Voyage Air - Acoustic Travel Guitar Review Vaom-04 -

The acoustic guitar isn't ever the easiest musical instrument to take on the road. Innately fragile yet oftentimes impractically unwieldy once packed deeply into a decent guitar case, the acoustic guitar presents a major issue for the travelling guitarist - be it the holidaying hobbiest who just can't bear to part with their guitar or the touring professional.

Purpose-built travel guitars offering a fairly decent solution but the trade-off for their diminutive size is that sound-wise travel guitars don't actually practise much to inspire; fine for a quick plonk effectually in the back of the tour motorcoach, peradventure, merely that'south most as far as it goes.

So what can the travelling guitarist practice to happily accommodate a full size acoustic guitar on the road, in the air or at sea? Aerodrome luggage handlers in particular must surely undergo some kind of training course where they acquire to single out delicate musical instruments for particularly harsh handling: I have watched in open mouthed dismay as my guitar was hurled onto a luggage trolley like a sack of potatoes, catapulted from luggage carousels similar some unwilling 6-cord missile launcher or else survived the journey unscathed only to exist dumped forlornly in some obscure corner of an airport arrivals lounge. Buying a seat for your guitar on the airplane is an expensive solution but it seems that unless y'all want to gamble inviting the orangutans employed as airport luggage handlers to test the limits of your precious cargo's 'Frail' characterization, you lot have little choice.

Or do you?

Californian based luthier Harvey Leach has come upward with an ingenious solution in the shape of the Voyage-Air folding guitar. Leach has some serious pedigree, he has worked every bit a freelance consultant for Martin Guitars and his inlay work in detail has attracted commissions from the likes of Paul Reed Smith, Collings and D'Angelico; you lot get the idea.

Originally approached to design a travel guitar for medical engineer Jeff Cohen, who wanted a full-sized audio-visual guitar that could be taken on board an airplane, Leach started out experimenting with detachable guitar necks earlier he hit on the novel thought of using a hinged cervix that allowed the guitar to fold away during transport but would simply unfold when information technology was fourth dimension to play.

The Voyage-Air VAOM-04 is a full sized Orchestral model that belongs to Voyage-Air's mid priced Songwriter series. The VAOM-04 features a solid spruce pinnacle mated to a laminated mahogany dorsum and sides, a nicely rounded 'C' profile mahogany neck and a rosewood fingerboard whose unusual different sized dot inlays reflect the traditional inlay piece of work establish on original OM-style guitars made during the 1930s.

The Voyage-Air'south unique folding neck pivots on a pair of heavy-duty hinges and is secured by a locking pin that too doubles as the forward strap button. Simply unscrew the locking pivot and the neck folds forwards towards the face of the guitar, effectively reducing its length by effectually 50%. It is advisable to de-melody the strings to subtract the cord tension and thus reduce the risk of the cervix suddenly springing frontward one time unlocked just to be fair Leach has already anticipated this potential problem and the folding mechanism includes a detent that prevents the unlocked neck from snapping out of its snug niche like a jack-in-a-box and KO'ing the guitarist straight in the face up!

Unfolding the guitar and returning it to its playable land is every bit swift and painless. As the neck approaches the fully locked position, a slight but audible 'clunk' tells yous that the locking machinery is almost fully engaged, all the actor does is snap the cervix into the final position and tighten up the locking nut/strap button. Hey presto! You're prepare to play! It really is that simple.

In fact, it is even possible to unlock the cervix and then return it to the full playing position without needing to de-tune the strings; there is a little more than resistance to fence with from the extra string tension but the mechanism still works exactly the same.

Plainly, the guitar needs to be ready to play almost from the moment that the player locks the cervix in identify so each individual string threads through a corresponding hole drilled in the special meridian nut that fully encloses the strings instead of traditional nut slots. In use it is virtually impossible to tell the difference between the Voyage-Air's enclosed nut and a conventional nut, which is of course exactly as it should exist.

In fact, our examination guitar fifty-fifty came back to the playing position almost fully in tune, simply requiring a quick tweak to reset the tuning properly - quite amazing!

Once unfolded, it is practically impossible to tell the deviation betwixt the Voyage-Air and a regular OM-style guitar. The hinged cervix join is practically invisible and the neck feels completely normal. The total size 25.5-inch scale and traditional spruce and mahogany blend delivers a warm and resonant tone that the OM-style translates into a brilliant punchy functioning and a lively sound that doesn't suggest that at that place is anything remotely unusual about its construction.

The OM-style is a versatile pattern that peradventure doesn't quite match a dreadnought for the sheer power but in terms of item and project it doesn't leave the player wanting. The VAOM-04 could be said to exist more of an acoustic 'atomic number 82 guitarists' guitar; the OM-style was originally adult to let the guitarist to occupy the pb voice in dance orchestras and and then information technology really suits the type of player who prefers plenty of superlative finish bite. Too, finger mode guitarists will probably appreciate the sparkly highs and warm dynamic mid-range. There is a slight rawness in the upper register that could be described as a lilliputian unsophisticated but information technology is nevertheless a quality tone that will but ameliorate with age.

Voyage-Air has succeeded in its goal of delivering a decent quality, skilful sounding acoustic guitar that folds abroad neatly into a soft bag that is roughly the equivalent of a good-sized rucksack. You tin can take it on board an aircraft every bit hand luggage or even if you lot but enjoy the extra space in the dorsum of your regular family hatchback during your regular weekend gig, this guitar does offer great value for money and it really works. To say the Gi team was stunned would be a serious understatement.

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Source: https://www.guitarinteractivemagazine.com/review/voyage-air-vaom-04-acoustic-d93/

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