Have you ever heard, or maybe played, one of those legendary Martin guitars from the early twentieth century? There was one model Martin built which they called a “parlor guitar”.

A friend and fellow musician in Hannibal, Missouri built a parlor guitar for his wife, who later died of AIDS. But that’s another story!

That friend played that guitar several times in music sessions, and I was amazed at how well such a little guitar projected. It was a perfect session instrument. Big-bodied Martin clones just couldn’t compete. Here’s a guitarist playing one of those old parlor guitars, a nice rendition of a classic Robert Johnson song: