Traveler Guitars has a propitious pedigree, from a bass perspective. Carey Nordstrand, whose own brand is the bees-knees among the bass intelligentsia, started his luthiery career at Traveler (he left in ’95). Legendary L.A.-area repair guy John Carruthers, who has a line of solidbody basses and an electric upright, had a hand in the bass’s design.
The Traveler bass was well built. It had a few little flaws, like a slight gap at the neck joint and a little roughness on some body-rout edges, but all-in-all, it was a well-made instrument constructed of good wood stock and decent hardware. Its playability and balance were excellent. The little strap-button extender arm mitigated the bass’s tiny body, and its light weight and headless neck contributed to excellent ergonomics. The bass’s most intriguing feature is probably the body-located tuners. The strings wrap around the back of the bass on a grooved cylindrical tailpiece, which functions almost like the nut on a conventional headstock. The tuners are placed in an optimum location for minimum angle-break at the tailpiece, but I found the Gand D-string knobs awkwardly placed for actual tuning—they’re a bit too close to the G string. I dug the thumbrest wedged into the tuners’ top rout. The Traveler’s electronics are simple: An L.R. Baggs piezo ribbon transducer feeds an Element preamp with TREBLE and BASS controls and a switch for amp or headphone operation.
The Traveler bass sounded okay, but not great. A piezo pickup is by nature especially sensitive to the resonant characteristics of an instrument, and there’s simply not much of that going on in the Traveler design. This might work a little better for guitar-range frequencies (Traveler offers a successful line of similar guitars), but bass frequencies yearn for a little air to do their thing. The Traveler sounded big, but it was like pure electric string tone, with abundant midrange, massive low end, and a slightly harsh top. The EQ, particularly the TREBLE control, was not very effective at quelling the harshness. But as it is, the Traveler was plenty suitable for solo jamming or band use in a pinch.
There’s nothing like the Traveler in terms of portability, and the headphone output gives it unique go-anywhere appeal. If you simply must have an instrument with you at all times, no matter how exotic the setting, the Traveler is your best option.
TRAVELER BASS
List $699
Street $500
Pros Amazingly light and portable Cons Edgy tone is uninspiring Bottom Line A fun little instrument for travel, but it’s no replacement for your main axe.
CONTACT
800-476-1591
www.travelerguitars.com
TECH SPECS
Body Alder
Top Spruce
Neck Maple
Fingerboard Ebonized rosewood
Pickup L.R. Baggs under-saddle Hybrid- Element piezo transducer
Controls Volume, treble, bass
Nut Plastic
Scale 32"
Weight 5.25 lbs
Made in China
Gig bag Included
Warranty Three years limited