Traveler Guitar 6 String Pro-Series Deluxe (Mahogany) Hybrid Acoustic/Electric w/Gig Bag, Right, Natural Satin (PSD MHS)

Decent guitar option for the traveler. Difficult to assess the manufacturing/retail value. The parts of the guitar are nice. Mahogany, bladed humbucker, ebony, tuners. It all comes together to work as a whole. There is this part of me though that sees it as a 1x10 of hardwood someone carved up. You have to hold it to see what mean. As far as the deluxe version, I have a hard time seeing this be a 500$ guitar. It plays well but, the manufacturing is not pristine. I have tool marks and patchy stain on mine. Not quite sure if its the guitar but mine also has some mean feedback. This usually comes from bad grounds. When you ground the metal with your hand it stops. I can fix it but for 500$ it should be fine. I used a brand new cable even. My circumstance, living out of bags in the military makes this thing totally worth it. For the money though you could have a steinberger and get similar results. Another note on playability is that the guitar neck dives because of the minimalist body. This is not something you just lounge back and play. It falls all over the place because there is nothing to it. With that said if you hold it in a classical form (resting between the legs on the left inner thigh), it plays like a dream. I did have discomfort in my pick hand and frustrations with neck dive until I found the sweet spot. It even neck dives with a strap. Overall, I find that this is for a unique demand. If you have that demand, its great. Ebony neck plays great through the whole fret range. The combo peizo and humbucker is versatile. The locking tuners are an awesome addition considering the confined wire space in the back. I even found the odd stethophone option works like a champ. I often stay in open bay buildings with tons of people and in a pinch I can pull those things out and practice my scales. They amplify all sounds from the guitar so its nice to hear your poor picking or sloppy finger work. It works well if you get used to the uniqueness. Big question is the cost-benefit in my opinion.

This is my first ever “Traveler Guitar” and I have been doing a lot of research into it for a couple of weeks and I was deeply wondering whether or not I should get it. I was just living my life and traveling for work when I conveniently got a roommate. I met this guy at work who was a nice guy. So I saved a lot of money on rent because of him but also because of him, I couldn’t practice guitar as late in the night as I like because I only own acoustic guitars. I took these factors as a sign that I should buy a traveler guitar. Because then I can play at night and I saved money from rent. I love beautiful things. And now that Im older I have the money to buy them. So of course I opted for the “best” model of guitar they had, the “Deluxe” pro model. Before I got the guitar I was already in love. On paper it seemed beautiful and premium, with gold, ebony, abalone and natural satin finished maple. When I unboxed it I was in love. It really did look and feel like a premium material product. The Ebony was jetblack. Abalone was shiny. Braided cable?, nice. Gold was gold; probably just plated but who cares, I didnt want to scratch my hardware to find out; made in China?!?!? Not advertised but forgivable. Im a novice musician and bought my first guitar a couple of months ago but my roommate majored in music and he knew all about guitars, a couple things he mentioned that went over my head was that the action and relief on the fretboard were great. Jumbo frets with low action. He noted that the bridge guard was simply acrylic but he could tell it was finely laser cut, which was nice. We also played around with the Stethophone. Which he and I thought was great. He has never used a stethophone before and hes been playing instruments for 30 years. The Stethophone works and had a beautiful rich sound. I played it for a bit and went to sleep happy. The next day my Vox AC30 arrived and this is when it started going downhill. I plugged it in and it doesnt really fit in the part between the Attachment and the guitar. To fit perfectly you have to remove the attachment, attach the Vox, then attach it back. Only then will it fit perfectly. A little inconvenient not a deal breaker because it does fit perfectly but even so the wire is facing somewhat inward. Not a deal breaker. I played a little on the Vox then went back to the Stethophone for a bit. After thirty minutes the Stethophone really started hurting my ears. Now I knew why Stethophones aren't that common. But the biggest problem is that this guitar is simply uncomfortable to play. I cant put my arm anywhere. Its weird. I thought I would get used to it and Im trying to, but to be honest I honestly cant play this with the same comfort as my acoustics. No matter what position I try it just doesn't feel right for my right arm. My left hand is loving life with the smooth wood and low frets. But my right arm just cant find a good position. This is a deal breaker. The worst part is the company knows their short comings because on the newest model, the Vintage Mod X the Jack is in the proper place and theres an armrest! Its insane how they have been selling these since 1992 and only recently fixed it! Its not alright that this is marketed as the Deluxe anniversary edition when its got two serious flaws. Minus one star for the no armrest and minus another for general incompetence. If they included an armrest I would honestly give this guitar 5 stars. But the no armrest was the straw that broke the camels back. I made me feel like they didn't put a lot of thought into this. I feel like they just kept the old design of the pro model from 1992 and told some chinese dude to use premium materials.Pros•Jetblack Ebony.•Gold Plated Hardware.•Locking Tuners.•Low Action Frets.•Dual Humbuckers with Splitter for single coil.•Piezo Electric Pickup.•Great “Traveler” guitar. Other guitars are much much more expensive or less of a full guitar experience. Fantastic overall design.•Smooth satin Maple.•Braided cable•Custom nylon, not canvas gigbag.•Free “traveler” guitar pickNeutral•Stethophone, great real rich sound, hurts your ears after a while cant use for more than 30 minutes for me. Somewhat of a gimmick.•No writing on control knobs, bad but also fits the aesthetic in my opinion.•No built in headphone amp, but thats alright. What if I didn’t like the headphone amp? More customization this way.•No Guitar strap.Cons•NO ARMREST I just CAN’t play this with comfort.•Jack is not facing outward.•Made in china•Marketed as DELUXE but lacks features their other models have.ConclusionI cant play this guitar comfortably. Ill probably buy the Vintage Mod X white. Upset that I got a deluxe model that lacks features other models have. If they had the Mod X with all the beautiful materials this has I would ecstatically buy that model. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone unless they already bought or played on the pro model and have a taste for the more refined are are willing to pay for it.