Bluesape Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 In August i found the only Parker I've seen for sale in over 30 years. Black Nitefly with SSS layout. 21 years old with no wear on it at all, almost as if whoever bought it never played it. Always a fan of carbon fiber, I'm blown away by the speed and engineering of the neck. Not exactly Strat sounding, with higher output and more girth, this is now my Holy Grail axe. No more jonesing for any wood neck guitars. I have plenty of excellent conventional guitars, and love them all, but my focus is now in these amazing instruments. Mine is a bolt-on with a white pickguard. A neck-through with hums and no pickguard is the only thing currently on my radar. Quantum leap in design and function, even being about 30 years in. Can't find a pic but Youtube has lots. 3 Quote Never a DUH! moment! Well, almost never. OK, OK! Sometimes never! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larryz Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 Glad you found your baby BluesApe! Congrats! 30 years is a long wait, but now you have found what you have been waiting for! 😎👍 1 Quote Take care, Larryz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 Congrats!!!! My brother has a metallic red neck through with Seymour Duncan hum buckers. He doesn't play it and I lust for it mightily. The Parkers are extraordinary instruments. by any measure. The neck is a bit on the slim side for me but they play like magic and the whammy bar is as good as they get for non-locking. 1 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 Congratulations, my friend! May you enjoy the heck outta that axe for a long, long time! The Parkers I've gotten my hands on were very lively and resonant, and played very well! I was literally, actually thinking about Parker guitars and Ken Parker just yesterday and thinking that it was unfortunate that such bold, excellent designs went by the wayside. 1 Quote Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesape Posted April 25, 2022 Author Share Posted April 25, 2022 If I'd bought one back then, I likely would have made the connection to this tech then, and not have acquired so many others. The new toy shine has not worn off. I now find my other axes getting away on me a bit, especially higher up the neck. Ken Parker seems to have thought of damn near everything the ideal solid body should have: locking tuners, stainless frets, lightening fast low action, and the sturdiness carbon fiber brings to the table. Every other axe I own is now the back-up for gigs. Totally sold! 3 Quote Never a DUH! moment! Well, almost never. OK, OK! Sometimes never! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 7 hours ago, Bluesape said: If I'd bought one back then, I likely would have made the connection to this tech then, and not have acquired so many others. The new toy shine has not worn off. I now find my other axes getting away on me a bit, especially higher up the neck. Ken Parker seems to have thought of damn near everything the ideal solid body should have: locking tuners, stainless frets, lightening fast low action, and the sturdiness carbon fiber brings to the table. Every other axe I own is now the back-up for gigs. Totally sold! As a guitar tech I only have one reservation and considering that they did use stainless steel for the frets, it's a small one. The frets are glued on, there is no slot in the fretboard, there is no tang on the fretwire. It's great until if/when a fret comes loose or wears out, maybe they never do. I wonder if the jigs they used still exist? Nevermind, just play it and enjoy it. I've never heard of one needed fretwork... 4 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesape Posted May 3, 2022 Author Share Posted May 3, 2022 Been consciously trying to rotate through most of my guitars....out of guilt! They're all still keepers, but definitely backup axes for most gigs. At 2 jams last weekend I took the Godin Artisan TC, which weighs not much over 5 lbs and is a monster player. Next day the white Studio was on deck. Both of these are superb players. Didn't regret leaving the Parker at home, but it somehow felt like a training run for my upcoming gig on Friday, where the Parker is definitely going, along with something HH to contrast against the SSS layout on the Parker. the sonic bases will be covered, and I'll get to shred the blues for hours. 2 Quote Never a DUH! moment! Well, almost never. OK, OK! Sometimes never! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted May 3, 2022 Share Posted May 3, 2022 5 minutes ago, Bluesape said: Been consciously trying to rotate through most of my guitars....out of guilt! They're all still keepers, but definitely backup axes for most gigs. At 2 jams last weekend I took the Godin Artisan TC, which weighs not much over 5 lbs and is a monster player. Next day the white Studio was on deck. Both of these are superb players. Didn't regret leaving the Parker at home, but it somehow felt like a training run for my upcoming gig on Friday, where the Parker is definitely going, along with something HH to contrast against the SSS layout on the Parker. the sonic bases will be covered, and I'll get to shred the blues for hours. You need a guitar that makes you angry and sad!!! Something that you must struggle with. I love the blues but I play it best on bad guitars. I have a really crappy Rogue acoustic that sounds thin yet harsh and most of the notes rattle like crap. I get bluer than blue on that one because I do not like it. 