What should I Buy?

Small & Unplugged

I would like a ‘small’ acoustic guitar for when I’m travelling with work (quite often away for a night or two), and also just for playing around at home. I find a full-size dreadnought a little bit cumbersome to handle, so at first I was considering a smaller-body folk, parlour or similar. However, I like the idea of the modern ‘travel’ guitars, especially the Taylor GS Mini and Martin D Jr… but it I don’t want a really tiny guitar. I’m happy to spend a few hundred for something good, but can’t stretch to a bespoke few-grander! What’s your opinion?

Aaron Robson, via email

There’s plenty to like about the modern ‘travel’ guitar, Aaron. In fact, the term ‘travel guitar’ probably does them a bit of a disservice; the two you mention in particular are very grown-up instruments, albeit scaled-down a fair bit!

Some of the Guitarist friends and alumni use them live and for recording very happily indeed. The Taylor and the Martin also come in a number of different variants (including pickup options), but we’ll stick with the ‘standard’ versions, alongside a regular ‘small body’ guitar to think about.