3/4 guitars are sometimes considered travel guitars, as they are smaller than regular guitars, but they are not necessarily classified as travel guitars.
There is no singular definition of the term ‘travel guitar’.
Some people refer to 3/4 guitars as travel guitars, some say 1/2 size guitars are travel, guitars. Others say only headless guitars with no body are travel guitars, and others think travel guitars are anything that fits into a suitcase.
What Makes a Travel Guitar, a Travel Guitar?
Essentially, a travel guitar is something smaller and lighter than a regular guitar. A smaller and lighter guitar will be a lot easier to carry around, and also a lot easier to fit into smaller spaces in airplane baggage compartments, etc.
A few different types of travel guitar are listed below
Travel Guitar Examples
Zager Travel Size Acoustic
The Zager Solid Mahogany African Acoustic Guitar is an example of a 3/4 size guitar that is classified as a travel guitar.
It is a fantastic, small guitar, similar in proportion to a regular guitar, but about 3/4 the size.
https://zagerguitar.com/guitars/travel-size-mahogany/
Traveler Guitars
Traveler Guitars make a variety of different guitars, all of them optimized for travel in some way.
They have some heavily modified electric guitar, where the body has been stripped away, with a headless design to reduce the length of the guitar.
They also make some conventional acoustic guitars that are just smaller and have a headless design as well.
Browse their website, to get an idea of all the different types of travel guitar they produce.
Folding Guitar
The Voyage-Air folding guitar folds at the place the neck meets the guitar body and reduces to a very compact size easy to take with you.
The benefit of these guitars is that once you get your guitar out and set it up, you have a full-size guitar to play that sounds and feel like your guitar from home, instead of a heavily modified instrument with a different sound and feel.
Martin Backpacker
The Martin Backpacker is another example of a travel guitar, and as the name suggests, has been designed to support backpacking and other travel situations.
The Martin Backpacker is an acoustic guitar with a heavily modified body. It has been reduced to save size and reduce weight, but still makes an audible sound. This won’t produce a huge amount of volume for performing but will give you an instrument that feels the same as your other guitars in many ways that you can practice with while you are away from home so you don’t lose your skill and agility.
https://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/backpacker-series/
Final Thoughts
Though a lot of different brands have labeled certain guitars in their range ‘travel guitars’, there is no singular agreed-upon definition of a travel guitar. But all instruments classified as travel guitars have in common the fact that they are smaller and lighter than regular guitars. There are many different variants of travel guitar you could choose from, each with different pros and cons. The best travel guitar for you will depend on the type of travel you plan to do and the type of playing you hope to do while traveling.
