Parlor guitar for finger style and some strumming: Guild M40 or Gibson L-00 Studio?

[Rosewood99]

I would recommend the Gibson Rosewood parlor. I was surprised at how well it strummed and it was a great finger style.

[Thrillhouse]

I have a Guild F-20. I'm not sure if the specs are 100% the same but they have to be darn close. The string spacing would be a bit tight for fingerstyle for most people but it sounds like you've played one already so might not be an issue. I love my guitar. I do flat picking and strumming only but I have no desire for anything larger.

[zombywoof]

I have always been a fingerpicker so pretty much every guitar I own works for that approach. And while there are certain specs such as a 2 5/16" or 2 3/8" string spacing at the bridge which I find to be the comfiest there is no rule book for such things.

I am also not much for recommending what others should play. Of the two models you mention though, I cannot speak to the latest incarnation of Guilds as I have only owned Hoboken and Westerly-made instruments. When it comes to the L-00 opinions tend to be very different depending on whether you have spent time with guitars which rolled out of Kalamazoo in the 1930s. More often as not those of us who have played 1930s L series guitars do not hold Bozeman-made versions such as the L-00 Studio, Standard, and Original in very high regard. The only thing they have in common with the originals is body shape. They are much heavier built, sport a different bracing carve, a skimpier and string spacing at the bridge, and such. Bozeman though has its own ideas as to what sounds and feels best so it is not a good or a bad thing just different.