Parker Guitars

I bought my Fly Deluxe used at a Guitar Center in Arlington, TX. It had a huge scratch on it and was not in the best of shape. It was priced right and I could afford it, so having always wanted one I bought it. I have sold it twice since then and went to buy it back the next day, every time. My poor Parker Fly is barely hanging on though. It still plays like a dream, the neck is perfect. I'm plagued by a pesky buzz. They said that the DiMarzio pickups sounded thin and they do, they sound very nasal if that makes sense. I've been told that the pickup selector switch could be bad, thus the buzz. USM sent me a new/used switch and no one in the Dallas area was willing to try to install it. Its a 12 pole switch and its soldered to a ribbon connector. I tried gutting the electronics and hard wiring the pickups to a simple 3 way switch. I ended up putting the original electronics back in. Even with all its problems, this will be the last guitar I ever buy (unless I buy another Parker Fly). Now they're hard to find but I've always got an eye out. If you have the means to buy a Parker Fly then I would suggest you do. The P series and the new PDF series are not the same thing. I feel like the pre-refined are more desirable but the USM made series are just as good.

This was an older NiteFly SA guitar made in the USA by Ken Parker. DiMarzio pickups: a humbucker in bridge and 2 single coils. A piezo in the vibrato. 1 volume + 1 tone, piezo circuit: 1 volume. 5 way pickup selector switch positions and a a mono/stereo button. The piezoelectric circuit is active and therefore requires a 9 volt battery. The guitar body wood is swamp ash and the neck is wood? with carbon fiber or all carbon fiber, I can't quite remember. The bridge is a Parker trem and comes with stainless steel frets, a graphite nut and Sperzel tuners. It is easy to set the bridge height and to adjust the neck for great playability. UTILIZATION Upper fret access is very good on this guitar. The neck carve is very nice, kind of a D mixed with C shape that is very comfortable. It is a very ergonomically designed guitar - very light and easy to play in all positions. One drawback was the upper horn can dig into your chest when you are sitting down and playing it, otherwise it's great. It has stainless stell frets, that are fantastic, and the fast neck make playing leads very easy. There are a wide variety of sounds available due to the 5 way switch and humbucker and two single pickups. The bridge is solid, but I bought it used without the trem bar, so I was never able to use it to see how well it worked. In the five years I owned the guitar I didn't need to reset it up - it was very stable. SOUNDS I used this guitar with custom built Peters amplifiers, which are kind of a cross between a Peavey 5150 and high gain Marshall/VHT with a little Boogie thrown in. It was also used with these amps:an Egnater IE4 pre, Marshall TSL, Mesa DC-5 and Peavey 5150II. The amp was paired with an Avatar 4x12 that had Celestion G12h -30's and a Splawn 4x12 with Governor/ManOWar speaker combo,a VHT FB cab and a stock Marshall 1960B. I usually go for a nice thick Jerry Cantrell AIC tone, to use with my modern rock/metal band. The guitar had a very open sound to it and all frequencies were represented fairly when it was played UNPLUGGED. When amplified with distortion and not the sound was very thin and uninspiring. The neck single coil had some good tones in it but for what I needed this guitar to do it was disappointing! I couldn't use the amplified sound so I just kept it to practice on. My favorite sounds with this guitar were the unplugged and neck pickup sounds. Least favorite tones were all the other sounds. Overall, it did not suit my style of music very well! OVERALL OPINION I absolutely loved the stainless steel frets - this was the first gutiar I bought with these and they spoiled me. Now I only have and buy guitars with ss frets! I beat the hell out of this guitar and the frets still looked perfect when I sold it. I also liked it's light weight. I didn't like how this guitar sounded amplified at all. Very thin and no punch. I am not sure if it was because of the pickups, wood or both. It sounded ok unplugged but never worked for me amplified. Knowing what I know no, I would not have bought this. Maybe would have gotten a NiteFly M or saved my money. But it was a fun experiment and I abused it and the frets never wore so I didn't lose much money when I resold it. Value for the used price was ok 6/10 as well. I have owned many guitars and had a number of years where I would buy, try and flip, which enabled me to have many guitars around to try out. This guitar had a very limited sound I could work with but was a great player.

