FAQ

We usually use a polyurethane matte or gloss finish on all of our guitars – but check the product description to be safe as there are some guitars that may have polyurethane top finish over a polyethylene base coat, or use open-pore finish. All of our guitar finishes meet industry-wide safety standards in terms CCC, ROSH, REACH, CE, etc.

If you’re playing the guitar frequently, you can keep it assembled. If you’re not playing it frequently, we recommend keeping it stored in the original case. If your climate is dry and you have a collapsible wood model, you can use a humidifier and store the guitar in the original case, and then seal the case in the plastic bag that came with the original guitar (or large trash bag). Be sure to check the guitars’ humidity in a month to be sure it’s not over-humidified. If you have a carbon guitar, it should be worry free. If you keep the guitar assembled, be aware that if you have swings in humidity the wood may swell from the increase in moisture and thus require more force to unscrew the main bolt. To make it easier to unscrew, you can press against the neck while grabbing it near the headstock for leverage, and untwist the bolt with the other hand.

We ship saddles as blanks, meaning they’re not sanded to the correct height for a specific guitar. The reason for this is because every guitar has slight variations in neck angle, nut height, string height, neck curve, etc. Additionally, saddle thicknesses vary well in terms of fractions of a millimeter, and saddle slot depths and widths vary from changes in humidity, and temperature. This means that for every guitar, the saddle needs to be sanded down for that guitar’s specifics to the proper fit. Here’s a video on how to sand down your saddle for the proper height: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjWHDHZcGoo Here’s a video to show you how to sand down the saddle height and width using straight edges and sandpaper without the use of a sanding belt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL52mKu414I If the spare saddle included in your guitar is too high, we recommend you use a straight edge and sand paper to sand down your saddle to your desired height, referencing the videos above. Reason being, it’s impossible for us to sand it down remotely without the guitar in our shop, and every guitarists preferred string height is different.

(All measurements are at the 12th fret unless otherwise stated. First measurement is for Low string, Carbon or wood acoustic guitars: 2.6- 2.2 mm Electric guitars: 2.4- 2.0 mm Classical guitars: 3.8-3.3 mm Carbon bass guitars: 3.8-3.3 mm Carbon fretless bass guitars: 3.8-3.3 mm Ukuleles: 2.5-2.2 mm

To even out the finish, firstly we recommend you take the guitar to a local luthier to do this. However, if you’re good with your hands, you can try a process similar to these Youtube videos to even out the matte finish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROkR8zql5bg or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjXYcUgvGgE. Alternatively, you can change the guitar to a glossy finish by a buffing and polishing process similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBQebH3OI9w. Please note, Journey Instruments is not liable for any finish modifications you do to your guitar. These videos are for reference only for you to understand how paint finish modifications work.

All of our wood steel string guitars have a 92mm diameter sound hole. The OC520 and OC522 has a 92mm sound hole as well, but the FC522 has an 86mm sound hole. (give or take 0.8mm). All carbon guitars have irregular sound holes.

The zippered laptop compartments on the front of our Overhead, First Class, and Puddle Jumper cases easily fit a standard 14″ laptop. If you have a larger laptop between 15-16 inches, these should fit in the slot on the backside of our Overhead BG001 backpack case. However, to access this slot you may need to unclip a backpack strap. The BG001 backpack case is the default backpack case used in all OF*** and OC*** series guitars – OF660, OF312, OF410, OF882C, OC520 etc…

We own our own workshop and assembly facility in Xiamen, China, which is managed by Founding Partner/ Managing Director Rob Bailey. We source components from multiple countries, including the USA, China, Korea and Germany, and we produce according to the highest quality standards for the product segments at the pricepoints we offer. As we have a sister company that specializes in supply chain management, we’re able to maintain a clean and ethical supply chain that is safe, professional, and free from child and slave labor as well as hazardous materials and components. We work in tandem with our US office and quality distributors around the world to ensure our products arrive on time and perform excellently for your next musical journey.

Firstly, every airline has their own policy, so be sure to read the policies of the airlines on which you fly. Secondly, when traveling by plane, there can be situations in which airplane staff can force you to check your baggage, regardless of it’s size – so the best perspective to have is one of risk mitigation. For example, some airlines have a rule that if they run out of overhead space, they will require all unboarded passengers to check in all carry on luggage. (So we always recommend you go to the front of the line at check-in if you travel with any instrument) Thirdly, you can check out our Collapsible Guitar Size & Spec Comparison Here. In General, all our instruments fit in the overhead bins on medium and large sized airplanes like the Boeing 737, 747 and the Air Bus. For smaller propeller planes and jets with 4 seats across or less, we recommend the Overhead or Puddle Jumper models, but keep in mind every airline has their own guidelines. You can search the website for your flight and the plane used and determine the overhead bin dimensions as well. For Frequent International Travel: If you plan to travel around the world, we recommend either our Puddle Jumper (PJ410N), Overhead (OF660, OF420, OF310 etc), or Overhead+ (OF312, OF422 etc) sized guitars. These guitars were designed for overhead carry-on dimensions for most major airlines and we don’t have a single report of these not traveling on the overhead bin. The Puddle Jumper is the smallest guitar we make, and can fit under most airlines seats – so it’s the safest bet if you want the smallest guitar possible. The Overhead line, however, has the best sound/scale/bag feature set – if you want a guitar that feels most like a full-sized guitar that can be safely carried on board under most circumstances.

For general smudges and fingerprints, we recommend saline solution and a clean microfibre cloth. If you have deeper scratches or dings, you can use polyurethane-friendly buffing compound or polish like you’d use for a boat or car. You should double-check the compound you use is nonreactive with polyurethane finishes. The above approaches work for both our carbon fiber and wood guitars as all our finishes are polyurethane. For cleaning fretboards on our wood guitars, we recommend the traditional lemon oil treatment. (Just search “how to clean a guitar fretboard” on YouTube.)

With the exception of a few models which are clearly stated as not having electronics (PJ410N, JF410 etc), we don’t offer any guitars without a pickup. However, our installed pickups are passive, non-intrusive, and easy to remove should you wish to remove them or upgrade to another pickup of your preference. If you wish more advanced controls, all of our newer guitars can be upgraded with our EPS001-05K (or EPS001-15K for our carbon guitars) active dual-source modules.

It sounds like your nut has fallen out. It is the piece of bone between the string retainer and the fretboard that positions the strings above the fretboard. Check in your bag – or in the slot area where the neck sits in the bag. If not here, check around the last place you opened your guitar case and noticed the strings were too low on the fretboard. To reglue the current nut, the easiest method is to remove the strings completely, then add super glue to the bottom of the nut, then position it with the flat side facing the fretboard so that the thicker slots match the thicker slots in the black string retainer. It is VERY important that you line up these slot as closely as possible so when you assemble the guitar the strings will naturally fall into these nut slots. If you can’t find the original nut, our steel string guitars use standard 1 3/4 nut (OF422, OF310, OF660 etc..) unless they have an “N” at the end of the model number – in which case they use a 1 11/16 nut (Like PJ410N, OF312N etc..), so you can purchase one on our website or from a local guitar store. If you try to install a new nut, please note you’ll likely need to sand the bottom the nut to the proper height so that your action is not too high. Here’s a good video on how to sand down and install a new nut on a standard guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_0wAb7PZ0k

Our Warranty, Shipping Policy and Terms of Conditions are listed at the Shipping, Returns and Warranty section.