Parker Guitars Fly Deluxe with Vibrato

This is a 1999 Parker Fly Deluxe made in the USA
with 24 Frets and a solid top. Most know the controls
master Volume Volume and Tone with Volume and Tone for
the Piezo Pickups. Two Humbuckers by DiMarzio and Active
Electronics. Body is Poplar and the neck is Basswood and
for a body style I really think its like a Strat and the
Bridge is Aluminum. It has Locking Sperzel precision tuning
machines. The neck I would say is a very fast easy playing
no other guitar that I have ever owned has a neck like the Parker.
Came with a hard shell case.

I play 50' & 60's music Carl Perkins, Rickey Nelson
Beatles and Paul Revere and the Raiders. My Amp is a
Vox AC30HH Head thru a Egnater Tourmaster-212X. The
guitar and amp is not noisy at all and very bright
sounding when the pickup switch is in the single coil
setting. With the humbucker the sound become full and
I like to combine the Piezo and humbuckers. I just like
every thing about this guitar one of the best that I ever
played.

This guitar was used when I got it and the setup
was great. Chris' Guitars did a great job and there
was one little flaw on the back of the neck and he
showed me and you could not even see it. The action was
low and it didn't buzz that's how I like it.

This is my only guitar and it could withstand
playing live. The hardware will last for ever
just as long as I take care of it. I don't see
the finish wearing off at all and both strap
buttons are solid. Since this is my only guitar
I can depend on it. I see no problem on a gig
without a backup guitar.

Never had to deal with Parker Guitar if I have a problem I
just go the the Parker Guitar Forum. There I can get my questions
answered.

I've been playing since 1986 but before that I took 20 years
off. I had one when they first came out then I sold it looking
back I should have kept it. If it were stolen I would try to
get another if I couldn't the the only other guitar that I would
get would be a G&L Asat Classic or Special. The thing that I love most
is that its very easy to play. To get this guitar I sold my Gretsch
and my G&L Asat Classic. The color is Majik Blue which is my favorite
color. People should give these guitars a try it less the 5lbs.
Nothing plays like a Parker

Standard features you can read in oother reviews. The guitar is looaded with goodies.

Sound of guitar -- rich and rather versatile. Doesn't really do acoustic.

Came in great shape.

Okay, kids, here's the rub. I had this guitar for about a year and played it every day and took great care of it. It never was gigged, dropped scratched etc. Several months ago I started noticing that the switches sometimes wouldn't engage. You'd go to change the pickup configuration and there would be no sound. Further investigation revealed more problems -- rust around and in the piezos and rust on parts of the tuning pegs. All this on a guitar that never left a climate controlled room! I ended up selling it back to the shop where I bought it for much less -- about a quarter of what I paid. Beware!

The website is minimal compared with the better companies. Parker is part of a conglomerate now, and no longer the company it once was. Even trying to register the guitar in the first place was a joke.

It seemed like a great guitar, but the reliability issue trumps everything else. I feel cheated. I would never buy from Parker. I've had a lot of guitars -- Gibsons, Fenders, Martins, Taylors and some cheapies that turned out okay -- Cort, Garrison, Seagull. Parker turned out to be crap.

I just bought mine from ebay. Brand new guitar from an ex employee before they (Parker) was bought out. One thing that was holding me back previously was that I couldn't find one in a hard case, they all came in a gig bag - I'm just not that gratious, Ida killed it by accident. This one has a case so I couldn't walk away.

I gave this a 9 because they could have provided 2 more knobs providing for a vol/tone for each pickup. Wiring the tones so they 1/2 tap the pickups and the vol's to blend both (switch in the middle position). This is how my current guitar is so once the newness wears off I'll probably be adding this feature.

I played one (used) in a music center and was blown away by it's clarity. I found quickly by messing with extreme settings that with the neck pickup, set the tone to off and then mix in the piezo and adjust its tone - all to flavor. Basically the piezo brightened the warm somewhat muffled sound of the pickup. The resulting sound is just thick and RICH. The brightness of this guitar cuts through and greatly complements the band and what we're playing.

