Parlor Guitars are pretty awesome. Their smaller body size makes them easy to travel with and they can still sound great just like any full-sized acoustic guitar. Let's jump into everything you need to know before buying a parlor guitar including the history of parlor guitars, pros and cons vs larger guitars, the best parlor guitar, and more...

History of Parlor Guitars

The name parlor guitar comes from the performances in small venues such as home parlors during the early 1900s. These guitars have historically been used for music genres such as folk and the blues, but their versatility can stretch into any genre requiring an acoustic guitar. Check out our article on the history of the parlor guitar.

Pros of Parlor Guitars

Parlor guitars are awesome instruments. They have a smaller body size which makes playability easy and with the collapsible neck on the KLOS Guitars Travel Guitar, you end up with just a small backpack.
Parlor guitars have a great tone that projects and cuts through the mix. The small size is deceiving because any reduction in volume can be compensated against with amplification. The tone of parlor guitars is a mixing engineer's dream with a mid-rich sound that fits very well between tradition mixing voices.

Versatility

Parlor guitars boast a ton of versatility. What many would call a travel guitar has great tone and improved playability while enabling you to bring your music with you anywhere. Parlor guitars are great for those tight gigs where you're crammed onto a tiny stage or only given a little area to perform in. Parlor guitars average about 15% smaller than full-size guitars.

Tradeoffs vs. Larger Guitars

We've already highlighted the pros of parlor guitars, but what reasons might lead you to go for a full-size guitar? Full-size guitars have a deep, rich tone. It might be harder to mix due to having a lot of lows. Ultimately most of us aren't playing on the biggest stages and having a more portable instrument that sounds great will always win out. 
If you know anything about acoustic guitars, you know that most of the all-time greats don't play parlor guitars. That might be changing as guitar master, John Mayer, has been reported as being a fan of parlor guitars. 

The Best Parlor Guitar

We at KLOS Guitars believe our Carbon Fiber Travel Acoustic Guitar is the best parlor guitar! It's durable, affordable, and also has all the characteristics you would expect on a great parlor guitar. Check out this blog post to read all the reasons why we make the best parlor guitar!

Conclusion

Parlor guitars are awesome. They combine a little bit of old-timey nostalgia into a package that works really well for our modern society. So get yourself a parlor guitar; then play it on your couch, take it on a hike, share it with a friend, and give a concert to your loved ones. That's the spirit of these instruments.