Help me choose a camping/roadtrip guitar

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by Tleek

Alright guys,
I went and played some more guitars today.
I almost bought a gs mini, but something about it just didn’t click to me and 500 is a bit more than I wanted to spend on a classroom and outdoor beater.

I kept going back to one particular Yamaha fs800. It just sounds great. It just felt good and sounded better than a $230 guitar should.

I picked it up with a $10 used gig bag and it’s ready for the beach, river, and backwoods. It’s larger than I wanted and the string spacing is pretty tight, but for the price it should work well. I think I just like Yamaha.

That's a good choice! It's probably where I would have ended up. I have travelled with "mini" scale guitars and they have always been disappointing. I now travel with my A&L Legacy that I picked up second hand. And I gig with it too! In fact, it's the only flattop acoustic I own. The Gibson scale length is really as small as I want to go.

[sinistral]

At the end of the day, any guitar could be a camping guitar, but some will be easier to pack, transport and/or care for than others. I’m a fan of guitars with detachable or foldable necks if space is a premium. If you’ve got the space and can maneuver with a gig bag that fits a 000-size guitar, an FS-800 is a great guitar since it’s inexpensive, reasonably rugged, and sounds and plays like a full-size guitar because it is.

[bsman]

Originally Posted by Birdbrain

That's an interesting option, and cheaper than expected. But it might not be appropriate for outdoor use in sunny and hot places. A black guitar inside a black case would sizzle in the sun. Perhaps the CF construction would survive, but you could get burns just picking it up. Blacks seems the default color for everything these days - "Look, it's a tactical guitar!" - but I've learned to avoid it, here in my sunny Western state.

I'll second that. I have a Rainsong Shorty that gets way too hot to be comfortable when I play outside in the sun. Lately, I have a Journey OF660 carbon fiber (mostly used for travel) with an orange top that's a lot more comfortable to play outside on a sunny day.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Tleek

I camp a lot with my family. Last year my camping guitar was a cordoba mini II but I sold it.

I know this has come up a lot, but…
I’d like some recommendations. I think dangers with humidity are pretty overblown, but I do live in a very wet area and like to travel to very dry areas. Something stable would be nice. Theft is also a big concern as is portability. I have two toddlers and an suv so when we get loaded up for a road trip there’s not a lot of extra space.

Im trying to decide between dirt cheap or a little nicer.

I’m thinking…
Jim Dandy
Yamaha CSF or FS 800
Taylor GS mini
Another Nylon stringed parlor or mini guitar
Some beat up pre owned guitar.

Hi Tleek…
We're taking off on a month long road trip in a couple weeks, and even though I have a Voyage Air (which has logged tens of thousands of road miles in our RV, and air miles on planes), I'm taking my Baritone Uke.

It's tuned exactly like the top four strings of a guitar and I string it with a low D string (D-G-B-E). We're going to be interaction-heavy on this trip and I just want something which takes up less space and which can be played in hotels, or BBQ (at the Air B&Bs) without disturbing folks around me.

We used to send mission trips to remote places with the $100 Musician's Friend Rogue Dreadnoughts (the #110 models), which were simple to setup to play nicely. We'd put them in an inexpensive carry bag with a dozen sets of strings, a tuner, strap and peg winder and play them while there and then find people in those areas to leave the guitars with as a gift.

My point is the Rogues were easy to setup to play easily. Cheaper than renting an instrument, not a big deal if something were broken or stolen, and easily replaceable. They work great on camping excursions as well.

[TomB'sox]

Originally Posted by Tleek

Alright guys,
I went and played some more guitars today.
I almost bought a gs mini, but something about it just didn’t click to me and 500 is a bit more than I wanted to spend on a classroom and outdoor beater.

I kept going back to one particular Yamaha fs800. It just sounds great. It just felt good and sounded better than a $230 guitar should.

I picked it up with a $10 used gig bag and it’s ready for the beach, river, and backwoods. It’s larger than I wanted and the string spacing is pretty tight, but for the price it should work well. I think I just like Yamaha.

That is a great choice, I was reading through the thread and was going to recommend this after reading all your thoughts on the minis that do not really have the sound you want. I have a Yamaha from the 1970's that I did nothing for (unfair to it for sure), stored it without a case in closets, under beds, etc. It is still crack free and plays well, cant' be beat it in my opinion for a decent sound and obvious structural integrity.