Samba Model Parlor Guitar

This instrument is modeled after an 1864 Antonio Torres parlor guitar.

I have always been fascinated with the challenge of doing more with less. In the case of this instrument, the small box argues for a necessarily small sound. This could not be further from the truth. I have engineered the Samba model to rival the projectability of full size classical guitars. The sound is clean, with good voice separation. The basses are well balanced with the upper registers, and projectable volume and tone quality are sufficient to satisfy concert playing needs. Rather than a novelty instrument, think of the Samba model as a particularly small concert guitar.

This guitar has been an eyebrow raiser wherever I have taken it. I debuted one for critical listening by my colleagues at the Guild of American Luthiers convention a few years ago. As I arrived in the hall late, my parlor model was put at the end of a row of 24+ guitars up for peer review. Over an hour later my turn finally arrived. As it was brought onstage an audible snigger went through the crowd at the small size (all of our ears were fatigued by this point, and people were getting understandably restless). There were more than a few dropped jaws as this guitar began to be played, and I recall a comment to me after the session by one of the participants to the effect that he had been wasting wood all these years building bigger instruments.

Materials
Top: Englemann, or German Spruce
Back/Sides: Indian Rosewood, Maple, or Padauk
Neck: Mahogany
Fingerboard: Madagascar Rosewood or Ebony
Finish: French Polish or Oil Varnish

Dimensions
Scale: 640 mm
Nut Width: 46 mm
Length: 715 mm
Max. body width: 222 mm
Max. Body depth: 87 mm