This full 15” concert scale ukulele has a solid American hard maple body equipped with a Shadow Piezo pickup – so unlike other acoustic/electric ukes, you can plug the Ultra-Light Ukulele into your favorite headphone amplifier and practice silently in your hotel room or even on the plane. But, if you’re on a gig, just plug into your acoustic amp or go direct into the board and you’ll have the audience shaking their grass skirts in no time.

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The final numbers are in. MI Companies including Traveler Guitar, Gallien-Krueger, Alfred Publishing, D’Addario, ESP Guitars, Planet Waves and Orange Amplifiers helped raise over $85,000 at this year’s Child Guidance Center Holiday Fantasy Tree event. Each company donated gear to put under the first ever “Rock & Roll Tree,” which was put up for silent auction at a luncheon and gala event held in  Newport Beach, California at The Balboa Bay Club  last month. With over 250 attendees eager for a chance to win, “The Rock and Roll tree” garnered nearly $6,000 in donations alone, ranking as one of the top fund-generators for the event.

“This was our best year ever,” says Child Guidance Center Executive Director Lori M. Pack, LCSW. “The Rock & Roll Tree was a huge hit, and we look forward to an even bigger response next year!” “We truly appreciate the generosity and outpouring of support for ChildGuidanceCenter. The dollars raised will help us provide the critical treatment services needed for at-risk children and families in our community. We hope that you will mark your calendars for next year’s 30th Annual Holiday Tree Fantasy scheduled for December 2^nd, 2012.”

Child Guidance Center in Orange County, California is a non-profit organization that provides quality outpatient mental health and child abuse treatment services to children and families whose relationships and personal growth are impaired by emotional and behavioral problems.

For more info about Child Guidance Center, visit http://www.cgcoc.org/, and www.pcitmethod.com

“For almost a decade, my Traveler Guitar has gone where I go. With its perfectly replicated neck, it doesn’t take long to lose myself in it just like I would an actual Acoustic. And what a breeze on airplanes! I find myself hoping my inquisitive friends at the TSA flag it. Gives me a chance to pull it out and play it for them right there in Security. They still pat me down, but at least they’re entertained.”

Jeff plays his Traveler Guitar Original Escape and Escape MK-II when he’s on the road or during breaks on set. Thanks for the kind words, Jeff – and for all the music & laughs!

Jeff Daniels with his Traveler Guitar Escape MK-II

The Speedster Hot Rod recalls the signature modern-retro look of its predecessor, but with technical and aesthetic mods that make the Hot Rod stand out. On this new edition, The Speedster’s high-output dual-rail humbucker feeds into a built-in Pocket Rockit headphone amp, which produces clean and distortion tones through headphones or an amp. In addition, the Hot Rod is loaded with a 1/8” inch aux-in jack so players can plug in an mp3 player and jam along to their favorite songs. The final touch:  a sleek racing stripe underlining the new Hot Rod logo.

Like its forebears, the Speedster Hot Rod is built for portability and performance with full 24 ¾”-scale neck-through-body construction, detachable tear-drop arm support and volume & tone controls. The Speedster Hot Rod fits neatly inside its included gig bag and, like all Traveler Guitars, is small enough to stow in airline overhead compartments.

A native of North Carolina, Kearns was a founding member of Cry of Love and has since played with a broad range of artists from The Bottle Rockets to Todd Snider to Edwin McCain. Since 2009, he has held down the low end for Skynyrd, including studio duties on 2009’s God & Guns.

Robert is pictured here with is TB-4P Bass in Sunburst, currently on the road with him for the God & Guns tour.

Traveler Escape EG-2 Travel Electric Guitar Features:

•     Full 25 1/2″ scale
•     5 lbs 2 oz light and only 29″ long
•     Built-in Pocket RockIt headphone amp with distortion & clean tones plus aux in
•     Fits in airline overhead compartments
•     Maple Neck / Alder body
•     Deluxe gig bag included

Click here for a video and more information.

Traveler Guitar welcomes Swedish death metal band Entombed guitarist Victor Brandt to its artist family. Formed in 1987, Entombed is considered a pioneer in the Scandinavian death metal community. Says Brandt, “Traveler Guitars have made life as a touring musician so much easier. No need to carry big cases or practice amps into the dressing room, spare guitars taking up space in the bus or in an airplane. Now, with my Traveler Guitar, it is so easy with warming up before the gig, practicing in the bus, rehearsing, writing or recording on tour. The perfect solution is only an arm’s length away.” Check out Victor’s Traveler Guitar artist page for more links and information.

