Carbon Fiber First Class Travel Guitar – FF660M Traveling Acoustic Guitar with Collapsible Patented System – Portable Backpack Case (Matte 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!!

So, no guitar is perfect, and no guitar is perfect for every player. If you play in an acoustic Bluegrass band and need to cut through in competition with the bass, mandolin, and banjo using a mic, this ain't the guitar for you. (Buy the right huge Martin and be done with it.) Or if you're a folk sing-writer with a harmonica around your neck and your feelings will be hurt by fans asking about your "plastic guitar" (which it isn't [OK, well, maybe as a composite it sort of is, but that isn't really the point]), this modern design may not be your thing.That said, everyone else should consider this thing as a truly serious tool for live performance plugged in, especially for outdoors and/or varying climates.Personally, it feels like they made this thing with me in mind. It took a little work for me to get it set up just right for me (as is true of any guitar), but once I put that work in, I feel I have a jewel. Here are a few things that I think they got particularly right in the design and engineering:(1) The neck and headstock are a bit thicker than what some carbon-fiber makers would shoot for, which I believe may be the secret key to the nice substantial tone of this smallish instrument. Yes, carbon fiber is strong, but an acoustic guitar needs some mass to do it's thing. The neck still has some give, and it seems to hold tension much like wood, which makes it live and breathe and respond like something much more organic than it is.(2) The soundboard is dampened in a very interesting way that seems to keep the overtones and highs in check. This allows you to go quiet in performance and still be balanced.Things to note:(1) Dont plan on it being easy to get your hands inside it (for tightening the neck bolts, for example) if you have normal-size hands. The sound hole is small and not shaped for access. Of course, no real reason to get in there; just sayin'.(2) The passive piezo pickup picks up EVERYTHING that happens near the strings and soundboard. If a finger barely brushes the soundboard, it gets transmitted. That is a good thing for percussive players; not so much for sloppy beginners plugging in. My tip is that if you use a Cube amp, use the "clean" setting instead of "instrument" setting. That will boost the note over the artifact of playing. Otherwise, learn to dampen the strings at the bridge with your picking hand.(3) The neck is wide, but in a good way for finger-pickers and those used to classical necks. It makes complicated finger-picking a pleasure, even with a capo on the 7th fret.Conclusion:I think this is an AMAZING product that performs far beyond what my expectations were. Carbon guitars are not cheap yet, and I get anyone who wants to wait for lower prices in years to come, if that happens. But at present (March 2021), I consider this a great option for a real guitar that is a real work of art in design and function at a more reasonable price than some of the competition. Not needing batteries is a bonus. A comfortable guitar too. Thank you, Journey Instruments. Keep innovating. Working musicians appreciate it.