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Post by newey on May 5, 2010 22:15:14 GMT -5
A few years back, I started talking about building a travel guitar: guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=coffee&action=display&thread=469And I started the project, with the help of a friend with a wood shop. Unfortunately, Bret died a year ago, and I haven't done anything further with the project since. Someday I'll get it done, but it's going to require an investment in some tools. But the goal there is a small guitar to throw in the car. While I mused about possible airline use, I never really looked at making it minimally small. It's set up for a full-scale neck, with headstock and some amount of body aft of the bridge. Overall length is probably about 35" or so. In that thread, ChrisK mentioned his Speedster travel guitar, which is a headless design, but is nonetheless a 24.75" scale, and the rearward portion of the body does extend back past the bridge, probably adding a few more inches to the overall length. Other travel guitars are in the 30" range. Most of these advertise that they will easily fit into an airline overhead. Which they will, assuming the airline lets you carry it on in the first place. As anyone who flys frequently will attest, life has changed since the carriers started charging people for checked bags. People now try to carry on all manner of things as a result. And with fewer flights scheduled these days, most flights are packed, making overhead space a premium. So the airlines are cracking down on folks with oversized carry-on bags. They've always had those carry-on "sizing boxes", but seldom was anyone asked to fit a carryon bag into one. Now, more often, I see people told to do so, and required to check the bag at the jetway if it's oversized. That's a trend that's likely to continue, and become more frequent if not mandatory. Now, that carry-on box is 22"L X 14" H X 9" deep. Assume one buys a hard-sided regulation carry-on in that size. The thickness of the case probably means the inside dimensions are roughly 13" by 21". Depth shouldn't really be an issue, nine inches is plenty. Length is the issue. Now, trotting out ol' Pythagoras, if A²=22 and B²= 14, the hypotenuse is approx. 24.7". If the guitar lays diagonally inside the carry-on, I've got that for a total length to play with. But the width of whatever bodywork there is reduces that, since the bridge end won't fit all the way into the corner- and the wider the bodywork, the less length one can have. We've been discussing short-scale guitars elsewhere. If a headless design was used, with bridge tuners protruding only a little at the end, and only a little bit of width to the body, I figure a 21" scale just might go in there. Which would be cool, pack some clothes around it, and it would be safely cocooned in an overhead compartment. Basically, this is going to be pretty much like a very short scale Steinberger, without any part of the body protruding past the bridge, and no more than an inch or so wider than the bridge. Can this be done? Thoughts? My first thought was to buy a kiddy guitar and hack it down to size, that was mentioned way back in the original travel guitar thread. But of course that would also mean lopping off the headstock and "Steinbergerizing" it. I have no idea what issues might be involved in doing that. |
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Post by cynical1 on May 6, 2010 13:41:16 GMT -5
Years ago in a different life...I played with the idea of a folding guitar.
The bridge worked off of a crossbow type mechanism and used piano hinge and a locking mechanism just South of the neck attachment.
I made a bass and a guitar...you can see how well they sold...
HTC1
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Post by newey on May 6, 2010 18:53:00 GMT -5
Yeah, Chris mentioned that as an idea- he suggested using those threaded inserts in the neck holes, so the bolts could be removed and the neck detached. He would loosen the strings, capo at the first fret to hold 'em, and detach the neck.
That would probably work, but ideally I'd like to be able to just pull it out and play, no assembly required.
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noley
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Post by noley on May 12, 2010 17:41:13 GMT -5
Howdy to all, my first post... A subject near and dear to my heart. In a recent life I spent way too much time on planes and in hotel rooms and needed a little fiddle that was both playable and easy to pack along, either in my checked baggage or as a carry on. Here's what I found... 1990 Erlewine Chiquita. A sturdy little guitar with a screaming humbucker that was a bit tough to play with a short scale and 13 gauge strings.  I sold it when I found this, an 'Ultralight' model from Traveller Guitars who make the Speedster mentioned earlier. This is easy to play, super light, and has been pretty well indestructable. It has a piezo pickup and depending on what you play it through can sound electric clean, acoustic or dirty. It's even got some volume unplugged altogether. There is no volume control on the guitar itself like the Chiquita has. 28" long X 5.5" wide X 1.5" thick.  Cheers! n. |
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Post by newey on May 14, 2010 7:59:51 GMT -5
Noley-
Hello and Welcome-
That's a nice little travel guitar. Still a bit too long for a carry-on, however. Although given the stuff I saw people carrying on yesterday, I'm sure that probably 90% of the time there would be no problem doing so.
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noley
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Post by noley on May 14, 2010 17:46:21 GMT -5
Thanks newey, What drew me to the Traveler was the full scale neck, and it's actually flat enough to just lay on the floor or up against the bulkhead if there's no room in the overhead. It comes with a gig bag. Both of these have been on a ton of flights with no trouble. How about a ukelele! That's a fun little instrument and tiny too, but wider and probably more fragile. Or... don't bring your own, just go hang out at Guitar Center and play something full sized  n. |
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Post by newey on May 14, 2010 18:17:54 GMT -5
When I'm on the road, it's usually for work- which usually takes place during the hours guitar center is open!
