Headless Travel Guitar Build

[CD02]

@moose408

In the US, Congress passed a law in 2015 allowing you to take a guitar on a flight

What a great initiative Craig. Unfortunately here in Australia I can only imaging the debacle it would start if I asked to take my guitar on as hand luggage . Over here there is no way I’m checking in my new beloved Taylor to a baggage hold .

The weight is pretty good but reducing it a bit further, even better.

Nice work, keep us up to date

[CD02]

@Majik

Good plan. Outside the US, it’s not so easy. When I asked Emirates about it on a flight from Singapore to London, they said I would either need to check it or book another seat.

yes, I imagine that’s how the conversation would go here in Australia too

[TheMadman_tobyjenner]

That looks pretty trick Craig, what a great project. Happy NGD !

[sequences]

@moose408

It is heavier than I anticipated at 6 lbs. I may build another with the goal of bringing the weight down. I designed this to be the same body length and thickness as a Stratocaster and in hindsight should have made it be half that thickness.

Consider a hollow body, even if it is not open to outside. The Strandberg I have is hollow and has in interesting resonance in the sound. It is still somewhat thick and is very light for the thickness. They call it “chambering” in their filter. You don’t have a lot of room for hollowing it out, but you may be able to reduce the weight enough to be happier with carrying it while traveling.

[brianlarsen]

Congratulations on tackling and completing such an ambitious project.
Bravo!
From the little I’ve seen with travel guitars, they seem to focus on either cutting down on the length of the whole guitar (nut to bridge) or have a detachable neck like yours. The only thing is, if you have to remove all the screws with a key instead of a ‘quick release’ system, do you think it will make you less likely to want to dis-/assemble it for short plays?

[Majik]

Oh, just a thought. If you do decide to remove the neck frequently, I would consider installing ferrule type nuts into the body, and using actual bolts.

Normal “bolt on” necks are actually screw-on into the wood. With lots of frequent removal and re-installation, you are likely to start to have issues with the screw holes.

Cheers,

Keith

[Malz]

That looks cool, Craig, and a good solution to traveling with instrument. You might want to take a patent out.

[moose408]

@brianlarsen

The only thing is, if you have to remove all the screws with a key instead of a ‘quick release’ system, do you think it will make you less likely to want to dis-/assemble it for short plays?

I’m pretty motivated to practice.

The bolts take less than a minute to install/reinstall. I will replace the bolts with thumbscrews if it becomes an issue.

[moose408]

@Majik

Oh, just a thought. If you do decide to remove the neck frequently, I would consider installing ferrule type nuts into the body, and using actual bolts.

I did install threaded inserts and am using bolts. So should be no issue.

[Thymas]

Brilliant! I think I want one. Been looking for a good travel guitar and this ticks almost all the boxes.