Santa Monica musician Shawn Gray was surprised last month when the manufacturer of his Speedster electric travel guitar offered to fix loose wiring for free — three years after he had bought the lightweight instrument and carted it all over the country.

He was amazed when he got it back two days later from Redlands-based Traveler Guitar. Not only was the wiring fixed, but nicks were repainted, fresh strings were put on and the $350 instrument was in a new case.

At first, Gray thought owner J. Corey Oliver had sent him a new guitar. “I didn’t recognize my own guitar — I was blown away,” said Gray, 37, who plays and writes songs for his rock band, Six in Six, when he’s not flying planes for American Airlines.

“I own thousands of dollars’ worth of guitar equipment, and you would never get that same kind of service” from other manufacturers, he said.

The demand for the eight travel models has grown even as the economy stumbles and guitar sales languish. The company’s models include the bestselling candy-apple red Speedster, the $400 African mahogany bass and the $500 Escape EG-1 designed by internationally recognized guitar builder John Carruthers.

“He’ll do anything to make those customers happy, and that’s why his sales continue to grow so well,” said Phil Rich, guitar merchandising director for Guitar Center Inc., a national retailer based in Westlake Village. The chain is Traveler’s biggest customer.

“Our customer service is so important. We think it might be the only thing that helps us this year” to weather the slowing economy, Oliver said.

Top-notch service means more than responding quickly to buyer concerns. For Oliver, it’s the driver behind decisions in every area of the business. He bought a Prius this spring so his salesman, Matt Heynen, could cover twice as much distance as last year — and seal more deals — for the same cost, despite higher gas prices.

“Consumers are going to be less likely to let go of their money, so we need to make sure our guitars are on the walls and salespeople know how to sell our product, and you can’t do that over the phone,” Oliver said.

On Tuesday, the two will stuff the Prius with 15 guitars and exhibit materials and head to Nashville for a trade show put on by NAMM, an international music products association. Although the company always is represented at NAMM’s big gathering in January, it’s the first time in four years that the business has hit the smaller summer show.

“We’re really looking for dealer feedback,” Oliver said. “I’ve never felt the pressure like I’m feeling this year.”

Lots of guitar companies sell travel guitars. Almost all are small versions that don’t quite sound like full-size models.

Traveler Guitar has carved out a niche by creating guitars with full-size necks. The bodies and electronics are small and lightweight with connections for headphones or amplifiers and a unique arrangement of the tuning controls in body cutouts rather than on the guitars’ necks.

The idea is the brainchild of Leon Cox, a retired Air Force pilot and engineer. His Pro Series, a paddle-shaped guitar with a stethoscope-like listening device, was launched in 1992 and is still sold by the company. Pro Series guitars have traveled to Mt. Everest — twice.

After Oliver bought the company with five partners in 1995, he struggled to keep it going. He blew through his roughly $100,000 in start-up money in seven months as the company expensively built guitars by hand.

After a chance meeting with executives of Fender Musical Instruments Corp., the maker of the legendary Stratocaster took up Traveler Guitar’s manufacturing and distribution.

Traveler still wasn’t making money, and Oliver slept on a friend’s couch, sold his car and sold used telecom equipment to make ends meet. After three years, Fender handed the manufacturing to a factory in China, and the steady stream of instruments helped Oliver persuade more dealers to carry the guitars.

Oliver still has to educate guitar sellers about his high-end instruments. Another challenge: The small size of the guitars means they don’t show up well on the walls of crowded guitar shops, Guitar Center’s Rich said.

And rising costs could mean higher prices industrywide in the next 18 months, Oliver said.

“If I have to personally drive 200,000 miles and go to 30 Guitar Centers to conduct personal training, I’m all over it,” Oliver said.

Last year he abandoned his independent sales reps because he felt his niche company wasn’t a priority with them.

Oliver hired Heynen to better serve dealers and customers. The owner said he might walk across the room to alert Heynen to sales specials. An e-mail blast and some phone calls later and the shipping department is sending the specials out the door.

This year, Oliver contracted for weekly consultations with a former manager from Van Nuys-based Daisy Rock Guitars named Jeff Garvin, who has shown him new ways to work with dealers. Before, Oliver scanned his weekly sales reports from Guitar Center, focusing on the good-news numbers. Garvin taught him to look closer at lower sales for certain models and to ask the merchandising department how to improve.

The discussion led to an idea for a free-standing display to better showcase Traveler’s instruments. Responding to customer demand, Traveler also expects to introduce a left-handed version of some of its guitars next year.

Leaving nothing to economic chance, Oliver also hired a shipping manager to ensure that most orders are shipped the same day.

“Your customer service better be rocking,” Oliver said, “and your product better be stellar and your relationships better be fantastic.”