Hi, thought I might ask for a little advice here. I will be going on a few backpacking trips about a year from now, and in order to make things simple I need to keep what I bring to a minimum. I play guitar and banjo, and will probably busk a little if I have the time along the way.
I need an instrument that will do double duty as guitar and banjo. A normal guitar is too big and a banjo is too heavy (plus I can't play all of my repetoire on it, unless it's a six-string). So I was thinking of the getting a little Martin Backpacker and swapping the low A to a high G when I feel like picking instead of guitar playing. The body seems small enough to sound kind of like a banjo/guitar hybrid anyway.
Anybody have experience with these little guitars? They seem to have good reviews, sound good, are well-built etc.
But I'd like to know about volume levels (how quiet will the environment have to be for people to hear my playing?) and durability for traveling.
Plus, if I manage to save some extra cash this Christmas, I was thinking of ordering a set of vintage tuners and a bone nut/saddle with the guitar to make it more "vintage" and improve the sound a little.
Thanks.