What is a Parlour Guitar?
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- I frequently see people asking about "parlour" (or Parlor) guitars. They took off in the spring of 2020 when the first COVID lockdowns occurred and people started thinking about small "noodling guitars - but what IS a parlour guitar?
I hope that this video goes some way to explaining.
NOTE - If this video is interrupted by ADS - don't blame me - that is UA-cam's way of deterring us from watching videos on their channel.
If you are interested in One-to-one Lessons/ or mentoring meetings via zoom - please contact me on chipickers2016@gmail.com
Andy, please keep up your teaching videos on YT. You have an enormous following between YT and AGF and knowing that must help kindle the passion.
I appreciate that Rick, Thank you!
Love my Martin OO-15 Mahogany. No matter how many times I bring out my dreadnought, I find the OO has somehow wandered back to my lap.
Yes, more ... intimate?
I have had a Martin 00-18 for two years, taken me from beginner to intermediate, very comfortable with such an inspiring voice it really pushes you on, it is great for all styles and I haven’t regretted the expense for a second, worth every penny
Well done. Thanks for watching!
❤😊 I’m in tune to your epic channel
Thanks.
You responded to my question on The AcusticGuitarforum and I much appreciated your comments and suggestions. And I really learned a lot from this video. Come Monday I will try a Martin 000-15sm and see how that feels. But I may really need a 00 . . .if one has a 1.75" or wider nut! Thank you so much!!
Happy to help!, Ol' Andy
Wait... I've played dreadnaughts my entire guitar-playing life and I almost always sit to play them. You just turned my life upside down lol
In a good way I hope!
I have a Martin, a Taylor and a Luna. All of them are “babies” and perfect for my 72 year old 5’7 body
Ah, I'm a '48 model, but same height!
Great topic Andy. Thanks for taking the time to explain these various sizes. Have a great weekend. Be well.
Hi, thanks, as always, Andy
Thanks Andy. A lot of my singing and playing is in a "parlor" or large living room (carpet, stuffed furniture and couchs, sound absorbing ceiling tiles and various lights. My groups were small on the beginning, 7 to 10 residents were singing along with me and a Martin 00-28. Larger sessions have 29 to 80 attendance. That requires a louder guitar (no electronics, and largely finger style). I have found a few dreadnoughts, a Kevin Kopp Trail Boss (improved SJ-200). Bigger crowd, bigger guitar while aiming for similar tone.
Hi I think that Darrell Scott has a trail boss.
Thanks Andy. My audience has outgrown my Martin 00. Setting is still "parlor" or living room. We had 90 yesterday (July 4). Currently using a dreadnought or 12-fret Super Jumbo. Electronics might help, but gets complicated fast.
Great ! I wish I could get an audience of 90 at my club. We had six last Saturday - not enough to pay the rental!
Love your honest feelings about your guitars. VERY INFORMITIVE And entertaining at the same time! Love the shirt!!! !!!
Thanks! The shirt is courtesy of my local tailor - the supermarket!
I love my Parlor (Stanford). Just right for a petite size player. More comfortable when sitting. And the sound is amazing for its size. And it's not just for the blues...
Thanks Andy for posting a video about Parlor guitars!
Most welcome - hadn't heard of "Stanford" guitars.
Good presentation Andy. Thanks. My smallest guitar is a Santa Cruz 00 Eric Skye model. Great guitar. The perfect size guitar for me at 5'6" is a 12 fret 000. (I play seated.) A month ago I acquired a Martin 000 C12-16E nylon string guitar. It has a 1 7/8" nut and 2 3/8" string width at the saddle. Nice warm voice with D'Addario EJ45FF carbon fiber strings on it. Good contrast to my steel string guitars. Great couch guitar.
Interesting ! Thanks for watching, Andy
Well done sir
Thank you David, appreciated.
Loved seeing your guitars, Andy.. However, you didn't mention the OM (Orchestra Model), which I believe Martin introduced prior to the Dreadnaught. I have an OM-28, and it's dimensions are definitely different from a OOO.
The OM , intended as a dance band rhythm guitar for tenor banjo players emerged in 1929/30 was essentially the 000 Auditorium with the body shortened to reveal two extra frets and a thinner banjo like neck. (same scale). It was unsurpringly not a success and discontinued in 1933. they then took the 12 fret dreadnought and did the same thing. as of 1934. It also failed to compete with Gibson and Epiphone archtops in dance bands, but the thin necked dread found a home with folk and country players.
Hi Andy! Love the post on Parlor...
Off topic for a moment; have you ever played a Ralph Bown guitar? I heard one the other day and absolutely fell in love with it. They're hard to find used I'm seeing plus I live in Texas (as you know) . I just recently discovered Bown guitars. I've always been a Martin, Collings, Santa Cruz player, but of course love all "good" guitars. I'm curious if you've ever played a Bown? Take care 🙏
Clive Carroll plays Bown. Of course he's an incredible guitarist as well.
