Buying a Parlor Guitar?

TALKING FARIDA GUITARS: The Farida M-26 is a great-looking parlour guitar and sounds really great for Mississippi or Delta blues and slide playing as you can hear from this video. Farida has a range of models which replicate the parlor guitars of the early 1920's.

They are smaller in size than your usual dreadnought or Grand Auditorium. Good for finger-picking, too. This guy in the video clip plays it on Open D tuning.

I thought The Guitar Store at Damansara Perdana would carry this model and went to check it out but Jordan Kuah there said Farida could not supply them with this model. In stead they stock three other models -- M-2, H-16E and H-67.

The cheapest model M-2 was the Choice of Guitarist Magazine (UK) in their review. Tried it out and it sounded great. It features a 12th fret neck/body joint with high-grade solid Red Cedar top and mahogany back and sides.

The H-67 is the top model and comes with a price tag of nearly RM5,000. For that price it features a solid Engelmann spruce top and solid rosewood back and sides. It's a beautiful guitar with a one-piece mahogany neck with a green abalone "Tree of Life" inlay, and an ebony fingerboard and bridge. It's a work of art for that price.

And yet it's still so much cheaper than some Taylors and CF Martins. With good projection of sound and great playability, the China-made parlor guitar can be considered great value for money against those expensive American-made models.

However, having tried all three models, I settled for the H-16E not only because it has the Fishman Isys T EQ system for amplified performance but, according to my ears, the twang was fantastic.

I have owned a Seagull Mahogany Folk made in Canada for more than 10 years and it still gives good service. Now I find the H-16E has got that unique twang so different from the Seagull but that's not belittling the Canadian guitar. This parlor guitar features a solid spruce top with rosewood back and sides. Of course, it's plainer than the H-67 but for a price tag of less than RM2,000 it's definitely great value for money for the sound coming out of it.

I have also tried out some Takamine, Yamaha, Epiphone, Ibanez, Taylor and CF Martin and this well-built Farida really stood out and beat the hell out of them. - Markk 


UPDATE - Aug 1 2011:  The Farida M-26 model is now available at The Guitar Store in Damanasara Perdana, Malaysia, and probably  their other outlets will certainly carry it, too.

Guitar Aficionado - A New Twang In Town

    Cover of the premier issue

I'm a sucker for guitar magazines, especially those that spotlight the acoustic guitar like the monthly Acoustic Guitar magazine. The cover of Guitar Aficionado caught my eye while browsing in a magazine store. What do you expect from a guitar freak like me, I grab a copy because it's a premier issue.

Just as this blog is affectionately devoted to the sound of wood and wire (aka the acoustic guitar), Guitar Aficionado is the new quarterly magazine "for passionate people who enjoy the guitar in all of its timeless, functional beauty."

This Summer '09 copy of Guitar Aficionado was launched recently with an 'aristocratic' mission statement by publisher Greg Di Benedetto (he also publishes Guitar World) that this magazine celebrates the art of fine living "with the guitar as the common point."

Thumbing through its pages, I soon realized that this high-gloss mag belongs to a different crowd - it addresses the person whose lifestyle encompasses more than just the guitar.

These folks are just not your regular guitar guys working out in a garage, they are more into expensive cigars, wine, watches, cars, fashion and other collections that fall under the hedonistic culture.

Did I mention cigars? Now I remember seeing a somewhat similar-looking mag called Cigar Aficionado. However, a check indicates that the two magazines are not related. Could be just a coincidence.

By the way, the cover story features award-winning chef Tom Colicchio, owner of the Craft empire of restaurants. Obviously, Colicchio talks not only about how he ventured into cooking but also his collection of guitars and music.

The guitars on view in the magazine belongs to the upper-end range, probably not less than $6,000. So it's not for the average picker like you and I.

If you want to learn guitar techniques and chords, I guess you will not find it in this magazine. It's for those who want to polish up their status symbols and enjoy the celebrity lifestyle.

To be frank, it's not likely to be a magazine that most of you guitar pickers would fall in love with. Oh well, let's get back to our Seagull, Yamaha, Washburn, Maton...  - Markk

Go Flamenco - Passion, Grace and Fire

The Flamenco Music

Flamenco's origins are obscure. It is regarded as gypsy music coming from Andalucia, a region in Spain. However, it is generally accepted that this musical form was Moorish influenced from North Africa.

The emergence of Flamenco came about towards the end of the 18th century when it was always played as a combination of dance, song and guitar accompaniment. The original form later split into two different styles - Solo Flamenco Guitar and Cante Flamenco.

Spanish guitarist Ramon Montoya (1880-1949) was credited as the man who gave birth to the solo guitar form. Performing artistes such as Paco Pena, Paco de Lucia and a host of other noted modern-day Flamenco solo guitarists have turned the solo guitar form into a popular musical genre worldwide.

Flamenco music is often regarded as a loose, undisciplined form. In actual fact, it is a combination of improvisation and strict rhythmic structures.

For example, the soleares is one of the four most significant structures. It has a rhythm based on a 12-beat form, with accents on the third, sixth, eighth and tenth beats. It is played in 3/4 time. More often than not, a guitarist usually sticks to one form of specialization.

The Flamenco Guitar

When it comes to wood, the flamenco guitar is traditionally constructed from Spanish cypress for its back and sides. The finest cypress is reputed to come from Aranjuez. The Spaniards call cypress the "sad wood" because most of the wood comes from old trees cut out of cemeteries where Spanish cypresses are usually found.

Cypress is adopted because the wood produces a more brilliant, penetrating sound, thus giving the instrument greater volume. The Flamenco guitar is normally an accompanying instrument, its qualities being percussive rather than melodic. The sharp metallic tone of the guitar will cut through all the background noise of dancing, singing and palm clapping during a Flamenco performance.

The Flamenco guitar is usually slightly smaller than the Classical guitar. Traditionally, wooden pegs are favoured for Flamenco guitars. They are considered to give a better tone than geared pegs which are normally used on Classical guitars.

While Flamenco guitars are generally associated with light golden colored woods the real differences between modern Flamenco guitars and Classicals are in design and construction.

Today Concert Flamenco is something rather removed from the traditional style. Paco de Lucia usually play Classical guitars in his concert performances. - markk