Anyone have experience with the Furch Little Jane travel guitar?

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by @lagatrix

...It has a remarkable tone for its size and portability, it's easy to breakdown and set up, and it's breezy as a carry-on. I've really enjoyed being able to travel with a little guitar of this build quality.

I wish I could feel more confident about taking it on a canoe trip, or a coastal cruise in a small sailboat...

That's why I bought a LJ. I've had mine for over three years and find it to be the best travel guitar solution. Portability and small size when packed are important to me, especially for air travel. For a canoe trip, or to somewhere hot/dry/humid you might look at a carbon fiber travel guitar, like the Journey OF660, or the Klos. You can leave those in a hot guitar, or use them for a paddle if you want.

[FreDrummer]

I’ve owned my LJ for about three years now. I’ve posted about it here before - you may have already read them. Although you are not looking specifically for the travel aspect, I can vouch for that. I am an international flight crew member, so my LJ logs about 25,000 miles per month.

I think it is really a fantastic little guitar, whether for travel or not. I love it for:
1. The compact form factor when disassembled.
2. EASY assembly, disassembly.
3. A neck that feels like a real guitar (even with the shortened scale)
4. Fantastic sound that can hang with most other small-bodied guitars. I’ve owned small body boxy-sounding guitars before…I don’t consider the LJ one of them.

[BertDeivert]

I played on two Little Jane CM guitars that friends owned, one in Sweden, and one in Thailand, and they both sounded great. I was amazed by the sound and feel. When prices went up considerably to have guitars as an extra bag on flights when traveling to gigs I decided to buy one. I am based in the EU and we don't have the US agreement that it is mandatory for US carriers to allow musicians to take their instruments on the plane as hand baggage. So with prices for a checked in bag cost from 40 to 60 Euros per flight, it can get very expensive. Due to the pandemic and other reasons I am now making my first international trip with the Little Jane as hand baggage. I look forward to it.

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by BertDeivert

...Due to the pandemic and other reasons I am now making my first international trip with the Little Jane as hand baggage. I look forward to it.

I think you'll find it works really well for air travel. I've only had one flight where the overhead was full - it fit under the seat in front of me.

[BertDeivert]

Originally Posted by KevinH

I think you'll find it works really well for air travel. I've only had one flight where the overhead was full - it fit under the seat in front of me.

I have reserved the overhead space for it this time, but will test how it fits under the seat in front of me! Thanks for the tip, for the future.

[cedartop52]

I bought one last year and took it with me on a 6-week vacation. It travels well, packs small, sounds very good for its size, the backpack is high quality, it assembles easily and unfortunately is head heavy. I enjoy owning and playing it! Dan

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by cedartop52

I bought one last year and took it with me on a 6-week vacation. It travels well, packs small, sounds very good for its size, the backpack is high quality, it assembles easily and unfortunately is head heavy. I enjoy owning and playing it! Dan

Agree with all those who praise the Little Jane for sound quality, portability, stowability and the quality of the backpack. Regarding the locking tuners, I did a fair amount of research trying to find a lighter set of locking tuners, but got distracted and didn’t buy anything. Your comment prompted me to reinvigorate that search. I was at the Artisan Guitar Show, and completely forgot to ask the folks at Furch who the manufacturer is of the tuners on the Little Jane.

[KevinH]

The LJ is indeed neck heavy. I spent some time looking for lighter tuners. The original set on the L J weigh 237 gm (all 6 together). The best replacement tuners I found are StewMac's Golden Age Restoration Tuners, which I see are currently 50% off. A set of 6 of those ends up weighing 121 gm, lightening the load by 116 gm, or 1/4 lb. That makes a very noticeable difference. My L J now feels like my other guitars in terms of head drop. It's not a direct drop-in replacement. I can post the details if anyone is interested. BTW, these are non-locking tuners, which I've found make no difference, either on the L J or on my Journey OF660.


strings on_600.jpg tuners installed (back)_600.jpg

Originally Posted by sinistral

Agree with all those who praise the Little Jane for sound quality, portability, stowability and the quality of the backpack. Regarding the locking tuners, I did a fair amount of research trying to find a lighter set of locking tuners, but got distracted and didn’t buy anything. Your comment prompted me to reinvigorate that search. I was at the Artisan Guitar Show, and completely forgot to ask the folks at Furch who the manufacturer is of the tuners on the Little Jane.