NTGD (New Travel Guitar Day) Journey RT660

[email4eric]

I had been looking at CF guitars for quite a while, wanting a small and “impervious” travel guitar that retained a desirable tone and adequate string spacing.

I’d not previously played any CF guitars. Everything I’ve learned has been from forum posts, correspondence with manufacturers, and listening to posted sound clips on forums and on YouTube. Not being able to play CF guitars has made the search challenging.

I ended-up focusing on the Journey offerings, specifically the RT660 primarily due to string spacing (1-3/4 / 2-1/4), overall size (about 36 inches), scale (24.5) and volume/tone – best as I could distinguish it by sound clips. Finally pulled the trigger on the RT660m and it arrived yesterday.

Firstly, the string spacing is good for me – similar to my Martin 000-15sm which is about as narrow as I like. With regard to tone, I’m impressed in that it isn’t particularly….well...carbon fiber-ish. I’ve found many CF guitars, again, entirely subjectively and only from sound clips, to have a quite shimmery, bright, and an almost chimey sound – not something I’ve gravitated toward. This one has just the slightest hint of something unique but really is more akin to a wood guitar – it’s not at all bright or chimey – something I appreciate.

It’s a very balanced guitar with the nanowebs. The base is astounding. When you pluck the open low E, it’s sooo full and rich – beyond that which should be coming out of a guitar this size! That wow diminishes as you move up the frets, however.

From the player’s perspective, it’s not a loud guitar by any means. Finger picked, it is almost meek. Not going to be a guitar that cuts through anything, but for my purpose, and in a quieter environment, it will be just fine. Strummed, it has much more presence but breaks up pretty easily if at all driven.

The sound hole placement makes for a weird sound perception, at least for me. It’s so close to my right ear that I don’t hear much from my left – leading me to turn my head to the right to hear in a more left/right balance. Just something to get used to, I suppose.

Fit and finish is good on the outside and a little rough on the inside. It’s a little neck-heavy and the neck is substantial but by no means is the guitar unbalanced by this. The matte finish cleans up well with a microfiber cloth. The Grover tuners are silky smooth and appropriately compact in size. The 24.5 scale length makes transitioning from my standard guitars easy excepting for the small body size.

The guitar fits the lap differently in that the bridge is pretty far distal and the body is small. I find myself having to adjust so that I’m not right-handing over the 20th fret. I’ve been experimenting with playing this guitar on the left leg instead of the right to more easily get my right hand farther toward the bridge.

While not as easily collapsible when traveling as its cousin the OF660 (which uses the signature Journey break-down mechanism), this model evidently also has the ability to break-down by removal of the neck by accessing two neck bolts found from inside the sound hole. It’s advertised as being collapsible in this manner “occasionally” when traveling. I think that this would work for me in that I don’t travel by plane more than once a year or so. It’s small enough that it might be allowed as carry-on fully assembled without too much difficulty. I’d like to see a demo of this neck removal and get an idea on how tight to snug up those bolts on re-assembly prior to trying this myself. The carry bag it comes with is quite nice and well made. Nothing cheap there.

I’m not terribly intrigued by CF guitars in general – I’m very happy with my wood guitars and I live in an area with excellent humidity/temp characteristics so I doubt I’ll gravitate toward other CF guitars any time soon. But this CF guitar certainly has found a niche in my world, fits a need well, and is a welcome addition.

[rmoretti49]

Congratulations on your new guitar. The review you have provided would also fit my review of the Journey OF660. Try some aluminum bronze strings on yours. I think you will like the combination.

[actaylor]

Thanks for posting this. I'm trying to decide between this and the Rainsong Parlor. Glad to hear that the bass is good. I've played the RS Parlor. The bass is sort of weak. I'm trying another Parlor tomorrow.. But there's no RT 660 around to me to try.

[email4eric]

Originally Posted by rmoretti49

Congratulations on your new guitar. The review you have provided would also fit my review of the Journey OF660. Try some aluminum bronze strings on yours. I think you will like the combination.

Thank you. Absolutely will. Earnie Ball?

[email4eric]

Originally Posted by actaylor

Thanks for posting this. I'm trying to decide between this and the Rainsong Parlor. Had to hear that the bass is good. I've played the RS Parlor. The bass is sort of weak. I'm trying another Parlor tomorrow.. But there's no TH 660 around to me to try.

I hear a lot of love for the Rainsong parlor. I'll admit that I didn't consider it as Rainsongs haven't appealed to me tonally and if I recall, the string spacing was a deal breaker.

I want to reiterate that the bass on the Journey diminishes in a quite pronounced way once you start to fret it.

I'll also add that I may be leaning toward it being favored toward bass and mids. Still a pretty balanced guitar with the Elixers.

Make sure you buy from a dealer that allows for a trial and return if it doesn't fit the bill.

[actaylor]

Originally Posted by email4eric

I want to reiterate that the bass on the Journey diminishes in a quite pronounced way once you start to fret it.

I've found this to be true on most small guitars. I used to own a Cargo (pre-Peavey) and I felt this way about a GS-Mini that I owned, although the reason I sold the GS-Mini was due to the 1 11/16" nut width. There aren't too many videos of the RT660. You should post one!

[rmoretti49]

Originally Posted by email4eric

Thank you. Absolutely will. Earnie Ball?

Yes, Ernie Ball aluminum bronze.

[robailey]

Good to see more reviews of this guitar! We're actually starting to really promote this model more and more. I think in our line the RT660 is the most under-advertized, and is a GREAT bang for the buck. At NAMM, this guitar gets the most attention from professional artists. Thomas Leeb should be giving us a demo on this pretty soon.

Here's a review from Doug Allan Wilcox (non-edited)www.dawilcox.com as well as a video for you to see. We'll be doing professional recordings with dual Sure SM81s starting within a month, so you should be able to get a great sense of the tone.

"Journey Instruments RT660M review
I’ve been a professional guitarist for most of my adult life and have been a solo, performing singer/songwriter - using acoustic guitar as my primary accompaniment - for nearly 25 years.
For numerous reasons, I was an early proponent of carbon fiber guitars and have enjoyed the ease of use derived from CF’s ability to withstand temperature and humidity changes - a huge advantage when traveling to gigs in a different climate zone from home base - and equally so even when just playing around the house - if home happens to experience strong seasonal humidity shifts as mine does.
I’ve played numerous guitars from the Composite Acoustics line (both pre and post Peavey) as well as those by Rainsong and while I’ve liked them all in the short term, there was always something lacking for me.
With that said, it’s my unbiased opinion that my Journey carbon fiber guitar hits all my desired bullet points better than any
guitar I’ve ever worked with.
Playability is superb - setup was great right out of the box - and I love the scale length and general portability of the instrument.
Using wood as the standard for acoustic guitar tone, the RT660 has the “woodiest” tone of any CF guitar I’ve owned (with the added benefit of a nice low-end “kick” compliments of the offset soundhole and wedge-designed body).
I’ve played the guitar acoustically, through a Fishman Loudbox amp, and have recorded into my DAW and all methods produce just what I’m looking for in a working guitar.
The fact that Journey uses exactly the type of pickup I would typically install myself is a terrific plus.
My wife has developed a good ear over the years, listening to all the various guitars I’ve owned and played, and she proclaims the RT660 to be a winner as well - states the case very well in my book!
Add in a crazy-good travel bag and the Journey RT660M is a package any working guitarist should be extremely happy with."



Ted should have these in stock for those interested.