Buying a Parlour Guitar

Does anyone have any experience with Epiphone EL00s and/or Art & Lutherie Amis?

I need to buy a small bodied guitar and I'm leaning towards the Godin product, although I have no direct experience with either of these models. Played a nice Tanglewood but it was pricey.

The guitar would primarily be used for fingerstyle playing and some bottleneck blues, in a bunch of tunings.

Thank you.

I have really enjoyed my little Epiphone EL00. I added the Tusq nut and saddle, new planet waves ebony bridge pins, and a sound hole pickup. Dropped some rattle snake rattles and a mojo hand inside. Strung it up with Elixir extra lights and tuned her to open G. My wife loves it just as much as me and my grandparents might like it even more! The neck is rather fat, much more "round" than my Taylor. I like this guitar so much I sold my Taylor! I have a great little guitar for <$300 total with all the upgrades. There are several other budget priced 00 size guitars on the market, but I'm partial to Epiphones. Look around at some other recent posts regarding Blue Ridge guitars and others...
My EL-00:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b255/scantron81/IMG_2191.jpg

I have an Epiphone EL00. I really like the form factor, the guitar is OK. Nothing to write home about, but should be good for what you describe, and the price is right.

I'm intrigued by the Epis too, but my advice is to play them first, and see if you find one you like. I hear lots of reports about them and some people love 'em, and some dislike 'em. I suspect that there is some variation among individual guitars, but also I think the tone of the guitars are not for everyone. Epis (like Gibsons) reportedly tend to be dry and woody, and I think some players dislike that sound.

We have less Godin (almost none) product stocked locally these days but do have Larrivee. The Larrivee model is very nice and Studio1087 here has one.

My only comment is that some parlor size and 0s I tried sound enough smaller that I'm partial to a 14 fret 00. They're small in your lap but can kick tone with larger guitars.

Amis are great little guitars. I'm partial to the solid cedar top version.

My only comment is that some parlor size and 0s I tried sound enough smaller that I'm partial to a 14 fret 00. They're small in your lap but can kick tone with larger guitars. I'm agreeing with this comment.

I have a Tanglewood spruce top parlor (the cedar top is great) and, if I could change one thing, I would like at least 13 frets (like Santa Cruz and others) or 14. When you start capo'ing, you really notice the small amount of room you are left with. Everything else about it is great. The rosewood ply sides and back have never bothered me and the overall tone is getting better all the time,

Greg

buy used....Ami's come up on C/L for 150$ - 175$ regularly in this area and are great value....I just sold one and got a 1999 Baby Taylor with on board pick-up for 150$...lovely little guitar

Look out for a Tacoma Parlour model, PM20 or PK30. 14 frets, deep body for big tone, excellent build, and maybe cheaper than some of the competition.

I have really enjoyed my little Epiphone EL00. I added the Tusq nut and saddle, new planet waves ebony bridge pins, and a sound hole pickup. Dropped some rattle snake rattles and a mojo hand inside. Strung it up with Elixir extra lights and tuned her to open G. My wife loves it just as much as me and my grandparents might like it even more! The neck is rather fat, much more "round" than my Taylor. I like this guitar so much I sold my Taylor! I have a great little guitar for <$300 total with all the upgrades. There are several other budget priced 00 size guitars on the market, but I'm partial to Epiphones. Look around at some other recent posts regarding Blue Ridge guitars and others...
My EL-00:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b255/scantron81/IMG_2191.jpg

Scantron 81, cool lookin' axe. What soundhole pup is that? It's hard to find soundhole pups that fit small soundholes and I've got a 60's Martin o-16NY I may want one for. Thanks.

Check out the Recording King and Blueridge lines - both make great affordable small bodied guitars.

I love my A&L Ami. Most folks can't believe how good it sounds, and then they find out it cost -$200 US.:mrgreen:

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/544/medium/AnLAmi.jpg

Just pulled this shot off my brothers Picasa site. I got to play the L'arrivee at Christmas. They are not cheap, but this is a guitar to last a lifetime. Lovely tone, great little player, and a beautiful thing to behold! Makes the Tanglewood sound like a toy (but don't tell my brother that!)

