Expensive vintage parlor guitars started out as affordable instruments for the masses, so it’s not really surprising for big name manufacturers like Fender to create parlor guitars that are more accessible.
Case in point is the Fender Ron Emory Loyalty Parlor Guitar, a great looking parlor guitar co-designed by T.S.O.L. guitarist Ron Emory, with a price tag that’s surprisingly affordable. Interestingly, this elegant small bodied acoustic guitar instrument is the signature instrument of a guitarist mostly known for his punk rock work!
As part of Fender’s Artist Design Series, this signature guitar is based on Emory’s own guitar collection in order to meet his expectations. There are currently two versions of this guitar, first of which is the sunburst finish model that reproduces the vibe and feel of the ’30s, the second model has a butterscotch-stain finish similar to the artist’s prized ’52 Telecaster.
For something so affordable, the Ron Emory Loyalty Parlor has some elegant features including the premium looking herringbone body binding, vintage style rosette, aged neck binding, diamond fretboard inlays, three-ply pickguard, and the vintage-style rosewood โViking” bridge. All of these features combine to bring about an instrument that will easily turn heads. The look of this sub $300 acoustic guitar is easily comparable to those more than ten times more expensive!
On top of the guitar’s impressive appeal, Fender and Ron wanted the guitar to be as playable as possible to be an effective entry level guitar. To get this done, they had the neck carved into a soft “V” profile, topped it with a rosewood fretboard and installed 19 large vintage-style frets. the Graphtech Nubone Nut is 1.625″ wide while fretboard radius is 11.81″. This should give the guitar playability that even younger players will find comfortable.
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Other common features found on the two models include the classic parlor body shape, quartersawn scalloped โXโ bracing, Graphtech Nubone compensated saddle, open-gear tuners, 70’s era Fender headstock and the same scale length of 25.3″.
The Sunburst Loyalty Parlor is the more traditional of the two Fender Ron Emory Loyalty parlor guitar models, featuring laminated spruce top and laminated mahogany back and sides. The neck is made of mahogany to complete the conventional acoustic guitar package. This particular model comes with a great looking Tortoiseshell pickguard to match the aesthetics of the finish.
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The Ash Butterscotch Loyalty Parlor comes with an all-ash body, giving it a unique tonality compared to the first model. And instead of mahogany, the neck is also made of maple, and this interesting design is based on Roy’s vintage Fender Telecaster. A 1-ply gold pickguard is placed on top of the body to complement the guitar’s light finish.
6 thoughts on “Fender Ron Emory Loyalty Parlor Guitar”
It’s a great little workhorse. I’ve played mine for almost 3 years and was just trying to recall the stock strings supplied (I think they were Fender 80/20 70L. Yep Light. Because one of the lovely features about this guitar is the scale length at just 24 inches (61 cms) and not the 25.3 inches reported in the spec. above.
This is interesting, all the retailers I checked show the same scale length reported here. Did you measure yours manually?
Yes. After 60 years of playing I have problems with the ligaments in my hands and in my left forearm… I was looking for something that would be less tiring to play. I now have two. An original promo version all solid woods and a butterscoth laminate version which has quite a poor timbre, but sounded fabulous once I fitted a Fishman Blackstack pickup.
while I love the guitar I can’t help but Wonder if the frets seem closer together then would normally be I have a very hard time playing the a major chord fitting all three fingers
into the second fret without touching the other strings. I mean I don’t feel my fingers are that large but it’s literally impossible for me to not brush the other strings beside my finger dulling out the tone
I had the same issue when I first got a parlor guitar, but I got used to it. Try curling up your fingers more as you play, hopefully that helps.