😇 On the other hand, if you want to just bring one guitar, put an EMG SPC in the Parker. I have them in a FrankenStrat and FrankenTele and they kick up the mids and roll off some of the highs. Essentially you go from a single coil tone to a humbucker tone. My pickups are active but the SPC works fine on passive pickups. Our friend Caevan O'Shite uses an SPC too with passive pickups and he had great things to say about it. It's been part of my arsenal for 20+ years - best of both worlds. 1 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannyalcatraz Posted May 3, 2022 Share Posted May 3, 2022 Every Parker I’ve ever handled has been magnificent. Congrats on finding yours! My search continues on Reverb. Personally, I want 9ne of the HSS models- maybe a HH- but every time I find a great candidate, I’m short on cash. Every time I’m flush, all the best ones have sold! 2 1 Quote Sturgeon's 2nd Law, a.k.a. Sturgeon's Revelation: âNinety percent of everything is crapâ My FLMS- Murphy's Music in Irving, Tx http://murphysmusictx.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted May 3, 2022 Share Posted May 3, 2022 6 hours ago, KuruPrionz said: On the other hand, if you want to just bring one guitar, put an EMG SPC in the Parker. EXCELLENT suggestion. Those EQ modules are fantastic! Very natural sounding and feeling, and beautiful for both cleans and overdriven/distorted sounds. RRREEEAALLLY GOOD for fat lead tones! Over the years two or three Guitar Forum members here who installed those at my suggestion were all VERY, VERY happy! Makes a single-coil style sound more like a PAF, and makes a humbucker bigger and fatter and punchier yet smooth. One of the best add-on mods that can be done for an electric guitar. Now, I used one with active EMG's- but I know they're fine with passive pickups, and those here who replaced a tone-control on their passive pickup guitars upon my recommendation had their expectations exceeded. 5 hours ago, Dannyalcatraz said: Every Parker I’ve ever handled has been magnificent. Congrats on finding yours! My search continues on Reverb. Personally, I want 9ne of the HSS models- maybe a HH- but every time I find a great candidate, I’m short on cash. Every time I’m flush, all the best ones have sold! Similar enough opinions and experience here. They're GREAT guitars; they tend to be very resonant, lively, sensitive to expressive, dynamic playing. FANTASTIC playability! Superb quality. The models with the faux-acoustic-electric sounding saddle-pickups are extremely versatile. The only reason I didn't buy one- or a PRS Custom 24 or McCarty Double Cut- was that at the time, I very specifically wanted a Les Paul, down to every last little detail. Either the Parkers or the PRS's that I tried and truly enjoyed were arguably better, even more 'pro level' guitars all-around in many ways, really! But what I wanted was a Les Paul, and the only way to have and enjoy a specific guitar is to have and enjoy that specific guitar. Anything else is different in one way or another. I figured that I'd get around to a Parker and/or a PRS one day... Too many guitars, too little time and money! Enjoy that axe, Reif! 2 Quote Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesape Posted May 3, 2022 Author Share Posted May 3, 2022 Thx Caev, if I'd taken the plunge years ago I likely wouldn't have acquired my LP's, my V, my Blades, Godins, and others, which have all been definitely worth owning, so it worked out fine. Quote Never a DUH! moment! Well, almost never. OK, OK! Sometimes never! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesape Posted May 3, 2022 Author Share Posted May 3, 2022 On the other hand, if you want to just bring one guitar, put an EMG SPC in the Parker. I have them in a FrankenStrat and FrankenTele and they kick up the mids and roll off some of the highs. I have EMG's in one axe, and the sound is awesome. I've learned the hard way not to rely on one axe at a gig. Strings break, jacks fail, pots go South, etc. Totally happy with the tones in the Parker, and either my LP, 355, or V would meet the HH needs. 2 Quote Never a DUH! moment! Well, almost never. OK, OK! Sometimes never! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted May 3, 2022 Share Posted May 3, 2022 3 hours ago, Bluesape said: On the other hand, if you want to just bring one guitar, put an EMG SPC in the Parker. I have them in a FrankenStrat and FrankenTele and they kick up the mids and roll off some of the highs. I have EMG's in one axe, and the sound is awesome. I've learned the hard way not to rely on one axe at a gig. Strings break, jacks fail, pots go South, etc. Totally happy with the tones in the Parker, and either my LP, 355, or V would meet the HH needs. Strings break. I have locking tuners on all of my gig guitars. It takes very little time to put a new string on with locking tuners. They hold tune better in general, especially if you have and use a whammy bar. If anything electronic is going to go bad, it's probably the jack. Switchcraft still makes sturdy, reliable jacks and they are not expensive. All of my giggers have those too. I've been gigging with one guitar for years and no real problems. I always bring another cord, cords can be a problem. And I always have a DI and a distortion pedal so I can just run direct into the PA if the amp goes south - that stopped happening to me when I gave up on tube amps. Tube amps have caused more problems than everythng but strings or rather - tubes in amps have caused their share of unhappiness. Sounds like you have what you need and it is fun to switch guitars. I'm just getting lazy about lugging gear! 😋 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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