I have, yes. I "think" I've played, or at least sat with Clive when he played his OM/000, and knew a young man who had a fine 0 or 00 Bown. And yes, they are very good.
Fascinating as ever. I always thought the 000 was the short scale version of the OM, but perhaps this is a recent distinction, or perhaps the 12 and 14 fret variants are different. Either way, I’ve always loved short scale 0, 00 and 000 guitars for playing at home.
The original 12 fret 000 Auditorium was/is 25.4" scale. The used the same scaled on the OM (14 fret, then (heavens knows why0 they re-introduced the 14 fret 000 and gave is a short scale. It confuses many.
I had a Classical guitar and it was called a 3/4. Much easier to play (for me) than a 4/4 and about the size that they were in the mid-19th century before the need for volume became a big deal.
Similarly, steel-string guitars initially had no need to be big & loud, as it was a parlour instrument. Subsequent changes seem to have been largely about volume, hence the dreadnoughts, jumbos, resonators & electrics. The "original" is fine by me.
Hi Mark, I see that you are a well informed guitar as am I , and I agree with what you say. Thanks for watching.
"Welcome to my parlour, said the spider to the fly".
I understood that it was an accessible room where one could bring a beau or belle in and not have him or her in the "proper" part of the house, but sort of at the 1st level of acceptance into the place.
And the more "modern" courting of the early 20th century could include a quietly picked or strummed guitar to woo the affections of the intended, if one had the talent! :)
Actually it's a bit darker than that. They were also the place where old folks or the terminally ill on their way out were taken care of to the end and where the deceased were kept for funeral viewings. Hence the implication of death in the spider and fly. We still (sorta) have them but now call them "living rooms" due to our apparent terror of what comes to us all in the end. I kinda like the contrast of young love and of mortality, myself.
All sounds good!
@@mooseymoose
I live next to an undertaker and there are still a (admittedly, very) few families who request that the deceased is brought to their house, usually just for the day prior to the funeral, to be kept in the 'parlour' for people to pay their respects.
I have a budget Parlour(Cort) and a budget Concert(Fender) but have tended to consider 0 as Parlour and 00 as Concert and 000 as Auditorium models. The Grand Auditorium or 000, as it was also advertised,was almost the same size as a dreadnaught and I quickly moved it on as I am not really confortable with the larger models given I am sitting down player.
Martin specs call the size 0a "concert" and the 00 a Grand Concert. Whilst many/most do, we tend to play dreads seated, but there are often comfort issues for some.
@@SillyMoustache Interesting. Unfortunately it seems those specs have taken on a broad meaning nowadays among other manufacturers and made it difficult to pinpoint a particular size and brand a player would instantly find comfortable.
There are quite a few builders now making true parlours (i.e. sub size 0) - Santa Cruz, Collings, Froggy Bottom, Bourgeois, Atkin spring immediately to mind. I have the Martin 012-28 Modern Deluxe you mention in the video - it is a lovely guitar. I hadn't seen the Collings 00 in any of your videos before - is it new?
Hi, my Collings 002h was acquired in October but it is a 1998 build. Thanks for asking.
I’m about to buy an Eastman P 20
E20-P ? Lovely guitar and mine is surprisingly powerful. even more so with D'addario XS 12-53s.
Me too! Mine is coming Monday.
Thank you for the interesting presentation of various sizes, but I didn't hear it, maybe I missed it - What is a Parlor Guitar?
13 inches across the lower bout is standard.
@@jeffhildreth9244 Thank you
Confused - was there a sound problem?
13 1/2" is standard for Size "0" & 14 & 1/8" for a "00".
@@SillyMoustache No, I'm not Confused - I just didn't hear the conclusion - so the Parlor Guitar is a guitar smaller than a single O. But maybe I misunderstood something, I am not an English native speaker. I agree with your thinking and comparison, many people consider the double zero to be a Parlor Guitar as for example the Gipson's L00 is often called that.
I got one from thomann.its a parlour rubbish,a wall ornamant.
Not knowing what you bought, difficult for me to comment. Thanks for watching.
Thanks for another great video! I'm looking for the perfect Parlour guitar. I have one by Tanglewood, but I'd really like something better. A Martin would be great but the prices are just silly as they don't make one in their Standard line. What is the make & model you were playing? I live in the USA and many UK guitar makes don't make it here. Tanglewood for example is hardly heard of this side of the Atlantic. Couldn't quite see the name of the guitar you were playing. As a retired, British pub entertainer of about your age, I find your videos very interesting. Please keep up the great work.
Hi Chris, apart from my Collings I have the two Eastmans - a size "0" (E20-P) and a "00" "special" (E40-00). I would suggest that you investigate their 0 and 00 options, reasonably priced (esp. in the US) and remarkable quality.