USA made Carved Mahogany body with Basswood neck Parker custom-cast aluminum vibrato bridge, stainless steel saddles DiMarzio custom wound pickups 3-way mag pickup selection with push-pull coil tap Custom Fishman piezos and stereo voltage-doubled pre-amp Custom Parker vibrato system Stainless steel frets 4¼ lbs Must use a battery to get piezo tones Must use a Y cable to get split stereo tones, but the piezo can be blended in mono with a mono cable UTILIZATION This guitar is going to get a glowing review from me in every category, as it is one of the best guitars I've ever played. It is so well-designed in every aspect - ergonomics, playability, weight, sound capability, vibrato stability, neck stability, beauty. The smoothness of the neck and also of the vibrato system is remarkable. It is truly a great guitar, and one of the most original designs of the last 50 years. SOUNDS Electric tone wise, this guitar seems to live in shred-land, although it is way more than adequate at a variety of other genres. The bridge pickup screams, with lots of bite and upper harmonics. The neck tone is very smooth, and silky, and the middle position provides plenty of spank. Jazz, blues, rock, and country tones abound here, but shred is where this guitar shines. Acoustic tone - well, what other electrics do you know that will do acoustic tones? The sounds are very convincing, and can split to another amp or be blended into the main amp. This allows the jazz, pop, and even other experimental sounds to happen, all "on the fly". OVERALL OPINION I give this guitar a perfect ten. It is a steal for the price, it is incredibly durable, it plays like a dream, and can get nearly any tone imaginable. The only way this guitar could be better is if the electric pickups had a 5 way switch or a 3 way with push-pull coil tapping, but I'll take what I can get.

Parker P38 in red transparent; into a '73 Fender Princeton Reverb. So I am going for very clean tones (Tele, Strat, etc.) in a smaller amp. This guitar is a good match and in like new shape with new padded gig bag and already set up for $350 ? I'm happy. I write songs in different genres and can play old rock and roll, classical, blues, country mostly. This guitar is not a Strat and the pickups are not Strat, but if you wanted a set, they would fit. The humbucker at the bridge could be replaced and coil-tapped with a Pearly Gates or similar to get a lot of overdriven sounds (ZZ Top) with an OD pedal. These are flawlessly made and designed much like a 'real' Parker. For a person who likes thin, flat, light body and very comfy neck feel.... this is a good choice. Fishman acoustic (piezo) bridge on demand alone or mixed with the pickups is very nice. The feel and workmanship are top notch and it also looks fine and plays very well with .010-.046 or .009-.042 gauge. You may need to let a bit of neck relief for light gauge and a luthier can fine adjust the nut slots (not an amateur job) for comfort. This guitar well under $400 with nice case and in perfect shape is hard to beat. It is versatile, plays easily, and is solid. It's not a guitar to bang around and is not for metal and thrash players. It's a fairly refined guitar more like a good Schecter Classic or a Gibson ES339. Not delicate, but not a thick and 'bullet proof' guitar physically. I have owned and sold many dozens of guitars over 20 years and this is one of maybe a dozen best values. Tokai Springy Sound Strat, a Bill Crook Telecaster, a Schecter C1 Elite, and a nice SG from Austin are my favorites. There are good guitars that never took off in the market (Austins from Korea were some) that offer excellent value. This 'odd shaped' Parker P38 is another one.