I'm confident I can recreate any sound out there with this one guitar.

I was surprised that the intination was almost perfect out of the box. I'm still experiencing it's range of sounds without messing with pickup heights and neck adjustments (just yet). As far as playability, I received this on a Thursday, practiced our list of songs and actually played that Sunday - it was such a comfortable transition.

Since I don't slam my guitars to the stage I don't anticipate having any problems with this. I think studies have concluded that slamming.......just kidding

I don't know...will they teach me how to play??.

I've been playing for over 30 years (and still know nothin). I grew up playng hard rock from the sixties and seventies. I especially love the new stuff (stuff like "NickelBack" etc).

I bought mine used on ebay. I believe it's a 98. I had a friend with one three or four years ago, and I fell in love with it then. He sold his (he was a great guitarist with really strong hands, and he wanted a guitar that gave him more resistance than the plays-like-butter Parker). I wish I'd bought his, but I was playing bass full-time then, so I couldn't really justify it. Anyway, a few months after I took a guitar gig, I bought this one. I got it primarily for the features (weight, piezo/mag blend, locking tuners, playability, etc.), and I don't know whether I'll ever be able to go back to any other brand as my main electric. I never play my '69 tele anymore!

Sometimes I really like the sound; sometimes I don't. The stock Dimarzios are definitely the weak link in an otherwise brilliant instrument. At times they're very strat-like (surprising, given that they're non-coil-tapped humbuckers!), but they really lack in the "beef" department--they just sound thin and brittle much of the time. I've bought a pair of SD trembuckers, but I haven't had them installed yet--I think it's going to require extensive re-routing, given that the stock pu's are extra-thin, and mount in an unusual way (they were custom made for Parker). A place in Vegas (Ed Roman Guitars) does a Seymour Duncan upgrade on the Fly for $250, and I've thought about sending it to them, but I don't want to be without it for the several weeks I'd have to wait.

Here's where the Parker really shines. The guitar is beautifully set up, and is certainly the easiest guitar to play in the world. I can't imagine a more comfortable guitar to gig with--it weighs next to nothing, it has a really ergonomic shape (when you're standing--not so much when you're seated), and it practically plays itself. Plus, it looks cool--every gig, somebody comes up and asks me what it is.

This is the main reason I'm writing this review. Even though I love the Fly more than any other guitar I've ever owned (and I've been playing since 1966, so I've owned a lot of guitars!), it's extremely tempermental and fragile. It seems to be a trade-off for the technology. Maybe the new ones are more durable.

I've had problems with the high e getting stuck under the edge of the second fret or the edge of the neck pickup. I've had problems with the tremelo slowly "riding" up, so that the guitar keeps drifting flat (this was fixed by taking the back plate off and readjusting the relationship between the tremelo resistance control and the metal plate thing). Still, I've learned not to let anyone else play it; I always get it back messed up.

Also, I started problems with the nut, which was cut really deep. The high e and b strings had no sustain, as though the nut was choking them off. Also, I had trouble with intonation on the a string--I adjusted the bridge but this didn't help. So I poured super glue into all the nut slots, and it fixed all the problems. I don't know whether this was a factory problem, or whether the nut had either been worn down (which seems unlikely, if it's made of graphite) or modified by the previous owner.

Also, it pops a lot of strings, especially the high e, which doesn't pop--it unwinds from the end ball! Something about the design of the bridge must put a lot of stress on the ball. At least I can hear it coming--the string will keep drifting flat for three or four songs. Then I know it's about to go.

But here's the worst thing: last night, in the middle of a solo, I felt something snap, like I'd busted a string, but all the strings were fine. Then I noticed it sounded out of tune, but only when I played first position chords--anything up the neck sounded fine. It took me a few minutes to realize that my third fret had fallen off! We had to take a break while I super glued it back on! I love the carbon-glass fretboard and the stainless steel frets, but you'd think they'd find a way to attach them more securely! Now, I'm going to have to start carrying super glue in my gig bag, and bring my tele as a backup to every gig, just in case!

