Traveler Guitar Escape MK-II Steel

You have to understand where the real value of this instrument resides: its small size (30" long) but yet standard scale. It is made in China (probably recent), has 22 frets, a solid maple body, L.R. Baggs Piezo, and a very nice spruce top. The tuners are embedded in the body of the guitar making the design very compact, yet still very pleasing to the eye (was not the case with the previous Escape model).

It is worth mentioning that the guitar comes with a very serious gig bag, that adds a lot of value to this traveling "solution". A tool to adjust the truss rod is also included. And some decent headphones (although I prefer my Koss Porta Pros)

I play a wide range of accoustic music ranging from folk, rock, celtic and some jazz. And the MK-II cover these satisfactorily, but remember this is a small, piezo guitar. The MK-II Steel comes with an integrated headphone amplifier that does a good job with the LR Baggs piezo. I could compare the sound with the Yamaha Silent Guitar: it has a DSP significantly compensating for the lack of natural acoustics. The MK-II has no such DSP, but in counterpart has a much longer battery life. The guitar sounds better plugged in a real acoustic amp. I would not hesitate performing live with the MK-II

Note that I also considered the beautiful Escape EG-1, but I found the lack of a neck pickup limiting in terms of musical opportunities. Maybe someday I'll get a Hohner G3T as a portable electric..

Action is never low enough, but I consider this one just fine. The guitar was "ready to play" right out of the box.

Satin finish is great and pleasing to touch. This is a well designed and well manufactured guitar, with adequate quality control.

It is a not only a pretty guitar, it is a real "serious" instrument.

This guitar looks very solid. It stays in tune for quite some time (maybe due to its headless architecture). Only had the guitar for 3 weeks, but everything indicates it will withstand all the abuse a travel guitar is supposed to go through. I would only question the solidity of the amplifier controls, as these are kind of small, but lots of piezo guitars share this concern.

I sent a question to Traveler before making the purchase, and was answered within 24 hours, by the company president. Not bad.

Been playing for >25 years, mainly on a jumbo Takamine N-20 and an Ibanez Artist AR300. After becoming a father and a traveling engineer, guitar practice became really difficult. Because of its convenient small size, the traveler is opening lots of new practice opportunities. Would definitely buy another one if lost.