Good Cheap Travel Guitar

I'm looking to buy a new guitar next year to just play around on. Something cheap and nice sounding with a decent amount of girth to not sound like a toy. I'm thinking about a Baby Taylor, or a Aria AD model.

I've played with the Taylors before, I like their sound. I was really impressed with the sound of the Aria guitars from the video clips I've seen on youtube. Aria AD models are actually China made Martin knock offs.

Any suggestions?

mmm, my Washburn is decent, and it was only around $120. The only thing I don't really like about it is the tension on the strings. It's much more than on other guitars, but it sounds nice and looks good.

hmm I would suggest Ibanez since they're pretty cheap, have a pretty good look and tone depending on which, and can be pretty lightweight.
If not you can try for a some Fenders online that can go for pretty cheap. Wahburn are pretty good too.

I might suggest that you check out Seagull. They make a parlor size guitar that's not too expensive. I've always been impressed with the action on their instruments.

-John

uber_goober said:

I might suggest that you check out Seagull. They make a parlor size guitar that's not too expensive. I've always been impressed with the action on their instruments.

-John

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Hmm Sounds interesting. Good action is so important to me. Thanks for the suggestion!

rayan said:

Something cheap and nice sounding with a decent amount of girth to not sound like a toy.

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I suggest the sunlite 3/4 size classical guitar. im actually thinking about getting one for the same reason. its definitely cheap and a $70 price tag. it really does sound nice considering its 3/4 the size of a standard, and it absolutely does not sound like a toy. heres a pic I snagged off the net

I liked the Baby Taylors as well when I tried them out a few years ago. The price for a throw-around camping guitar was a little high for my taste, but they did sound really good - way better than the backpacker I picked up at that time. Looks like they came down in price since I last looked.

The guy that recommended looking at Seagulls is right on. For the money, they're made extremely well and sound great.

I the slightly higher price range (~$500), I still absolutely love my Martin DX1. Excellent sound out of that. I'll will pick it up over some of my $1000+ guits many times and it holds up well with abuse and traveling, etc.

HungSolo said:

I liked the Baby Taylors as well when I tried them out a few years ago. The price for a throw-around camping guitar was a little high for my taste, but they did sound really good - way better than the backpacker I picked up at that time. Looks like they came down in price since I last looked.

The guy that recommended looking at Seagulls is right on. For the money, they're made extremely well and sound great.

I the slightly higher price range (~$500), I still absolutely love my Martin DX1. Excellent sound out of that. I'll will pick it up over some of my $1000+ guits many times and it holds up well with abuse and traveling, etc.

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I have a backpacker as well. I may hold off on the travel guitar for a little. My girlfriend's family just got me a Taylor for Christmas. Been playing it non-stop.

rayan said:

I have a backpacker as well. I may hold off on the travel guitar for a little. My girlfriend's family just got me a Taylor for Christmas. Been playing it non-stop.

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Is your GF's family in the market for another son?

You didn't mention your budget so I'll assume that you want something that you can trash but sounds decent.


If you want a nylon-string, get the Yamaha C40 or C45 ($150 and $90 with gigbag). The latter can usually be found at Costco. The local stores might still have leftover stock from Christmas. These are laminated spruce tops.


If you want a steel-string dreadnaught, the Yamaha Eterna runs about $140 at Costco. This is a very good laminated spruce top. Again, the Costco stores may have leftover Christmas stock. Call around.


If you want a solid spruce top dreadnaught, Costco .com is offering the Suzuki pictured above with a rebate that takes it below $100! That quite a deal but you'll probably get some sneers from guitar snobs when they see the Suzuki label.

At $300-500, there are lots of good OOO and dreadnaught guitars from China that are imported by Walden, Johnson and Blueridge. These have gotten good reviews in Acoustic Guitar Magazine. My recommendation is that, after a few weeks of getting to know these guitars, you should have them set-up to your preferences (because the action might be a little high).

Godin's Seagull line would be my first choice for a solid-quality guitar (made in Canada). As someone had mentioned, they make a great parlor sized guitar (the Coastline Cedar Grand) with a full-length scale. If you want a nylon string, get the La Patrie Motif which has a solid cedar top.


My personal favorite is the Yamaha Guitalele which is pictured above alongside my Yamaha C45MA. It's a guitar that's got a 17-inch scale and is as big as a tenor ukulele. It's tuned ADGCEA (capo on the 5th fret of a guitar). It costs about $100 and is only sold in Canada, Europe and Asia. Americans can buy it from Canada by following the procedures in this blog post. It sounds great as a slack-key guitar when tuned to GCGCEG.

what about an Ovation or Art and Lutherie?

rayan said:

Hmm Sounds interesting. Good action is so important to me. Thanks for the suggestion!

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I have a mahogany baby taylor I was thinking of selling. It is pretty used though.

Those Seagulls are usually pretty good guitars.

OT, but you have a Taylor right? How do you like it?

I personally loved the baby taylor when I played with it. Nice, small size and Great sound.. pricey though.

That guitalele thing is really cool too the local yamaha music store had one on display. It kinda sounds like a uke, but with the almost the versatility of a guitar. Fun to play.

Whats your budget?

I actually ordered a Guitalele from Canada for $99. (I bought it for my son to learn on in a couple of years) It is pretty cool. Like a poor man's Koaloha D-VI. (But actually easier to play and almost as good sounding)

studentaccount1,
How is a Guitalele different than a requinto? Or are they the same.

Not sure. Guitaleles are probably smaller.

They are really the size of an ukulele with 6 string... so consequently the low notes are not that present. I'd guess requintos are slightly bigger and have a deeper sound.

The Guitalele is very cool though.

Requintos have a scale length of 530mm to 540mm. The Guitalele has a scale of about 430mm (like a tenor ukulele). Both the requinto and the Guitalele are tuned ADGCEA.

In contrast, the typical scale for a modern classical guitar is 650mm.

hey rayan, i dont know if you are still looking at getting a traveler since you got your taylor already, but i just picked one of these up yesterday...

Ibanez SGT110

when i picked it up and played it i was blown away. when i tuned it, i was even more blown away. when i found some fret buzz, i frowned. when i looked inside the sound hole and found a truss rod adjustment, i was relieved. and when i saw the $170 price tag, i had to buy it.

took her home, adjusted the action on the truss rod bolt, got rid of all the fret buzz, noticed how low the action still was, pulled out my tuner and found out that the intonation was even better than my pono. haha.

then i looked online and saw that i coulda bought it for $20 less. but i would never even consider buying a $150 guitar online without getting to play it first. but if you were interested, here's a video of me playing her. the mic doesnt do her justice either.

good riddance

on a side note, since this great sounding guitar was soooo inexpensive, i have no problem sending her to...

NukeDOC's Pimp My Guitar!!!

show on MTB (yes i meant to put B). ive already got the design for the freboard art. just need to design the new headstock face. and a lil' sumt'n sumt'n here and there.

NukeDOC said:

on a side note, since this great sounding guitar was soooo inexpensive, i have no problem sending her to...

NukeDOC's Pimp My Guitar!!!

show on MTB (yes i meant to put B). ive already got the design for the freboard art. just need to design the new headstock face. and a lil' sumt'n sumt'n here and there.

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Hahaha I would definitely watch that show and probably send in an entry cuz my guitar can sometimes get on my nerves.

i wouldn't think u really wanted this, but i thought it was cool. It's a little travelling rock guitar, on the website they sell it for 109.99