PRS SE Parlor P20 Acoustic Guitar (Various Finishes) Expired

Sweetwater is a great place to buy from too. For guitars $299 and up, they do a 55 point inspection prior to shipment. This isn't a set up, but a general inspection and check. Also includes a 2 year warranty. I ordered one last night for my daughter, I got a call this afternoon from Nick at Sweetwater thanking me for my order and letting me know that shipping times are running a little longer than usual. They call me on occasion checking on gear I've bought in the past as well. Can't say enough great things about the company.

As I was typing this, Nick at Sweetwater sent me an email with photos of my new guitar prior to shipping!

I think I can provide some useful info here. Just so you know where I am coming from, I've been playing acoustic guitars for 25+ years and consider myself a small-time collector.

I recently had an itch for a parlor guitar, and I went and played a bunch of them, including the P20. I think the most important question for getting a parlor is - "Do I want a parlor guitar, or a 'small' guitar?" A parlor guitar, in my opinion, is a bit outside the normal range of what one calls an "acoustic guitar." That's not to take anything away from it - it's kind of like a 2-seater convertible for cars. Yes, it's a car, but just not what you picture when a friend says "I bought a new car." And like a 2-seater convertible, it's great for some settings, but could be a poor fit in others.

Long story short, what I personally came to realize is that I wanted a "small guitar," not necessarily a parlor. That is to say, I wanted a small guitar that sounded like a bigger guitar. Of course, there are parlor guitars that also fit into this category, and the Alvarez x66x parlors are probably the closest I've personally played that fit the bill. MOST other parlor guitars I've played, however, all had that "boxy," "midrangy" quality to it that I just could not appreciate. It doesn't help of course, that I don't play the kind of songs (say, folk blues) that would complement those qualities.

I'll say this about the P20. It's not all that. To my ears, a much cheaper Recording King sounded about on par, and the aforementioned Alvarez and similarly priced Guild P-240 sounded much better (and again, by "better," I mean more like a full-sized guitar).

To summarize:
1) If you're considering this as your first guitar, I'd strongly suggest you go to a music store and try out other "regular" sized guitars first to make sure this is what you want.
2) If you want a small-sized guitar, there's no need to be tied to a parlor model. You have other - in my opinion, better - options.
3) I'm not a parlor guitar expert, so take my advice with a grain of salt. However, I am knowledgeable enough to comment on acoustic guitars in general, and I feel very confident giving advice to beginners and first-time buyers.

In case you're curious, I did scratch my small-guitar itch with a Taylor GS Mini. I am not a fan of Taylor, and thought I'd never buy one. However, I couldn't deny what my ears were hearing.

I look for small channels and independent reviews on YouTube... you can never trust a big channel that is getting paid to review a product. The videos that I watch give it a mixbag.. some good and some bad