Do Travel Guitars Sound Different? (Explained)

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Written By Sarah Barlow

Chief Music Officer

Yes, travel guitars do sound different to regular full-size guitars. However, the extent of that difference depends on the type of travel guitar you have in mind.

If you are just referring to smaller 3/4 or 1/2 size regular guitar, the changes are more subtle and proportionate.

However, if you are referring to a guitar that has been drastically modified for travel purposes (e.g. Martin Backpacker), then the sound is very different.

I explain more about the differences associated with these two different types of travel guitar below.

Smaller Regular Guitar

A smaller regular guitar, for example, a 1/2 or 3/4 size guitar, will sound similar to a regular guitar, with some minor tonal differences caused by the smaller size.

The tonal differences arise from two main factors – the decreased scale and smaller body.

The scale of a guitar refers to the distance between the nut and bridge of the guitar. As the guitars get shorter, so does the scale of the guitar. Scale has an impact on how the strings vibrate and how tight the strings need to be to achieve certain tones.

As the guitar scale length decreases, the amount of string tension required to achieve certain notes decreases. This decrease in tension can make the sound a bit less bright, and can also have a slight impact on playability. Some of this impact can be reduced by using heavier guitar strings (if you do notice the change in feel and sound).

To most people, this difference is not noticeable, but if you have really clear ideas about what you like a guitar to sound like, you might notice the difference.

In addition to the decreased scale, the smaller body has an impact on travel guitar sound as well. The smaller body means that there is a smaller soundboard to reverberate the vibrations it receives from the strings (via the bridge) and also less space to transmit these vibrations to, and ultimately, weaker sound waves to come out of the soundhole.

With this smaller body, the volume is likely to be a bit less than a full-size dreadnought guitar, and the tones are likely to have less bass in the sound, and more mid/high range frequencies.

The effects of the smaller scale and body do not make a sound that is better or worse than that of a full-size guitar, just different. It is likely to be a little quieter than full-size guitar, and also have less bass in the sound but more emphasis on the higher end tones.

Popular music stars like Ed Sheeran have started using these guitars, specifically for this type of sound.

Specialized Travel Guitar

Specialized travels are not just smaller versions of a regular guitar, but guitars in which the body and design have been =drastically changed in order to make the guitar smaller and lighter.

These are guitars are designed to give you an instrument you can take with you when travelling to keep practising, and keeps your chops up, even if not at home. They minimise changes to the feel of the neck, as much as possible, so they still feel like the guitar you have at home, but the bodies are reduced to a significant extent.

Martin Backpacker

For example, if you look at the Martin Backpacker you see a radically different body shape:

Travler Ultra Light

Another specialised travel guitar is the Traveler Ultra Light:

Of those two guitars compared, the Martin will produce some sound acoustically, but given the smaller soundboard, and shape of the body, the volume will be low and the tone will be lacking in bass tones, and have more emphasis on the high-end tones.

The Traveler Ultra Light, on the other hand, is basically a portable travel electric guitar and makes almost no audible sound unless plugged in. The reviewer in the video showed some ingenious headphones that can act as an amplifier.

In many cases, scale will be similar to that of a regular guitar, but there are also plenty of these travel guitars with shortened scale, which will experience the same change in sound and playability as discussed with regard to smaller regular guitars.

The main overall difference in these specialised guitars is the removal, or massive reduction in body size, and the resulting impacts on audible sound (quality and volume).

I highly recommend you get to a shop and try and play these in person before buying one, so you can experience for yourself the

How Do I Make My Travel Guitar Sound Better?

Adding thicker gauge strings would be the first thing I would do, to try and improve both the sound and playability of a travel guitar. Given the decreased scale adding thicker strings can help with string tension feel and volume.

If your travel guitar has a pick up (like the above-discussed Traveler Ultra Light, then you can really improve the sound you get from it with the special headphones displayed (which act as an amp, or plug directly into an amp, or even using portable Vox Amplug (https://voxamps.com/product/amplug-2/), which acts as a portable amplifier modeller, you can plug your headphones straight in to.