Parlor or parlour guitar usually refers to a type of
acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
smaller than a Size No.0
Concert Guitar by
C. F. Martin & Company. ''Mottola's Cyclopedic Dictionary of Lutherie Terms'' describes the term as referring to "any guitar that is narrower than current standards."
Overview
The popularity of these guitars peaked from the late 19th century until the 1950s. Many
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
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
The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...
,
schottische
The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian-era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina (Spanish ...
,
polka
Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...
), 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). In the 1860,
Henry Worrall composed two influential pieces for parlor guitar, "The Siege of Sebastopol" (sometimes spelled Sevastopol) and "Spanish Fandango."
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...
In the 2000s, the parlor guitar began enjoying a renaissance among players "who like their midrangery tone, historic vibe, and easy portability".
[
] Modern parlor guitars come in a wide variety of tonewoods.
Takamine Guitars produces one made of cedar and koa, with a preamp powered by a
12AU7
The 12AU7 and its variants are miniature nine-pin (B9A base) medium-gain dual-triode vacuum tubes. It belongs to a large family of dual-triode vacuum tubes which share the same pinout (RETMA tube designation, RETMA 9A). 12AU7 is also known in Eur ...
, the first acoustic guitar with a tube preamp.
[ Fylde Guitars produces the 'Single Malt Ariel' constructed from used whisky casks.
:;Modern parlor & mini guitars
File:C.F. Martin acoustic guitar.jpg, C. F. Martin Little Martin (Modified Size No.0)
File:Martin Claire Limited Edition Guitar (2004), Museum of Making Music.jpg, C. F. Martin Claire (Size No.5)][* ]
File: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
The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...
** Antonio Torres Jurado — father of modern classical guitars in Romantic era
* Travel guitar — a similar small modern guitar
* C. F. Martin & Company — Martin defined the larger "Size No. 0" as ''Concert Guitar'', in contrast to the smaller, traditional ''Parlor'' guitars.
References
External links
Parlor guitars information
Article
on Guitar Adventures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parlor Guitar
Acoustic guitars