Parker Guitars P10E Acoustic-Electric

This guitar is absolutely gorgeous! Spruce top, birdseye maple sides and back, abalone inlay around a unique oval soundhole, tortoise binding, gold Grover tuners (open-style), white ivoroid fingerboard, mahagoney neck, beautiful and unique shape to the body of the guitar. Again, this instrument is breathtakingly beautiful.. This one will turn heads wherever you go! It also features top-notch electronics for an amazing plugged-in sound. I rate in a 9 in this category because it doesn't have an onboard tuner.

While sound is mostly a matter of opinion and taste, I can't imagine anyone complaining about the plugged-in sound of this guitar. It's amazing! The dual pickup system gives you the traditional crisp acoustic sound along with the warmth of the magnetic pickup. Can't beat it! The blend control also allows one to precisely control the balance between the two pickups. Along with the bass and treble controls, I can dial in the exact sound that I want (I mostly play rhythm guitar for my church). This guitar sounds wonderful plugged in. I will also mention that it has two outputs for the signal - one 1/4 inch jack and one mic jack. You can choose which jack you want to send your signal out of, or you can send out a stereo signal using both jacks simultaneously. (See Parker's website for details concerning the electronics and for an online demo video). Unplugged, it's "ok". The body and soundhole are slightly smaller than a full dreadnought, so it's a bit on the quiet side. Not a major deal, but just a tad quiet. So, unplugged the quality of the sound is fine, but the quantity leaves a bit to be desired. Again, not a big deal to me. I felt that the plugged-in sound more than compensated for this minor flaw.

The action from the factory was was way too high for my taste. It was very hard to play - no fun at all. I took the guitar to a local professional and he made a slight adjustment to the truss rod.....magic! The action was lowered and the guitar now practically plays itself. I've had it for a month now and can't put it down. One note: the neck felt a little wide to me when I first played the guitar. However, I have since gotten used to it and actually appreciate the added room for my fingers.

I would imagine that this guitar will hold up well as it ages. It feels like a solid guitar, and it seems that a great deal of attention has been given to detail. It is my one and only gig guitar, and I foresee no need to take along a back-up.

This guitar comes with a one year warranty. I've read good things about Parker's customer service. Fortunately, I've had no need to deal with Parker because my guitar is doing well.

I've been playing for a couple of years now. My other guitar is a Takamine, and this Parker blows it away. The only thing that would make this guitar perfect is an onboard tuner. But I knew this when I bought the guitar, so I can't really complain about it. I would definitely replace it should it ever be stolen. Feel free to contact me if you have some specific questions.