Made in Korea Carved ash body Natural/Butterscotch finish Maple neck (bolt on) Maple fretboard with 22 frets 2 Parker designed alnico single-coil pickups - 1 is a lipstick, 1 is uncovered Fishman piezo pickup system Black Pickguard Master Volume, Magnetic Volume, Piezo Volume, Master Tone, 3 way magnetic pickup selector, 3 way switch to choose from Piezo, Magnetic, or both 25-1/2" scale 10" to 13" conical fretboard radius Nickel-silver frets Grover tuners UTILIZATION This particular guitar is an interesting entry from Parker. Parker Guitars is usually thought of as a very forward-thinking company; their Fly guitars completely rocked the musical instrument world on their introduction in the early 1990s, and features like carbon-fiber backing and fretboards, stainless steel frets, and piezo-acoustic systems were heralded as the stuff of the future! This P-36 is a lot more of a traditional instrument, with fewer "futuristic" amenities. It does still includes the distinctive Parker shape, as well as the Fishman piezo system. Other than that, this is basically a Telecaster! It has none of the carbon fiber, stainless frets, or Parker vibrato system, but it does what it does very well. SOUNDS This guitar, like most Parkers, is very versatile. It includes the ability to switch between the magnetic pickups only, piezo only, or a blend between the two. The piezo is pretty cool - some interesting acoustic-type sounds can be hand, and onstage, it certainly gets the job done. Otherwise, the magnetic pickups are very similar to a Tele - a bit noisy (they are single coils), yet bright and cutting on the bridge pickup, warm and smooth on the neck. OVERALL OPINION Compared to other Parkers, this guitar is fairly traditional. For a Parker enthusiast that really wants an inexpensive Telecaster-style guitar for the arsenal, this is a fine choice. Others, that just want a good, versatile guitar that stands out, will also be happy with this axe.

One guitar that I always wanted to try a Parker Mojo Fly. So I purchased a used one and from day one had problems with it. It wouldn't stay in tune and the sound really wasn't on par with my other guitars (a PRS custom 22 and an Ibanez Prestige Team J Craft - don't expect me to remember the exact model of that Ibanez, as it's all numbers and letters ;) No matter what I did, I couldn't keep this thing in tune. Even with the locking tuners. I tried many different sets of strings, nut lube on the nut and bridge, even chap stick and pencil lead. UTILIZATION I have been playing electric guitar for many years, and in that time, I've owned many guitars. Some great, some ok, and some, just pure junk. There was a time when I had over 20 guitars (electric and acoustic). At that time, maybe 1 or 2 were great, 1 or 2 were ok, and the rest. Junk. So years have gone by and I decided I would rather have just a few great guitars than a bunch of junk. quality over quantity I guess. I was thinking that the Parker Mojo Fly was going to be the fix that I needed. But I guess not, unless I just had a defected unit but I wasn’t going to take a chance and get another one. SOUNDS Everything you could do to try and keep this thing tuned up, I tried...no luck. Still for the few minutes that it was in tune, it certainly wasn't a bad guitar. It felt great, sounded pretty good, and looked beautiful. So it was with reluctance that I decided to bring it back and exchange for something else. It was possible that since I purchased it used that something was wrong with it. OVERALL OPINION Good thing that the store let me return. But besides the tune part, the guitar looks and feels pretty good. But if you don’t want to be out of tune, pass on this one.

First thing I want to say about this guitar is that it is absolutely beautiful! It has a unique shape and style. Even the case was beautiful! I bought this guitar new online several years ago. Unfortunately there was something wrong with the neck and maybe the nut too. The neck is super thin even for an electric guitar and the strings sort of collided with each other being too close together and never felt right to me.Also I thought the guitar was an acoustic electric guitar that I could also play as an acoustic guitar, it isn't that. You need to plug this in to get a full sound out of it. Plugged in it sounds just fine but this wasn't what I needed at the time and I sent it back even though I just loved looking at it. It was a piece of art that gave me pleasure but I couldn't afford to keep it and wanted the money for one that suited my needs at the time. I don't know if all of them have this neck problem that mine had but if you don't like a super thin neck you won't like this guitar.

I traded in my Jackson SL3 Guitar for this thing because I kept on puling the strings off the side of the neck on the jackson where they have the strings to close to the edge of the neck. The neck on the NiteFly - M is just a joy. The action is mega low and those hardended stainles frets are so super smooth that string bending on this baby is an absolute delight The thing I didn't like about the guitar is the dimarzio pickups that they fit. They sound ok going straight into a good quality amp , but going through a POD Or Digitech Amp simulator sounded crap, so I fitted a pair of Seymore Duncan pick up and it has trasformed the guitar into the best guitar I have ever played. Also the body of the guitar is very easy to mark as it is only a wax finish. As far as the neck goes ( wow! ),the rest of the guitar is of a very high quality. This is a guitar that you can sit down and play for hours because I brings the best out of you. The things that you didn't think you could play become a posibility and leads to a high degree of satisfaction. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

