Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm looking to build a travel guitar. I can't take a chance trying to take one on the plane. So, I'm not thrilled with this guitar, but thought I would build my own version. Has anyone out there built anything like this?

I built my 'corker' research mule with a removable neck, so that I could carry it with me to meetings and such without hassles. The body, which is a 'standard' classical size, fits under the seat as carry-on luggage, and the neck can go in my suitcase. The big hassle is putting the strings back on.

If you can find a picture of the 'Chysalis' guitar that Tim White made you'll be looking at a great travel instrument. The headstock plugs onto the end of the neck, and the bridge plugs onto a couple of studs in the 'soundboard'. Throwing a lever on the back of the neck pushes the head out into playing position, and tightens the strings. Watching him put it together was like watching the scene in a James Bond flick where the assassin puts together his rifle, snapping all the parts to the folding stock.

The problam I can see with the one pictured is that it's too long for most carry-ons.   

i have seen one which anchors the strings at the nut and puts the machine heads in a slotted "headstock" between the bridge and the end block, if you can call it that. shortens things up a bit. i can't remember the brand.

I built a travel guitar. Basically is was a Martin O parlor. A real guitar.
I typically attach my necks with a dual tenon (Mayes Bourgois etc)
All I do when I travel is attach a few capos, remove the bridge pins, remove
the neck and place the guitar in my napsack!!!!
I just carry it on a plane.
Easy for a luthier to travel with. Might not be for the average guitar player,

I also have a hardshell case for it as well

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Here are picts of my travel guitar

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Andy Andy Andy! Still my favorite small guitar!!!
such a sweet instrument, made me come out of lurking!
I want to build one just like it,{mabye tiger myrtle,..hmmm}.... Fantastic stuff as usual!
The dog motifs blow me away too, Im such a big dog lover.
Cheers
Charlie

Charlie
The irony about your comment is I just chopped off the top of this one!!!!!!
I love the look of the guitar, but I didn't like the sound. Experience has lead
me down a path to improve the tone!!!! I am going to put a new lighter top
on it, Lutz this time. (This one was port orford cedar) It will end up looking
the same, but hopefully a tone that matches the look.

Mark sorry for the highjack. Search the net for other travel guitars. But a
real guitar is so much better. Just build a nice parlor with a removable neck.

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

Gee,
Thats a shame Andy, I remember discussing this with you a while back. At that time you were on your way to the Ervin S course and you were hoping at that point that shaving the braces could "tune" the guitar sufficiently. I was hoping the same for you!
Well I can see that wasnt an effective route for you, which is a pity. You are right it is a beautiful guitar... there is no doubt there, but I wouldnt give up,{& I can see your not}.
Perhaps you just got a dead top on the first time around, and a quick retopping with fix the tone woes your experiencing. Having the top off will enable you to really get in at the bracing and make any adjustments you need to there quite easily too.
I can see alot of potential in this prototype, and it is something I wish to experiment with myself one day.
Its especially difficult for me to carry around a full sized guitar being in a wheelchair, although I have a system where I can bungee a guitar as large as a grand concert on the back of my chair, but its far from convenient or ideal. Also there is the nightmare of sending a fine instrument through airport baggage systems, and the missing and damaged instruments that result from that at times.
Are the case dimensions small enough to bring this on as a carry on item?
Anyway I am confident you will get this guitar where you want it.
If Im not mistaken this was the first guitar with the dog paw soundport,{mabye even the headstock inlay too?} nes pas? A landmark instrument like that must be preserved for posterity,
   
I still love it and Im confident it will end up where you want it to be.
Cheers
charliewood

I really like the idea of a travel guitar can you give more details on the neck attachment method and the other things that depart from a regular guitar?

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Zac

Anchorage Alaska

Finshed my 1st! See #1 here

This is exactly what I want to make for my second build – in Adi/Cocobolo – cause the old Martin Backpacker just don't cut it no more. I think there's a growing market out there for travel guitars, that is real guitars that can travel as a carryon (or the back of my motorcycle).

The two existing examples I'm drawing inspiration from are Luke Brunner's Outdoor Guitar (ya gotta what the video, not to mention his novel “floating braces”, and Harvey Leach's Voyage Air Guitar - as below.

While a luthier might enjoy chopping apart an instrument to try and make it sound better, the ideal of a good sounding highly mobile real guitar is a players dream come true.

Greg

Leach

Brunner

Charlie
This guitar is easy to travel with. I can put it in the hardshell case and bring
it on, or place it in my backpack and bring it on.
Realistically it takes me about 2-5 minutes to brake it down and set it up.

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Andy Z.
http://www.lazydogguitars.com

I copied the neck 'joint' from one that Walter Stanul made, which has also been copied by Valasquez. It's simplicity itself. There's a stub fingerboard glued to the top, with the 12th fret (it's a classical, remember) pinned to it. There are two little pins, 1/16" diameter that stick out less than 1/8", in the end of the fingerboard on the neck, and they plug into holes in the stub on the body. There's a T-nut in the heel block near the back to accept a screw that goes into the heel from outside, parallel with the strings. The neck is held on by string tension, and the screw just keeps it from folding up. There is an L-shaped piece of aluminum, about 1/4" thick, set into the neck, so that the long part, about six or seven inches long, runs up the neck as a reinforcement, while the short leg runs to the bottom of the heel. The two legs of the "L" taper to about nothing at the ends, and are maybe 1/2" wide where they meet.

No, the fact that the neck hardly even touches the body does not seem to hurt the tone.

Hey Alan do you have some pics? I am a visual kinda guy

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Zac

Anchorage Alaska

Finshed my 1st! See #1 here