The Acoustic Guitar Forum - New Guitar Day ... Mike Baranik "Retreux Parlour"

I attended the 2018 La Conner Guitar Festival, having thoroughly enjoyed the 2017 inaugural last year. I came away from the show last year enchanted with a Butch Boswell (new luthier to me) OO with a beautiful koa B&S and a wonderfully grained redwood top.

This year I went, determined not to succumb to the siren's call of a new instrument! I was eager to see luthier friends Paul Woolson and Butch, who were returning, and as well eager to see the luthier who has built several of my guitars, Mike Baranik - his first time at La Conner.

I was also toting along my Woolson A style mandolin for Paul to exhibit. I had signed up for a course from Paul Asbell (Vermont) and was really just anticipating enjoying the expanded list of restaurants the organizers (Brent McElroy and his wife Shirley Makela) had lined up for performers to showcase the builders' instruments. And I did that.

But, of course, I also played more than a dozen guitars. As I always like Mike Baranik's craft, I started there on Friday. His apprentice Chris and I chatted amicably, and I told him I wanted to play the very interesting OO Mike had brought which had a "fiddleback" mahogany. Quite unusual in appearance - and it did sound like other exceptional mahogany guitars. On returning it to the booth, Chris then handed me the Retreux Parlour that Mike had built to match. I bought one of Mike's Parlours a few years back, and although playability and fit and finish and appointments (it was an Art Deco themed instrument - some of you who attended the last Healdsburg show might have seen it there), I never really connected with it.

This Parlour though, with the same fiddleback mahogany, was outstanding. Mike told me he hasn't really changed the build of these parlour guitars in the five or so years he's been making them, and maybe it was the material, or maybe it was a few tweaks here and there, or maybe it was the tequila (no, pretty sure not!), but even though only days old the guitar was refreshingly open... uncluttered tone.. hard to describe as always.

Then - Chris (with a smirk), said "now try this one". It was made from some wood from Peru - renewable in the narrowest sense as it was not special and was usually tossed in a burn pile. Pumaquiro is the name, and some internet searches told me it grows in Mexico and on down into South America.

With an Adirondack top, this one rang all the bells, checked every box, and by the end of the show I had decided to buy it. All during the three days I'd heard it played by Dorian Michaels, Paul Asbell, Jamie Stillway, and several guitar friends - and it took on every style with aplomb.

In the last few weeks while I've been exploring the tone, I've found the adi top really has extensive headroom - enough so that very sparse finger style chords are rich and full, and on the other end aggressive strumming doesn't
fuzz out and overdrive the top. My current project has required a lowering of all strings a half, and the parlour has handled that easily.

Here's a few pictures that Mike took before shipping the guitar to me. Sorry for the low res - still figuring out image attachment now that I've given up Photobucket! Enjoy!

Phil