Martin Backpacker Guitar Sucks?

Posted at May 11, 2010

Some call it a legendary guitar for travelers, others say that the Backpacker looks like a deformed penis. Whatever side of the fence you are on, there is one thing that is certain- Retailing for well under $200, the well made Martin Backpacker travel guitar is one of the best selling alterative guitars ever made.

For those unfamiliar, the Martin Backpacker is an extremely thing guitar that has a body that is nearly as thin as the neck of the guitar. The neck is standard size and allows a player to practice and fully play with weighing in at a mere 2. 5 lbs. The guitar has a larger, tapered end that allows for some good sound to pipe out of the sound hole of this instrument.

For those who thing that this guitar is built poorly, think again- the Martin Backpacker features the same quality wood that Martin throws in their high end acoustic guitars, just at a smaller scale. The guitar has braced, solid tone top with a solid mahogany neck, back, and sides.

In there hands, the Martin Backpacker feels rock solid and is actually more comfortable to play that one would think. One problem many have with the thin body of this acoustic is that it can get more tiring to play since you no longer can rest your left arm (assuming you are a right handed player) on the body of the guitar while you are strumming. This takes a bit of getting used to but is not a huge problem.

One thing is for certain, the sound that comes from this guitar is better than one would expect, thanks to the good engineering from Martin inside this cool instrument.

This is the perfect guitar for traveling (includes a special case and strap). Also, this guitar is built pretty rugged and will withstand being thrown in the back of your car and sat on by Aunt Matilda.

Overall, another excellent guitar from Martin that certainly doesn't suck. If you are looking for a small Martin but hate the penis-like look of the Martin Backpacker than you should check out the Martin LXM "Little Martin" guitars that are smaller versions of the standard Martin Dreadnought 0-14 guitars and are still pretty portable.