Above £500, you’re not paying for a “travel guitar” anymore. You’re paying to remove the compromises that cheaper travel guitars ask you to accept: thin sound, plasticky electronics, a neck that never quite feels right. At this price, every guitar here has to earn its place next to your full-size instrument at home, not just survive a flight in the hold.
Two guitars from the old version of this list turned out to be the same guitar listed under slightly different names, so we’ve fixed that and replaced the padding with a genuinely different fifth pick.
- Best overall: the KLOS Full Size Acoustic-Electric, for the combination of carbon fibre durability and a pickup that actually gets used
- Best if you’ll never plug in: the KLOS Full Size Acoustic, the same guitar without paying for electronics you won’t use
- Best for built-in effects and looping: the LAVA ME 4 Carbon, a genuinely different kind of “smart” travel guitar
- Best real wood tone in a folding body: the Journey Instruments OF882C, solid Acacia Koa instead of carbon fibre
- Best for silent electric practice: the Traveler Speedster Deluxe, for the headphone amp built into the body
| Guitar | Best for | Price | Build | Electronics | Size and weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KLOS Full Size Acoustic-Electric | Best overall | from £1,200 | Carbon fibre dreadnought body, bolt-off mahogany neck | Fishman Sonitone soundhole preamp, volume and tone | 4.03 lbs (1.83kg) |
| KLOS Full Size Acoustic | Never plugging in | from £1,100 | Carbon fibre dreadnought body, bolt-off mahogany neck | None, fully acoustic | 3.85 lbs (1.75kg) |
| LAVA ME 4 Carbon | Effects and looping | from £1,000 | Carbon fibre composite unibody, fixed neck | SHARC DSP chip, 34 effects, looper, backing tracks | 36in compact travel body |
| Journey Instruments OF882C | Real wood tone | from £780 | Solid Acacia Koa body, collapsible mahogany neck | Tri-piezo pickup | Folds to 22 x 14 x 9in backpack |
| Traveler Speedster Deluxe | Silent electric practice | from £570 | Maple neck-through body, laurel fretboard | Humbucker plus built-in headphone amp | 2.15kg, 28in overall |
KLOS Full Size Acoustic-Electric: best overall
Quick correction first. The old version of this page listed a “Deluxe” acoustic-electric, a plain acoustic and a second acoustic-electric as three separate KLOS guitars. They weren’t three guitars. KLOS’s current UK lineup has exactly two full-size carbon fibre models: one with a pickup, one without. “Deluxe” was a kit name attached to a listing that’s since gone dead on Amazon UK, not a third instrument. We’ve dropped it rather than pad the list back out to five with a guitar that doesn’t exist anymore.
The acoustic-electric is the one we’d buy. It’s the same carbon fibre dreadnought body as the acoustic-only version below, with a Fishman Sonitone preamp built into the soundhole, controlled by two simple knobs for volume and tone. Carbon fibre doesn’t warp, crack, or need humidifying the way a wood dreadnought does, which matters more here than on any cheaper guitar, since you’re actually going to leave this one out of its case and take it places a £300 guitar wouldn’t go. The neck bolts off in seconds with four screws, so it packs down properly for a flight. If you want to know exactly what a UK carrier will and won’t let you bring on board, our guide to taking a guitar on a plane covers each airline’s actual policy rather than the usual vague reassurance.
At this price, it’s also worth protecting properly. The stock gig bag is decent but not built for checked baggage or rough handling, so see our best cases for custom-shaped travel guitars if you want something sturdier than the included bag.
Priced at £1,219.03 on Amazon UK, price checked 13 July 2026.
KLOS Full Size Acoustic: best if you’ll never plug in
This is the same guitar as above, minus the Fishman preamp, and about £100 cheaper for it. If you’re buying this to play around a campfire, on a balcony, or in a hotel room and have no plans to run it through an amp or a PA, don’t pay for electronics you won’t use. The carbon fibre body, the removable mahogany neck, the full kit of gig bag, strap, capo and rain cover, all of that’s identical to the acoustic-electric.
The trade-off is obvious: no pickup means no easy way to plug into anything if you change your mind later. Retrofitting a soundhole pickup afterwards is possible but adds cost and faff you’d have avoided by buying the electric version outright. If there’s any chance you’ll want to plug in eventually, spend the extra £100 now.
If the Full Size dreadnought body feels like more guitar than you want to carry, KLOS also builds a smaller, lighter Travel version of this same hybrid carbon fibre and mahogany design, around a pound lighter with a noticeably more compact packed kit. See our KLOS Travel Acoustic review for the full comparison.
Priced at £1,114.75 on Amazon UK, price checked 13 July 2026.
LAVA ME 4 Carbon: best for built-in effects and looping
The LAVA ME 4 Carbon isn’t trying to be a KLOS. It’s carbon fibre too, a Super AirSonic composite unibody rather than a bolt-neck design, but the reason to buy this one is the electronics, not the material. A 32-bit SHARC audio chip inside the body runs 34 onboard effects, a looper, over 100 backing tracks and drum grooves, all controlled from a 3.5 inch touchscreen set into the top. You can record ideas, jam against a groove, or just add reverb and delay without carrying a separate pedal or amp.
Whether that’s worth it depends entirely on how you play. If you’re a solo performer who wants to sound like more than one guitar without hauling gear, this is genuinely useful, not a gimmick. If you just want a good acoustic-electric tone and nothing else, you’re paying for a feature set you’ll never open, and the KLOS acoustic-electric above will serve you better for less fuss. We’d only recommend this to someone who already knows they want the looper and effects, not as a default pick.
