Ever take a guitar backpacking?

[M Sarad]

I was at Trail Camp on the way to Mt. Whitney when I saw a guy with a Harmony strapped to his backpack. All I had was a Hohner Marine Band harmonica. We played Hesitation Blues before the 10,000 ft elevation tuckered me out.

[Ludere]

Originally Posted by hermithollow

" ... I build "travel guitars" where the neck stores inside the body, and now y'all have got me thinking I should build one out of HPL/WRC for "traveling" in the great outdoors ..."

If you can figure out how to make it double as a camp stove, then you got somethin'!



...

[Twitch]

I've never tried one but I don't think you could get much more portable than this...

https://www.amazon.com/Traveler-Guit...39&sr=8-4&th=1

[Bob Womack]

Never. I want to listen to the music of the cosmos when I'm in the wilderness.


Bob

[Orfeas]

When I am in the mountain lately for some reason I do not like artificial sounds. I even hate the sound my gear/tools make on rock and ice.

[JERZEY]

I do overnight/multi night hikes frequently. I used to bring my LX1, put it in a water tight bag and throw it in my pack. Im a pretty tall/big person so its hard for me to play it. I own a Martin Dread JR new model now and that is my hiking guitar. Its not much bigger then the LX1 and is about the same weight. It does not have the heavy neck like the LX1 either. I wont even compare the sound. The Dread JR sounds fantastic! I use the Martin gig bag. I lock the straps onto my hiking pack and off I go. I keep an extra rain fly just for the guitar. I pack extremely light so the guitar does not slow me down much.

[ctvolfan]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Never. I want to listen to the music of the cosmos when I'm in the wilderness.


Bob

This I totally agree with. Never understood seeing hikers with ear buds in their ears. I want to be able to hear nature including the black bear that is following me!

[DenverSteve]

Originally Posted by billder99

Hey Steve, old thread, new question... do you know the actual scale weight of your Voyage Air guitar? It sounds perfect for 2-4 day kayak/backpack camp trips.

I have been considering the Washburn Rover... 2#-1oz, 24" scale... decent instruments with a ladder-brace boxy tone... I'd prefer the VA if the weight is near 2#.

No. I don’t have the OOM any longer. They are all inch and three-quarter nut I believe and scale is full size so I don’t know on that. Just go to voyage Air.com and they list the specs on their VAOM guitars.
If you want to see how they do backpacking go to my classified listing for the dread that I have for sale and you can see it in the backpack, on a motorcycle and on a bicycle.

[bufflehead]

I take my Little Martin LXK2 kayak camping. It fits into its own drybag, and can then be strapped to the rear deck.

[hermithollow]

Originally Posted by Ludere

If you can figure out how to make it double as a camp stove, then you got somethin'!



...

I have used the HPL bodied ones to make lunch on at the beach (it is after all countertop material)

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

I once backpacked an autoharp into the Pemi, coming in on a 2 day approach. They are heavy, but compact. A guitar, nope. A mandolin, fine. I now have a guitar with a folding neck that is a pleasure to play. One of my plans is to use it canoeing as it will fit into a dry bag. I have some ultralight and very compact gear and could feasibly take it overnight backpacking, but I'd have to want to pretty badly to put up with the hassle of stuffing it with clothes and food and finding ways to tie on bulkier items. It would be cool once you got to the campsite - and a pain in the nubs while on the trail.

I should also mention that I canoe camp quite a bit and take one of the ones below with me. I used to take a beater (Vintage Weymann that I didn't have much money into) but just did not enjoy it. So now a good one goes. it's insured and taken very good care of.

[Sage Runner]

I used to Backpack a Yamaha Classical guitar into wilderness areas in high sierras in early-mid 70s. I even packed it in one time- 4 miles in on x-Country Mountain ski’s trip to an old Abandoned Boy Scout Lodge! Old lodge had cathedral high ceiling. It was worth it. Sounded like an 18th century monastery in that place with 8-10’ snow outside. Stayed for 5 days.

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by Twitch

I've never tried one but I don't think you could get much more portable than this...

https://www.amazon.com/Traveler-Guit...39&sr=8-4&th=1

Actually it can ... depending on whether you value volume over length

http://eo-guitars.com/

[RP]

My backpacking days are behind me, but were I to do so now with a guitar, there's no doubt it would be a Rainsong parlor in a gig bag...