The Backpacker is one of the greatest compact travel ready guitars on the market. The top of the guitar is made of solid tonewood, and the back and sides of the guitar are made of mahogany.
There is no scratch guard on the Backpackers, but it would be easy to add one if you felt the need. The Neck consists of 15 frets, and the tuning nobs are made of Chrome. The Guitar is very affordable, it sells for around two hundred dollars.
Who Plays It?
The Martin backpacker has been played by many professional musicians, and because of it’s compact size has been taken on many interesting journeys. Pete Kartsounes hiked the Colorado trail with his backpacker by his side during his campaign to raise money for families with children with Childhood cancer. Bobby Sweet, a singer and songwriter has traveled all over the world with his backpacker. Ravi, singer songwriter and recording artist traveled all through Europe with his backpacker. Performer Bill Thompson has performed Bird Watching festivals using his backpacker, and has even blogged about his experiences using the guitar.
Pros
The greatest thing about the Martin Backpacker is it’s compact size, which makes it perfect for travel. I took my Backpacker with me on a trip to costa Rica, and it was great. The biggest danger in traveling with guitars is sending them through luggage check. You never know what will happen to your guitar when you send it away to the luggage checkers, but with my backpacker I was able to carry it right with me onto the plane, and place it safely above my seat. This alone is reason enough to invest in a backpacker, but it has so many other great qualities. The Backpacker is light weight and would make a great first guitar for a child. When you are learning guitar as a child it can be very difficult to reach your arms around the body of the guitar to play it, but the backpacker has the perfect body design for children to learn on. With every guitar, it is very important to find the sound that you are looking for. The backpacker, despite it’s small size has a very nice sound.
Cons
There are a few downsides to owning the Backpacker.
The Backpacker is not very loud because of it’s size, and if you strum it to forcefully, it can sound a little bit tinny. Because of the design of the guitar, it is a little bit difficult to play the guitar in your lap without a strap. The guitar is a little bit top heavy, but this is not a huge problem, because you are always holding the neck to play the guitar. The guitar has no electrical capabilities, so it is hard to use for gigs unless you want to mic it, and the strings are a little bit far from the neck.
The pros definitely outweigh the cons, and if you are looking for a compact travel ready guitar I definitely recommend the Martin Backpacker.