For the full breakdown, including how it stacks up against the KLOS Carbon Fiber Travel Acoustic and its cheaper sibling the LAVA ME Play, see our full LAVA ME 4 review.
Priced at £1,049.00 on Amazon UK for the 36 inch Carbon model, price checked 13 July 2026.
Journey Instruments OF882C: best real wood tone in a folding body
Every other guitar on this list is carbon fibre or a smart-electronics build. The OF882C is solid Acacia Koa, top, back and sides, with a mahogany neck and an Ovangkol fretboard, so if you want an actual wood tone rather than the brighter, more clinical sound carbon fibre tends to produce, this is the one. It uses Journey’s own collapsible neck system rather than KLOS’s bolt-off design: the neck locks and unlocks in around 20 seconds, and the whole guitar folds down into a carry-on backpack sized 22 x 14 x 9 inches. Journey also sells a smaller, cheaper Puddle Jumper model with a shorter 23 inch scale and no electronics, worth a look if a compact case matters more to you than full-scale feel or plugging in; see our full review of the Journey Instruments Puddle Jumper for the breakdown.
It’s a full 24.5 inch scale with a comfortably wide 1¾ inch nut, so it doesn’t feel cramped the way a lot of folding travel guitars do, and the built-in tri-piezo pickup is a genuine step up from the single passive piezo you get on cheaper acoustic-electrics. The trade-off against KLOS is durability under real abuse: carbon fibre shrugs off temperature and humidity swings that solid wood, even well-built solid wood, has to be looked after against. If you’re touring through genuinely variable climates, that matters. If you’re mostly going hotel to hotel with reasonable care, it doesn’t matter as much as the better wood tone will.
Priced at £789.00 on Amazon UK, price checked 13 July 2026.
Traveler Speedster Deluxe: best for silent electric practice
The odd one out here, and deliberately so. Everything else on this list is an acoustic or acoustic-electric. The Speedster Deluxe is a compact solid-body electric with a neck-through maple build and a dual-rail humbucker, and the reason it’s worth the money is the headphone amp built directly into the body: clean, boost, overdrive and distortion, running off two AAA batteries, with a 3.5mm headphone output and aux input. You can practise properly, distortion and all, in a hotel room at 11pm without waking anyone up.
That’s a genuinely different use case from the acoustic-electrics above it on this page, and it’s the reason we’ve included it rather than a cheaper Traveler model. The standard Traveler Pro-Series Electric is a fine guitar, but it sits under £500 on Amazon UK right now, so it doesn’t belong on this list, and it doesn’t have the headphone amp that makes the Deluxe worth the premium. We’ve covered the Speedster Deluxe in full in a dedicated review if you want the complete breakdown before buying.
Priced at £572.46 on Amazon UK (sold by Zoundhouse), price checked 13 July 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Does KLOS actually make three different carbon fibre travel guitars?
No. KLOS’s current full-size carbon fibre lineup is two guitars: one acoustic, one acoustic-electric with a Fishman Sonitone preamp. Any listing calling itself a “Deluxe” version of one of these on Amazon UK right now is either the same guitar under a kit name or a dead listing. Don’t pay twice for the same instrument under two names.
Is carbon fibre actually better than wood for a travel guitar, or is that just marketing?
It’s a genuine, verifiable material property, not a marketing claim: carbon fibre doesn’t expand, contract or crack with temperature and humidity changes the way wood does, so you can leave it out of its case without worrying about it. That’s a real advantage if you’re travelling through varied climates. It’s not automatically a better-sounding guitar, and the Journey Instruments OF882C above proves that solid wood still has a warmer, more traditional tone that some players will prefer enough to accept the extra care it needs.
Do I need the pickup version of the KLOS, or is the acoustic enough?
If you have any plan to plug into an amp, a PA, or even a small acoustic amp at some point, buy the acoustic-electric now. Retrofitting a pickup later costs more in time and money than the roughly £100 difference between the two versions costs upfront.
Will any of these fit in an aircraft overhead bin?
The KLOS models pack down once the neck is removed, and the Journey Instruments OF882C folds into a carry-on-sized backpack, so both travel well. Exact cabin baggage rules vary by airline rather than by any universal standard, so check our guide to flying with a guitar in the UK before you book anything around it.
Is there a cheaper headless electric worth considering instead of the Speedster Deluxe?
If the headphone amp isn’t essential and you just want a full-scale headless electric for less money, our Anygig AGE TE review covers a genuinely different budget option, though it sits under this page’s £500 floor rather than above it.
What if £500 is more than I want to spend?
Nothing wrong with that. Our best travel guitars under £500 guide covers instruments that get you most of the way there without the carbon fibre premium.
If you’re still weighing this budget band against the others, our complete UK buyer’s guide to travel guitars breaks down how to choose across every price point, not just this one.
The verdict
If you only take one thing from this page: buy the KLOS Full Size Acoustic-Electric unless you have a specific reason not to. It’s the guitar here with the fewest compromises for the widest range of players. Buy the plain acoustic instead if you genuinely won’t plug in, buy the LAVA ME 4 if you specifically want the effects and looper, buy the Journey Instruments OF882C if wood tone matters more to you than carbon fibre toughness, and buy the Speedster Deluxe if silent electric practice is the actual problem you’re solving. Every guitar on this page earns its price. None of them are here because we already had a page about them.
