About Strobel Travel Guitars and Basses

The Company Behind the Best Travel Electric Guitar: About Strobel Travel Guitars and Basses

From the very beginning, we’ve strived to create the best travel electric guitar at any price. Strobel Guitars built the first Strobel Rambler® Custom portable electric guitar in 2003.  After building more than 30 Custom Rambler® guitars, we introduced the affordable Rambler® Classic Professional Travel Guitar in 2010.  The Rambler® Custom Travel Bass appeared in 2012.

In 2014 we introduced the Strat-style STROBELCASTER™ Custom.  Now also available in the lower cost STROBELCASTER™ Standard as well as the semi-custom STROBELCASTER™ Plus models.

Buying a traveling guitar should never force you to sacrifice on quality. Strobel Guitars manufactures some of the best Electric Travel Guitar and Bass options available in the market. We offer several models –  including the Rambler® Classic and Rambler® Custom guitars utilizing dual humbucker pickups.  Also available is a Custom Rambler® Travel Bass, modeled after a vintage Fender P-Bass. We recently introduced three new STROBELCASTER™ models using single-coil pickups – the STROBELCASTER™ Standard, Plus and Custom models. Please visit our Picture Galleries to see some of these great looking and great playing travel guitars and basses.

We were driven to develop the best travel guitar for airplane use that would fit in a backpack or computer bag.  No extra luggage, with a “gigable” guitar packed in your carry on.  We experimented with several prototypes and various methods to take the guitar apart so it would fit in a computer bag or briefcase.  The idea was to create a real travel guitar that fits in suitcase and luggage containers and is easy to take on the road. We wanted to develop the best travel guitar that would be great on stage and play and sound great.

In his previous job as an electrical engineer with Motorola, Russ Strobel did his share of traveling – and he always missed his guitar.   “I’ve played since I was 12 and had many wonderful times with a guitar in my hands,” he said of being parted from it. ” The guitar can be very liberating and healing.”  Any picker who travels has felt Strobel’s pain, as business trips often involve a lot of time sitting in hotel rooms with only a book or television to keep one mentally occupied.

But dragging a full-size instrument along on trips just is not a realistic option for most.  The predicament provided inspiration for the founder of the Strobel Guitar Company. His idea?  A guitar that would fit into a suitcase or a laptop-sized bag. But how?

 

The first Strobel Travel Guitar prototype

We knew the important thing was to easily disengage the neck from the body so that both could be separated and easily stowed for transport.  We developed our patented “Easily Detachable Neck” (EDN) system. The neck had to be as short as possible so it would fit in a backpack or computer bag.  That dictated a headless design with tuners on the bottom of the body to facilitate the design of a truly portable guitar.

The strings would necessarily have to come off the neck, so the neck could be removed.  We built some early prototypes from shelf boards and a 1 x 2 for the neck. The first one had a metal plate on top of the neck with holes drilled in it to hold the ball end of the strings.  The plate was mounted with a couple of wood screws so it could be removed. Now, when the plate was removed with the strings held in the place, you could wrap the strings around the body. And then it was a simple manner to devise a convenient way to remove the neck.  We put the neck bolts into the neck, so they would protrude and attach to the body with wing nuts.

If you want to jam when you get there, practice in the hotel, or jump on stage  – take a Rambler Professional Electric Travel Guitar!!!