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Post by stevie2sticks on Nov 25, 2014 19:44:41 GMT
Hi
I have been looking at the German-Vintage-Guitars site and they have a number of German Parlours from the 50s & 60s.
Just wondered if anyone had experience of the company or 50/60s German Parlours? Or the East German GDR Parlours?
Kind regards
Steve IOM
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Post by oscar on Nov 25, 2014 22:50:59 GMT
These guitars have nothing in common with what is usually referred to as "parlor guitars" (smaller than 0-size, US made, 20s or earlier).
Most of them were cheap guitars with plywood bodies, small necks,shorter scales, brass frets, ladder bracing and metal tailpieces. They were made from the 50s to the 70s. Some were designed to be successors of the German "Wandergitarre" of the 20s (here you can find some real all solid "parlor guitars")and thus have small bodies.
Framus, Höfner and Klira are the most famous names.
There are a lot of people in Germany who like these instruments because they sound or look "funky" or "weird".
Some sound surprisingly good as slide guitars. But many of them have tiny necks and can't even be strung with 12s strings.
Framus and Höfner also built some good sounding acoustics with solid spruce tops.
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Post by stevie2sticks on Nov 26, 2014 10:08:01 GMT
Thanks Oscar that's really interesting.
Regards
Steve IOM
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2015 9:42:08 GMT
I'm bringing this thread up because I have an old Klira parlor guitar I bought at a yard sale years back for 5 euros... I bought it for my kids to bang around on when they were still small. Surprisingly the guitar survived pretty well! The other day I came across it again while clearing out a closet...
The neck's got a bow to it (no trussrod) so the strings are pretty high up, making it difficult to fret. But DAMN! What a sound! Especially with the slide - this thing just honks. Easily outclasses my Washburn anniversary parlor, which is a beautiful guitar, has a great neck, but a pretty lifeless sound.
This is a guitar with a tailpiece and a floating bridge -- I wonder if that's the reason it sounds so great? Sort of the same concept as a resonator, right?
The guitar's too cheap to bother trying to restore too much. But I love the size (it's shorter than my Steinberger!) and sound of this thing. Puts me in the market for another old vintage parlor!
Meantime, I'd like to do what I can for this guitar -- I'm wondering what kind of strings and tunings (I generally play in Open G) this kind of guitar needs?
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Post by orbital on Aug 9, 2015 22:41:02 GMT
There's three 'Florida' German (west) made vintage 50's parlour guitars on ebay...they look far better quality than my cheap east German made parlour from same era. Has anyone come across these before?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2015 7:09:08 GMT
There's three 'Florida' German (west) made vintage 50's parlour guitars on ebay...they look far better quality than my cheap east German made parlour from same era. Has anyone come across these before? I get the feeling Florida might be a model name? Although I have a cheap Klira parlor that has the brand name decal in the same place. This one doesn't have the usual parlor shape - looks more like a dreadnought. I wonder if it's a 3/4 size (children's) model instead of a true parlor? Anyway, these were selling for 10 - 40 pounds a few years back, not sure why their value has suddenly increased. Old does not always equal vintage, after all. Also, I find the bridge construction weird for a German guitar from the 1950s - seems to me, the Germans always used a floating bridge prior to the 1960s. I'm no expert, this is just the impression I always had. I'd stick with the big names -- Hofner and Framus. I have a Hofner Congress, really excellent guitar. I also have a Framus parlor-- the 50/i sport. |
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Post by orbital on Aug 10, 2015 23:10:41 GMT
Just noticed your Framus parlor in Tin Can Alley. With me forking out imminently on an MMB, it's up there about a month too soon for me Mickeyz!
Would be interested to see a pic of your Hofner model,and the Klira too...
Orbital.
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Post by orbital on Aug 12, 2015 21:35:58 GMT
Have been in touch with German Vintage Guitars about the 'Florida' 3/4 size guitars,of which there are still two on ebay.
They say they were almost definately a Klira model & date them to the 70's.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2015 7:08:04 GMT
Have been in touch with German Vintage Guitars about the 'Florida' 3/4 size guitars,of which there are still two on ebay. They say they were almost definately a Klira model & date them to the 70's. Nothing interesting about a 70s guitar...lots of crap made during that decade, not all of it Japanese.... and Klira was always a cheapo brand. |
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Post by orbital on Aug 13, 2015 19:50:35 GMT
Kind of interesting though that three different guitar shops told three different people the same wrong information on that model...ok,enough said now on the Klira 'Florida'!
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Post by orbital on Aug 13, 2015 20:05:05 GMT
On the German Vintage Guitar site parlours,it says that truss rod free construction supports better sound. I may be showing my ignorance but why would this be?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2015 23:10:10 GMT
On the German Vintage Guitar site parlours,it says that truss rod free construction supports better sound. I may be showing my ignorance but why would this be? Never heard that one before. I suppose the case could be made that necks with no truss rods are typically thicker pieces of wood (and maybe even one piece of wood), and, since there's no slot for a trussroad, are fully solid too. Since I'm the "proud" owner of an old Klira parlor with a neck shaped like cooked spaghetti (but which sounds pretty great as a slide guitar), I have to say: Long Live the Truss Rod! One of the fun parts about reading about/shopping for guitars is all the Special Voodoo Sauce people come up with to justify their subjective opinions. |
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