Traveler Guitar 6 String Escape Mark III (Alder), Right, (MK3 ALS)

I wound up being able to compare both the original Escape Mark III and the Mahogany Escape Mark III at home because one arrived with cosmetic shipping damage and I ordered the other to replace it. The differences in sound between the two were noticeable, and since the guitars are essentially identical in every other way it must be because of the tone woods used, the original having an alder body with maple neck, and the mahogany having both a mahogany body and neck.The original Mark III with the alder body has a bright, defined tone and is noticeably louder than the mahogany version. The mahogany Mark III in comparison has a much darker, warm tone and seemed slightly more muted. Personally, I preferred the darker, warm tone of the mahogany, but that's entirely a matter of subjective taste and I know many people may prefer the bright tone of the alder body. It was a tough choice, and the thing that really steered me toward the mahogany body was the sustain. It turned out that notes on the mahogany Mark III would sustain for several seconds longer than those on the alder-bodied Mark III. It was quite noticeable and reminded me so much of my Gibson Les Paul Standard that I decided that's the one I'd keep.The Mark III is advertised as being an acoustic guitar, but I feel like that's sort of a mistake, or at least a misnomer. It's a solid-body guitar just like an electric, but uses acoustic strings and an under-saddle pickup like an acoustic. The result is something of a hybrid. If played without headphones or through an amp, it's more or less going to sound like playing an unamplified electric guitar (meaning very quiet). When used with headphones, the built-in amplifier (also a handy tuner) makes a pretty decent attempt at modeling a hollow bodied acoustic-electric guitar's sound, which I'm pretty certain is going to exceed most people's expectations. It also sounds great when played through an amplifier via the 1/4" output, though I feel like you need to judge that tone on it's own rather than trying to compare it to a full-size acoustic-electric guitar. The Mark III is sort of it's own beast, I think, and needs to be judged as such. When you do that, I think you'll be plenty happy with the sound of the Mark III guitars.I also think the Mark III is remarkably playable for what it is. I have a Gibson Les Paul Standard, Fender American Deluxe, and Martin D35, and in direct comparison, well there isn't one. Those full-size guitars play much, much better. However, the Mark III is still fun to play, and I find I grab it a lot more often than the full-size guitars when I want to sit around on the couch and play while watching TV, which has the benefit of leading to a lot more practice/playing time. Honestly, I think having one of these sitting on a stand next to your couch is probably one the best things you can do to inspire you to play more often.As far as the build quality and components go, I think Traveler offers a great value in these guitars. The tuners are very good (for this price level), but re-stringing them is a bit tricky due to the space-saving design (this is not a complaint, just a design reality/trade-off). Of the ones I've tried, they are all playable right out of the box, though I'm sure some people may want to take them into their luthier and have them fine-tuned to their preferences.Fit and finish is generally quite good. However, one caveat here, I've noticed that many of the Traveler guitars I've used/seen are perfect, but a few will have slight manufacturing blemishes/defects in the finish. It seems the same could be said of all guitar manufacturers though (I've been disappointed by both American-made Fender and Gibson in the past on their flagship products as well). If you order one sight-unseen, you are most likely to get one that's perfect, but there's a slight chance you won't (maybe it was a Friday in China where they're made). I'm picky and return the one's I've received with blemishes, but others may not care as the reality is you're eventually going to put more dings in them than even the worst will arrive with when new.If someone told me they wanted to learn guitar, and asked what they should purchase, I might actually suggest the Mark III. I think it's a better quality instrument than you'd generally get for a similarly priced full-size guitar. I think the size makes it a lot more convenient to play and practice with casually, which will have a beginner doing that more often. There's also always this argument about whether it's better to learn on an acoustic or electric because of the strings (acoustic strings being less forgiving and therefore force the development of better habits). Well, this one has acoustic strings, but since it's solid body and built to be used with headphones, it's quiet and a beginner won't drive anyone nuts hacking around on a full-size acoustic, which are actually quite loud in a home environment. Given that the neck is full-size, eventually graduating to a full-size guitar will be easy, and I think the small body size and shape of these guitars actually leads to learning better picking hand placement from the get go; there's so much space to rest your hand on a full-size that I think it's easy to get lazy with your picking hand. The positioning of the tuners on the Mark III also keeps you from developing the bad habit of resting your little finger on the guitar when arpeggiating (that's a bad habit that will eventually hold your playing back).Obviously, the reason most people will be turning toward these guitars is portability. Personally, I think Traveler has really done a fantastic job with their entire line of travel guitars with their novel design that allows them to reduce the size and weight while retaining a full-size neck. I've tried other travel guitars and hated them; they all have shortened necks, are unbalanced and awkward to hold, and typically sound horrible. Traveler offers a hollow-bodied acoustic travel guitar (AG-105EQ), which I also have and love, but it's not as airline friendly as they'd like you to believe (it's more car-camping friendly). The Mark III, when in its travel bag, is just small enough not to raise any eyebrows if you're bringing it along with another carryon as a personal item. I also have the exceptionally tiny Traveler Pro-Series which is another great option, and much easier to travel with, but it doesn't have the built-in headphone amplifier/tuner, which means you have to basically hack something together with a separate headphone amplifier to get sound out of it.One last thing. I discovered that the Mark III pairs really well with the Bose Soundlink III speaker if you connect the Mark III's headphone amp to it via the Soundlink's AUX input. That particular speaker doesn't distort at high volumes and the combination of the two leaves you with a remarkable rendition of playing a full-size acoustic guitar in overall tone and volume. The speaker easily fits in the Mark III gig bag's accessory pouch and gives you several hours of rechargeable battery powered playing time wherever you go. However, the Soundlink III should not be confused with an amplifier, it's not, it's a speaker. If you're looking for a great portable acoustic amplifier and some effects to go with the Mark III, then I suggest the Yamaha THR5A. The Yamaha amp sounds excellent with the Mark III, is designed to play well with the under-saddle pickup, and you can power it with regular AA batteries. However, the THR5A, though compact, will not fit in the Mark III's gig bag and so isn't as travel-worthy a setup.

