What should I Buy?

An acoustic that’s small but perfectly formed? Here are three...

I’m looking for a small acoustic steel-string guitar to travel with. A travel guitar, you might say. Thing is, the travel stuff I’ve tried isn’t to my taste. The necks tend to be a tad too thin and the string spacing a little tight for my sausage-like digits. What’s the solution? Michael Quinn, via email

Consider a parlour guitar instead. These little beauties feature the scaled-down body of a travel acoustic with regular-spec necks. The form dates back to the late19th century where these Lilliputian guitars were marketed to women to entertain in their parlours. These days, the guitars are very much back in vogue.

1. Gibson Montana Parlor avant Garde rosewood £1,699

It’s not just a clever name. This compact beauty features rosewood back and sides. Parlour guitars are great for recording and the AG’s rosewood construction, combined with your classic Sitka spruce top, offers bags of volume and note clarity. The tough Richlite fingerboard just adds to the tonal projection.

2. Fender Paramount PM2 Parlour £599

It’s way more affordable than the Gibson, but the Fender Paramount PM2 features solid body woods. You get a solid spruce top and mahogany back and sides in this little beauty. The fingerboard and bridge are rosewood and the bridge pins are ebony. You can plug this Fender in, too, thanks to the onboard pickup and preamp.

3. Washburn WP11sNs Harvest £299

Washburn has been making sweet little parlour guitars for years, even when other brands had left the style for dead. The WP11SNS is a perfect fingerpickers acoustic with a red cedar top and mahogany back and sides. Cedar gives a guitar a more mature tone straight from the factory than spruce.