Knowing the rough backdrop, namely that parlor guitars come from younger time of America's history (in the late 1800s), this leads well into the actual taxonomy of parlor guitars. With so many codenames for guitar sizes, such as dreadnought, 000, 0, parlor, and so on, it's easy to get confused on what exactly is a parlor guitar.
From there, you'll encounter thoughts about key aspects of parlor guitars to pay attention to, as you're seeking to possibly add a parlor guitar to your collection of instruments. Certain specifications such as whether the parlor guitar is 12th fret-joined or 14th fret-joined to the body will be discussed, and it's possible impacts on the parlor's sound.
Finally, at the bottom, you'll find 8 of some of the best parlor guitars which you can find in circulation. Being an older, vintage type of guitar, it's definitely more challenging to locate and select a parlor guitar, because there's much less selection, and you may not have experienced many or any parlor guitars at local shops. Therefore, hopefully those 8 parlor guitars offer at least an entry point so you know what you're looking for in the best parlor guitar for you.
Roundup Of The Best Parlor Guitars
During the days of Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name trilogy, namely the late 1800s, when paying directly with gold was in, parlor guitars were roaring with popularity. At that time, physical instruments in the household, like pianos and violins, were forms of entertaining for friends and family, and generally having a nice, musical time.
Perhaps due to the expectation that users of parlor guitars would be everyday people, who simply desired the instrument for creating music and entertainment with friends and family, the body of parlor guitars is smaller than normal-sized guitars. That physical attribute of parlor guitars is possibly what has maintained their appeal among serious musicians.
For example, playing a Gibson Jumbo acoustic guitar, which is quite hefty, is actually challenging; you kind of need to play an acoustic guitar with enough activation energy to properly resonate the instrument and bring forth the full qualities of the sound. A similar analogy would be that of using a 1000W amplifier in a library, with the volume knob set at 0.1; rather than use the excessively powerful amp, it's better to use a 1W amplfier, and crank its volume knob to 7.
Best Parlor Guitars For Any Budget (2023)
That is, in essence, perhaps what has made parlor guitars particularly appealing throughout the history of music. Formative musicians such as Charley Patton, Son House, and Robert Johnson used parlor guitars extensively, also perhaps due to their prevalence.
Due to their continued demand from musicians, parlor guitars are still in circulation and production, though in less volume than normal-sized guitars. To emulate the sounds of historic recordings, or take advantage of their accessible physical attributes, there's reason for guitarists of all genres to consider adding a parlor guitar to their collection.
Those oddball codenames which you may have already come across, such as dreadnought, 000, or 00 adhere to an actual guitar sizing system. First organized and named by C.F. Martin & Company around the early 1900s, these names steadily filtered through the naming of nearly all acoustic guitar builders of the time, and thereafter.
Vintage No Name Parlor Acoustic Guitar
For a visual representation of the Martin company's nomenclature for guitar sizing, and corresponding visual representations of the sizes, here is a diagram below. As you can see, the parlor-sized guitar is nearest in same size to the 00 guitar, and the smallest size featured in the illustration.
In considering whether or not to add a parlor-sized guitar to your collection, it's worth first acknowledging that parlor guitars are typically sought after by players who already own normal sized guitars. For that portion of players, there aren't many cons, since you're only adding more options in terms of sound and instruments. This will try to be a tougher pros & cons list, as if you had to make a hard decision between a full-sized versus parlor guitar.
As a slight extra piece of information, there is a size that's smaller than parlor guitars, and that is a travel guitar, although that's more so of a shrunk full-sized guitar (in that even frets are less distanced), whereas parlor guitars have the smaller body, but actually have the same proportions, for example in the neck width, fret sizes, fret distances, as a full-sized guitar. That is to say, parlor guitars are smaller bodied, but it's in many ways the same experience as playing a full-sized guitar, because its other features aren't shrunk in proportion, like a travel guitar.