When I bought my guitar, it was missing the trem arm and the 9-gague trem plate, so I called Parker to order these things. They never came. When I checked, I learned that they'd been bought by a larger music company--Washburn or something. Apparently, my accessories order had come right as they were moving their operations around, and it had fallen through the cracks. I re-ordered and got the stuff fine.

Despite all my griping, I wouldn't trade this guitar for anything, except maybe a newer Parker. You could offer me a '57 Strat for it, and I'd trade you, but only so I could sell the Strat and buy a couple of new Parkers. Sure, the guitar is tempermental, but I think of it like working with a tempermental, ego-heavy diva. You have to go out of your way to take care of her, but it all pays off when you hit the stage.

Has all the goodies as mentioned in other places, majik blue finish etc. Basically a sound machine that gets jazzy, bluesy, country, pop, folk and even classical styles done right -- depending on who's playing it and what they are playing it through. This is a great guitar.

I play, blues, jazz, standards, some rock. I play through a Fender Twin, a JC 120 and several smaller amps -- a Roland Cube 30, a Roland Micro Cube and a Fender Amp Can. The guitar gets a wide variety of sounds depending on the settings one uses -- Rich and full, bright and nasty.

Perfect set-up, absolutely no flaws.

Seems quite durable despite its light weight -- 5 pounds. Very durable finish. I carry an extra battery and extra strings -- just in case, but no back-up.

Nice enough website, but no real experience with Parker

In the past, I have owned two Takamines, two Seagulls, three Taylors, one Gibson, one Aria, one Tacoma -- all solid acoustics that played very well. Electric guitars I have owned include a Godin, three Gibson Les Pauls, one Gibson Lucille, One Gibson ES 345, One Fender Clapton Strat, One American Strat, One Mex made Tele, a Gibson Nighthawk, a Line 6 Variax and a National Reso-Lectric. All had their merits and then some. Simply put, however, this Parker Deluxe beats them all and is the only one I currently own.

Year: 1996
I guess it's easy to read about the specs in any other review.

It fits my style, which goes from blues, to jazz, to jazz-rock to pop.
Amps: Mesa Boogie IIC (for the distorted part) and a custom made transistor amp w. 19" Altec Lansing speaker (for the clean vibes.
Effects (in order after the instrument): MXR compressor, DX-100 whammy bar Digitech, Ibanez Tube Screamer s10 (treated), Boss digital delay DD6)

The guitar has always been in great shape.

I don't gig intensively. Because it's so light it doesn't damage easily.

What I want to talk about is my search for a better sound. Although not many users mention the thinness of the original Parker humbucker sound, it is a topic here and there on the web. I've always found it embarrising for Dimarzio who claimed they developed a special humbucker for Parker guitars. Turns out they just used Air Norton or the Tone Zone (existing humbuckers, originally designed for use in mahogany bodies or other heavy tonewoods) and made them fit in the shallow Parker bodies. Of course these pick ups were not well adapted to the subtle vibrations of the poplar Parker body. And guess what: they even started to offer replacements for their own 'specially designed' Parker humbuckers! Specially designed my a....!
I bought the replacement pick ups P1 & P2. They were much louder, but to my surprise they didn't cut through the bigger sound you might have with your band in a somewhat larger venue.
The only other choice you have then is to send your Parker to Ed Roman in the U.S.A. which was out of the question for me. I went on a forum at Seymour Duncan's and posted my questions. Turns out they do rewinds for you to any specification, so I sent the original Dimarzios to the States and had them rewound to the same specs as the ones in the new (2003/2004) Fly Mojo. These are TB-4 (bridge) and SH-2n (neck). This was a risk, as the new Mojo has a mahogany body. But now they're built in!
At first I was shocked because the humbuckers sound as a continuation of the piezos sound, only darker at the bridge and darkest at the neck. This would leave me with a very vibrant rythm guitar but I want to produce fat licks also...But, while playing with my band I noticed the Seymour Duncans don't boost a certain frequency (as the replacement Dimarzios did almost to the level of distortion) but let through ALL the different harmonics and vibrations the Parker (and I) produce. This total sound is an excellent source for both my pedals and my amplifiers . The end result is stunning: less hurting on the ears, endless definition, sustain and excellent audibility. Haven't tried a big venue yet, but I'm confident this Seymour Duncan approach of 'less leading to more' is an enormous approvement for this already great guitar. Only wish Ken Parker had known this before....

