Parlor Guitar

“The smallest guitar we make today was one of the biggest guitars available up until about 1870,” says Richard Hoover, founder of the Santa Cruz Guitar Company. “The only reason they didn’t make larger guitars [in the old days] is that they didn’t need to. More volume wasn’t an issue until people started competing with other instruments in ensembles, or with barking dogs and banjos in vaudeville.” Fast forward to 2020 and musicians are again fascinated by these small-bodied instruments. Read this overview by Acoustic Guitar Editor Adam Perlmutter and then enjoy a multitude of reviews and other stories.