UK guitar amp maker Blackstar has introduced its first guitar in collaboration with Gordon Smith Guitars. The Carry-On Guitar is aimed at wanderlust musicians who want the feel and tone of a full-size instrument in a compact package.
Being able to pick on a six string on a deserted beach, mountain trek, forest trail or even just noodle away in a hotel room might sound appealing to many guitarists, but lugging a full-size instrument along on your travels can be the opposite of fun.
Travel guitars offer a compact alternative, but can leave you wanting for playability and tone. Blackstar Amplification says that its Carry-On feels and plays like no other travel guitar, offering a full-size playing experience in a take-anywhere package.
Each guitar's body and neck are fashioned from a single piece of Okoume, a wood that's described as a "bright, lightweight tonewood with a more open grain than mahogany." The 19-fret fingerboard is fashioned from laurel, and unusually for a travel guitar, the 20.7-inch scale neck ends in a headstock with Der Jung sealed tuners.
The strings are fed through the body for the promise of "excellent sustain" and there's a single mini humbucker pickup with coil-split functionality via the volume knob for sonic versatility.
The Carry-On travel guitar is available in black or white, and can be had on its own for US$349 (including a gig bag), with an amPlug 2 Fly headphone amp, a guitar strap, three picks, a notebook and pencil, and gig bag for $399, or with a Fly 3 Bluetooth mini amp, instrument cable, strap, picks, notebook and pencil, and gig bag for $499. The video below has more.
Product page: Carry-On Guitar
