Goodall Parlor 12 Fret Acoustic Guitar with Italian Spruce and Cocobolo

Spec Sheet for Goodall Parlor 12 Fret Acoustic Guitar with Italian Spruce and Cocobolo

Case for Goodall Parlor 12 Fret Acoustic Guitar with Italian Spruce and Cocobolo

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The Goodall Parlor 12 Fret in Italian Spruce and Cocobolo carries an extraordinary amount of music within its graceful proportions. Showcased at Fretboard Summit 2026, this exquisite instrument pairs a Master Grade Italian Spruce top with AAA Cocobolo back and sides, bringing sumptuous materials to a design celebrated for its remarkably expansive voice. Its intimate feel invites you closer, while its huge sound and seemingly endless sustain fill the space around you. Even a simple chord becomes something worth lingering over.

That ability to make an instrument feel alive has defined James Goodall’s work for more than five decades. His journey began in Southern California in 1972, when the young seascape painter traded one of his paintings for the tonewoods that would become his first guitar. The artist’s eye found a new medium, and an enduring vocation took shape. As part of the formative generation of modern American independent luthiers, James helped establish a place for instruments with an unmistakably individual voice. His original designs and devotion to clarity, refinement, and tonal beauty have made the Goodall name an enduring presence in contemporary acoustic guitar making.

Today, that passion is shared at the bench with his son, Luke Goodall. Having grown from sweeping the workshop as a child to building instruments full time since 2004, Luke brings decades of experience, a meticulous eye for symmetry and detail, and a personal commitment to the family company’s future. His vision carries the intimacy of that upbringing: beautiful instruments, carefully made, with the family’s standards present in every curve and joint. With James and Luke building and Jean Goodall managing the business, the company remains a deeply personal undertaking. Fittingly, a Parlor 12 Fret is among Luke’s own chosen guitars.

The appeal of this model is easy to understand. Its compact body rests naturally against the player, while the neck’s meeting at the twelfth fret places the bridge farther into the lower portion of the soundboard. Goodall associates this arrangement with a sweeter, warmer response, and the model’s rounded, singing character brings a beautiful sense of continuity to fingerstyle passages. There is generosity to its voice, with a fullness and presence that reach far beyond its modest dimensions.

Here, the Italian Spruce and Cocobolo offer an especially compelling palette. Goodall describes Italian Spruce as having a focused voice with a strong fundamental, a lovely complement to the rich tonal character associated with Cocobolo. That combination promises definition within the richness, giving individual notes a clear center as harmonics gather around them. The long sustain becomes part of the phrasing itself, allowing one note to hover beneath the next and open chords to unfold slowly into the room.

The appointments give that musical richness an equally elegant visual expression. Ebony bindings trace the body, fingerboard, and headstock, joined by a fully mitered ebony backstrip. A premium black pearl rosette lends a subtle, luminous focal point to the spruce soundboard, while mother of pearl square inlays punctuate the ebony fretboard. An ebony bridge and headstock veneer continue the dark accents, complemented by ebony bridge and end pins. The high gloss body and headstock finish bring depth to the woods, and a clear pickguard preserves the soundboard’s clean appearance.

The Honduran Mahogany neck wears a smooth satin finish, with a 25" scale length, generous 1 13/16" nut width, and 2 1/4" bridge spacing providing an inviting platform for articulate finger work. Waverly Bronze Patina slot head tuning machines with ebony buttons add beautifully judged warmth to the headstock, while the installed K&K Pure Mini pickup makes amplification readily available.

Weighing 4 lb 12 oz, this Parlor includes an Ameritage Gold case with humidity control and photographs of the guitar on a USB flash drive. It is an intimate expression of the Goodall family’s craft, with a voice that opens wide and a final note that seems reluctant to leave.

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