MARTINSteel String Backpacker Travel Guitar with Bag

This guitar is not a toy.I played the guitar for some thirty years. Most of that time was spent playing on my Guild F-50. Seven years ago, I got married. One year after that, I put the guitar down, and I haven't touched it since. I recently came to the conclusion that I am somewhat a fraction of the man I was when I made music. I decided to bring music back to the front burner. I work in the aviation industry and fly all over Europe - all the time. Carrying luggage is a drag, and there are restrictions regarding size and number. This Martin Backpacker is absolutely the best option available - short of hiring a master luthier to build for me a quality instrument in miniature.After six years away from playing the guitar, skill, theory and creativity have eroded to a level which can only be described as sad.... Now, I've had this Martin Backpacker for just short of one month. It has already been to London, Oslo (twice), Tel Aviv and Dublin. I have no difficulty with carrying and safe stowing. Incidentally, the guitar is quite tough. I joke about it by calling it my "club." I would not want to be hit with it; I can assure you, and here is the relative comment: This guitar sounds pretty damned good - period. Don't expect the sound of an SJ-200 or something. It does serve the ear though - enough to get the job done while forced to be away from your first instrument...whatever that may be. The "job" to which I have just now referred is the task of practicing scales, learning and reawakening lost theory (see Desi Serna), playing (and singing to) a few old songs et cetera. Intonation is exact. It stays in tune. The action is just a bit high above the tenth fret, but this is not really a problem considering the overall benefit the Backpacker delivers. Martin does offer replacement saddle blanks at 1/16th inch increments that can be secured by calling their customer service number found on the documentation included in the guitar shipment. It's funny to hold at first, but you'll figure it out and make it work. Desire and necessity will conquer if you're serious about improving your guitar knowledge (or just plan having fun playing what you have mastered) while you're in places where your big "Super Jumbo" or J-45 shouldn't go.The guitar is not manufactured in Pennsylvania. It is manufactured in Mexico - NOT China...may the saints be praised! The quality is refreshingly very good...I was quite impressed. The instrument comes with an equally impressive, padded, bag-style case that has a shoulder strap and attached pouch about 12x6x2 inches. If "Made in America" is important to you, don't let the Mexico thing turn you away. Hey, that's the "global" thing...I don't much like it, but that's where humanity is headed. At least it's not made in China..., if it were, I would not have made the purchase.Pricing on this is ridiculous. Most places on the web price it at 299 USD. Stay clear of that ridiculousness. Now, I'm not some big fan of Amazon. Sometimes Amazon serves my interest; often it does not. However, I bought my Martin Backpacker from Amazon, and it arrived five days later -- shipping and tax free. I paid 167 USD flat. I've been nothing short of completely satisfied, and the price, in my view, was beyond fair. Like I said..., ridiculous.The documentation supplied indicates that the instrument may be waxed using a paste-style wax. I plan to do the waxing when I finish this month's work schedule and return home. When I am contemplating how the wax might affect the instrument, I get this impression that it could then be submerged in water, removed, shaken and meticulously wiped down..., and it would suffer no appreciable damage. It's a pretty nice little tool - this Martin.On a final note regarding this evaluation: Using only this little Martin, during those periods when not directly engaged in developing my fretboard theory, I have been working on my mastery of one very important instrumental piece which is close to my heart. Nearly one month of playing only the little Martin, the subject of this evaluation, I am quite close to mastery of "Embryonic Journey." It is a track on the old LP "Surrealistic Pillow." Now...how well do you think this guitar serves? [Update: Call me "Jorma Kaukonen"...it's been awhile since I wrote this review, but since I was writing another on a different product, I thought it would be fun to add, here, that I have mastery of "Embryonic Journey." I don't owe this to the Backpacker Guitar...I owe it to hard work, but this little guitar made it possible. Good stuff.]Buy the guitar for yourself.

I ordered this guitar as I tend to travel a lot, and I just returned to playing regularly. I read plenty of reviews for the travel guitars in this price range, and I went with the Martin.There's so much good to this guitar, it's hard to find the negatives. At only two pounds plus some change, this little guy is super light and easy to carry. The packaging is solid and sturdy, and when I opened the Martin box, the guitar was packaging in a padded bag. I tuned it up, and with a little stretching, it kept its tune within a few hours.Despite being a bit odd looking, the backpacker is easy to adapt to. I'm not sure if folks need a reminder: this is a travel guitar. It's designed to be small, so that comes with a price tag.1. The strings are great--it comes with Martin strings, and they sound great.2. The sound on this is phenomenal. I've been playing on el cheapo I picked up a few years ago, so this was like heaven. Yes, it does sound a bit "pluckier" than your average guitar, but not in an annoying way. It's a great fingerpicking guitar, but I can only strum with decent ability right now.3. Yes, you lose some volume. Look at the size of this thing: physics, folks. But it's almost magical in the way it projects, and if you strum strong and loud, you'll definitely get plenty of volume for travel.4. The action is NOT high. Maybe someone got a weird one, but the action is perfect and low. Having played on a nightmare for the last few weeks, this is incredibly easy to play. The fret board has a solid, natural feel, so the transition was very easy.5. The strap solves the ills of the heavy neck. It's super neck-heavy, no question, but the strap, properly adjusted, fixes the problem. I find it a bit more comfortable to stand with, or to sit on a stood with, but either way, you'll be able to play. Hand placement is an issue for the right side, but I figured out a way that works just fine for me.6. You can't been the price or portability on this little guy. He's sweet to play and listen to, and he's perfect for travel.I would highly recommend for experienced or beginner musicians. Lots of fun, and a great purchase for its intended purpose.

I bought this to take with me on a vacation to europe and for the odd business trip for practicing. It traveled nicely on the europe trip. I was apprehensive about how well it would fit in the overhead bins, but it fit very easily. I made sure the loosen the strings before traveling just to avoid any issues w/ air pressure or other bags. However, I've found this guitar to be so enjoyable to play, I actually play it as often, if not more often than my go-to full-sized acoustic. The small form factor and low action (with extra light strings) just make it so easy to play. No doubt, the unique body style takes a bit of getting used to. For starters, you definitely need to use the strap, as balancing on your knee won't work. For the same reason, i lose some leverage for barre chords that I otherwise enjoyed with a full-size, but some of this is made up for with the aforementioned playability.It is worth mentioning that the body shape also restricts "anchoring". I've found (although I never realized it before) that for certain songs, typically fingerstyle arrangements, I like to anchor my pinky finger in the neighborhood of where the pick guard would be to aid with accuracy. But with the small profile, there is no place to anchor, so I've been forced to change my style of play somewhat. In the end, this may be a good thing since I've found that freeing myself from anchoring allows me to play more loosely and with more speed.The sound is definitely different, kind of a cross between a guitar and a ukelel. However, I find that for my style of play, which is to say I practice by myself in preparation for my eventual world premier and subsequent skyrocket to super-stardom, the sound is just fine.