Traveler Guitar Speedster Electric Guitar (with Gig Bag)

No longer available at zZounds
This guitar has more features and high output tone than most standard guitars. Features include a removable upper arm support, chrome hardware, and as blade humbuckers.

The Speedster is the electric evolution of the Pro-Series. Known best for its removable "tear drop" upper arm support and chrome hardware, the Speedster is loaded with a high output blade humbucker for the classic tones of today and yesterday. With the look, feel, and sound of a full size solid body electric, the Speedster is great for the rocker on the run.

Neck Through Body: Eastern American Hard Maple

Fingerboard: Pao Ferro

Frets: 22-medium

Scale Length: 24 3/4"

Fingerboard Inlays: Pearloid

Neck Width at Nut: 1 3/4"

Body Width: 7 1/2"

Length: 28"

Weight: 4 lbs.

Pick-ups: Custom Dual Rail Humbucker

Hardware: Chrome

Electronics: Volume/Tone

All Traveler guitars come with the heavy duty nylon carry bag

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars. (40 ratings)
Submitted October 30, 2013 by Eek K in Brooklyn, NY

"Super fun practice guitar - with 1 major drawback"

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
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I bought the red Speedster for a trip not wanting to be without a guitar in case inspiration struck. What I didn't see coming is how much I would actually play the thing! My main guitars are hollowbody Gretsches that I keep in their cases when I'm not playing which interferes with the ease of just picking up and playing whenever I want to (I live in NYC where space is limited so the cases get shoved under the bed). I can leave this thing next to my desk, on the sofa, bed.. anywhere and it's always within reach, even if I just want to pick it up and noodle for a few seconds. Anytime I can have my hands on a guitar more is a good thing - so in addition to the travel aspect, just having it around and not having to baby it like I have to do with my hollowbodies is awesome. Action was great right out of the box. Surprisingly it didn't take much getting used to having this in my lap vs. the much more bulky hollowbodies - the upper fin that attaches helps that out a lot. Speaking of the fin it does seem to make noise/need to be tightened every so often while playing, I'm wondering if some thread seal tape might help that. Not a deal breaker but there's room for some sort of improvement there. Pickup sounds good enough for me. I don't plan on using it in a band situation nor have I yet - it works great for practice at home thru my practice amp, computer (I use Pod Farm), and Amplitube app on my iPhone. Between the volume and tone knobs there's a lot of range in there for a single read more pickup guitar, or at least more than you'd think. Now onto the con, and it's a major one: staying in tune. I've read a few other reviews where this is a problem and I was no exception. I don't know if the other users who didn't mention got lucky and got guitars with tuners on them that worked...? Or maybe they don't beat on the strings that much? But I do a lot of unison bends and bends in general and it was almost as if the guitar was drunk - tuning would immediately go out of whack. I tried every string stretching trick in the book, new strings, no dice. The saving grace was a $50 set of Grover 406c locking tuners. I read a few Speedster users switched to those - I did and kaboom - the guitar stays in tune now. Be warned if you do anything outside of light casual strumming that you're likely going to have to invest in new tuners if you prefer to not have a dissonant mess in your lap that needs retuning every 2 minutes. Also - string changing on the Travelers is rather cumbersome and those locking tuners took that from being a nightmare to a very simple, quick task. I'm considering putting them on my other guitars now because of that. Also - the strings coming out of the tuning posts will poke you if you don't clip VERY close to the post, so make sure you've got a good pair of clippers and trim them down after restringing. Tuner issue aside, a great practice guitar. As I mentioned, anything that allows me to have my hands on a guitar MORE is a good thing - I can leave this little guy laying around pretty much anywhere in my apartment and pick it up while my Gretsches remain in the safety of their cases resting up for band practice. Not sure if I agree with the $380 price tag, especially with the tuner issue. Out of the box it feels more like a $250 guitar to me.. why make such an otherwise great travel guitar but put such crappy tuners on it? But after trying out the other options this had the best feel (& look) so I sucked it up, threw on the new tuners, and am very happy with it.

Musical Background:
Been playing for over 25 years, live and studio

Musical Style:
Everything. Surf, chicken pickin', jazz, rockabilly, metal.. you name it.
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