Good, cheap short-scale electric lefty travel guitar?

ShakyOsmond · Post by **ShakyOsmond** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 5:25 pm

This is my first post here. And I apologize if this isn't the right forum to ask this question in. But I couldn't figure out where it belonged. Moderators, please move this post as needed.

I play acoustic pretty much exclusively. My favorite guitar is a 3/4 size Taylor Mini GS with a 23.5-inch scale.

Air travel with a guitar is getting harder all the time. I don't have a hardshell case for my Mini GS (just a gig bag), and I've never brought it on airplane trips because it'd get crushed if I had to check it.

But if it were small enough that I could carry it on, I might prefer bringing an electric on trips to practice on.

So I'm asking: what are some good, cheap electric short-scale travel guitars?

One more thing: I play left-handed, so I'd need a lefty model.

Thanks!

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 12:20 pm

Welcome! I'm surprised someone more experienced in the field of travel guitars hasn't stepped up...
For a righty the Hofner Shorty travel guitar seems the popular choice, but I couldn't find it in left-hand as standard. There is a company called Anygig guitars http://www.anygigguitar.com/ who look interesting; their range includes a left-hand steel-string travel acoustic. Downside is it's dispatched from Hong Kong, by the look of it, and $199 is perhaps a lot of money to lay out on a Chinese guitar of relatively unknown provenance.

ShakyOsmond · Post by **ShakyOsmond** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 7:28 pm

Thanks for the info. Left-handed Hofner Shorty's apparently exist:

http://www.dhgate.com/product/custom-le ... 97807.html

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Mon Jul 17, 2017 12:02 pm

Hmm, yes.. they'll also sell you a brand new Ampeg Dan Armstrong Lucite guitar, I see. Who knows, they might even come out of the same factory as the real Hofner ones?

ShakyOsmond · Post by **ShakyOsmond** » Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:08 am

Yeah, I was wondering about that.

Do you mean they're counterfeiters? Could be -- Hofner doesn't appear to make lefty Shorty guitars.

Or, that they just keep your money?

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Tue Jul 18, 2017 8:21 am

Yes, they make "replicas". I'm sure they would send you something but the quality isn't something you could guarantee, so check feedback and see if there are demos and reviews. Here is an interesting page listing one man's experiences (though the James Hetfield ESP copy looks remarkably like a Taylor, lol):
http://chinaguitarsceptic.com/my-guitars/

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:09 pm

The Lep Saul I ordered from DHGate was high quality, but it was also $325 or something like that.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Tue Jul 18, 2017 12:26 pm

DHGate are only a marketplace though, like Alibaba or an eBay store; you need to look at individual vendors' feedback. jugg_guitar is selling the Hofner Shorty and has 179 transactions with 94.9% positive feedback, maybe not a huge amount of transactions for a vendor that seems to offer a huge range.
This is their storefront:
http://www.dhgate.com/store/20356987#st ... -storehome