Ideas for small travel guitar

[grim83]

Originally Posted by grim83

The rp-06 would be cool if it was under 40in long but I believe it's to large unfortunately. I could be wrong though guess I'll fire off an email to rk.

Just heard back from rk apparently both the rp-06 and rph-05 fit my physical requirements. Even the ro-06 would work if I can figure out a case to make it work. Plenty of options with rk. The gretsch still has my attention though as a fun knock around guitar that could double for slide very well. Hmmm.

[Mr Bojangles]

The Recording King RP-06 is a perfect travel guitar! I had one for a few years, and it goes anywhere and sounds decent, too. I sold it along with another guitar to finance an older D-18. Of course it wasn't enough money and now I don't have a travel guitar, but I love the old Martin.

[slewis]

Originally Posted by kerbie

If you really want a small one, you might want to look at a Go Guitar. I think the least expensive start around $215 or so. They're very small, but well-built, nice necks and fun to play.

^^^ This! More guitar per cubic inch, I'd wager, than most anything else except for maybe a Blackbird Rider, which is way way more expensive. Very well made in San Diego. I have a Go Grande Mahogany that's been great...

www.go-guitars.com, I believe...

[Trawlerman]

I am going thru the same process. So far, an Alvarez AP70 used sounded best. The Jim Dandy interests me too as does the Yamaha JR. I also have an option on a used Mitchel jr., but havent played it.

[Random1643]

My calculus after a while for travel guitars when I was spending 40-60% of my time on the road on a monthly basis - more flying than driving and then hotels for weeks at a time - is that I eventually landed on the low stress approach. Found I preferred the lower quality, lower cost, "I don't care if it's crushed by American Airlines," "not too worried about replacing," throw-the-in-the-overhead-bin approach over maximizing balance across the strings, tone, etc. Settled after several guitars on a all-mahogany Wechter travel guitar that still had decent intonation and balance but was/is not a tone monster and I could easily replace for acoupla hundred bucks. Added a JJB pickup recently so I can plug & play.

[grim83]

Originally Posted by Random1643

My calculus after a while for travel guitars when I was spending 40-60% of my time on the road on a monthly basis - more flying than driving and then hotels for weeks at a time - is that I eventually landed on the low stress approach. Found I preferred the lower quality, lower cost, "I don't care if it's crushed by American Airlines," "not too worried about replacing," throw-the-in-the-overhead-bin approach over maximizing balance across the strings, tone, etc. Settled after several guitars on a all-mahogany Wechter travel guitar that still had decent intonation and balance but was/is not a tone monster and I could easily replace for acoupla hundred bucks. Added a JJB pickup recently so I can plug & play.

That's kind of where I'm at the misses is moving for a few months for an internship so I'll be visiting her regularly and need something easy to throw in the car without much worry and wouldn't be hard to replace. I'm almost set that it's between a new Jim Dandy (impossible to find used lol) or a used rp-06 with a slight lean to the gretsch.

[Guitar1083]

Originally Posted by grim83

Well, seeing as how travelling is about to become a much more frequent part of my life I'm thinking about buying a more suitable guitar for my small vw golf. This means I need a guitar that is no longer than 40" in a case (padded gigbag is also an option). Also I'm not looking to spend more than 200 bucks so the Taylor gs mini is out. I play mostly country blues, older country music, and some folk stuff. The gretsch Jim Dandy is high on my list depending on what answer I get back from gretsch concerning total length.

It has to be headless

[Kerbie]

Originally Posted by slewis

^^^ This! More guitar per cubic inch, I'd wager, than most anything else except for maybe a Blackbird Rider, which is way way more expensive. Very well made in San Diego. I have a Go Grande Mahogany that's been great...

www.go-guitars.com, I believe...

Mine is also a Go Grande Mahogany. I'm not sure I'd get the Grande size if I were doing it now, but maybe… heck of a guitar for that price though. Sam does very well. And that is the correct web site.

[Lacking Talent]

Originally Posted by grim83

That's kind of where I'm at the misses is moving for a few months for an internship so I'll be visiting her regularly and need something easy to throw in the car without much worry and wouldn't be hard to replace. I'm almost set that it's between a new Jim Dandy (impossible to find used lol) or a used rp-06 with a slight lean to the gretsch.

This one's mine. Perfect tone (e.g., "boxy"/"bluesy"/"brash"/"trashy") for the music you play, sturdy build, surprisingly playable, and perfectly "disposable"-slash-replaceable for around a buck twenty/thirty-nine. The guitar is 36.5" long, and the padded bag is exactly 39" long.



Best of luck with whatever decision you make!

[grim83]

Originally Posted by Lacking Talent

This one's mine. Perfect tone (e.g., "boxy"/"bluesy"/"brash"/"trashy") for the music you play, sturdy build, surprisingly playable, and perfectly "disposable"-slash-replaceable for around a buck twenty/thirty-nine. The guitar is 36.5" long, and the padded bag is exactly 39" long.



Best of luck with whatever decision you make!

Thank you I think I can say I'm pretty much decided on the gretsch. Which gig bag is that btw?

[pszy22]

If you haven't already seen it, here is Eric Bibb playing his Jim Dandy. It's the video at the very bottom of this page -

http://bucketlistguitar.blogspot.com...jim-dandy.html

He talks about his search and purchase of the instrument starting at the 3:00 mark, and then goes on to play a tune.

[mot]

I used a Baby Taylor for a while. You can find them used around $200 sometimes. It wasn't robust enough, and I ended up messing up it's neck. I decided then that I needed a tougher guitar so I didn't keep replacing cheaper guitars.

I am now using a full size guitar for traveling if I have the room and a uke if I need a more compact footprint. If you are able to get a few more bucks the guitar you might consider is the CA Cargo. You can find one for well under a grand. It has a Baby Taylor scale, but a regular size nut. Awesome guitar, and it is really hard to hurt. Beats the heck out of a mini too in my opinion.