View Single Post
  #8  
Old 02-07-2010, 09:29 AM
Tarnisher Tarnisher is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 47
Default

It's great that we have so many options in the travel guitar market, covering the full spectrum between instruments that sound and play like normal guitars and trade some portability, and those that are super portable but trade sound or playability.

The Voyage Air looks to be about the best option on the sound/playability over portability end. It would be nice to have an instrument that sounded like that along on a trip, but it comes with some trade offs. Even when folded, that bag takes up a lot of space. It's definitely more portable for air travel, but for cramming in a packed car, hiking, bicycling, motorcycling, camping, playing while sitting in a car or armchair, and lots of other applications, it's nearly as cumbersome as any full sized guitar.

The X5 is at the other end of the spectrum. It's so small that I can bring it just about anywhere and be sure that it won't become a burden. The trade off, of course, is sound. The X5 is impressively loud and other than the sustain issues I mentioned, has a very pleasant sound. But if I could have only one guitar for the rest of my life, I'd want one that sounded better.

One more point: I said above that travel guitars are compromises, and one of the common things you have to give up for portability is playability. The Little Martin and Baby Taylors I've tried are fun to mess around on, but they felt just a few steps up from toy guitars. The small scale has its quirks, including intonation issues. The X5 has no such drawbacks: it has a full size neck, and plays like an expensive, well-set-up guitar. Though I haven't hooked it up to a chromatic tuner, it seems to intonate perfectly.
Reply With Quote