Best Parlor Guitars To Buy In 2022
It's tough to compare parlor guitars to dreadnought-sized guitars, since they're very different and serve different purposes, but it could be a question worth asking if one can only choose a parlor or dreadnought. Firstly, in terms of name, whereas parlor guitars are named after small parlor sitting rooms in one's house, the dreadnought was named after the HMS Dreadnought British battleship by C. F. Martin & Company, meant to be played for larger spaces. The dreadnought was first introduced in 1916, with its larger body, and Martin models today have the code D in them to indicate the size.
As you can guess, the key differences between parlor guitars and dreadnought-sized guitars are in aspects such as volume, size, number of frets, and so on. Here is a fuller list:
Especially since it's harder to find parlor guitars at local guitar shops, it can be challenging to actually pin-point the best parlor guitar for your needs. For example, maybe one's local guitar store only has a cheap parlor guitar that gives a poor impression of the instrument, or no parlor guitars whatsoever. For this type of situation, it's handy to have some guiderails to know what exactly you're looking for in your parlor guitar. Here are a few facets of parlor guitars so you can fine tune your search.
The 8 Best Parlor Guitars For All Budgets And Styles 2023
Like all other acoustic guitar sizes, parlor guitars have their necks joined at the 12th fret and the 14th fret. At first glance, this factor of where the neck meets the body may appear to only be a playability factor; for example, players who enjoy using the upper ranges of the guitar may lean towards the 14th fret model, since there's more accessibility reach there.
There's, however, another, possibly more important factor, to do with guitars being joined at the 12th, versus 14th fret. That is the sound of the guitar. Guitars joined at the 12th fret, and therefore having less neck at a further distance from the body (since it's joined closer than at the 14th fret) are typically thought to have a warmer or mellower sound. On the other hand, guitars joined at the 14th fret have a slightly brighter or sharper sound.
Another important aspect to consider, as always for acoustic guitars, is the wood used for construction of the body. Different woods have noticeably different sounds, and this is best appreciated by visiting one's local guitar store, and comparing for example a guitar built with an all mahogany body, versus and all rosewood body. For instance, mahogany bodies can be characterized by their woodier sound, being very thumpy and pure. On the other hand, rosewood produces a much brighter or shimmering sound, with plenty of overtones glowing around the actual notes one strums, and this is perhaps due to it being a much denser wood.
Handmade Solid Wood Steelstring Guitar Acoustic Guitar
With the wood used for the body being so crucial to the sound of the instrument, it's worth spending some time researching the body woods of the guitar you're looking for. Explore how others have characterized the sound of the wood, for example being more mellow or more bright.
As well, another wood materials factor is whether the wood is solid, or laminate. Laminate woods means many layers of separate woods pressed together; the lack of homogeneity is thought to inhibit the possibility for the guitar to properly resonate, therefore solid woods are usually more sought after and therefore more expensive.
For parlor guitars especially, the neck profile is important. Typically, for normal-sized guitars, C profile necks are most common, and almost taken for granted. However, since parlor guitars are often like Porsche Carreras, with many original designs preserved, sometimes reissues of parlor guitars today have V profile necks.
Types Of Acoustic Guitars (an Illustrated Guide & Breakdown)
That means as you would expect, the neck, as you handle it with your fretting hand, actually has a jutting point of the neck which is that V profile. Many players may not like this older style of neck profile, so it's something to pay attention to if that is important.
A physical feature that often attracts players to parlor guitars is their (usually) larger nut width. Especially since acoustic parlor guitars are frequently used for fingerstyle guitar picking, the wider string spacing can make it easier to individually access the strings.
Also, for players with larger hands, parlor guitars remain playable. If a wider nut width is desired, then it's worth using that as a comparison between shortlisted instruments.
Best Parlor Guitars 2023
For the sake of rounding out this list of specifications at the number 5, another factor is the fingerboard materials. Though, it's probably less important than the body material. The fingerboard wood (which is the layer wood on which the frets are pressed
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