I have a Deluxe, with the typical dual humbucker + piezo configuration, master volume, pickup vol, pickup tone, and stacked Piezo vol/tone controls. 3 way selector switch for neck/single coil neck+bridge/bridge. Body is poplar, can't remember what the neck is made from. The body style is totally unique, and always makes the guitar stand out in a crowd. Not to mention that the guitar is, what, seven pounds??!!! Sweet. The locking tuners work great, the guitar always stays in tune, and I mean always! The piezo is kind of cool, but I can't think of too many situations where that would be preferable over a real acoustic guitar (kind of cheesy sounding). I gave this guitar a 7 because I felt like the guitar should have had many more tone options for such an expensive guitar (more pickup combinations, maybe more than one tone control). Also, the master vol control sometime gets in the way of playing (without realizing it, its really easy to bump that guy and turn your vol down signifigantly on stage). I'd also like to see an option for straplocks on this guitar (convential straplocks can't be installed on this guitar because the body is too thin)

I know a lot of people were raving about this guitar's sound, but I'd like to politely disagree with all of you. First of all, the DiMarzio's sound really bright, which some people might think is a good thing, but I'd like a guitar that has a balanced, even tone. With the tone rolled back a bit, the guitar sounds muddy, and with it up, it sounds way to trebly/ thin. It's very tough to get an un-obtrusive sound unless you want to play like Yngvie. I've heard some people mention a pickup upgrade that helps the sound... feel free to email me at Bluelightband@aol.com if you've made that upgrade. I'd really like to hear more about it. Anyway, this guitar has its good days and bad days... wierd? Some times it will sound great, some times extremely crappy. I think it has alot to do with keeping the batteries fresh (but I don't want to have to change batteries after playing for a couple hours!) And also amps, but I use a Mesa Mark 4 combo, which is in my opinion, one of the best combos ever made (maybe besides a Matchless). I'm a jazz guitarist, and with a little time and patience, I can dial in an appropriate sound, but with a lot of help from the amps onboard eq. I bought this guitar because I wanted to be able to play jazz and rock, and it covers the rock category ok.

Holy mother of God! I've never, ever played another guitar that plays so well with action THAT low. This is a shredders dream guitar. I bought the guitar used, so I don't know if the previous owner tweaked anything, but, man! Clean and even neck, smooth as a babies butt. This guitar is a joy to play (not so much of a joy to hear, tho) Extremely quiet, too. Nice job, Parker.

Little story... last year, took a nap at school with this guitar leaning up against my bed (in the padded gigbag). When I woke up, I found the guitar still lying against my bed, but broken in HALF! Yes, that's right, the neck literally seperated from the body. Apparently, my roomate jumped on it or stepped on it, but never 'fessed up to anything. (He dropped out of school, but if I ever see him again, I'd give him a VERY hard time about it) At any rate... I got the guitar glued back together for $300. The funny thing is, minus needing a new paint job (despearately) the guitar now plays (almost) like new. So I don't know what to think... the fact that this guitar can be broken in half, and still play is somewhat a testament to the fact that this is a well crafted guitar... but the fact that it broke in the first place? (I don't know how it broke - it could've been thrown out of a third story window for all I know). Besides that, the guitar is very dependable! I would definately play it on a gig with out a backup, and I frequently do.

