Parker Guitars

suaveymcsuave

suaveymcsuave

New member
Anyone have any experience with Parker Guitars? They are weird looking but I think they seem cool...even the lower end ones have one piece body and necks with ebony fretboards...I wonder if this is really true. The website is so specific I don't think they made a mistake.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

It's probably very true. Parker Guitars are a strange beast. They're very thin guitars, so they have a thinner tone than most guitars. I think the body shape and the necks on them are awesome (a true shredders delight) and they have unparalleled upper fret access. The older Parkers had a different routing for their humbuckers than most traditional, so if you want a different tone, you're going to have to send it to someone to have it rewound.

The lower end models used to have a piezo and it was pretty bad, but the higher end models had a decent Fishman system IIRC. Certainly, if you were up for having some work done to it, they'd make some very unique and very cool guitars.

Another thing with Parker Guitars is that their customer service is garbage. Try asking them anything about their guitar line and you'll NEVER receive a response (I've asked several things at different times and finally gave up). Overall, I'm not too thrilled with the builder, but I guess he has his own unique vision to work on and customer service is the least of his problems.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

Hey, i own a parker p-40. I find its great for the covers band i'm in, covers a lot of territory, and its reallllllly light, dont even notice i've got it on. I actually ripped out the piezo in a frustrated wiring rage a while back. it was good when combined with the magnetic pickups, but sounded fairly weak on its own (will get you nowhere near acoustic territory obviously. but cool combined sounds are possible). I wish i had it back in actually, but wouldnt have a clue as to how to wire it back up!

Am in a process of re-pickup-ing it at the moment, the stock pickups arent anything special. But yeah, it plays really well. I like em :)

Also, have no idea how many pieces the body is, but the neck looks and plays realllly well.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

I played LesStrat's Parker back in December. I didn't have time to learn all the settings and such, but I really loved the feel and the sound I was getting. He could tell you a lot more about them than I could.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

I just worked on one here in my shop. I never really liked the looks of them at all but, once I picked it up and played it it changed my mind really fast! It was one of the best built guitars I have ever played!
 
Re: Parker Guitars

I have a Parker Concert Fly. I love it. It is very high tech and expensive.
I never had a problem with their customer service and support. I have called them twice in the past on the phone and they were great. From what I understand though, the company was sold to, if I remember correctly, Washburn last year. I am not sure what, if any, effect that will have on their products and service.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

Wonderful instruments... high quality, very versatile.... but definitely an acquired taste, I personally just find them too light, I need to feel taht the guitar is just there ;)
 
Re: Parker Guitars

the_Chris said:
Another thing with Parker Guitars is that their customer service is garbage. Try asking them anything about their guitar line and you'll NEVER receive a response (I've asked several things at different times and finally gave up). Overall, I'm not too thrilled with the builder, but I guess he has his own unique vision to work on and customer service is the least of his problems.
Click to expand...


A couple of years ago I met Ken Parker and got to talk to him for a bit. At the time I was considering having a custom axe made and I thought a Parker might be a good fit for me. After the conversation I decided to look elsewhere. The guy trashed every company that ever existed before him and came off as a VERY bitter old man.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

I had a Deluxe for a while. It had one of the best necks I've ever played and the trem system is sheer genius, but the tone is very thin and the upper horn dug into my ribs. Also, the piezo doesn't sound like an acoustic. Consider it an additional electric flavor.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

My main stage guitar is a nitefly- thin body, but not even slightly thin sound-
This is really a major change in designing a good sound and I think most aren't used to cutting edge materials involved-

JB in the bridge does all of the classic rock and splits great with the Crusier in teh middle position- Cruiser is s great low gain pup and comobines well with the relatively high gain cool rail in the neck-

Probably the best SG to strat covering guitar I have ever owned and Rock solid! I went on vaction last summer, tunned at the previous gig and the tunner showed it was exactly the same at the next gig 2 weeks later- Tempreature alone should have had some affect, but not that time-
m
 
Re: Parker Guitars

zionstrat said:
My main stage guitar is a nitefly- thin body, but not even slightly thin sound-
This is really a major change in designing a good sound and I think most aren't used to cutting edge materials involved-

JB in the bridge does all of the classic rock and splits great with the Crusier in teh middle position- Cruiser is s great low gain pup and comobines well with the relatively high gain cool rail in the neck-

Probably the best SG to strat covering guitar I have ever owned and Rock solid! I went on vaction last summer, tunned at the previous gig and the tunner showed it was exactly the same at the next gig 2 weeks later- Tempreature alone should have had some affect, but not that time-
m
Click to expand...

