DIY Travel Guitar

Do you need a travel guitar? Here are some design ideas that I have tinkered with over the last decade.

[@dvpzy]

Brilliant! This will be even more compact headless.

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks for watching!!

[@RustyGunn7]

Excellent ideas, cool guitars. I like how you accomplished all this, making improvements as you progressed from one version to the next. Thank you for sharing this, very informative, educational. You rock, dude.

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching!

[@theMisadventuresofaLittleWolf]

I love the steel bodied guitar, it's really cool.

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks for watching m!

[@brunobaritono93]

Very nice ideas. I liked this video very much. Thanks for sharing it.

[@stupid-clever]

Most welcome 😊

[@rockstarfilms97]

Very nice.. and tried few but you completed the idea with more perfection 👍

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks for watching!

[@Xsites]

Well done man. I got some great ideas from you. Thanx for your video.

[@stupid-clever]

Glad to hear it! Thanks for watching!

[@nickjones9505]

Well done indeed. Love it. There are several travel guitars out there that seem OK, but for a guitar to play occasionally when travelling overseas, they are pretty expensive. Thanks for sharing !!

[@stupid-clever]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching

[@user-ss9ze6ky3y]

Great thinking 'outside the box' ! Love the no BS approach, great to watch

[@stupid-clever]

Glad you enjoyed it Thanks for watching!

[@KirillGrushetski-zp2vw]

Awesome work! I'm thinking about a similar design for an ultimate travel mandolin (one you can carry in a regular backpack) and I'm so glad to see a proof that it actually works!

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks for watching! Good luck with your build!

[@EdBender]

The 'hurricane' sign is a paragraph, not an article lol! Otherwise, great job. Really amazing stuff. I built a headless guitar recently, and became quite interested in them. I plan to make other headless designs, they are light, confortable, sturdy and hold tune really well. There is also a certain elegance to them... They've grown on me... Great work!

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks for watching!!

[@user-tj1sz9lh8m]

Thanks a lot for sharing your travel guitar design ideas! Very valuable!

[@stupid-clever]

My pleasure! Thanks for watching!

[@NKBobcat]

I've followed you since your "accoustasonic" build. You are quite clever and do a great job.

[@stupid-clever]

I appreciate that! Thanks for watching!

[@DaisyHollowBooks]

Cool project. I May try this.

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks for watching

[@JonathanTardieu]

This is awesome

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks for watching!

[@briantyhy4880]

Thanks for posting. My martin traveled with me on my bike packing trips in asia and europe. I layed it flat on the rack and used a water proof cover on it. No damage after 7000 km on the bike. Ive been thinking of purchasing the journey travel guitar which has a detachable neck. In canada there is no law about ensuring you can take the guitar onto the plane and often you have to check the guitar and are charged an extra fee to check the guitar. On the trip to asia philippines airlines I told the check in attendants the guitar was a mandoline and they allowed it on the plane.

[@stupid-clever]

It’s amazing how many clever travel guitar designs are out there these days. My Martin forever changed my idea of vacation. I won’t travel without one now. Thanks for watching!!

[@jeebak]

Thanks for sharing these ideas, especially the use of hanger bolts and the knurled thumb nuts. My brain is plotting out a design, but using one of those "licenced by kd" headless bridges.

[@stupid-clever]

Glad it was helpful! Best of luck with your build and thanks for watching!

[@rocketrose2165]

Great concepts carried out expertly. Have you considered turning the body around and using the same holes to keep things from banging around during transport. Not having one I hand I can't try it. The bigger question is do you sell them? I'm going on a three week cruise an picked up one of those Traveler Guitars. The only problem is there's no way to change the tone on the instrument (volume or tone). I love your integration of a headphone jack into the design. I use a Spark Go so all my tones are on my phone and it all goes together pretty well. Great video.

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks for asking but I’m sorry, they are not for sale. I have played with a spark before, am they are pretty amazing! It would make an interesting integrated build?! Thanks for watching

[@tomaswoodhall]

This guitar designs are genius!! And Im going crazy trying to find those screws! Could you share some details on the srews and nuts you used for the neck? Thank you!!!

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks! I think you are thinking of the simple “hangar bolts” that have wood threads on one side that thread into the neck and the other side with screw threads to thread on a 1/4 inch nut. I think I got mine at Home Depot, but they list a bunch on Amazon for next to nothing.

[@tomaswoodhall]

Thank you very much!! Do you have plans or rough measurements of the steel plate? Would love to try and build one myself!

[@lw1391]

Have you considered doing a hybrid between the first one and the steel bodied? Where you can play it as the steel bodied one, as it is now, or slide the top and bottom of the body from the first one over for comfort (kind of like how the controllers lock on to a nintendo switch?). You could keep the steel body in the thin mic case like you showed, and then pack the head in another duffle / suitcase with clothes etc. Overall, terrific job - both of them look great! Super cool idea.

[@stupid-clever]

Funny you mention it, but the first time I built the wood “skeleton” guitar it had threaded steel rods connecting the upper and lower body sections that could be removed for the exact purpose you are describing! Thanks for watching!

[@ivrz]

Pure genius

[@stupid-clever]

Thanks for watching!

[@TheImagem7]

Whats the type of Steele used in tour guit? Aluminium may use?

[@stupid-clever]

I think it was just plate steel from the hardware store about 1/4 inch thick and pretty heavy. I think you could make it out of aluminum as well. It would be a lot easier to cut! Thanks for watching

[@miroslavsafin]

What do you think about the Donner Hush X or Hush I? In terms of sound quality ... undoubtedly the reigning champions in "silent" guitars are Yamaha IMO

[@stupid-clever]

Looks like a similar concept, pretty cool looking, and affordable as well. I just think it is fun to build one yourself! In any case, I love traveling with a guitar! Thanks for watching!

[@Linosnz]

Wait but how did you get the bolts in the neck in the steel body? Did you cut their heads off?

[@stupid-clever]

I used “hangar bolts” from Home Depot. They allow you to screw in a threaded rod into wood . Hope this makes sense. Thanks for watching

[@bbc_nanm]

what kg? 2kg less? Ship japan??

[@stupid-clever]

Not shipping. Not for sale. Just for fun. Thanks for watching