After an exhaustive search in local shops and on the web I found this guitar for $638 at RiksMusic.com. The list price was over $1100 and no one else even came close to matching Riks price! I love everything about it! + Mahogany body + Flame maple top + Dual split coil humbuckers + Piezo / acoustic pickups + Active mixer + Grover locking tuners The tonal possibilities are amazing. The humbuckers are hot. The split coil lets you get a pseudo single coil sound, sans hum (I hate hum!). The piezos yield a very realistic acoustic sound, but mix them with the magnetics and you get a hybrid that introduces a whole new dimension of sound. With a mono plug, the magnetics and the piezos mix in the active electronics, but with a stereo plug you can get magnetics on one channel and piezos on the other channel. Nice touch, Parker! The finish is simply beautiful (I went with the transparent charcoal). I've never had a guitar stay in tune like this... even neckthroughs and hardtails (this guitar has a bolt-on neck and a Fishman bridge with a whammy)... It's almost spooky how it stays in tune... I have nothing to say Very solid guitar. Flawless finish. The controls are well organized and well placed. The body has a nice sense of balance, not too heavy - not too light. I went to the local Guitar Center and tried the P38. I liked the playability and the workmanship, but the ash body felt insubstantial and cheap. I liked the tonal flexibility (especially the piezos), but I could not find a single pickup selection that didn't hum and I hated that glam pickguard that covered 80% of the guitar! I knew the P44 would have all the things I liked about the P38 and none of the things I hated about it. Nevertheless, it seemed like a huge risk - I've never bought a guitar without first trying it out... much less over the web... My risk was amply rewarded. "Nothing plays like a Parker" (I didn't make that up). This is clearly one of the best investments I have ever made, I have no regrets, and I can't say enough great things about the Parker P44. I'd give it a 6 if I could! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Made in USA Satin finish Body: Alder double cutaway Neck: Bolt-on radiused maple Fingerboard: Ebony Frets: 22 frets, stainless steel Neck pickup: Seymour Duncan SSL6A Mid pickup: Seymour Duncan SSL6A Bridge pickup: Seymour Duncan TB14 humbucker Piezo pickup: Custom Fishman Bridge: Parker Trem Pickup selectors: 5-way magnetic, 3-way magnetic/piezo Tone knob: Split-coil Case: Hardshell case included UTILIZATION I thought USA made Parkers were supposed to be the cream of the crop in terms of playability. Maybe they're going downhill - this particular guitar was nowhere near as sleek and fast as my other Parkers I've owned. I know the company has a need to make as much money as possible, and that guitarists as a whole are a conservative group. Parker already makes incredibly forward-thinking guitars, so a model with less radical looks and features is an attempt to get more into the mainstream. The guitar looks good, although not as nice as the higher end Fly series. However, the all wood, no carbon fiber neck has wayyyy more friction on the front and back than I am used to in a Parker. Also, the neck was torqued just a bit to the treble side. Without the carbon fiber, the neck is not as stable on this design, and the playability suffers for it. SOUNDS The Duncan pickups were fantastic. However, the guitar loses points here for shoddy wiring. The switch that selects piezo/magnetic had a short in it. This is absolutely unacceptable in a $2000 USA made guitar. The piezo would cut in and out on its own. Very disappointing. OVERALL OPINION This is the worst Parker guitar I've yet played. And that's a shame, because I like the new body design. However, taking away the carbon, the neck joint, and putting terrible wiring on this guitar makes it just another overpriced guitar. If you're thinking about buying this guitar, save your pennies and buy an older used Fly. You'll thank yourself, and spend half as much for a guitar that is 3 times as good.

