Product: Antoniotsai Parlor
Price Paid: US $320
Submitted
04/08/2006
at
11:26pm
by
Tim
Email: timand2037<at>gmail dot com
Features
:
9
18 fret parlor guitar (14 to the neck), copy of a Baby taylor in shape. 21.5 inch scale length and note that the nut is only 1 and 9/16 inch wide. Solid top and all solid woods - Mekong rosewood and Canadian spruce top. Beautiful inlay work on the back, fretboard, headstock and rosette. Good tuners. These are sold as Taiwanese guitars but I believe the guitars are made in Vietnam under Taiwanese management. The woods used are beautiful but have a tendency to crack because of poor humidity control - however this little guitar has no cracks as yet, so I wil rate it higher than my Antonio Tsai dreadnought (see other review).
Sound
:
8
Good medium quality guitar which needs some modifications and setup (see below). Balanced sound and nice tone, with the limitations of this size guitar. Needs heavy strings for tone and to stay in tune (with its short scale length).
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
6
Poor setup and (other than the inlay work) some rough finishing (eg nut, fretboard). I have had several of these guitars and they all share this problem - the fretboards (while attractive with their inlay) and frets need a good dressing AND the bridge needs to be lowered about 2 or 3mm. The nut and saddle also need filing. Then they become playable. The parlor is the same as the dreadnought, in this respect. Intonation is usually good, but on one 00 model I needed to re-rout the saddle slot.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
Very solid guitar - other Antonio Tsai models have cracking in wood, but none in this one so far.
Customer Support
:
2
Not good - guitars generally delivered reliably but poor communications in dealing with problems.
Overall Rating
:
8
This review applies to an Antonio Tsai parlor, but draws on experinece with other Antonio Tsai models (dreadnought and 00) I have purchased. I was fascinated by the woods and inlay work, bought a few but am now rationalising my collection. Basically these are very nice show guitars, but they need some work (see above) for playability. Once modified and setup properly they play as a nice mid range guitar. The woods are often subject to cracking. Nice to hang on the wall, but will not replace your Larrivee / Martin /Taylor.
