Left Handed Parlor Guitar Roundup

Being friends with a left handed guitarist, I know how frustrating it is to find good guitars, let alone a good left handed parlor guitar. So to spread the good news of parlor guitars to the lefties, I scoured the market for worthy parlor guitars that our left handed friends can enjoy.

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Being friends with a left handed guitarist, I know how frustrating it is to find good guitars, let alone a good left handed parlor guitar. So to spread the good news of parlor guitars to the lefties, I scoured the market for worthy parlor guitars that our left handed friends can enjoy.

The lack of lefty guitars in the market have led many left handed players to modify their instruments, or worse to learn to play right handed. Thankfully there are a few left handed (LH) parlor acoustics that are available, and more importantly, they are reasonably priced and of good quality. If you have the budget, big name guitar builders can build you left handed versions of their parlor acoustics. A good example of this is Martin Guitars, known for their “left friendly” policy where they provide lefty versions of many of their guitars without additional cost. I have spread out the pricing of the lefty parlor guitars in this list to accommodate different price points, so you can find a suitable instrument whatever your budget maybe.

Alvarez AP70L	K391L Parlor	Eastman E10P Lefty	Martin 0-28VS (Lefty Friendly)
Manufacturer: Alvarez	Manufacturer: Kona	Manufacturer: Eastman	Manufacturer: Martin
Features	Features	Features	Features
Alvarez’s best-selling parlor is available for left handed players, and it is the best bang-per-buck in this list.	An affordable lefty parlor guitar with classic styling that makes it appear more expensive than it actually is.	A true workhorse all-solid wood parlor guitar that will make even right handed players envious.	Although a bit pricey, this left handed parlor guitar offers genuine Martin tone and quality.
Read more	Read more	Read more	Read more
	Check Price @ Amazon	Check Price @ Eastman	Check Price @ Amazon

Detailed Information About Each of These Parlor Guitar Cases:

Alvarez AP70L

With contemporary artists like Ani Difranco, Monte Montgomery, Josh Turner and more endorsing their guitars, Alvarez continues to grow in popularity. Thankfully, they have not left out left handed guitarists, and continue to offer a wide range of instruments for them, including the AP70L parlor guitar. Like their other products, the AP70L comes packed with nice features while maintaining a very accessible price tag.

While it looks much like a traditional parlor, Alvarez injects a hefty amount of modern technology in designing and building this instrument. The top is crafted from solid sitka spruce and supported by forward shifted scalloped bracing and rosewood back and sides, ultimately resulting in improved projection and articulation. With its reliability and modern versatile voicing, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better deal in the same price range, be it a lefty or not.

In addition to its impressive looks and tone, Alvarez’ reputation for producing consistently great quality instruments applies to this parlor guitar, making this a great buy for left handed guitarists who are looking for a great solid top parlor.

Kona K391L

The Kona K391L is the most affordable left handed parlor guitar in the market today, and the saying that you get what you pay for rings true for this instrument. With its incredibly cheap price tag, it would be unreasonable to expect much from this instrument. But all is not lost because this “cheap” feel and quality makes this parlor guitar more true to form, or as other manufacturers say, “period correct”, comparable to the mail order blues boxes that many guitarists of the past had to wrestle with in the past.

There’s nothing really special about this guitar, aside from being cheap and left handed. And because it is cheap and ordinary, it makes for a perfect couch guitar where you never have to worry about damage, allowing you to focus on making music. It has a laminate spruce top and laminate linden (basswood) for the back and sides, which would not provide the ringing tone expected of modern acoustics. However, this choice of laminate wood gives this parlor guitar a gnarly voice with notes that decay in much the same way as vintage parlor guitars.

While I wouldn’t recommend standard sized acoustics with this type of specs and quality, the Kona K391L fits the parlor guitar label quite nicely. If you’re looking for an instrument to wrestle and make music with, or if your budget is limited, check this one out.

Eastman E10PL

If you’re looking for a premium left handed parlor guitar with a reasonable price tag, then you’re in luck with Eastman E10P Lefty model. This parlor guitar comes with all the workhorse ready features of the right handed model, including an all-solid wood body that you normally only see on more expensive instruments. Resulting in a true premium looking and sounding lefty parlor that does not cost an arm and a leg.

The elegant looking top of this guitar is crafted from solid adirondack spruce, supported by forward shifted x-bracing. This allows for impressive resonance and volume, something that would only be accessible at higher price points. The back and sides are crafted from solid mahogany, both of which form the slim parlor style shape that helps in both the visual and audio aspect. The use of solid mahogany back and sides better emphasizes the nuances of your playing and they add to the already woody voicing of the guitar.

With their expanding roster of artists endorsers and the impressive quality of their products, Eastman’s popularity continually grows. It would’ve been better if they had more left handed parlors available, but since the E10P hits the sweet spot of great value and quality, there’s not much else to complain about.

Click here for more information on the Eastman E10P

Martin 0-28VS Lefty

Martin’s long and impressive history has led them to build all sorts of great quality acoustic guitars, and this includes left handed guitars. While they don’t normally release left handed only models, they have adopted a “left friendly” policy where many of the right handed guitars are available in left handed configuration without any additional charge. Thankfully the 0-28VS, their smallest full-size body parlor acoustic guitar, is labeled as left friendly.

Inspired by pre-World War II designs, this instrument stays true to the premium old school parlors from the 1870s to the early 1930s. And it’s not just about the looks because this guitar features the most sought after wood configuration, having a solid Sitka spruce top, paired with solid east Indian rosewood back and sides. This results in a ringing and surprisingly bigger projection that you would not expect in a guitar its size, and it also possesses impressive articulation that will make you want to play longer and better.

Since this guitar is built by Martin, you can expect it to have top notch build quality and reliability. My only qualm about this guitar is its price tag, but since this quality instrument will last you a lifetime, saving up for it is a noble quest that you won’t regret.

Click here for the latest price and customer reviews at Amazon.com

Other Lefty Parlor Guitars

I was initially going for a longer list, unfortunately there aren’t that many left handed parlor guitars in the market at the time of this writing. If you have a lefty parlor guitar that you want to recommend, you can do so at the comments section below.

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