Journey Instruments OF420 Acoustic Travel Guitar Review

Essentially, the Journey OF420 is a high quality, all wood, acoustic-electric travel guitar with a detachable neck. The unique neck mechanism allows the the guitar to collapse down to a size small enough to fit in the overhead compartment of most (if not all) airplanes. The included gig bag is roughly the size of a very large backpack, and provides extra storage for other items you might need on your trip.

Click here to see a detailed list of specs

The closest “competitor” I could find is a guitar I reviewed in my other post: the KLŌS Carbon Fiber guitar. However, it’s not really a fair comparison because, in addition to a carbon fiber body, the KLŌS is a very different guitar in many ways. Regardless, I encourage you to check it out if you’re looking for a collapsible travel acoustic guitar and want to do a little comparison shopping.

When your OF420 arrives, a few extra goodies come with it, such as a gig bag that can be converted to a backpack, an extra “lower action” bridge saddle, and a truss rod wrench.

The OF420’s gig bag is about the size of a camping/hiking backpack. It has two carrying handles–one on top and one on the side. Or, you can opt to instead deploy the backpack straps, which are normally tucked away neatly in a pouch. There is a separate, isolated compartment for the neck and a “string flap” inside the bag. These features prevents the strings or neck from contacting the guitar’s body while in storage. Lots of external pockets provide extra storage for accessories.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Journey OF420 comes with an extra “lower action” saddle. The standard saddle gives an action that is quite high–too high for my wimpy fingers (I rarely play acoustic), so this was a welcome accessory. The guitar also comes with a truss rod wrench.

Now the fun part. I’ve shown you the gig bag, extra saddle, and truss rod wrench already, but let me backtrack a bit and do a proper unpacking sequence. Then, I’ll show how you attach the neck as well as some other interesting features of this acoustic travel guitar.

First, make sure the strings aren’t twisted before placing the neck in the pocket. The manual recommends you gently hold the guitar body between your knees (without squeezing the body too tightly). You can do this sitting in a chair, but since this guitar was loaned to me by Journey, I took the extra precaution of being on the soft floor.

There’s a metal lip in there that helps guide you in. Just place the front bottom edge of the neck in the pocket, and then gently lever it backward into the pocket to close the gap.

When it’s home, you’ll hear a satisfying “click!” At that point it’s secure in the pocket–but you’re not quite done yet. You need to now turn the little lever clockwise to fully secure it in place. Turn it until it’s a bit more than finger tight, but do not crank on it past this point. It doesn’t need to be ultra-mega-tight.

After giving each string a little tug, tune it up and start jamming. One interesting note: in my experience, the OF420 was basically in tune whenever I re-attached the neck, which was totally unexpected and pretty cool.

I took a ton of photos of the OF420, so before I get into the detailed ratings and demos, I wanted to post a few more shots of the OF420.