There’s a very specific sound that’s associated with parlor guitars. They tend to deal out the high midrange and will cut through a mix. Not to mention the smaller body size is usually rather comfortable. Here are 10 options for under a grand.
PRS SE P20E
A compact yet powerful guitar that features a solid mahogany top, mahogany back and sides, and a tobacco sunburst finish, and equipped with PRS electronics.
$499 street
Alvarez MPA66ESHB Masterworks A66
This model rocks a solid African mahogany top, mahogany back and sides, and a shadowburst finish. Under the hood, you can find L.R. Baggs electronics.
$829 street
Gretsch G5021E Rancher Penguin
The first thing your eye will notice on this parlor is its shiny accoutrements—whether the gold hardware, gold-sparkle binding, or an optional metallic finish on the solid spruce top.
$549 street
Yamaha CSF-TA
What sets this guitar apart is its TransAcoustic technology, which allows you to experience built-in reverb and chorus effects without the need for external amplification or effects.
$799 street
Takamine GY93E New Yorker
Designed around a grand auditorium body shape, this parlor has a solid spruce top and rosewood back and sides, and is equipped with Takamine’s TK-40D preamp system.
$799 street
Recording King Dirty 30s Series 9
This vintage-inspired design is built with a solid Sitka spruce top, whitewood back and sides, a 25"scale length, 20 frets, and an ovangkol fretboard.
$249 street
Fender PS-220E
This modern parlor comes with your choice of a solid spruce or solid mahogany top, with solid mahogany back and sides, and Fishman Sonitone Plus electronics.
$829 street
Journey FP412
Not only is the FP412 a rock-solid parlor guitar, but it also has a folding-neck design to make travel a breeze.
$749 street
Cordoba C9 Parlor
This parlor-sized classical guitar rocks a solid Western red cedar top and solid mahogany back and sides.
$989 street
Guild P-240 Memoir
This parlor features a solid Sitka spruce top with mahogany back and sides, and has a 19-fret mahogany C-shaped neck with a pau ferro fretboard.
$529 street
One of the reasons classic Queens of the Stone Age tracks leap from radio speakers like striking vipers is because Josh Homme is a true recording artist—an individual that chases and realizes the sounds in his mind by any means necessary. When you play the 10-watt, solid-state Peavey Decade Too with Homme and QOTSA in mind you understand why the original Peavey Decade became integral to that process. It’s feral, present, nasty, bursting with punky attitude, and when tracked and mixed with a booming bass, sounds positively menacing. But it’s also a lovely clean jangle machine that will lend energy to paisley psych pop or punch to a Bakersfield Telecaster solo.
Objectively speaking, if you’ve played an ’80s Peavey practice amp before, you will know many of these sounds well. (Many of my own early amplified experiences came courtesy of a borrowed Backstage 30, so they are etched deep in my marrow and consciousness.) Like any small amp with a little speaker and cabinet, it’s marked by an inherent, pronounced midrange honk—no doubt, an ingredient that Homme found appealing in his original Decade. The saturation is thick and surprisingly dimensional. But it’s the 3-band EQ, with added bass and top-end boost buttons, that really extends the versatility of the Decade Too. In many contexts, it made a cherished vintage Fender Champ sound like a one-trick pony. The Decade Too may not excel at cooking-tubes-style distortion, but in terms of punch, clarity, and versatility in the studio environment, it delivers the goods.
Peavey Josh Homme Decade Too 10-watt 1 x 8-inch Combo Amplifier
The day before they played the coveted Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville, the Washington, D.C.-based garage-punk duo Teen Mortgage released their debut record, Devil Ultrasonic Dream. Not a bad couple of days for a young band.
PG’s Chris Kies caught up with guitarist and vocalist James Guile at the Blue Room to find out how he builds the band’s bombastic guitar attack.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Devilish Dunable
Guile has been known to use Telecasters and Gretsches in the past, but this time out he’s sticking with this Dunable Cyclops DE, courtesy of Gwarsenio Hall—aka Jordan Olds of metal-themed comedy talk show Two Minutes to Late Night. Guile digs the Dunable’s lightness on his shoulders, and its balance of high and low frequencies.
Storm Warning
What does Guile like about this Squier Cyclone? Simple: its color. This one is also nice and easy on the back, and Guile picked it up from Atomic Music in Beltsville, Maryland.
Crushing It
Guile also scooped this Music Man 410-HD from Atomic, which he got just for this tour for a pretty sweet deal. It runs alongside an Orange Crush Bass 100 to rumble out the low end.
James Guile’s Pedalboard
The Electro-Harmonix Micro POG and Hiwatt Filter Fuzz MkII run to the Orange, while everything else—a DigiTech Whammy, Pro Co Lil’ RAT, and Death by Audio Echo Dream 2—runs to the Music Man. A TC Helicon Mic Mechanic is on board for vocal assistance, and a TC Electronic PolyTune 3, Morley ABY, and Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 3 Plus keep the ship afloat.
