Travel Guitars
together until we make a new model
where we can incorporate the most popular requests.”
Often the suggestions are as simple as
new colors and electronics, but sometimes
customers can push for a whole new sound.
“Customers always seemed to enjoy what
they heard, but some would hint at changing the soundhole or its placement,” says
Vagabond’s Smith. “After a little tinkering
on the location and reforming the hole
from a circle to an oval, this slight change
provided the Vagabond with more tone and
original sound than ever before.”
Another customer-driven addition at
Vagabond was the addition of a pickup
option. Their guitars now come with the
option of either a Martin Thinline pickup
($85 extra) or a Martin 332 Plus pickup
system ($129 extra). “Since giving customers the option of adding pickups onto their
guitar, nearly 90 percent have purchased
guitars with the added option,” says Smith.
Some shops are more adept to custom-ization and changes than others. “Some
people call or email with specialty specifications for their own rig, like less width in the
neck, but we don’t really do custom work,”
explains Miranda’s Green. “We have two
standard guitars, each of which are pretty
much typical dimensions of their corresponding acoustic counterparts. Our shop
has a limited number of staff and we can
barely keep up with our regular orders, let
alone custom jobs.”
Meet The Travelers
One might assume that the market for travel guitars exists solely for professional and
traveling musicians, needing the flexibility
to practice anytime and anywhere. But we
discovered that the great majority of customers in the travel guitar market are businessmen, pilots and even active soldiers in
the U.S. military.
Guitar builders have gotten a sense of who
they’re making these guitars for through
message boards and emails. “We’ve had a
number of professional musicians who’ve
purchased our guitars, but business travelers and pilots seem to be the majority,”
says Green. “Businessmen and professional
musicians are no different because they both
want and appreciate a quality product.”
The Traveler Ultra-Light shares the basic
components of the Pro Series but keeps things
even lighter with a detachable lap rest
in the glowing feedback they often receive
from frequent travelers. “I love playing the
guitar (Miranda CFX 200). I have taken it on
the plane without a hassle, practiced on the
train to San Francisco and got great practice while camping,” reads a testimonial on
Miranda’s website, from J.F. in California.
“I’m delighted with my new Miranda and
impressed by what you have accomplished.
It’s easy to imagine how much effort went
into the design and prototyping, as well
as the patent process and manufacturing,”
adds D.C. in Arizona. “The design, in particular, is intelligent and innovative.”
Instead of trying to develop more traditional models and expanding into other
customer demographics, travel guitar
companies have realized that it’s better to
fly inconspicuously under the radar of the
industry giants. “Someone recently said to
me, ‘Why don’t you go after this demographic?’ but I’ve said since we started this
that our demographic is our demographic,”
emphasizes Oliver. “We’re not in control of
our demographic; our demographic is in
control and it has always been the same. It
has been the 42-year-old male, airline pilot
or businessman who has been playing for
15 years.”
Of course, traveler guitars don’t just sit in
overhead storage compartments; members
of the travel guitar family wear their accumulated mileage like a badge of pride. “I
recently received a letter stating how many
thousands of miles a particular Israeli commercial pilot has flown with his Miranda
guitar,” says Green. “However, one email
that sticks out in my mind is one I received
with a picture from a man in a Santa Claus
suit in Finland.”
Recently Vagabond’s Smith had to do
something he doesn’t do very often. “I
just received one of my guitars back with a
request to have it refurbished,” says Smith.
“But this wasn’t an ordinary recondition. It
was from a soldier who served during the
[first] Gulf War and his guitar was plastered
with dust and sand.”
When Alaskan climber, Vern Tejas, looked
to test his physical and mental boundaries, he turned to his Traveler Pro Series
guitar for moral support. Tejas impressively strummed his guitar on the “Seven
Summits,” the highest points of each continent. He most recently conquered Mt.
Kosciuszko (7310 ft.) in Australia. “I