This is for late night in my hotel room. And Ukes are great but won't help me practice guitar licks much!
I'll have to look at one of those Travellers.
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noley
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Post by noley on May 15, 2010 22:48:41 GMT -5
Hey newey, look what I found... www.besttravelguitars.com/ You know that once you get a mini guitar you'll have to build a mini stompbox... n. |
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mrpeabody
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Post by mrpeabody on May 23, 2010 9:11:55 GMT -5
At sam ash , 2 years ago I purchased a travel electric. Came with a cheap gig bag, cheap chord. I've up graded the bag, & the cord (I went with the Guitar Center cord, cuz its lifetime guaranteed). I use it 5 days a week with a Roland Micro cube. I'm a truck driver by day, and the thing sounds incredible! 24 fret neck, tiny body, all the sounds. I've learned and got in more practice with this rig in the last 2 years then in the last 23 !
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Post by newey on May 23, 2010 9:28:43 GMT -5
Mr Peabody-
Hello and Welcome to Guitarnutz2!
With the size of some of the sleepers they have nowadays, I'm surprised you don't have a Marshall stack running off an inverter! ;D
You say it gets "all the sounds", but if you stick around here, we'll have you rewiring it in no time!
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Post by newey on Oct 8, 2010 21:48:05 GMT -5
Just to put a coda to this thread, I bought one of these, off Ebay:  It's a Hofner, made in China, cheap enough that I won't worry about it a bit. And it plays pretty well right out of the box, no fret issues, decent strings from the factory (!). It's currently at the tech's shop for intonation (only slightly off), and to move the action up just a tad, but I think it'll suffice just fine for what I want it for. It's 32" long, comes with a gigbag, and could be carried on if they don't look too closely. But I usually check my luggage anyway, so I'm looking for a hard-shell suitcase which could contain the guitar (and my Orange Micro-Crush amp) in one half, and clothes in the other half. The HB doesn't sound the greatest, so a pup upgrade may be in order. And, as long as I'm in there, I could slip in a mini-toggle series/parallel switch. . . . |
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Post by cynical1 on Oct 8, 2010 22:03:13 GMT -5
You could also look for a used trombone case and gut the inside and re-foam it. Guitars get ripped off in baggage handling all the time. No one steals a trombone...
HTC1
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Post by ashcatlt on Oct 8, 2010 22:32:30 GMT -5
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Post by newey on Oct 8, 2010 22:58:04 GMT -5
That would be a neat trick, sort of like the gat in the violin case.
But I'm shooting for one hard-sided bag, since the airlines are charging $25/bag these days. If the thing is to go diagonally into the suitcase, it's 32" long, but I figure I'll need about 36" on the hypotenuse to be sure the width of the body and headstock don't interfere.
For checked bags, 29" high is a pretty standard size. So, hauling out 'ol Pythagoras, I get the width to be about 20.5". Since my hypotenuse won't go all the way into the corner, because of the width of the body, I figure another couple of inches for a fudge factor, width-wise.
So, a 29" X 22" ought to do it.
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Post by jcgss77 on Oct 11, 2010 13:42:21 GMT -5
Maybe you should bring the guitar with you when you look at the luggage, and let that get the final word.
The video got me laughing pretty good, poor guy...
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Post by ijustwannastrat on Oct 11, 2010 17:37:57 GMT -5
I am planning on going down to Florida this December, if I have sufficient funds. Personally, I'm simply going to put threaded inserts on the neck joint this fall whilst I update the rest of the Stratobastard. While I understand the want for convenience (spelling hack), I find it impracticle to purchase a guitar for the sole purpose of travel. It seems like a VERY small niche in an already somewhat small market.
I hope nobody mistakes the above "rant" as meanspirited, or degrading towards anybody's ideas.
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Post by newey on Oct 11, 2010 21:14:58 GMT -5
Not at all. My philosophy is just different. I want to be able to pull the thing out of a suitcase ready to go, I don't want to have to futz around with it. If I'm traveling (although I'm working) I want to have a bit of fun, too. And remounting a neck and restringing the guitar is no fun!
OTOH, a dedicated travel guitar is, at my stage of life, not an unreasonable extravagance. I have a dozen or so other guitars to pick from, one more barely raised the spouse's eyebrows!.
In my younger days, when I was scratching to make rent, I was happy with a pair of axes, and wouldn't have been able to justify the cost of a travel guitar. Now, I'm at a point where it seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to have.
In fact, I'm probably going to end up spending more for a hard case to put it in than I paid for the guitar itself . . .
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Post by cynical1 on Oct 11, 2010 21:39:20 GMT -5
You could always FedX the guitar off before you fly out. Probably cheaper then the per bag fee anyway.
HTC1
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Post by Yew on Oct 12, 2010 15:26:04 GMT -5
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Post by wolf on Oct 13, 2010 0:39:20 GMT -5
I was all set to suggest a Steinberger ... and then I measured one. With a 31 inch height, that makes it a bit big doesn't it?
