Travel Guitars

[jpfeifer]

Hi Guys,

Well it's time to head for home today so my trip is finally over. Beijing is one large city, 30 million people live in this city alone. I've never seen traffic like this city has. There's also alot of construction going on everywhere you look. Part of this is due to the city getting ready for the 2008 Olympics, but in general China as a country is in a gigantic economic boom.

The people have been great, very nice and friendly. They don't seem to be as formal as I have found the Japanese or Koreans to be. They're a little more easy going.

-- Jim

[sunvalleylaw]

Jim, or anyone else that can comment, could you give me any hints for taking a small guitar on a plane? I was going to bring my son's S101 small acoustic. Not great, but something to play with. Probably about the same size as the baby Taylor or Martin. It is in a nice padded gig bag that more substantial than most gig bags. I was wondering about what the airlines would say about it as a carry on. It would fit in an overhead bin for sure.

[jpfeifer]

Hi Steve,

If the guitar is the size of a Baby Taylor it shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure to divide up your carry on luggage so that each person in your group has only two items, where one of those items will fit under your seat.

I've only had hassels where I try to take two luggage-size items. They will often ask me to check one of them.

I also had an issue traveling through London's Heathrow airport. Because of the incidents that happened in London, Heathrow will only let you take 1 carry on (no exceptions). If you have a laptop that will count as one item. They forced me to check my traveler speedster guitar the last time I went through there. It's a durable guitar but I only have this small padded case for it. The guitar arrived, still playable but it sustained some dents and was knocked around in the process. It really bummed me out but I had no choice at the time. It was either that or risk that my laptop would suffer the same damage.

-- Jim

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks Jim. Good tips on the carry ons. I may have access to a little nylon string loaner that I can at least fiddle with. My instructor said he doesn't care if it gets damaged or even destroyed (he said if I didn't bring it back, it would be a favor), and is going to see if it will stay in tune well enough to take along. I took a sister nylon string guitar to this one down to Moab last fall and it worked to have something to play with. This one is just a bit more beat up. It will fit in the Baby Taylor sized gig bag my son has. I likely will go that route rather than risk my son's steel string acoustic, just in case I end up in a situation like your Heathrow deal. My instructor is a nice guy!

[marteau]

Anybody interested in travelling with a guitar should really check out the Lapstick. This is a new approach based on the idea that you want to be able to play while travelling and not just lug something around. The instrument is ultracompact and fits into the same case as your laptop, yet the sound and performance will blow you away. The site is www.lapstick.com. It's probably not for everybody but it's definitely worth looking at if you're a serious player.

[Justaguyin_nc]

Anybody interested in travelling with a guitar should really check out the Lapstick. This is a new approach based on the idea that you want to be able to play while travelling and not just lug something around. The instrument is ultracompact and fits into the same case as your laptop, yet the sound and performance will blow you away. The site is www.lapstick.com. It's probably not for everybody but it's definitely worth looking at if you're a serious player.

Interesting Lil'Guitar and sound...
Welcome to the board marteau!

YA forgot the videos..

[just strum]

Here's another interesting travel guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnPX5...elated&search=

BTW, how do you put the videos right in you post?

[marteau]

[QUOTE=Justaguyin_nc]Interesting Lil'Guitar and sound...
Welcome to the board marteau!

Thanks for the welcome justaguy. A beer is always welcome.

I've been playing the Lapstick for a few years now. I use it mainly for checking out arrangements for the big band that I play in, since I'm not such a good reader as the horn players in the band. I can do this on the train without bothering anybody which gives me an extra hour and a half of practice time a day! This has saved my butt on a couple of occasions and when I work out all the hours of practice time I've gained the Lapstick has been an amazing deal. I use it with a Korg Pandora and it sounds just great, plus there is an onboard tuner and rhythm tracks.

By the way, here are two of the most important things I have discovered as a rock/blues player now playing jazz. Always count bars whether you are playing or not. Always carry clothes pegs when playing outside, Murphy says the breeze will start blowing as soon as you start playing.

Cheers

P.S. How do you get a rock/blues player to turn down? Give him some sheet music.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Here's another interesting travel guitar.



BTW, how do you put the videos right in you post?

Stummy, just quote me & look at what I did to your link.

[just strum]

Stummy, just quote me & look at what I did to your link.

???

[tot_Ou_tard]

???

I learned how to do this by clicking the quote button on one of Vood's posts & looking at what he did.

Basically, you enclose the youtube video Id (a bunch of numbers & letters that should be obvious from the html) between a

youtube

& a

/youtube

HTML tag. Put those tags in square brackets [].

There probably is an easier way, but I don't know it.