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 which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
and
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
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
Justin Holland (July 26, 1819 – March 24, 1887) was an American classical guitarist, a music teacher, a community leader, a black man who worked with white people to help slaves on the Underground Railroad, and an activist for equal rights for ...
, 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 and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position.
History
There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...
,
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 ("chotis"Span ...
,
polka), instrumental arrangements of popular songs, guitar arrangements of then popular classical music, operatic arrangements and music from European guitar composers (
Sor
Sor may refer to:
* Fernando Sor (1778–1839), Spanish guitarist and composer
* Sor, Ariège, a French commune
* SOR Libchavy, a Czech bus manufacturer
* Sor, Azerbaijan, a village
* Sor, Senegal, an offshore island
* Sor River, a river in the ...
,
Giuliani Giuliani is an Italian family name, which can refer to:
* Carlo Giuliani, who died during the demonstrations against 2001 G8
* Carlo Giuliani (bishop), died 1663, bishop of Ston
* François Giuliani, (1938–2009) Algerian journalist and publicis ...
,
Carcassi,
Coste and
Mertz
Mertz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Albert Mertz (1920–1990), Danish painter
* Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, (1905–1944), German officer and resistance fighter involved in the 20 July Plot against Adolf Hitler
* B ...
).
:;Historical guitars smaller than Size No.0
File:C. F. Martin Spanish-style guitar (c.1845), Martin Style 3-17 (1859) - C.F. Martin Guitar Factory 2012-08-06 - 011.jpg, Spanish-style (c.1845) / Size No.3 (3-17) (1859) guitars by C. F. Martin
File: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
X-bracing is a structural engineering practice where the lateral load on a building is reduced by transferring the load into the exterior columns.
X-bracing was used in the construction of the 1908 Singer Building, then the tallest building in t ...
(1842) by Martin & Schatz
File:Joan Baez Hamburg 1973 2811730005.jpg, ''c.f.'' Size No.0 (0-45) guitar played by 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 more ...
In the 2000s, the parlor guitar began 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
is a Japanese guitar manufacturer based in Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan. Takamine is known for its steel-string acoustic guitars.
The company was founded in 1959, being renamed as "Takamine Gakki Ltd." in 1962. In 1978 they were one of the first co ...
produces one made of cedar and koa, with a preamp powered by a
12AU7, the first acoustic guitar with a tube preamp.
[ ]Fylde Guitars
Fylde Guitars is an English manufacturer of handmade fretted musical instruments.
The company was founded in 1973 by (until then amateur) luthier Roger Bucknall, and remains under his personal control. Originally located in The Fylde, in 1996 the ...
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
Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to:
People
* Taylor (surname)
** List of people with surname Taylor
* Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah
* Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron
* Justice Taylor (disambiguation)
Pl ...
Baby Taylor (¾-size) & GS Mini
See also
* Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plect ...
— Finger-picking style is preferred on Parlor guitars (in contrast to the '' strumming'' style on Dreadnought guitars)
* Baroque guitar
The Baroque guitar (c. 1600–1750) is a string instrument with five courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string.
History
The Baroque guitar replaced the Renaissance lut ...
— small guitars in Baroque era
* Early Romantic guitar — small guitars from 1790 to 1830
* Classical guitar
The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...
** Antonio Torres Jurado
Antonio de Torres Jurado (13 June 1817 – 19 November 1892) was a Spanish guitarist and luthier, and "the most important Spanish guitar maker of the 19th century."
It is with his designs that the first recognisably modern classical guitars are ...
— father of modern classical guitars in Romantic era
* Travel guitar
Travel guitars are small guitars with a full or nearly full scale-length. In contrast, a reduced scale-length is typical for guitars intended for children, which have scale-lengths of one-quarter (ukulele guitar, or guitalele), one-half, and th ...
— 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