CONTACT: taylorguitars.com.

The Baby Taylor has been a fixture on the travel-guitar market since 1996. And apart from the introduction of an all-mahogany model and several limited editions, not much has changed with this small-guitar stalwart. The most distinctive feature on the Baby Taylor may be the neck, which is affixed to the body and neck block with two screws that are visible on the fingerboard at the 16th fret. This simple construction eliminates the need for a heel and probably helps Taylor cut manufacturing costs that can be spent on the superior fit, finish, and materials that are found elsewhere on the guitar.

The Baby is essentially a tiny dreadnought—a handsome shape, even in miniature, that’s comfortable to hold. Details like a laser-etched rosette on the Sitka spruce top, as well as trademark Taylor bridge and headstock shapes, all lend an up market feel and a signature look bound to please Taylor loyalists.

The Baby Taylor’s playability is top-notch, too. Fast, low-to-medium action makes the Baby Taylor feel like a more expensive and more full-size instrument. Like most travel-size guitars, the Baby Taylor isn’t about big volume. Heavy-handed strumming, especially with a heavy pick, can make chords a compressed and buzzy blur—especially when you’re trying to keep up in volume with a full-size guitar. But fingerpicking, and, in particular, arpeggiated first-position chords played with a light-to-medium-weight pick yielded chiming, pleasantly sustaining tones that were almost harpsichord like—a sound I’d readily use in recording situations calling for adornments in the high-mid register.

Sturdy and sweet-sounding when played with a tender touch, the Baby Taylor has applications and merits beyond a travel instrument. Easy to play, it would be a perfect guitar for kids learning their first chords. And at home, its compact dimensions make it the perfect guitar to stash next to the couch and pick up during commercial breaks. For what’s ostensibly a travel guitar, this is a very versatile instrument.

Traveler Escape MK II Steel

SPECS: Solid alder body. 25.5-inch scale. 1³/₄-inch nut width. Made in China.
PRICE: $642.99 list/$450 street.
CONTACT: travelerguitar.com.

Apart from size, the major constraint for the traveling guitarist is volume—or more correctly, the fact that hotels and light-sleeping hosts won’t put up with much of it. One solution to the problem is the Traveler Escape MK II, an undersaddle-pickup-equipped solid-body that’s not only small, but designed to deliver acoustic-like tones through headphones or a small amplifier.

The MK II’s design is a clever exercise in guitar deconstruction that yields very practical results. There’s no headstock; instead tuners are located in two routed sections in the body just behind the bridge. In the absence of a tailpiece, a section of machined aluminum just forward of the nut secures the ball end of the strings. The body itself looks a little like a shrunken Les Paul Jr., which, when flipped over, reveals the nine-volt battery compartment for the onboard L.R. Baggs Element-Hybrid pickup and another routed chamber where you can access the tuner posts for restringing. The rearrangement of the guitar’s essential components and its solid-body construction make it the most compact guitar of our test group at just 30 inches long and 10⁷/₈ inches wide.

With the absence of a headstock, the MK II feels unusually light in the fretting hand, and the sensation can take some getting used to, particularly if you’re used to using heavy-vibrato techniques. Otherwise the MK II is a very playable guitar. Jumbo fret wire makes bending and chording a breeze, and the shallow C-profile neck has a distinctly full-size feel, thanks in part to the 1³/₄-inch-wide nut. It’s easy to reach the high registers too, with 15 frets clear of the body on the bass side and a treble-side cutaway that enables easy access up to the 22nd fret.

Hearing what you play on the MK II depends on the guitar’s L.R. Baggs Element-Hybrid transducer/preamp system, which is switchable between headphone and amp­lifier modes. Most travelers will probably employ the headphone mode, and using the included headphones I was able to dial in several settings that delivered pleasing tones under light fingerstyle picking. More deliberate strumming and flatpicking generated a dose of unnatural piezo attack, however, and any really heavy strumming necessitated a roll-off of the treble and volume. It’s not a completely acoustic sounding system, but for globetrotters or night owls who tend to be bound to their hotels for extended periods, the Traveler Escape MK II is a truly compact and practical solution that won’t stir the neighbors.

