Parlor guitar

Parlor guitars in 19th century:

• Washburn Parlor Guitar (1894)
• Washburn "New Model" (1896)

Parlor or parlour guitar usually refers to a type of acoustic guitar smaller than a Size No.0 Concert Guitar by C. F. Martin & Company.

Overview

The popularity of these guitars peaked from the late 19th century until the 1950s. Many blues and folk musicians have used smaller-bodied guitars, which were often more affordable, mass production models.

Parlor guitar has also come to denote a style of American guitar music from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Noted composers include William Foden, Winslow Hayden, William Bateman, Justin Holland, and Wilhelm Bischoff. The music for the guitar includes a variety of dance forms (waltz, schottische, polka), instrumental arrangements of popular songs, guitar arrangements of then popular classical music, operatic arrangements and music from European guitar composers (Sor, Giuliani, Carcassi, Coste and Mertz). The Scruggs style and its banjo rolls are based upon and contemporary with parlor-style guitar.

Historical guitars smaller than Size No.0

• 

  Spanish-style (c.1845) / Size No.3 (3-17) (1859) guitars by C. F. Martin

• Earliest X-braced Guitar (July 1842), Martin & Schatz Label, for Delores Nevares de Goñi - C.F. Martin Guitar Factory 2012-08-06 - 013.jpg

  Very first Size No.1 guitar with earliest X-Bracing (1842) by Martin & Schatz

• 

  c.f. Size No.0 (0-45) guitar played by Joan Baez

In the 2000s, the parlor guitar is enjoying a renaissance among players "who like their midrangery tone, historic vibe, and easy portability". Modern luthiers are making parlor guitars in a wide variety of tonewoods. Takamine Guitars produces one made of cedar and koa, with a preamp powered by a 12AU7, the first acoustic guitar with a tube preamp. Fylde Guitars produces the 'Single Malt Ariel' constructed from used whisky casks.

Modern parlor & mini guitars

• C.F. Martin acoustic guitar.jpg

  C. F. Martin Little Martin (Modified Size No.0)

• Martin Claire Limited Edition Guitar (2004), Museum of Making Music.jpg

  C. F. Martin Claire (Size No.5)

• Taylor Swift Baby Taylor (center), Taylor Baby Taylor series (sides), & GS Mini (bottom) - Expomusic 2014 - edit.jpg

  Taylor Baby Taylor (¾-size) & GS Mini

See also

• Fingerstyle guitar — Finger-picking style is preferred on Parlor guitars (in contrast to the strumming style on Dreadnought guitars)
• Baroque guitar — small guitars in Baroque era
• Early Romantic guitar — small guitars from 1790 to 1830
• Classical guitar
  • Antonio Torres Jurado — father of modern classical guitars in Romantic era
• Travel guitar — yet another small guitars in modern era
• C. F. Martin & Company — Martin defined the larger "Size No. 0" as Concert Guitar, in contrast to the smaller, traditional Parlor guitars.

External links

Media related to Parlor guitar (category) at Wikimedia Commons
Media related to at Wikimedia Commons (smaller than Size No.0)