Will A Parlor Stands Against A Martin 000-16...

[Alot]

Who have played both, a Parlor and a small body Martin... will the Parlor survive it?  

[HangFire]

Who have played both, a Parlor and a small body Martin... will the Parlor survive it?

IMO the Larrivee sounds a lot better, louder too.  Get out there and try 'em!

:D  

[dbirchett]

Haven't really considered a parlor viz-a-viz a 000-16, they are two entirely different beasts. Not sure I consider the 000 a "small body" although it is obviously smaller than a D or J or even an M. It is more along the lines of an OM. Then there's the issue of whether you are talking about a 12 fret 000 or a 14 fret one.

The parlor lines up more against the 0 or even the 00 and it acquits itself very well.

Compare the 000 with the OM. You'll buy the OM nearly every time. Most 000s tho' will have a shorter scale than either a Martin or Larrivee OM.  

[sdelsolray]

Who have played both, a Parlor and a small body Martin... will the Parlor survive it?

I'd prefer one of each.  SOme days, I'd play the parlor.  On others, I'd play the Martin.  No one guitar does it all, although some can get pretty close.

[Frederickmando]

I have to agree with all of the above. A Martin 000-16 is in a league all by itself. That is one of Martin's strongest guitars, I think.
Now, put the Larrivee Parlor up against the smaller Martins or the Baby Martin (LMX?) and I'll take the Larrivee every time.
But, the simple thing is to buy both as stated above. There are lots of days in the week. Can't play the same guitar every day, can you? :lol:
--Fred

[unclrob]

I think the 000 is a little taller :unsure:  

[Imapickn]

I think that one sounds like a "cigar box guitar"  next to other one..   :blink:
I know the parlors are very popular, right now... and the reason for that continues to escape me....
 I like the idea of a small travel and practice guitar, so I have gone, many times to buy one... And ALWAYS come back home WITHOUT one.. I get to the store, I play a few of the parlor size guitars..... which include Taylor, Larrivee, and others..  And, to me, they ALL        sound like a kids toy... In fact, I find myself looking for the wind up crank on the side of them.. :unsure:
The Larrivee parlor comes closest to being .....sorta OK..... but I just don't like the sound..  I just don't.
I also have a Martin 000-16.. special edition, Emp1,
which is one of the most wonderful guitars I own. I have an OM-10 that gives me goose bumps, but it can't hold a candle to the Emp1 for volume, blended tone and sustain.  And the Taylor x12 guitar I have, well.... it just never gets played anymore.
 Compare a parlor to a Martin 000-16 ?????
For me, that would be like comparing a VW to a Lincoln...  They are "apples an oranges"... therefore, can't be compared..
Well, that's my take on it.... :blink:
Don

[Robb]

Time to chime in. There are beer drinkers and people who enjoy a fine wine. A Parlor is not for everyone and after owning a couple there are some mis-conceptions I would like to address. First I think more than in most other sizes of guitars , wood choice is most important in a Parlor. and it needs to be solid wood, no Lam's. You need a tight wood... Rosewood gets to muddy and wont take anything but a light touch. On the other hand Koa,Blackwood & Maple both can handle strumming and relatively heavy picking on a Parlor. No you wont get the volume, But Mic's My koa parlor stands up to most anything sonically.. I have played in a trio with a D-28 and a J200 and again Mic'd it stands up and even on some peices sounds better, more balanced. Now Ive payed other Brands of Parlor's such as the Washburn, Small Gibson, S&P and a Tacoma, IMHO none of thses have the sustain, resonance or balance of the Larrivee. I'm sure there are some Boutique builders with Parlor that cost several thousand that are as good or better. but not many. I would compare a Parlor to any other size or style esp, unamplified, but to just hear the harmonics and nuance's out of mine brings a huge smile to my face and my Wife's. Thats all that Matters. Robb

[Frederickmando]

Hey Robb, great points. One thing I wanted to point out is that the Tacoma Parlor is not really a parlor. It's closer to folk in size and is bigger than the Larrivee. When these are properly set up, they are an awesome guitar for the bucks. My Koa/spruce is unbelievable.
Are you saying the rosewood gets muddy just in the parlor or overall? I notice a difference in sound in the Larrivee OM rosewood and mahogany models. As a flatpicker/strummer, I just thought I'd ask.
--Fred

[Imapickn]

Time to chime in. There are beer drinkers and people who enjoy a fine wine.   Robb

:blink: You got a way of being condescending, boy...  
(watch out for all that wine) ;)
Don

[Robb]

Condesending ? not me  boy....and as far as the rosewood, I think only in Parlor's due to the small body, in full size Bodies Rosewood's overtones and complexities are incredible. I hope to have an Lo3r someday. I have a Tacoma Fourm edition on order, so that the Guitar fund for now. its all Mahog top, side and back in a small jumbo size.. serial #3  so that should be interesting... and I havent played a tacoma Koa Palor , no-one around Pittsburgh has one,, but they sure do look nice, esp in 14 fret.

