First off, these guitars give a less bassy sound compared to dreadnoughts, which has been the go-to design since the folk revival in 60's and has stayed on the top spot for numbers in guitar shops. I believe, when most of us think of acoustic guitars, the Dreadnought shape comes to mind. Pulling back the bass in the sonic spectrum means the mids and treble details are accentuated more even though the body shape doesn't actually boost them. It makes them sound immensely clear and rings out evenly for fingerstyle. I've noticed that OOs(Concert) sounds decent for strumming, albeit with a little less perceived volume due to the cut-back in bass. OOOs(Orchestra Model/OM) sound really good for strumming due to their big lower bouts. They sound full and sweet, with an emphasis on the mids and highs as mentioned earlier. While the size might look like a compromise in volume to some, in reality that's completely the opposite. In fact, most OOOs and Grand Auditoriums (in Taylor's term) I've tried are louder than Dreadnoughts, not to mention, more versatile tonally as well. The slightly thinner body and curved waist makes it easier to handle for ladies too.
If I'm not mistaken and my information source is reliable, parlour guitars were the earliest guitar design. They were made for parlour singers wanting an accompanying instrument in their performance. Parlour guitars are small by today's standards, but it was "regular"-sized back then, especially the early 30's. There was no parlour-sized or OO or OOO, there was the guitar and that's it. It's a small-bodied but full-scaled guitar with a very pinched-looking waist, has an often wider-than-standard nut-width, and the fretboard joins the body at the 12th fret. Does not sound as loud as a dreadnought/OOO/jumbo would be, but still produces a crisp bright tone very suited to folk and fingerstyle. Kinda like a steel-strung substitute for nylon-strung classical guitars.
Then, there be a market niche where people wanted even smaller guitars, initially not purposed for comfort or value, but rather for portability. That's where the 3/4 guitars come in. With the body size and scale length at 3/4 of the regular guitars, the volume is certainly compromised. Size-wise, they're quite similar to parlours, with a small, thinner body, providing an overall more comfortable feel. It's not as loud as full-sized guitars, same as parlours, but with the different scale length, it gives a rather different tone. With an average scale length of 23.5", they sound only a slight bit softer than regular guitars, assuming materials and construction process are the same. But it's the boxy, bass end that makes the perceived volume smaller. Some people might think of 3/4 guitars as toys because they're quite frankly a lot smaller than what people expect when thinking of "guitars". Adults are reluctant to buy it for themselves because they think it makes them look like a child, and great-sounding ones are less popular with and while it's not always true, some cheap travel-sized guitars do sound like toys because of the weird honky and boxy sound it makes. Boxy, as in like, trapped in a small box.
(This term took me a really long time to grasp the idea of it, because the term was everywhere, amps section, guitar section, and I thought it means that it sounds punchy, I had no idea....so I'm writing this here to help people understand the word, if you haven't already.)
However, there are also companies that makes incredible 3/4 guitars. Companies like Taylor, Martin are great examples of guitar-makers doing their best to tap the travel-sized market. The Baby Taylor and Little Martin are two of, if not the best, balance between quality, sound, comfort and price point. Want to go cheaper? There's Tanglewood, Cort, Farida, Yamaha etc that makes the same-sized guitars with solid tops, that comes in at around half the price. Want to go even cheaper? I guess you're in the wrong place, bruh...go pick up an ukelele now, run along...
In the end, it's down to your personal taste, I'm not forcing anyone to buy or not buy travel-sized guitars. I just feel the need to address the real value in having a travel-sized acoustic. There are a few reasons why I advocate small-bodied guitars.
1. It's kawaii. No... It's pretty comfortable actually. You can just lounge around on your sofa and play the guitar without ever feeling like it's digging into your ribs. You won't even feel the need to grab your main acoustic to write anymore because the incredibly portable size makes it so easy to just grab and go. You can write songs everywhere, whether it's in your car, on your bed, in your office, toilet...
2. Most of these guitars come with a gigbag. A pretty good bag if you know where to look. Cort, Yamaha and Taylor are a few examples I've seen that comes with nice padded bags. At that size, it's impossible to find bags for them as no one makes them, so the guitar makers had to include that in the package. The big brothers are way louder, but this little one comes with a bag made to fit, so it's a no-brainer for me. #whatthehellwasthat Well, at least that's pretty convenient...
3. We don't need the amount of volume from a dreadnought/jumbo anymore. In the olden days, people played to crowds using the guitar itself and the soundhole is the only way to amplify the sound. Play it hard to be louder, play it soft to be softer. Today, we have undersaddle transducers and preamps to plug into PAs or guitar amps to get the amount of required volume. So it's not compulsory to have a huge body acoustics for volume anymore, except maybe for connoisseurs who love the sound. Plus, having a smaller sound chamber results in less moving air and smaller vibrational oscillation, meaning it's also less likely to feedback at loud volumes.
4. Great quality acoustics mean they'll sound good and still withstand the years of usage. Now, with bigger guitars, they're more expensive to build as more wood is required to produce them. With the smaller-bodied guitars, you're buying the same quality as the bigger ones, but at a lower price point. If it finally makes a Martin/Taylor affordable to you, why not? You're paying less cash for the same amount of value, just smaller in size.
5. It's great for kids/beginners. Lots of teacher tell young beginners to buy full-sized acoustics because they'll outgrow small acoustics within a short time. That's like telling parents to buy a 12.y.o. size shirt for a toddler because that way you won't outgrow the shirt so quickly. #whatthehellman
Plus, kids are physically smaller. Making them arch painfully over a full-sized dreadnought or stretch their tiny little fingers across the 25.5" scale length for chords wouldn't motivate them to play guitar that much, I guess...
6. Not a diehard fan of him, but Ed Sheeran plays a Little Martin on stage. That's enough reason for me to advocate playing small guitars. Even full-sized professionals (I know Ed isn't that tall...) are using it, so why the "small guitars are for kids" mentality?
So the verdict is that, if you want full-sized sound, go for a full-sized acoustic. If you're willing to compromise a little bit of sound for portability, playability, economics and cute factor (hmmm...), the 3/4 is the way to go. If you want a 3/4 size body with a volume closer to full-sizers, go parlour. If you're still gonna nitpick between parlour and a 3/4....there's the Mini Jumbo!!! Dreadnought-sized volume from an approximately OO-sized body. Ain't nobody going wrong with these guitars...
Well, that's it for this topic I guess. Whatever you opinion it is on smaller guitars, I wanted to thank you for dropping by at my blog. Your support means a lot to me. Thanks again and have fun, people!
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