What is a Parlour Guitar?

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

Great topic Andy. Thanks for taking the time to explain these various sizes. Have a great weekend. Be well.

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.

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.

Well done sir

Love your honest feelings about your guitars. VERY INFORMITIVE And entertaining at the same time! Love the shirt!!! !!!

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.

I have a Martin, a Taylor and a Luna. All of them are “babies” and perfect for my 72 year old 5’7 body

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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?

"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! :)

I’m about to buy an Eastman P 20

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.