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Then GS mini - too small
Then went to a deep OM - too big
Then thinner OM - OKish
Then Parlour - too small
Now I have a GC/00 size and it fits just right. It's an older Taylor 322, bit beaten up but after a set up it plays great and doesn't sound boxy.
Also I would not buy two cheaper acoustics versus one more expensive on. Generally I think the difference in sound quality between a £300 guitar and say a £700 one is very noticeable and stark. As you go up the scale from there, it becomes less discernible.
I've only very rarely found a good-sounding small guitar, and no good sounding parlour guitars ever
Jumbos for me, and a few dreads please
Parlour size varies depending on who you ask, but if the Marlowe qualifies, then it's a fine little guitar for the money. The extra body depth and rosewood makes it sound like a bigger guitar than it is. It's nice and small, really comfortable to play. For finger picking, it's great. The cedar seems to tame the highs that I've found harsh on cheaper spruce-topped parlours. Auden's Emily Rose has a wider nut though, so that may be a better option for some. I think that's a 12-fret model. The Marlowe may not be made any more, but they turn up second hand from time to time.
It's is not the most complex sounding guitar - my Furch G23-CRC definitely delivers more overtones - but it's very forgiving to play. At its price point, I think it's excellent. Would I have it as my only acoustic? Definitely not. While you can strum it, it really doesn't excel at this and I don't think any parlour would, even those from high-end/boutique companies. Personally, I gravitate towards dreads for strumming, but they're cumbersome for sure. If you want just one acoustic that does a bit of everything, then an OM or OOO would be more versatile than a parlour. I think that Paul Simon has played a number of OMs over the years. A grand auditorium may be worth considering too, but then you're getting into bigger guitars.
A parlour for finger picking, paired with a dread (or other bigger bodied acoustic) would cover a lot of bases.
I have a friend with an Auden Marlowe in cedar and rosewood, with the deeper body. The only difference is that my friend's Marlowe is a 12-fret. While I was visiting earlier this year (I'm in Tasmania, so a bloody long way away from southern England where my friend lives) I had the pleasure, over a few days, of several hours playing his lovely little Marlowe.
Absolutely it's a parlour size! And the extra depth just makes the instrument in my book, gives it body and tonal balance.
I played a few other parlours while I was in England (here in Oz they aren't really a thing, very rare to see one) and the deeper-bodied Auden was clearly the pick of the ones I tried. A deeper body on a small guitar just makes so much sense. Both of Australia's main manufacturers do exactly that as routine: Maton's well-known and popular 808 size is essentially a 00 with the depth of a dreadnought; their excellent new Trad size is an OM or 000 again with the depth of a dreadnought, while Cole Clark's small body models, the Angel series, are billed as Grand Auditoriums (even though they are the same length and width as a 00) but - you guessed it - as deep as a dreadnought.
And the small thing? The bit about having it as an only acoustic. I could live with an Auden Marlowe as my only guitar. It wouldn't be my first choice as an only instrument, but it would do at a pinch. (If I absolutely, positively had to pick just one guitar as an only instrument, I'd have .... but no. That question is worth its own thread. Later. Let's just say that it would be an 808 or something like one.)
https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/larrive-p-02e
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L-R
Small Jumbo/ Parlor / OM
just because you do, doesn't mean you should.