Thanks for all the interesting replies. I just need the snow to go away now, so I can do the 400 mile round trip to (hopefully) A-B these instruments.

(With the price of fuel- and trains- I might be better just flipping a coin and buying one through the mail............)

I've been real impressed with the Ami's that I've played.

I almost pulled the trigger on a EL-00 but decided on the Simon and Patrick Woodland Parlor Pro because I got tired waiting for it to arrive. Haven't regretted my decision one bit, what a great sounding guitar and so much fun to play. When I finally got a chance to play the EL-00 that made me glad I got the S&P. Haven't had any experience with the Ami but I haven't seen as many bad reviews about it either.

http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab156/drunkin_miner_esquire/1103100943a.jpg

I had an AMI briefly. I bought it off eBay and had to return it because it had several problems that the seller hadn't disclosed. It was actually a decent guitar, sounded pretty good for fingerpicking and it had a nice chunky neck. The build quality was reasonable but this one was falling to pieces; the back had become partially detached and the bridge had been re-glued (poorly). These were probably symptoms of abuse rather than poor QC but in my experience cheaper Godin guitars can be a little rough around the edges. I'd definitely get another if the condition were better and the price right.

If you can find a Tacoma Parlour (P series) or a Mini Jumbo (E series) then they're streets ahead of the AMI. Excellent US build quality, most of them are all solid wood (I think a few had laminated sides briefly) and a bargain second hand (£200-300 on eBay). The only down side is their skinny necks. I have a Tacoma EM-9 and it's a great guitar (apart from the skinny neck).

I would get an Ami (Art & Lutherie) for slide.

In Europe the Ami's have solid tops and over here the whole guitar is laminated cherry. They rub a nitro style finish onto the Ami's and they are very lively if the top is solid or laminated. They sound loud and a bit boxy.....I think that they would nake a great Blues box or slide guitar.

I think the EL-00 is very nice but they would open up slower than an Ami because of the heavy gloss on a small guitar. The EL-00's are very pretty. I think that if I were going to sit a guitar in my lap and run a brass slide up and down it I would choose the less ornate Ami.

I have a Larrivee P03 Parlor. I don't think you would ever want touse a Larrivee as a slide box. The Larrivee has a Sitka top and a wide 1-3/4" nut...it wants to be played fingerstyle. It's not a blues guitar....it's a prettier guitar.

The old Larrivee Parlors up until about 10 years ago were about $550. Then Larrivee yanked the simple satin Parlor and came out with full gloss, super sexy parlors at $1300+. Then the folks at Larrivee came up with another Satin limited parlor to please the customers who were crying "You guys too away the nice affordable parlor"....that's what I got.

P-03 Limited Parlor - Read about it here - linky (http://www.guitaradoptions.com/larrivee-p-03.html)

Here's mine......

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k106/johnlg-2006/TopAngleSmall.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k106/johnlg-2006/CaseSwagsmall.jpg

You don't want one of these for slide....this is a pretty fingerstyle guitar.

Get the Ami......you'll be really happy.

John

I think a Republic Highway 61 (http://www.republicguitars.com/highway61travelsize.html) would make for a nice guitar for fingerpicking and some bottle slide blues. 22.5" scale, you could tune up a minor third as a terz guitar if you wanted to.

http://www.republicguitars.com/images/448_IMG_7982.JPG

Thanks for all your input, guys. After my customary three months of agonising....... I bought one like this:-)

Action is too low for slide:grin: I will tweak it and give a report in due course. Just enjoying the tone, volume and fingerstyle playability, to begin with.

Does anyone have a nylon or gut strung parlor? I've been wanting one for awhile for some living history presentations.

Does anyone have a nylon or gut strung parlor? I've been wanting one for awhile for some living history presentations.

Here is another Godin brand, also relatively inexpensive.

http://www.lapatrieguitars.com/guitarsmotif.html

http://www.lapatrieguitars.com/gtrmotif.jpg

*deleted* - irrelevant because the OP already purchased a guitar.