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Post by newey on Oct 13, 2010 5:11:39 GMT -5
Well, the one I got is 32". I looked at the cheap Steinberger line- "Spirit", I think they call it. Pretty nice, but also in the $400 range. Would have worked just as well, size-wise, but I wanted something cheap enough that I wouldn't worry about losing it or breaking it.
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Post by newey on Dec 25, 2010 21:00:59 GMT -5
VoyageAir Transaxe BelairIt looks like the folding neck idea has commercially arrived. 700 bones at MF, but looks like a fairly nice axe, nothing "travel" about it when unfolded.  
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Post by gumbo on Dec 26, 2010 5:30:52 GMT -5
Hey...that thing looked quite good until they broke it...  Personally, I'd get the tuner checked, 'coz if they're putting THAT much tension on the neck......... |
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Post by irwired on Jan 5, 2011 14:21:14 GMT -5
I was just in Boston for the holidays and enjoyed  the snow. I traveled on Southwest with my strat. I capo-ed the strings at the top of the neck and shimmed the bridge to relieve the string tension. Then removed the neck and protected it with some heavy wool socks (no longer needed for their intended intended purpose  ). I slid the neck behind the body in a gig bag and folded the empty neck portion over and held it in place with a bungee. I carried it on in both directions and no one batted an eye The TSA did not like the look of my mini twin amp, they opened my luggage in both directions. It was a bit of a pain to have to mess with the setup as the intonation was off when I put the neck back on, but for a 2 week trip it was worth it. ;D The setup issue is IMHO the best argument for a dedicated travel guitar. The folding neck raises the question, will the relief hold when the string tension is released for travel? If that turns out not to be an issue and the intonation stays true, it looks like a winner.  Cheers and Happy New Year IRW |
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Post by newey on Apr 3, 2011 10:22:57 GMT -5
So, I recently took the wife on a much-needed vacation to Maui. And I took my recently-purchased travel guitar. I had purchased a new suitcase as well, after making like Pythagoras and calculating the hypotenuse across a 29" suitcase, which is the largest size usually commercially available. The travel guitar just barely fit diagonally. I couldn't get it to fit in there if it was still in the gigbag, nor was I able to fit any extra padding- tshirt, whatever- at the ends. The headstock and tail just barely went in diagonally. This is a polycarbonate shell suitcase, pretty tough stuff, although it will deform. But it springs back into shape if it does. In any event, I had a great trip, played a bit in the hotel room in between beach time, and packed up to come home last weekend. When I arrived back in Ohio (extremely jet-lagged, I might add), I found a bunch of little metallic red paint-chips in my suitcase. Uh-Oh! Sure enough, someone at the airline had clearly dropped my suitcase right onto the corner- the plastic looked as if it had been deformed at that corner- and the guitar had taken a hit:   Now, mind you, this was a very cheap ($100) item that I bought exactly so I wouldn't shed a tear if it was damaged. Nonetheless, I still did shed one. First new guitar I've purchased in about 25 years, not counting the builds, and it's damaged the first time I fly with it! Now, I'm thinking this would be a good time to mod it. That HB needs to be replaced with a P90-style, I think. But more basically, is there any way to do a "down and dirty" repair to the finish? As can be seen, the wood underneath is the cheap soft Chinese stuff, and the finish is that plasticized gunk that's about 1/8" thick. It's a nice metallic red color. I'm also wondering if I should look to mod the body at that point if I have to do a finish repair anyway, make it fit the suitcase a bit better for the next time by shaving the body down a bit right there. I don't really want to get into completely stripping the finish down, just not worth it for this thing. |
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Post by ashcatlt on Apr 3, 2011 11:10:32 GMT -5
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Post by cynical1 on Apr 3, 2011 12:17:11 GMT -5
Ash beat me to it... I remember that one from somewhere else back in time...
Aside from the levity at your expense, how involved did you want to get in the repair?
HTC1
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Post by newey on Apr 3, 2011 14:35:13 GMT -5
Not too involved, that's why I specified "down and dirty". If it passes muster from 3 feet, that would be great. I was also thinking that I could saw a bigger chunk off and perhaps just cover the resulting scar with some sort of black plastic U-channel that would just fit over the edge like it was a protective cover or something. Don't really know how I could make something like that. Maybe it needs a control plate with some switches, or another jack at that spot . . . .maybe install a piezo?  I guess I'm leaning towards covering it up moreso than repairing it. |
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Post by sbgodofmetal on Apr 4, 2011 10:05:17 GMT -5
why not just ship it usps that new flatrate shipping sounds nice all you do is buy the sized box you'll need and if it fits in the box it ships for one low flat rate ;D
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Post by newey on Apr 4, 2011 12:54:57 GMT -5
Shipping it would be fine if it was for a week or more, but most of my traveling is just for a few days at a time.
Of course, I can carry it on as my one piece of carry-on, but that means I have to check another bag anyway, since fresh clothes are nice to have at one's destination.
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the snow. 
). I slid the neck behind the body in a gig bag and folded the empty neck portion over and held it in place with a bungee. I carried it on in both directions and no one batted an eye 
