Are Parlor Guitars Good For Travel? (Answered)

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Written By Sarah Barlow

Chief Music Officer

Parlor guitars are commonly considered as a travel guitar option, and with good reason. Their compact size, but great sound make them an attractive option. Depending on your circumstances they may be the best travel guitar for you, but the factors we explore in this article help you get clear on what you need from a travel guitar, and whether a Parlor guitar is the best guitar to meet those needs.

What makes a good travel guitar?

In most cases, the primary consideration of looking for a guitar to travel with is to find one that is smaller in size than your regular guitar.

Firstly it will be lighter to carry, and easier to fit into smaller spaces whether that be in the places you are going (hotel/accommodation/work) and in the transportation you will be taking (car/train/bus/flight).

As a smaller guitar, Parlor guitars are often considered when people are looking for a travel guitar.

Aside from size, there are some other things to consider when taking a guitar travelling. It’s important to think through what the use cases for your guitar are while you are travelling.

Are you just taking a guitar to practice with when you have some downtime? Or are you planning and playing with people, and to people,e, and even perform with your travel guitar?

The answer to this question will help you define what you need from a travel guitar and therefore help you determine whether a Parlor guitar is good for travelling with in your case, or not.

For example, if you just need something to practice on, so your chops don’t fade away, then you can consider all sorts of alternative designs and styles that don’t have the same body as a traditional acoustic.

However, if you plan to play for people and need some organic amplification, then body sizes and style does matter to you.

So it is clear for all people travelling we know size reduction is important in a travel guitar, however before making a decision on the best guitar for you, make sure you are clear on the requirements of your guitar and what expect out of it in terms of sound tone and volume.

Something else that it is important to think about is how robust or strong a guitar is, in case it gets knocked around, dropped etc. A standard guitar design has multiple points of vulnerability in design including where the neck joins to the guitar body, and also the guitar head at the end of the neck.

Certain headless guitar designs remove the vulnerability of the neck, by having the string affixed and tuned on the bridge instead (Headless Guitars). You can also get guitars that fold at the neck. This reduces that vulnerability and makes them shorter to pack and transport.

We’ll now look more closely at Parlor guitars to see how well they match up against these qualities. The extent to which they do measure up will be determined by your specific use case.

Are Parlor Guitars the same as Travel Guitars?

Parlor guitars are not necessarily travelling guitars. But a lot of people use Parlor guitars when travelling.

Parlor guitars are popular with travellers for their reduced size, while still proving great tone and volume.

However, in the strictest sense, travel guitars are usually of a very different style to typical acoustic guitars where the body is reduced in the extreme, sometimes there is a very small body of a different shape.

As well as a drastically modified body, some of these specialist travel guitars utilise a headless design. On a headless guitar, the head is removed, the strings are inserted where the head used to be and fixed on the guitar bridge and then tuned there instead. By taking away the head it is shorter, and also more robust without that point of vulnerability. The headless guitars are particularly good in that they can drastically reduce the length of the guitar, without sacrificing the scale, and therefore the tone of the guitar. Scale refers to the distance between the guitar bridge and the guitar nut. When a guitar is reduced to a 3/4 or 1/2 size, this typically means the scale is shortened. Though the strings can still be tuned to the same pitch, the shorter scale means they won’t quite have the same tone as a full-size guitar.

Traveler Guitars (https://travelerguitar.com/pages/ultra-light-series) is a good example of a travel guitar where the style has been completely reimagined to reduce weight and size to the maximum extent.

Pros of using a Parlor Guitar For Travel

Reduced Size

Parlor guitars are typically about 20%short than regular guitars. In many cases, this will result in a scale (distance between the guitar bridge and guitar nut) that is reduced by approximately two inches.

Playability

Though the Parlor is smaller than a regular guitar but is not so small that it is difficult to play. Many people enjoy Parlor guitars, and even use them as their main guitar, because they are a good balance between playability, sound and size.

Tone

Like with playability, Parlor guitars bring you that compact size, without having to sacrifice too much tone. They are still very serviceable (some even prefer it) and can put out enough volume to play live in a small setting.

Cons of using a Parlor Guitar for Travel

Volume & Tone

These were mentioned above as pros, I know, I’m just making it clear that there is a trade-off, a slight con, in using a Parlor guitar. By reducing the size of the body and neck there are some negative consequences on volume and tone.

Still Big and Vulnerable

Though they are smaller than regular sized guitars, Parlor guitars are still reasonable in size (compared to some of the specialised ‘travel’ guitars and will be a burden to carry around with you while travelling. Though they will be less of a burden they will still be a burden.

And given they are a traditional design with a head, they are structurally vulnerable at the neck and the head. Though it is extremely unlikely that you will have an incident while travelling that could break the neck or head of your guitar, it is a vulnerability nonetheless.

How To Protect a Parlor Guitar While Travelling

Your main protection against harm to your Parlor guitar while travelling is a hard travel case, and keeping it inside the case at times when it is not in use. There are countless stories online of ‘freak’ accidents that completely ruin guitars that were sitting around out of their case.

So common sense prevails, that a hard case, is your best protection against damage to your Parlor Guitar while travelling.

Alternatives to Using a Parlor Guitar For Travel

3/4 Size Guitar

Though there is no concrete definition, 3/4 guitars tend to be a few inches smaller than Parlor guitars, saving you even more room. Though as you get the 3/4 size guitars the neck can start shrinking to a degree that it becomes harder to play. If you look at a 3/4 size guitar, make sure you play it first to make sure it feels ok.

Specialist Travel Guitar

As mentioned above, specialist Travel guitars, such as those produced by Traveler Guitars (https://travelerguitar.com/pages/ultra-light-series) have removed every single thing they can from the guitar to make it as light and small as possible.

Folding Guitar

Though it sounds like a gimmick and could not be true, it is true that you can buy folding guitars. And people really like them and rave about how well they play and sound. The Voyage-Air (https://voyageairguitar.com/) is a full-sized travel guitar that literally folds in half. This makes them much each to travel with as the size is so much shorter and can be placed in many other storage compartments on aeroplanes. In addition to that, at the other end, you have a full-size guitar to play where you have not had to sacrifice volume, tone, or playability.

Definitely worth looking into as you try and choose the best travel guitar for you.