I bought this guitar used from Amazon Warehouse deals figuring I could live with the "minor cosmetic" that was listed as the only thing wrong with it and save over 200 dollars. Turns out simple electrical issue was the real problem, till I fixed it that is.Forget the warranty thing it's pretty much worthless anyway since the guitar is either good or it's not, and either you like it or not.Try a used one or rather returned one If you can use a soldering iron you can probably fix anything electrical.It was easy to tell the one I got was not really played.The guitar itself is actually very well made and solid (made in China) it has a comfortable neck radius and the neck on the one I received is perfect along with the frets, and the action is great with no buzz anywhere along the neck. The intonation is spot on with the installed string gauge. it would be easy to adjust if necessary since the bridge is held in with a couple wood screws.One thing I don't like about the body is the upper edge that really should be rounded or tapered. If you like to rest your arm there it may be a bit uncomfortable at first till you get used to playing it.The neck would also be easy to adjust to your liking since the truss rod nut is at the nut end and no cover to even take off, they do supply a good quality adjustment tool.The bridge and nut material is a good quality synthetic and not some cheap plastic.How does it sound? it sounds really good I generally play electric 6 strings so I tend to play this that way and am liking what I hear clean or through my sound processor.The built in tuner is a really nice feature and the machine heads are good quality and keeps it in tune, not sure of the make.

I tried the original escape, but the jack and preamp were dysfunctional. also the lack of a top of the guitar was ergomomically difficult. on the plus, the original escape was super light and compact. The ultralight did not have enough substance, and I could not get used to the ergonomics. For me this is the best one. the electronics are reasonable quality, but could be better. the guitar sounds fine though and amp. It is heavier than the others, but still compact enough to play in your car while waiting, ext... It has some resonance obviously, but is very quite and sounds better unplugged than an electric. It's not cheap, but on the other hand there are no other equivalent products. So if you want something you can take on the go, practice unobtrusively, plug into your headphones and ipod or a mini amp, it's pretty cool.

This guitar is all I hoped for, and more. It's compact for travel, but that's just the beginning. It has a full-size neck but is much smaller than a standard guitar. It's got an adjustable truss rod, and they even include a wrench in case you need it, but mine arrived so well set up that I realized my dreadnought needed a trip to the luthier! It has a built-in tuner so there's no mucking about with an extra piece of equipment and it doesn't require special strings (comes with D'Addario extra lights). It's not shown in the Amazon pictures, but it's got a standard output for an amp, right where you'd want it to be. Plus, it's got a headphone jack so you can play without disturbing the whole house. As a quiet practice guitar, it's better than using an unplugged electric with a headphone amp, because it also has an aux input, so you can play along with your mp3 player or (as I do) feed in the audio from streaming guitar lessons while you play. My only warning is that if you are someone who tends to rest your pinky on the guitar, you'll find the tuners right where you would ordinarily be bracing. But since "everyone" says that's a bad habit anyway, maybe this is your opportunity to break that habit.