Music

Modular travel guitar packs down into a laptop case

Modular travel guitar packs down into a laptop case
The Slite travel guitar breaks down into five parts for transport in a case about the same size as a laptop bag
The Slite travel guitar breaks down into five parts for transport in a case about the same size as a laptop bag
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The Slite travel guitar breaks down into five parts for transport in a case about the same size as a laptop bag
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The Slite travel guitar breaks down into five parts for transport in a case about the same size as a laptop bag
The Slite can be assembled and ready to rock in 20 seconds
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The Slite can be assembled and ready to rock in 20 seconds
The use of plastic and aluminum keeps things light
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The use of plastic and aluminum keeps things light
The Slite features an aluminum/wood core, plastic wings and a two-part maple neck
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The Slite features an aluminum/wood core, plastic wings and a two-part maple neck
Once assembled, the Slite becomes a 25.5-inch scale full-size guitar that can be plugged into an external amp or played through its built-in amp and speakers
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Once assembled, the Slite becomes a 25.5-inch scale full-size guitar that can be plugged into an external amp or through its built-in amp and speakers
Exploded view showing the five main components
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Exploded view showing the five main components
View gallery - 6 images

We've seen a number of Kickstarters for folding or break-apart guitars over the years, including the Freccia, the Genesis, the Mercury, and even a TravelBass (though only the lattermost was successfully funded). France's Reveho is also taking the crowdfunding route to production for the Slite collapsible travel guitar, which can be packed down into a 18 x 11 x 4-inch (45.5 x 28 x 10-cm) travel case.

The first Slite prototypes were built for student science and innovation competitions by Alexandre Albisser, where he got to present his design on the international stage in Hong Kong. Five years later he launched Reveho with Lucas Charron and his brother Mickaël, and now the startup is preparing the instrument for a Kickstarter due to launch on September 9.

The guitar is made up of five main components – an aluminum middle core with a wood spine, plastic upper body, plastic lower body, and two maple neck parts. All the components slide together to form a futuristic-looking single-cut guitar, with assembly reckoned to take just 20 seconds. Alexandre Albisser told us that "once the instrument is assembled, connectors embedded in the junctions allow analog and digital signals to communicate between the different parts."

The strings run from the open headstock to a fully adjustable, odd-looking bridge and down into the middle core. A coiling system looks after the strings when the instrument is collapsed in the case, but a string tensioning system brings them to tune when assembled – though temperature and humidity variations might make small manual corrections necessary.

Once assembled, the Slite becomes a 25.5-inch scale full-size guitar that can be plugged into an external amp or played through its built-in amp and speakers
Once assembled, the Slite becomes a 25.5-inch scale full-size guitar that can be plugged into an external amp or through its built-in amp and speakers

Reveho is promising a continuous grain on the 25.5-inch scale, 24-fret wood neck when the two parts are slotted together, with adjustable trussrods and steel reinforcement rods keeping things solid.

The Slite is modular, and can be had with a built-in pre-amp, onboard effects and built- in speakers (there's a headphone out for quiet noodling too). The battery should be good for up to six hours of play time between charges, though it can be played without power. A standard output jack allows you to cable up to an amplifier, and there's USB-C connectivity. Touch-enabled volume/tone controls are available on the lower wing.

There will be two Kickstarter flavors on offer next month, the base model and the amp model. The base features swappable pickups, a headphone amp and an empty top body component. The amp packs an amplifier and speaker system into the upper wing, and includes an auxiliary input for feeding in backing tracks from a source music device.

Pledges are expected to start at €1,549/US$1,779 for the base model and laptop-sized travel case package, and €1,819/$2,099 for the amp and case package. Add-ons like a second pickup set and effects module will also be up for grabs. The video below has more.

Update Sept. 10, 2020: The Kickstarter campaign is now live, with shipping estimated to start in March 2021 if all goes to plan.

The Slite, a new guitar playing experience

Source: Reveho

View gallery - 6 images
4 comments
4 comments
mediabeing
Would have been really cool if it wirelessly sent signal to the carrying case/bag that had built in amp and speaker. Oh well.
Karmudjun
At that price, I'll have to pass. There are few 'synthetic material' guitars that have a sound I like, and only a few brands of guitars that I would buy sight or sound unseen. I know I could modify the guitar for bluetooth compatibility, I could possibly fit more electronics in it - but at that price? It should have more of what a choosy musician is interested in, not just portability. I have a very nice portable guitar off kickstarter for half that price and have slowly gotten used to its sound and characteristics. But not at that price point, not without hearing or playing it once, not without seeing it in action. Call me a guitar snob - but it matters little how I can modify it - it matters more what IT brings for me to modify to my taste!
Johannes
Weird how the intro to the video is boldly drum-centric, then when the guitar is finally assembled, the guitar track is comparatively tame.
sgdeluxedoc
I would have liked to have seen the fingering he's using actually represent what I'm hearing on the guitar, too. I was hoping to hear just how accurately it recovered it's tuning after being assembled.