Korea made Mahogany body Set mahogany neck Ebony fretboard String-through-body tuneamatic bridge Seymour Duncan Jazz and JB humbucking pickups Coil tapping 10" to 13" conical fretboard radius 25-1/2" scale Nice binding UTILIZATION This guitar is extremely easy to play, owing to Parker's smooth 10-13 inch conical fretboard radius. This makes the guitar's fretboard more curved up near the nut, so barre chords and open chords are easier to play, but more flattened in the higher frets, so that scales and single note playing is easier. The ebony has a nice feel to it, and the binding is a great cosmetic bonus. The outline of the body looks a bit more traditional, but with a touch of class. The guitar is noticeably heavier than the USA made models - this is due to not using the carbon fiber and thinner woods that the American guitars use. That's not necessarily a bad thing - it's not a HEAVY guitar, but it is a different animal than a USA Parker. One thing I do appreciate about this guitar over my USA Parkers is the fact that it is a hardtail bridge. I love the smoothness of my USA tremolos, but the stop tail of the PM20 Pro allows me to set the guitar up in different tunings much more quickly. SOUNDS With Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz pickups, as well as coil tapping, this guitar can get a world of great sounds. Thick, singing sustain, or breathy airiness, it will do about anything it is asked to do. Metal, Jazz, Country, Rock...this guitar gets a nice tone for nearly any style of music. OVERALL OPINION For the price, this guitar can't be beat. If one doesn't need a completely traditional axe, this is a very nice choice. I recommend it due to the versatility in sounds, the classy look, and the fantastic fretboard. A+.

Parkers are known for their use of composite materials on their guitars. Sometimes you just gotta go back to what you know best. This is one of their models that uses a lot of real wood. This is the Nitefly Mojo. This guitar has a mahogany body with a bolt on mahogany neck. The neck has carbon glass epoxy reinforcement so it will stay straight and true like a composite neck. The fretboard is Parkers composite design which is very similar to ebony. The fretboard is made from a carbon class composite. The fretboard is wide with a compound radius design. The frets on the fretboard are stainless steel which is great. Stainless steel frets do not wear out like nickle frets so once you get them leveled correctly they will stay perfectly leveled. The electronics on this guitar are very cool. The guitar comes with a normal set of Seymour Duncan magnetic pickups. You get the good JB Jazz set with those. It has a Parker tremolo system that has a built in Piezo as well. UTILIZATION These Parker guitars are super light and comfortable. The guitar is thin so it does not really feel like mahogany. The body has nice cutaways and bevels that give you good upper fret access. Even with the bolt on neck you can reach the upper frets fine. There are no inlays on the fretboard but there are always side markers. The composite fretboard is super smooth. This along with the stainless steel frets means you get nice smooth playability. Stainless steel frets dont get rough for worn out so they will always be smooth. The tremolo is Parkers own design and It works pretty well it seems and stays in tune well. I have heard from sources that these guitars are not very road worthy. They are quite fragile and seem to need a lot of adjustment. This may just be the lower end models I am not sure. SOUNDS Parkers are normally pretty bright sounding guitars so I am glad to see they are making more of them out of mahogany to try and tame the brightness. The Seymour Duncans are a good touch as well as they bring a bit of a familiar tone into the picture. The JB in the bridge with the Jazz in the neck is a very common set that is very versatile. The Jazz is similar to the 59 but with more bite on the high end. The 59 is so vintage and smooth on some guitars it can get pretty muddy. The Jazz fixes that by added some more treble to the voicing of the pickup. When playing fast leads in the neck position the Jazz will have a clearer sound than the 59. The 59 is more voiced towards slower bluesy leads while the Jazz is better for fast shredding or even jazz. Having slightly less low end than the 59 means the Jazz is less boomy and will have more clarity when it comes to playing. This also means the clean tones are very good. With less low end the high strings in the clean tones will really ring out and do not get overpowered by the bass end strings on the Parker. The Peizo gives you the typical Piezo sound. With a good acoustic amp you can kinda get a believable acoustic sound. Piezos always have a Piezoish sound. OVERALL OPINION These super modern Parker guitars are not very popular. People tend to like tradition and there is nothing traditional about a composite Parker. They also have a pretty untraditional sound to them as well. But with this moderness comes a lot of cool features. Stainless steel frets and reinforced necks are cool things I wish more guitars had. If you are looking for a modern guitar hardly anyone is playing with a sound that will never get lost in the mix. The Parker Nitefly Mojo is an alright guitar if you dont mind the looks.