I bought it used, no warranty, so when it broke, I just brought it in to Guitar Works in Evanston (You guys are miracle workers!) Never dealt with the company, but I may try to contact them about the pickup upgrade.

I've been for 13 years. I own a Mesa Boogie Mark 4 12" combo amp, and I sometimes run the Parker thru an Art SGX2000, if I want to play eighties hair metal. If this guitar were stolen or lost (or broken again) I'd probably get something else, something with more tonal possibilities. The piezos are kinda cool to experiment with, but the sound is pretty weak. If you are planning to purchase this guitar, just play through it first... you may find the sound to be appealing (it certainly is distinctive). But it is an aquired taste.

My God. The features on this guitar are unreal. Just look on the other reviews for a full synopsis.

What's ridiculous is, I haven't even bought the guitar. I went into Long and McQuade, saw this guitar, and fell in love. I stole the 'sound room' for an hour and a half. The sound is beautiful. The weight of the guitar does not matter here, folks. This guitar has the most versatile sound, especially with that Piezo pickup system.

The guitar looks beautiful, in my opinion. It's very futuristic. The action was perfect, setup etc. The reason why I fell in love with this guitar was because of its neck. There's NO HEEL....AT ALL. Amazing. It looks like it's one piece! This guitar is also EXTREMELY light. About 3.5 - 5 lbs. Very comfortable.

Not going to give a rating, because I haven't bought it....yet....
So far so good though.

Haven't dealt with them.

I have been playiing for about three years. I play every type of music, and I have to say that Parker wins in this aspect. It's extremely versatile. Ken Parker should be praised for making his guitars for the future...and not stuck in the past. As he says, "I believe that these are the most advanced on the planet." They are! You have to try one out if you haven't. Every single guitar company should strive to better their products using new technology. Parker has done so with flying colours. I can't wait to get one.

I won't repeat on subjects already reviewed by others. One fault about the guitar, in my opinion, is the control system. It is not very user friendly. I'd rather have a five way switch instead of the 3 way, as with other guitars with 2 buckers that allow you to get other useful combinations of the coils taps. On the other hand, I have to say that there is no other guitar in the world with such a friendly neck, weight and comfort fit. It becomes a part of your body, allowing complete freedom of expression. This has come to be a very important feature for me. This makes it a 10!!!
The same goes for the vibrato, which is the best I know so for, not only in terms of tuning stability, but also in feel, it's great.
The finish quality is outstanding.

The piezo sound is ok, nothing spectacular really. It does the trick in a band context, but not to play alone of course.
The electric sounds are good, but for me the best part is the natural acoustic resonance of this body. I'd like to have less dramatic pickups instead of these ones. And a better switching system.

My god, this is the best guitar in this matter, a world apart from standard/normal guitars. No possible comparisons.

It withstands anything. Mine has fallen to the floor and it was still in tune, nothing happened to her. Excelent build quality. Dont'worry about the frets, they will live forever!!

The fit in your body, the playing position, the neck feel and profile, the frets, the vibrato, the no-weight and the middle switch position (stratish) make this guitar worth having for itself. Don't think about it. Buy one. If I could have a Supreme model with Duncans, a five way switch and a more friendly control system, I'd buy my house to get it. It would be heaven on earth.
The battery slot is clever, but the contacts are cheesy: Ken, check this, I have to resolder the contacts every time I change the battery!!!!

I think it's a 2000, and it's a deluxe, and they all have the same specs on # of frets, controls, etc., so I'll skip that. Very very versatile guitar (but can't get any gritty low-end sounds).

I play mostly blues and jazz, but also progressive rock, pop and classical (went to school for guitar, so had to learn pretty varying styles). Very clean and precise sounding, very versatile. All I have to say is, just go play one...

Amazing. Again, just go play one...

Feels skimpy because of the lightweight, but I've had this thing for a while and have played HARD on it - never a problem. It really is solidly built. The weight is misleading.

Never had to deal with them, fortunately.

Just go play one...trust me.