[Frederickmando]

Hey, the Forum guitar will be no slouch. That one is going to be a true limited edition. My GAS fund was too low or I would have jumped on that wagon.
--Fred

[Robb]

Well although I ordered and put a downpayment on it, I'm still not sure...I'm sold on Koa not only for its looks but the sound...if someone wanted #3 I might give it up for something else...guitars for me are to play not collect..Robb

[Frederickmando]

Robb, not to hijack this thread, but I was hesitant to buy my Tacoma parlor at first partly because of what I was told about Koa. Some friends of mine told me it would collapse under a hard flatpick and others told me to go rosewood. A dealer had it since 2001 and it was in sweet shape. Thanks to the patience of Leith at Tacoma (what a guy, if you haven't ever talked to him!) and his knowledge, we figured out what a major find this guitar was. It is a PK-30 E4 and it has the Fishman electronics in from the factory. The Koa is nice and the gloss finish is not offensive. The dealer ended up knocking it down quite a bit in price and I had to buy it. But, Leith told me there are some major players with bands like the Dixie Chicks who use the PK guitars on stage. So, even though I still haven't learned the guitar enough to fully appreciate the qualities of Koa, I have a great guitar. I have had to jump around with different strings until I hit on these Dean Markleys--they are nice on the Koa. The depth on the PK bodies helps give it some punch and it has some very nice tones across the board.
I still think an all mahogany Martin is hard to beat. Plus, I don't play fingerstyle and I thought the forum guitar looked like a FS beater to me. Still, a nice guitar.
So, I am going back and forth on another Larrivee. The new First Quality Custom Tacomas are nice, but they are up there in price. People are always talking about the value of Martins, but I really see more bang for the buck in Larrivees these days. There were some dealers that had new/old stock Tacoma dreads for sale as low as $350. I can't believe what a nice guitar someone got for that amount of money.
Anyway, thanks for the advice. You sound like someone who understands Koa better than I do. Do you favor small bodies over the dreads?
--Fred

[Robb]

HI Fred, I do go for small body guitars since I play mostly sitting down,, btw  Lieth is no longer at tacoma according to jason from Notable guitars, I dont know why or when but thats the deal...I would love to try a koa 14 fretter from Tacoma, Jason also has an Lv-03k in stock... so if someone does want one of the first run Forum guitars and a low serial number I would give it up  and go for another Koa. I dont need electronics in my guitars, when I play out, we mic them... I dont like holes that dont have to be there...I'm no expert.. I did however play quite a few Parlors in several diff woods before going with koa...koa certainly doesnt collapse under hard picking if anything is shines due to its hardness and balance....to me the rosewood Parlor I owned under hard play compressed or collapsed due to its small body.Robb

[samarks]

A key thing about the Larrivee parlors is theyare 12 frets to the body.  In my experience, 12 fret guitars add a lot of sweet sound.  They utilize the soundboard better.

I once did a blind sound test with a friend who is a serious guitar collector.  We blind listened to 20 of his high priced guitars.  One of the surprise winners was a Martin.  We later realized it was the only 12 fretter in the group.

12 frets make the upper reaches hard to get to, but they sure sound sweet.

[Roman]

I picked up a Seagull Artist Grand a couple of years ago.  This is the only parlor I've tried that comes close to a concert or OM guitar in tone and volume.  People can't believe the beautiful sound this guitar produces . . . they say it sounds like a "full size" guitar.

[ducktrapper]

The only thing I completely agree with is that there is no good comparison here. Two different body styles. Personally I love my rw parlor and detect no particular muddiness in sound. It's a cool little fingerpicker. When I use fingerpicks I can cut through any jam with a deadly lead sound.
If I was a strummer or flatpicker only, I wouldn't be attracted to one, I don't think. However, it plays fingerstyle delta blues stuff just wunnerfully! I can't hammer with a screwdriver but that doesn't make my screwdriver a bad tool.    

[mnewton]

If I was a strummer or flatpicker only, I wouldn't be attracted to one, I don't think.

Great point.

After hearing the rave about Parlors, I went and tried out a few.

I really was looking for a small guitar to carry with me to work or on trips, etc.  I was not impressed by the Parlor, because I am strummer with a little bit of flat picking.  

Do I think Parlors are bad?  Of course not, they just aren't right for me.

[Acoustic12]

Well I have to jump in.....I have a Larrivee koa parlor. I bought it for a couch/travel guitar.....My other guitars are 2 CJ Goodalls, a Taylor 912c, Taylor 714 cedar and a Martin HD28v. My guitars range from grand concert size, CJ and dread. The back and side woods vary....koa, rosewood, mahogony.Tops include cedar, sitka and engelmann. I'm saying this only because I really have a large spectrum of tonal qualities covered as well as accomodating most styles of guitar play in addition to sizes.

The Larrivee parlor in NO way can compete with any of my other guitars when it comes to tone....I didn't expect it to. I KNEW why I was buying it and I am more than satisfied...it is quality built, attractive and it just came off it's first plane trip. My son strums it with a flat pick a little and it's very nice for blues up the neck....hard flat picking bluegrass style...not so good.
The satin finished parlors are a great value..if you expect to play it alot in public as your main guitar...I think you will be disappointed when comparing it to fuller sized guitars....(I love the 12 fret BTW).

I probably grab my parlor more than any of my other guitars cause I keep it out and on the couch...when I'm watching TV etc...it's always in my hands and VERY comfortably so as a result of it's "perfect" size for me. When I want seriuous tone...I get out the Goodalls for fingerstyle and the Martin for flat picking.I will say I have recorded the parlor just for fun and was shocked how good it sounds...it can hold its own in that department.

Bottom line is, what is your expectation of the guitar? Once you know that, the decision should be easy.  I couldn't be happier with my decision....