<p>Son plays a tiny bit but wants to begin spending more time learning and playing. The only guitar we own is a cheapy that belongs to his brother and he doesn’t want to take it back to school. I’m thinking about a fairly cheap light-weight travel (small) guitar with a hard case he can take back and forth on the plane if he wants. I need help as I know nothing about guitars. I’ve looked at a few online sites but don’t really know what I’m looking for. He will just be playing for his own enjoyment but I would like to get one that has a good sound if that is possible for around $100. Any ideas?</p>
<p>Over30,</p>
<p>I know nothing about guitars, either, but my S has one. He asked for a new one for Xmas and directed me to a great website with great prices - <a href=“http://www.musiciansfriend.com%5B/url%5D”>www.musiciansfriend.com</a>. There are customer ratings on most of the items they sell and if you want to speak to a salesperson on the phone for advice, they are knowledgeable and helpful. I’m sure if you tell them what you’re looking for, they will have suggestions.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Martin makes a really cool “backpacker” guitar, but it is $200 on the website listed by patsmom. (probably a very good price, but more than you want to spend)</p>
<p>I just bought a travel guitar for S1. $100 won’t really get you very much in the travel guitar size. The Martin Backpacker may be cool, but has very little sound coming out of it. Good if you are playing by yourself, but not so great if you are playing music with others. We went to the Guitar Center , not my favorite provider, but good for checking out the instruments. We ended up getting a Taylor travel guitar. </p>
<p>Does your S really need to be taking it on a plane frequently? If not, he may be able to get a regular sized guitar. It will be easier to get one closer to the $100 price point.</p>
<p>I checked out <a href=“http://www.musiciansfriend.com%5B/url%5D”>www.musiciansfriend.com</a>. $69.99 gets you a Rogue Honduran Mahogany Dreadnought. (gig bag is $15 more).</p>
<p>Over30,
DD and I both play the guitar. Her dreadnought is carried around in a gig bag as is her solid body electric. I have a hard case for my guitar. I would highly recommend <a href=“http://www.musiciansfriend.com%5B/url%5D”>www.musiciansfriend.com</a> We have purchased guitars, bags, my case, and accessories (picks, kapos, etc.) from them and been very pleased with the prices and quality.</p>
<p>If he is looking for a travel guitar consider the dreadnought listed above in avoidingwork’s post.</p>
<p>Over30:</p>
<p>A word of caution about traveling with a guitar: airlines count it as a piece of luggage. S, who went to Australia with 2 suitcases plus his guitar had to pay $150 the airline for the guitar, which was charged as extra luggage. Major ouch!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. Once he’s out of school I don’t think he’ll be traveling with it much. He was thinking he could take a small one as carry-on luggage. He knows how to travel light. I’ll talk to him again and do some research. I’d be willing to pay more if he really wants to stick with it. Thanks again.</p>
<p>fyi. the dreadnought I listed above is not a travel guitar. I was just pointing out that one can get standard-sized guitars for less $$ than the travel-sized ones.</p>
<p>good luck</p>
<p>i’ve purchased a few things from musicians friend over the past few years - a guitar, a bass, some picks, two guitar stands, and some guitar cables. i had all great experiences with them - they got everything here very quick and have good prices on things. i had a major issue with them about two years ago when attempting to purchase 2 guitars and an amp (and ended up buying them somewhere else because i didn’t want to deal with them anymore) and now i’m very leery towards purchasing from them - but i just bought a harmonica for a christmas present so we’ll see how that goes (it should get here sometime next week).</p>
<p>well i got the thing today that i ordered from musicians friend, so hopefully that experience the other time was just a one time thing.</p>