The newest gimmick for a full size guitar out there is called the Voyage-Air. It’s for guitarist out there that needs the extra room/space when they are traveling. The Voyage-Air appears perfectly designed to fit in the overhead compartment on an airplane.
It folds in half where the neck meets the body of the guitar. I guess you might call it the fold-and-stow guitar of the future! No I am NOT referring to the Retractable Guitar from Guitar Hero, just to make things clear! They report that the intonation basically remains the same on the Voyage-Air guitar and all you need to do is re-tune it just a little bit when you place it back into position.
I’ve just heard about this guitar while reading my favorite guitar magazine Acoustic Guitar and their review of it and it looks ok if that is what your looking for in a guitar. There are two things that bother me so far about this thing.
First is, how many sets of strings are you going to be going through when you bend the guitar back into it’s shipping position over and over again?
When I re-string my guitar, I always take the new strings out of the package and neatly place the old one into it for future use. This is just in case I can’t get to a music store to replace it. I also keep an a extra full set of backup strings as well, because Murphy’s Law is always around the corner when you least expect him!
If any of the old strings that I take off my guitar have a bend in them anywhere, I immediately throw that one out! It is rendered useless, trust my on this one.
Now considering I’ve never played or seen a Voyage-Air guitar, I can’t say with any certainty that my next concern is warranted. What will it sound like?
I don’t trust things that are gimmicky. If I want something, I buy something for one reason and one reason only! If a manufacturer isn’t focusing on what it’s really good at and then it attempts to please too many people with other less and whistles then something has to give!
Now here is my second concern, the sound quality. This particular part of any guitar that is paramount to me … the action is a close second. How will the front react to the subtle vibrations after all the tension on it, from bending the neck back and forth, be in a few years?
I realize that the Voyage-Air is relatively new on the market and we will have to wait and see it’s true potential only after a few years in the field, to judge it’s outcome correctly.
I’d love to find anyone out there that has picked up one of these guitars. Are you going through more strings then usual? Has the sound quality gone down the more you retracted it? Please let us know!
Keep on Jammin’
Cool post about the Voyage-Air, and want to tell you that okay, I was one of the first 5 dealers in the USA for this product. So this is not completely unbiased input, okay? Okay.
Right up front: this is a serious musical instrument. Not a gimmick at all.
And with no BS or hype, here are some facts to consider, from my own experience:
1) I have a personal Voyage-Air Guitar (VAG) Rosewood Dreadnought that I take everywhere. Took it on my honeymoon last spring (yeah!). I play it every Sunday in church. It’s my main acoustic guitar at home (and I have some really expensive custom guitars). I put a new set of strings on it when I got it last December. And like your curiousity, have left that set on the guitar. It’s been opened and folded probably 500 times easy. I have not broken or bent a string. I have never had to adjust the truss rod or make any other changes to the setup. And the sound is incredible – keeps getting better as I play it more.
2). I’ve become the largest VAG dealer in the USA (it’s not bragging if it’s true!). I have never had a single VAG guitar returned for any reason. Not for repairs, service, lack of sound quality, nothing. Not a single one!
3) The “hinge” has a lifetime warranty. Nobody has been able to break one yet, and there some guitars out there that have seen some Hard Service.
4) Last summer, Bob Kilpatrick played my Dreadnought, and was blown away – He owns and plays a $5,000+ Goodall. He was so impressed that I arranged a long-term loan for an OM-size Songwriter (retail: $900). Bob installed a Baggs pickup, and took THAT guitar on tour to ITALY and played it ON STAGE before a crowd of 100,000. Serious. A $900 guitar.
5) I have sold VAG guitars to a number of serious musicians. Steve Miller has played one on stage. Janis Gill. Elliot Easton (of The Cars). Stan Hirsch uses one as his main guitar on stage and in the studio. Ronnie Wright, who owns Memphis Studios. Jamie Dose.
Any one of these musicians would not give an “average” guitar a second glance – let alone use one for a performance. These are not ‘dumbed down’ travel guitars. These are full-size guitars that have the ability to travel! The VAG guitars are something special indeed.
YEAH I’m biased – but a breakthrough product of exceptional quality at an affordable price… it’s something that sells itself. One strum and you’ll know what I mean. Serious.
Check my website, and please – give me a call. I love to talk about guitars.
Hi Chris,
The comments from Jim seem like he knows what he is talking about.
I will head down to the nearest dealer and check it out. It would be nice to have a travel guitar that has a full fretboard instead of just 12 which seems to standard on travel guitars.
We usually go away for a week three times a year, and it would be nice to be able to play at the beach or in my hotel room.
Jim Wolcott, all I can say is boy did you ever do your homework on this topic!
You single handily peaked my curiosity about this new guitar. You touched on every topic that I was questioning about the quality of this instrument. I’m literally speechless!!!
Now all I want to do is check this thing out at a nearest store in Toronto that has it in stock.
Thanx for the lovely comment and I’m sure that you turned more then my head on the Voyage-Air Guitar!
Keep on Jammin’ Sir!
So did you check it out yet beginner guitar songs?
PLEASE tell us what you thought of it when you do!