2001 Tacoma Papoose Quart Guitar

With a 19 1/8" scale length and ADGCEA tuning (like the 5th fret of a guitar), the Tacoma Papoose is a "travel guitar" that's technically a quart guitar. Uke players will find the voicings familiar (as the GCEA part of that are at low-G uke pitches) and guitar players will find it a nice, chimey, different-register instrument to stir-up creativity.

This one was built in 2001 in Tacoma's Washington factory and it's definitely been used as it shows light use-wear throughout and plenty of wear on the clear pickguard from strumming. Despite that, the frets are in good order and only have the tiniest wear. My only work was to set it up (it's got 3/32" A and 1/16" DGCEA action at the 12th fret) and adjust it a little bit. Someone reglued the bridge in the past and, although there's a little bit of "belly" around it, it's holding-pat and ready to go.

The top is solid cedar and the back, sides, and neck are some sort of solid mahogany. The fretboard and bridge are rosewood and the nut and saddle are synthetic. This guy looks 100% original and even has a little hard case to go along with it.

The lower bout is 11 3/32" across and this has a 3 1/4" depth.

The truss rod works just fine and the neck is straight. This has a wide, 1 7/8" nut with and a shallow, slim, D-shaped neck profile. The width at the nut helps the hand form "cowboy" chords on the short scale more easily.

The strings are old Elixirs but I liked the somewhat sweet/muted tone so I left them on. This instrument has some serious chime but also has a good amount of warmth on the low-end which is surprising.

The neck is bolted-on.