I am incredibly blessed in that as a therapist, I get to help others make positive change and find peace and healing in their lives. I am even more blessed that I get to do that often times with horses on my treatment team (equine assisted psychotherapy). I was getting ready to head to a residential program on a ranch for at-risk youth outside of Amarillo, TX for a week-long equine assisted psychotherapy training. I was super pumped for the trip, except for one really big concern…. I can’t go a week without a guitar, and I certainly wasn’t going to check my guitar at the airport. I stumbled upon an ad for Voyage Air Guitars. It seemed too good to be true!!! I ordered mine right away and it arrived very quickly. I knew we had a lot of traveling to do in our lifetime together, so I named her “Gypsy”. Those who know me know that my two favorite hashtags are #horsesheal and #musicheals. Gyspy and I became a part of the morning routine for the folks at the ranch, the trainees pulling in, and the trainers. Gypsy put us in a good space and helped us to mentally prepare for the intense training ahead. I vowed that everywhere we would go – Gypsy would get a new Tat representative of where we had been.
See how many she has already!?
The name of the Ranch is Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch, they were celebrating their 80th anniversary and gave Gypsy a tat for being there! Eagala (Equine Assisted Growth & Learning Association) is the organization I am certified through and thought Gypsy deserved a tat from them as well! As luck would have it, my flight out of Amarillo was cancelled and I got to stay in Texas a little longer – and found a Texas tat in the airport gift shop! We spent 6 hours in the airport making music while waiting for our new flight. What an amazing adventure Gypsy and I had in Texas! Horses and Gypsy – doesn’t get better than that! We are looking forward to many more adventures together! 😊
Thank you Voyage Air Guitar for giving us that opportunity!
Four flights to get to Texas and back and Gypsy never had to leave my side 😊
In Their Words
See what people are saying about the Travel Guitar that folds in half! Actual Voyage-Air Guitar owner testimonials from those who know the value and quality of the guitar. Want more? Read stories from “On The Road” submitted from Voyage-Air Guitar owners who share their story of how the Voyage-Air Guitar has changed their traveling with a guitar, click here.
Want to share your story with us? Click here to submit it now.
This is a long overdue review and thank you to the fine folks at Voyage Air. About 3 years ago, I ordered a Voyage Air guitar from a “not to be named” national music store. After about 6 months of promises from this music store that the guitar I had already paid for would be delivered “next week,” I finally reached out to Voyage Air, who informed me that you could only purchase their guitars directly from them, that this national music store was not authorized to sell their guitars, and that they had been asked numerous times to take their guitars off of their web-site. As a result of this fiasco, and with the help of a very good local store manager, they finally took Voyage Air guitars off of their web-site.
Long story short – I got my money back from the music store and I worked with Barney Leeson from Voyage Air to finally get my VAOM-2CNA. Even though I was now working directly with Voyage Air, this was still not an easy task. Not a hassle for me, but it was for Barney. At the time, they were transitioning between factories and did not have any of this model in stock. After doing some additional research, Barney found one that was in a small warehouse they had about an hour drive away. He personally drove there, got the guitar and sent it to me.
In the 2 plus years that I have had my Voyage Air guitar, it has flown with me several times, and when it is not folded in its case for travel, it is on its stand in my home office/studio and ready for me to play as my every day go-to guitar. I also have a couple Martin guitars, and in my humble opinion, this guitar is on a par with those guitars in every way: from beauty and finish quality to playability to tone.
Thank you Voyage Air for such a fine instrument, and especially thank you Barney for your commitment to excellent customer service!
Tom B
I’ve had other travel guitars, but none of them matched my Voyage Air for clarity of tone and volume. I have played it jamming with an Estonian of Russian extraction on the Greek island of Santorini, in sessions in Irish pubs, at a show at the Black Gate in Galway, and at a wedding in Hood River.
As I say in one of my songs,
Been all ’round this country
Been up north, been down south
Been out east, been out west
Been almost all about
Been all ’round this great wide land
Seen most there is to see
If you want to know where you should go
Hey, Buddy, just ask me.
‘Cause I’m the high road drifter
Been here and I been there
I’m the high road drifter
Been most everywhere
Sometimes I lose my way
But one thing I can’t lose
Is them lonesome, low down
Fed up highway blues.
Actually, one thing I can’t lose is my Voyage Air Guitar. You can bring it anywhere, pull it out, and with a couple of tuning tweaks, be ready to play. Playing in airports while waiting for a plane has become one of my favorite venues. Just pulling out the Voyage Air and setting it up gets everyone’s attention. And you have a captive audience that is begging to have something to distract them from the combination of boredom and anxiety that accompanies air travel. Waiting for one flight, the captain of the flight was passing by as I pulled out my guitar and stopped to listen for a short while. She ws also a guitar player and told me that when I boarded, I should tell the stewardess to make room for the guitar in the front locker. I told her thanks, but that’s not necessary. It fits in the overhead compartment. I suspect she now owns a Voyage Air of her own.
I have other guitars that I also love dearly, but when I’m traveling none of them matches the easy convenience of the Voyage Air, and the option of staging surprise concerts for an unsuspecting audience is a hoot!
Curtis
I totally get why Voyage Air sells these as travel guitars but to my mind, a Voyage Air is the ultimate guitar for a local singer-songwriter.
I play solo gigs at local bars, vineyards, coffee shops, and other small venues. It’s just me hauling my stuff so anything that makes the load-in and load-out easier is a big deal. One day, as I was banging through yet another tight doorway with my traditional guitar in the traditional hard case, I finally had the moment of realization: why on Earth am I not using the Voyage-Air right now?
Since then it’s been my main gigging guitar. I’m kind of embarrassed about how long it took me to figure that out. What a relief, to be carrying a nice portable backpack rather than a full-length hard case when you get to a club and they ask you to load in from the back door- which is up a twisty staircase, through a tiny doorway, and down a narrow bendy hall.
Besides being portable, the Voyage Air is great for gigging because right off the bat, it gets people’s interest. Guitarists who haven’t seen a Voyage Air will ask all kinds of questions. The gadget-lovers dig it. If there are little kids around, you can goof like the guitar is broken and fix it with the magic words or whatever.
My daughter is starting to get into guitar and I just bought her a mini dread Voyage Air. It’s just the right size for her now, but I also think it’s something she can have for the rest of her life- the world’s most convenient travel guitar, ready to take on whatever adventures life sends her way.
Plus, I’m totally going to use it as my new backup gig guitar and completely free myself of full-length guitar cases. I mean, I definitely got it for her, but she won’t mind if I borrow it now and then, right?
Anyway, thanks for making a solid product. I’ve had my Voyage Air guitar for about 7 years now. The hinge is as solid as when I first got it and the neck seam is still nearly invisible when it’s folded out. It sounds great plugged or unplugged and I can take a fair amount of cables, capos, and other stuff in the laptop part of the case. Just a great idea, well executed. I recommend them to everyone who asks.
~ Howard
In Memory of well-known and respected Santa Cruz luthier
Paul Hostetter
Owner & Friend of Voyage Air – RIP
In his words…
“I love my Voyage Air, which I’ve had for years now. Changed the guard, moved the saddle to get better intonation. I keep several saddles so it accommodates tropical environments or the desert. It has been all over Europe and the British isles, Burma, Bali (this photo) several times, and Hawaii. Never a question at security or the gate.”
– Paul Hostetter
