Journey Instruments Carbon Fiber Travel Guitar – OF660 Traveling Acoustic Guitar with Collapsible Patented System – Portable Backpack Case (High Gloss Black)

Well... I wanted a simple ~throw around guitar.... to take to play at events as I don't want to risk either of my expensive Maton guitars getting damaged. For this reason, I must have watched a hundred videos on multiple smaller guitars and how they sound... right across the range.. from Ibenez to Martin...Taylor etc etc etc.. I'm talking every video with every well known brand, to the unknown ones as well.To be fair I NEEDED a fretboard with a nut width of 1 3/4" as my playing style is "fingerstyle" finger picking...and that immediately cut my list into 1/4 of what was really available at any price point.I actually bought a Martin dreadnought Jr from a store that I wont disclose the name of.... in short, after less than a week of owning it; I had to send it back for a refund as it developed two 3inch ~cracks on the back part of the guitar where the fret board meets the neck....it was in all fairness probably a one off; but was enough to turn me off the brand. This was my personal choice.... as I imagine this is a rare event; however I lost confidence after seeing such a problem develop.... so I kept looking.I had heard of the Journey rt410 from a few places (mainly Youtube)... and in a few cases they were just used as comparison guitars to other more expensive models; but to my ears they actually sounded really nice. So I ordered one... from here on Amazon... And I have to say if there is ANYWHERE that could beat this AMAZING price I did not see it; and I looked everywhere. Honestly as soon as I saw it here it was a no-brainer.So.. it arrived yesterday, and my thoughts are as follows.You may notice the body of the guitar is a wedge shape which ~apparently... is supposed to help boost the bass and make this tiny guitar sound like a full size... and.. it freaking does!!.. When I first played it, I was really taken back to comparing it to the recently returned Martin D JR...and there is a MASSIVE difference in the sound of the Journey that honestly puts it on another level, in short it sounds beautiful.. the notes ring/resonate way more than the Martin did... and from the bottom of my heart ~pretty close... to my Matons which blew me away as the cost me WAAAAYY more than this little guy!!!.When holding the guitar it is immediately different from any other guitar I have ever picked up..and over the last 40 years or so of playing there have been many. It's different as it is tilted as I look down on it due to the wedge shaped body...which immediately means when you glance down at it, you can see the fret board on a better angle that shows you where your fingers are.... this feature is a bonus to the wedge design that naturally boosts the sound of the guitar giving it more volume as well.Hmmm...LOL.. well you probably wont read this anywhere on a review of a guitar... but it smells really nice to. The sound hole emanates a beautiful wooden aroma of the natural woods this guitar is made of... honestly if they could bottle this I would buy it... a plus to the guitar?.. not really... but its sure nice to experience...once again unlike the Martin which felt a heck of a lot lighter...and had no aroma at all... which for me at least is a quality indicator.I LOVE the head-stock on this guitar.. it's so small.. but the shape of it is so damned nice, and the tiny pegs to tune the strings are geared really nice!!... once again they are BETTER than the Martin as you have to turn them more to tune them...meaning the gear ratio is better, although they are the same size. Well done to Journey for this design all round!!..The GIG bag is the BEST one I have ever seen!!... would I prefer a solid case... possibly. But This case has so much going for it... it is obviously designed to just throw over your shoulders and go. With this in mind they seem to have thought of everything pockets everywhere; good zipper quality etc etc... would have to be worth $100 just by itself at LEAST!!.. Very surprising bonus. (I mean I knew it was with a bag when I bought it...and the reviews say the same "It's awesome" etc etc.... but it's not until you get a hold of it in your hands that you can really appreciate these guys went out of their way to think of everything when they designed it. Very cool.Would I recommend this guitar?.... Well If you play finger style (finger pick) that would be a gigantic YES!!!..The only down side I can find here is that there is no PRE-AMP in the guitar ... (So you can NOT adjust the volume etc etc from the guitar)...BUT the pick-up that IS built into it can connect directly into an amp and you can of course control all of that from the amp itself, so it's by no means a reason not to get it.At first... when I started to play it. I ~thought the action may have been a tad high... but after a few hrs, I actually had to admit to myself that this is not the case. It plays so easily and allows me to get more volume when I need to pick at it harder; so I can not fault this at all.!!This is a FUN guitar to play!!.. It sounds fantastic, looks fantastic, is crazy impossible cheap to buy!!...You know what... I like this guitar so much...when I actually go to reach for a guitar to play (I have several)... I will probably be reaching for this one first..despite it being literally 10X cheaper than some of my others!!... and that my friends is when you know you have something special. If you are on the fence, I whole-heartedly recommend grabbing one. There is a fold up one available as well.... but I am in this for the sound only and that feature was not an issue for me.. I am old-school and kind of prefer the thing to not come apart, and would happily travel with this guitar as it is :)Thank for reading my rant, I have never been inspired to do so on ANY product I have ever bought on Amazon before.... but this might just encourage someone to try one, and I would doubt for this kind of money that ANYTHING would come close to the experience. Cheers!!

What an amazing guitar!My past experience in purchasing guitars included guitar setup by an expert local dealer. Unfortunately, Journey Instruments guitar dealers are not anywhere near my location. Instead, I went with the Internet and contacted Journey Instruments thru the Amazon product option called “Customize Product.” Amazon’s “Customize Product” opened a “Product Customization request” dialog with Journey Instruments where I explained that, because of my recent hedge trimming finger injury, I needed a gentle saddle setting for exercise and healing. Journey Instruments replied: “drop us a line and remind us of the 12th fret height you prefer and we'll install at that height for you.” I sent my spec.s and Journey Instruments responded “I'll have my team sand down a saddle and send it along.”I’ve begun my exercises on my new JI OC660M classical guitar optimized for gentle action and light touch. It sounds great and is as gentle as I requested. #6 action is set to 2.5 mm and #1 to 2 mm. I love the action and hear no artifacts even with my low-tension strings.As an engineer, I probably pay more attention to design detail than some other amateur musicians. The OC660M design is stunning. I never imagined I could own a lightweight and easily packed and carried acoustic travel guitar with such beautiful sound quality designed into its body. The magic, of course, is in the carbon fiber design and Journey Instrument’s precisely designed detachable neck. The body has a spring latch button to release/attach the neck and a very important recessed tightening knob that is used to pull the neck connection into its perfectly seated position.Here’s a tip. When I was experimenting with the two easily exchanged bridge saddles included, I learned that that tightening knob must be quite firmly tightened to accomplish accurate neck connection and consistent action. With my hedge-trimmer finger injury, I initially wasn’t firm enough. Now that I’m aware of the force needed, it’s not an issue, and I’m delighted with my Journey Instruments guitar.