Thanks!


Here is another Godin brand, also relatively inexpensive.

http://www.lapatrieguitars.com/guitarsmotif.html

http://www.lapatrieguitars.com/gtrmotif.jpg

I would get an Ami (Art & Lutherie) for slide.

In Europe the Ami's have solid tops and over here the whole guitar is laminated cherry.

Hmmm... that may be the case with new models, but I'm certain some Ami's sold in the States have had solid tops. I owned one, and you could clearly see the wood grain entering the sound hole. As I recall, it was cedar topped.

I picked up a Tanglewood TW73 one day out of the blue, around $600 CDN with a hard case. Beautiful little guitar...the sound is what blew me away. I went in for a new capo and this little gem just grabbed me. The cedar top was sooo responsive. Love this little baby.

not 0 or 00 sized, received a recording king 000 ros-06 a few dayze ago, and imho it is head and shoulders above most anything offered in its class or even above it. solid sitka spruce top, bone nut & saddle, such a beautiful fingerstyle balanced tone either open or fretted ... 245/shipped with padded bag, check it out! yeah yeah yea, mic - so what? :cool:

http://www.recordingking.com/images/ROS-06.png

I was wondering about the Recording King line of acoustics... sort of remind me of Blueridge, and I've certainly been impressed with some of those.

i've had a few blueridge, morgan monroe, silver creek and others --- from what i've seen, recording king is simply better in every way. i have an rs2-626c due to arrive ...

Played a Recording King 12-fret solid top (not all solid) acoustic at a local shop... i think it was the ROS-06? Jiminiy crickit!! It BOOMS and BLOOMS, what a nice sounding acoustic. The guitar itself is a wee bit bigger and more expensive than what I'm looking for right at the moment, but if I was in the market for that specific type, that baby would've followed me home!

But where did you get yours? The one I played was $450 w/hard case, sounds like yours was considerably cheaper?

Played a Recording King 12-fret solid top (not all solid) acoustic at a local shop... i think it was the ROS-06? Jiminiy crickit!! It BOOMS and BLOOMS, what a nice sounding acoustic. The guitar itself is a wee bit bigger and more expensive than what I'm looking for right at the moment, but if I was in the market for that specific type, that baby would've followed me home!

But where did you get yours? The one I played was $450 w/hard case, sounds like yours was considerably cheaper?

instrument alley, 274.98 w/good hsc.

Actually the one at the local shop is an ROS 16, which i think has an AA Spruce top maybe? Man did it sound sweet.

Actually the one at the local shop is an ROS 16, which i think has an AA Spruce top maybe? Man did it sound sweet.

ros-16, 375/shipped w/hsc, instrument alley.

i have the ros-06 (245 w/bag), and the rs2-626c (909 w/superb hsc) arriving tomorrow.

it's truly an excellent guitar, but i'll probably return the ros-06 in exchange for an ros-627 (790 w/superb hsc).

www.recordingking.com to check out all the models.

There's a used RD 327 near me for $600ish. But I'm looking for a smaller/cheaper model. I'll have to check out Instrument Alley... have the guitars arrived set up reasonably well?

There's a used RD 327 near me for $600ish. But I'm looking for a smaller/cheaper model. I'll have to check out Instrument Alley... have the guitars arrived set up reasonably well?

if it's good condition, that's a steal as a new ia rd-327 sells for 850 shipped w/hsc.

ia does a decent job of setup - there are more than a few good ways to setup any guitar, so you may hafta do some of yer own tweaking. so far, of the 3 rk's i've worked on, they all have proper set neck angles which will allow uber low fingerstyle action setups.

btw, there is a HUGE difference in tone between 14 and 12 fret, dred and 000, AND scale length (longer is better for me in terms of everything) - the rk 12 fret 000's are the only ones for me. they're that good. as always, try before you buy or buy with a solid return policy.

my new rp2-626c, a fingerpicker's 00 dream box ....

http://www.recordingking.com/productview/images/RP1-626_side.jpg

check out these utube vids ...

ros-06
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwUToqlfKQE

rp2-626c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gHoE3miMbY