Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Wow. This thing is incredible. I was searching the web for a "travel guitar" and came across this. There are you-tube videos that just blew my mind. How could this thing possibly work? The manufacturer's website is at [...].
BTW, it's strictly acoustic, no electronics, although a guy calling himself AcousticMax on youtube has had his thoroughly modified with electronics.
I wanted to actually get my hands on one before I bought it, and discovered that the manufacturer/inventor is a luthier that lives only 20 minutes away from me, in Northern California. I went, I saw, I bought. This is his cheapest model, the Transit series, available in Orchestral Model, Dreadnought, and this one, the Mini-Dreadnought size. Comes with it's own well-padded backpack that also has plenty of room for my 17-inch Dell XPS laptop! It should fit easily into airline overhead bins as a carry-on, but might be a bit cramped under the seat in front of you.
I've seen and messed with other travel guitars such as the Martin Backpacker Martin Steel-String Backpacker Acoustic Guitar and the Washburn Washburn Steel String Travel Acoustic Guitar (Natural) . They have rather high actions, and sound like a plastic mandolin, but I figured that was as good as it got, and I'd make do.
Wrong. The Voyage-Air's are made in China (how else could it be this cheap), very nice workmanship, and the folding-neck design is quite extraordinary. Once it's unfolded and screwed in place (takes less than 30 seconds), you would not know it from a standard Mini-Dread, the hairline crack in the fingerboard being almost invisible. It will blow away your guitar buds. The hinge feels quite sturdy, actually 2 hinges plus an anchor pin and a thumbscrew that doubles as, and appears to be, a strap button. After folding it away, and unfolding it again, it DOES need retuning, but the tuners manage to hold a tune pretty close. I notice the tuners require about twice as much twisting compared to my other guitars, so they may be special in that regard.
Overall tone is beautiful, on a par with many $1000 guitars. String action surprisingly low, just like a "real" guitar, and no fret buzzing. In fact, it plays and sounds exactly like a sub-$1000 guitar of comparable type.
There are close to a dozen different models in the Voyage-Air line, if you want fancier tonewoods, etc. This VAMD-02 being the cheapest model, to me the main drawback is the neck itself is finished in a way that slows me down a bit if I'm zipping around fast on the neck, so I suspect a more expensive model may provide more of a high-end experience. But for the money, I love this baby, and she is beyond my wildest expectations. My vacations will now be filled with hours of playing time, instead of hours of boredom.
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