Parker Guitars 10th Anniversary Fly

This Parker was made in 2003 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Parker production guitars. 24 stainless steel frets. Solid mahogany body with transparent black burst finish. Basswood neck. Controls are: magnetic volume, magnetic tone w/ coil tap, piezo volume, & 3 position switches for neck/combined/bridge and magnetic/combined/piezo. Piezo is fishman & pickups are custom "made only for Parker" Dimarzios. Body is normal (can you call it that?) Parker Fly style. Bridge is hardtail/fixed version of the fly bridge. Has sperzel tuners, but non locking type (why???), 25.5" scale. Form fitted SKB style hard case.

Special features on this guitar are:

All hardware on this model is gold plated: Tuners, bridge saddles, strap buttons (Ive already installed gold Schaller strap locks), control switches, knobs & pickup pole pieces. The only thing that isn?t gold are the frets, which is a bummer, because I hear that Parker?s Jazz model has them.

I?m not sure what this guitar is based on. Either a Jazz model or a Classic. I?m guessing a Jazz model.

This Parker is a limited edition model. Only 25-30 or so made. Hand numbered & signed by Ken Parker himself. Mine is #8. The usual Parker headstock decals & serial # are done in gold. Normally they are white.

The transparent black burst is very nice. Its pure black around the edges & you have to catch it in the right light to see the transparency in the center. When you do see it, it?s awesome! It actually looks like a very dark rootbeer color with the mahogany grain showing through. I just wish it were a little easier to see.

I guess you could call the hardtail a special feature, since the typical bridge is a vibrato.

With the omission of gold colored frets & lack of strap locks, I just cant see giving a ten in this category. I think this guitar listed for over $4,000.00 in 03. Just as in my single cut review, I cannot justify not getting straplocks on such an expensive guitar. Should be included. Oh , and why no locking tuners on this model? That?s just stupid. That?s a parker tradition!

Parker says the Dimarzios in this guitar are "custom voiced". I?m not sure what that means. Custom voiced for this guitar only? Are they the same as the Jazz model? I will say they sound different than the Dimarzios in my Nitefly M. Much less high end & smoother sounding. My guess is the same pickups as in the Jazz model, but I have no way to compare.

I mostly play hard rock. 80's hair metal. Most anything that rocks. This guitar sounds great! For comparison to other Parkers I currently own (03 Nitefly M, 05 fly Mojo, 05 Single cut Mojo) this guitar sounds very close to the duncans in my Mojos. Not quite as full sounding, but not as thin as most Dimarzios sound either.

In split coil mode with the treble all the way up, its nowhere near as bright as my Fly Mojo. You absolutely will not be able to use this guitar where a strat or tele might be needed. But Ive never been too much into that type of sound anyway. The 10th does get an excellent clean sound in split mode in my opinion, using any of the three pickup selector positions. It also gets great cleans in humbucking mode too.

I really love the sound of the 10th. It doesn?t sound like any of my other guitars & that?s good. I use different guitars to play different songs, based on feel of the guitar & sound.

I look at it like this: If I?m playing golf, which single club am I going to use to play this course & the greens? (How would you feel about putting with one of your woods?) Guitars are just like golf clubs. Each guitar is different and has a purpose.

I do feel there are many sounds to be had in this guitar...rolling off the volume sounds great & really cleans up nice.

Piezos sound good too. Not as good as my piezo equipped Shadow guitars, but I honestly haven?t found anything that sounds as good as those yet. Fishmans piezos can?t touch Schallers system.

I recently got rid of most of my amps (roadking & others) & some guitars too. My main amp is now a Peavey XXX with a v1 tube mod. For the 80's brown type modified Marshall thing, its perfect. This guitar rocks through the Peavey & sounds great through my Crate acoustic CA112D as well.

It could have a little more grunt, but, oh well. Sounds awesome overall.

This is where this beauty truly shines....Perfect. After I set it up.

I can?t comment on the factory set up since this is a used guitar. After getting the guitar in the mail, I played it the way it was set up from the last owner. It had a nasty buzz on the low E string at the 7th fret. The action was set extremely low on both high & low sides, & I just barely raised the string height & it got rid of the buzz.

After I got home last night (Friday), I finally had time to clean & set up the guitar completely. Not sure which string brand & gauge were on it to begin with, but I?m using DR Coated (black) 9-46 on all my guitars.

After cleaning up all the hardware & polishing the guitar, I strung it up, tuned, set the action & OH MY GOD!!! This guitar is a monster. Plain & simple. I?m really loving my Parker single cut for ultimate playability, but this guitar is right there too. I couldn?t say which I prefer, but if I had to choose, I really don?t think I could.

The action is nice & low while retaining bendability and sustain. Any lower & sustain would be gone.

Also, I can?t see any glaring cosmetic deficiencies anywhere on this guitar. Same thing on my M model. (Can?t say the same for my single cut. I rated it before I looked at things really close. I gave it a 9, but should be more like a 6. Plays awesome, though. I may just post an update to even the rating out.)

I really have to give kudos to Parker for cutting the nut & spacing the strings perfect, too. The low & hi E strings have plenty of fret board on either side for good, wide vibrato. Cant say the same for my new Fly Mojo. It makes a huge difference in ultimate playability, at least to me not to be falling off the fret board constantly.

The 10th gets high marks all around on fit & finish.

Not all Parker flys are created equal. Necks vary a great deal from guitar to guitar. Ive measured my flys necks & they are different. This guitar has got the mojo that others come close to, but just miss.

This guitar ties for being the best playing guitar Ive ever had the privilege of touching.

I bought this guitar mostly as a potential investment. Screw that. This thing is getting played!

First off, anyone that would ever gig without a backup deserves anything that happens to them...

Everythings seems durable enough. I have complete confidence in this guitar. The composite covering the back of the body and wrapping the neck really helps stability, Im sure.

The finish is black & shows every little micro scratch imaginable. You really have to look to see them. Its black, you cant escape it.

I still hear horror stories of Parker electronics, but this guitar is three years old & works just great. Piezo is nice & clear too, with no electric buzzing like others Ive heard about.

Customer support seems good. I think Parker really tries. No warranty because its used. To be honest the Parker warranty really sucks anyway. One year warranty is ridiculous for a premium guitar. Should be at least five years, I think.

I bought this guitar because a custom one-off ex-employee Parker Artist model I was set on fell through. This guitar was a bit cheaper than the Artist, so thats cool.

Im still waiting for Parker to finish my Custom Nitefly Mojo flame top (in trans green). When thats done, Ill have five Parkers. I really like the playability of the USA Parker guitars, both bolt on & set neck-thru. This kind of guitar is what made Parker what it is now. Im almost thinking this guitar is a fluke...Its almost too perfect. Aside from missing strap locks (are you listening, Parker?), gold frets, & locking Sperzel tuners (WHY!?), this guitar is all I could want and hope for. I?ll see just how well these non lockers hold tune.

Im not planning on selling it, but hopefully being a limited edition, numbered & signed guitar It'll go up in value. If stolen I'm not sure if it could be replaced. This is the only one Ive ever seen. You cant find anything regarding this guitar on the internet. If anyone else who owns one of these things reads this, mail me, or at least post a review.

Id love to say my favorite feature is the cool transparent burst paint or even the gold hardware, but I cant. Its simply the best playing guitar out there. Period. Ill challenge any PRS or other high end guitar owner. Ill invite you over to my place, bring your best guitar...

You will see the light.