Product: Traveler Guitar TG-1
Price Paid: US $349
Submitted
10/30/2001
at
10:32pm
by
Doc Hodges
Email: dhodges at myrealbox<dot>com
Features
:
9
The Traveler Guitar is made of hard maple. The older models are US made but they have recently moved to production in China. As of late 2001 you can still find the US model for about $370. The Chinese model is very similar but uses a cheaper pickup. The guitar has an acoustic chamber that connects to a stethescope so you can hear it with no battery or amp. I suggest a small headphone amp like the Pocket Rocket as the stethescope picks up hand movements ant any touching of the tube between the guitar and earphones.
The fretboard is full size 24 3/4" and very nicely made. There is very little beyond the length of the strings so the entire guitar is only 28" long. With the collapsing arm folded, meant to rest on your leg for a natural guitar feel, the guitar fits in it's included case tighly. It hardly looks like a guitar at all and at 4 pounds you woun't have any trouble getting it in the overhead bins of even small jets.
Sound
:
No Opinion
The sound is clean and crisp with a warm bass that is not at all dull. Because you can mix the acoustic output with the pickup a wide variety of tones come naturally.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
My guitar came with the action just a bit high so I am playing with the bridge a bit. I enjoy the process so this is not a problem. At first the headless neck feels weird. The machine head is a bit wider than the neck to protect neck from the daily grind.
There is no real body and that takes a bit of getting used to. The part that counts, the neck and fretboard, is just super! The neck back is smooth as glass and feels great in your hand. Once you get over not having a guitar body under your forearm you will fall in love with the action and feel of the neck.
Reliability/Durability
:
No Opinion
The hardware is solid. The tuners are tight and have no slop at all. I haven't had it long enough to attest it's longevity but since it mostly a solid piece of maple with a standard truss rod in the neck there is little to go wrong.
Customer Support
:
10
I used their email folks for several questions before buying the guitar. They were the mellow and straight forward sort of people you enjoy talking guitars with.
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been playing 30 years of so and own 5 other guitars. This one plays as well and anything in the house and will get lots of play because it can go where the others can't.
My only wish is that it had a built in headphone amp but this is minor.