A DIVERSE GROUP

Though our travel guitar test group covers a wildly divergent set of prices, construction styles, and materials, each guitar admirably serves the purpose of giving the traveling picker a means to practice, play, and perform on the road. For rock-solid reliability and low price, the offerings from Martin and Taylor are solid bets that look great. If price and tradition are less of an issue, the toughness, versatility, and playability of Blackbird’s and Emerald’s carbon-fiber guitars deliver a lot of guitar in very portable and practical little packages. Players for whom the road is an opportunity to see another side of their musical personality will love the top quality and unique sound and feel of the Breedlove. And for players whose travel circumstances demand a measure of quiet, there’s almost nothing that can compete with Traveler’s Escape MK II.

Regardless of which guitar suits your style of travel best, the good news is there’s no excuse for not jamming, practicing, or writing as you roam.

Guitars For Children

Given their small size and sturdy construction, many travel guitars also make good instruments for young children. However, while a perfect travel guitar for an adult will have a neck width and scale length that are close to those of a full-size instrument, a child’s guitar should have a narrower nut and shorter scale. Some kids find that a guitar with nylon strings is easier on their fingers than a guitar with steel strings, so that may be another consideration.

If your child is still at an age where a guitar is more likely to be a toy than a serious instrument, you may not want to spend as much as what the guitars in this review cost. In this case, companies such as Daisy Rock, Hohner, and Luna offer instruments that cost less than $100 and are far more playable than the guitars you’ll find in a toy store.

More Travel Guitar Options

Fender’s Squire MA1

The list of travel-guitar options available to the modern player doesn’t begin and end with our test group. And as our review demonstrates, there are a few different approaches to making a guitar more portable.

Scaling down conventional guitar shapes is the most straightforward way to make a six-string travel ready. Composite Acoustics’ Cargo ($999, compositeacoustics.com; see June 2009, New Gear) is a well-engineered, high-quality carbon-fiber travel six-string that sounds astoundingly good and can take a beating. Laminate-top models like Squier’s MA1 ($109, squierguitars.com), Hohner’s HW03 ($84, hohnerusa.com), and Yamaha’s JR1 ($129, yamaha.com) are among the most inexpensive and readily available travel axes. Solid-top models are also widely available at reasonable prices. Alvarez offers the MSD1 ($299, alvarezgtr.com), a solid-spruce-top ³/₄ dreadnought; Crafter’s TRV23 series (crafterguitars.com) is comprised of four solid-top miniature orchestra-style designs with cutaway; Walden’s T550CE ($329, waldenguitars.com) is a solid-top, scaled-down OM with cutaway; Wechter’s Travel Elite ($299, wechterguitars.com) comes in solid-top spruce and mahogany configurations with optional electronics; and Dean’s Gypsy ($249, deanguitars.com) comes with a solid spruce top and electronics.

Yamaha Silent Steel

Players who need to travel as lightly as possible may want to explore the possibilities of ultraslim mini guitars. Martin’s venerable Backpacker ($169, martinguitar.com) is still available in nylon and steel-string versions. Washburn’s Rover ($169, washburn.com) is a slim, 24-inch-scale guitar that’s among the lightest available. Johnson’s Trailblazer ($99, johnsongtr.com) uses a similar slim-bell design that can be packed in a suitcase or duffel.

For those who absolutely cannot do without a full-size guitar on the road, VoyageAir (starting at $449, voyageairguitar.com; see April 2009, Gear Review) builds a line of full-size guitars that fold at the neck joint and fit into a case that will fit in most airliner overheads. Switzerland’s Brunner Guitars builds a series of Outdoor Guitars (starting at $1,625, brunner-guitars.com) that can be quickly disassembled and put back together in less than a minute, and come in a compact hard case. Yamaha’s steel- and nylon-string Silent Guitar ($559, yamaha.com), Miranda’s nylon- and steel-string offerings ($1,295, miranda-tech.com), and SoloEtte’s steel- and nylon-string guitars (starting at $850, soloette.com) all use the concept of a detachable “body” and headphone amplification to achieve authentic acoustic sounds and portability in a compact travel instrument.