The original Parkers (like the Deluxe) have diffetrent construction than that of the Nitefly's. The Nitefly's were Parker's first attempt at making a more traditional guitar.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

Benjy, it's kind of in the middle-
The neck is the same composite but is a bolt on-
The body is the same thinline shape but not composoite (mine is maple and I love maple)-
Same blend of pizzo and electric as other flys-

So the hightfly is slightly more conventional, but also played a fly in another band that was all composite- Very little difference except the weight- My nfly is about average weight- The fly wiehged 2 or 3 lbs-
 
Re: Parker Guitars

I always heard more mids in the Nitefly's I played than in my Deluxe. Maybe I got a dud?

BTW, mine was one of the first guitars to be realesed. Maybe the pickup spec changed throughout the years.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

I have a '98 Parker Fly Deluxe.
FlyDeluxe.jpg


Very solidly built guitars.

What I like.
Lightness. - You'll never get a back ache with one of these.
Fishman Piezos. - I think they get a really good mic'd acoustic type tone.
That is when running through a full range system like a PA. Through a regular guitar amp, it's more of a really clean tone.
Parker Trem. - Best feeling trem I've used. The flat spring plate makes the trem feel so smooth compared to a traditional coil spring trem (like a floyd or Wilky). I also like that you have a switch to make it floating or non floating.
The fly wheel is great for adjusting the tension feel of the trem.
Stainless steel frets. - It'll take decades to wear them down.


Things I don't like.
Lower cutaway - I disagree with Chris on upper fret access. Access to 24th fret is still hindered a bit. Especially compared to my Carvins (or a neck-thru Jackson, Schecter, or ESP). I just feel it could be a touch deeper.
Top Horn - I agree, it jabs if you wear your guitar high. Or don't have a belly like Ken Parker to compensate for it.
Fretboard radius. - I prefer a 12 or higher radius. The Parker is a contoured 10 to 13 radius. Upper register feels great. Lower register is too curved for me.
PARKER/DIMARZIO pickups. - The pre 2000 are just too jangly sounding. They don't have that full bodied humbucker tone. Post 2000 are a great improvement. Two of my friends have the post 2000 P/D's in their Parkers. Much fuller sounding than mine. I really need to swap them out.

I mainly only use it for the Fishman piezos.
Still much, much better than playing on an acoustic as far as action goes.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

I tried one once expecting to hate it, but I was pleasantly surprised. With the neck pickup on combined with the piezo, it was a great jazz tone -- very woody and archtoppy...
 
Re: Parker Guitars

larry_emder said:
You have one extra pot than me - does the piezo have a tone control too?....that would be handy
Click to expand...


Larry,

Looking at my guitar pic from top to bottom.
Top control is the over all master volume.
Next is the P/D humbuckers volume control.
Then the P/D humbuckers tone control.
Bottom knob is a dual knob for the piezos.
top half is the piezo volume. Bottom ring is the piezo tone control.

Top toggle switch is for B/D pickups.
Bottom toggle switch is for either Piezo or B/Ds or both.
 
Re: Parker Guitars

AmpliFIRE said:
Good quality, horrible tone IMO
Click to expand...

That was one of the reason I had it in my shop! The Original pickups on the nitefly are horrible! There are some good Dimarzio's but, these things were dull, sounded like someone put a 5 inch think blanket over the speakers, and had no life! I installed a Duncan Custom, a lil JB and a lil 59. It is a tone monster now!!!! It sounded alot better than I even expected!
 
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