Parker Guitars Fly Hardtail

Most of these reviews are NOT FOR A HARDTAIL. A Parker with a hardtail bridge does NOT make it a Hardtail. A Hardtail is a model all to itself and the only production model with a Basswood/Basswood neck/body, a Sperzel D Thing, Stealth Grey textured finish and Jumbo frets like the Nitefly. If yours doesn't have ALL of these features then it is a different model i.e. Deluxe, Classic, Artist NOT a Hardtail.

If your serial number ends in BB then it is the real deal. BP is not. Nor is BMH, BSS, BS, RP, BMA or MM.

Designed to cater to the heavier end of the spectrum this Fly handles low end like you wouldn't believe and has girth and sustain for days. Bigger frets make for easier tapping and hardtail bridge make for easier string gauge changes and more stable tuning. The GEN2 custom wound Parker/Dimarzio pickups are hot enough to play metal but still able to play the blues.

The stacked knob controls the piezo bridge driven acoustic preamp that can be summed to a mono 1/4" cable or split in stereo for a TRS 1/4". The sound is as good as an under saddle acoustic bridge but to be honest any piezo system doesn't sound natural enough for a recording but works great for the stage.

I don't care how much you pay for a guitar you can't get anything that plays as well as a Parker Fly. If they tapped the frets into slots, forget it. Parkers do it all differently and there isn't another maker out there that can touch the fretboard precision.

Don't break it and it won't break.

Gave me support to venture into a little R&D and I appreciate it. The help desk is kind and reliable.

I've owned about 19 Flys and will always play a Parker.

1994 Parker Fly hardtail - cherry red, locking sperzel tuners, gig bag, basswood / poplar, peizos / the works.

I play metal, jazz, and spacey electronica. Using amp sims, modelers, sometimes straight into synth effects, and through a mesa mark IV w/ 4x12. You can get any sound you want out of this guitar, and without compression or distortion, blending the peizos with the neck pickup yields the chimiest, sweetest clean ever.

I got it used in 1995. Nice low action, no buzz (not even today, after years of abuse). Came with D'Addario .009s if I remember right, but I have since switched to Elixir 0.010s (now the nanowebs). The neck is the sweetest thing I have ever played. I sold an ibanez to get this back in 1995, and I must admit, it forced me to improve my playing, it was that revealing. Since I got it used, there were some dings in the finish, and it has since survived an automobile accident and a violent crash down a flight of stairs. Amazing machine.

Well, I love other guitars too, but none of the others I had lasted as long as this one has. This is the one I still play. It was cracked in a car accident in 2001, and the nut broke off. That's it in 12 years. ALL the knobs, the pickups, the tuners, and especially the input jack function perfectly, nothing loose or cheap. It's a monster, don't let its light weight fool you.

Never messed with it.

Playing for 17 years. Wished a blue one had been available when I was shopping! If it were stolen... Heh. Funny story.

This guitar will make you grow balls.

In 1999 mine was stolen. I found it in a pawn shop just a few miles away. At the time I was a very scrawny kid, but I was so angry... The thing must have sang to me. I went into the store, told them it was mine, and went behind the counter and just took it. There was a bit of resistance at first, and I described the gig bag it was in, and told them exactly what was in it, how many picks, and the practice log that was in the bag. They knew it was mine at that point and didn't try to stop me. At the time - that's not something I would have done for anything else I owned... Heh...

So beware, this thing will make you a bit weird.

I love the durability, tone, and dynamic playability of this instrument. What I *hate* about it... If I wanted to change pickups, it'd be a bit of a mess. A blue one wasn't available, and it doesn't have a tremolo/whammy. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I wish it had a trem and midi-out sometimes, but other than that...

For lengths and measurements please see the Parker Fly Deluxe specs/manual on Parker Guitar's fine website (www.parkerguitars.com). But this instrument is in form and sound a genuine Parker Fly, i.e. composite shell, 24 frets, etc. The system does require a battery to generate amplified noise, my only complaint considering the numerous screws holding the back plate on. And, as a Hardtail, this model lacks a tremolo or vibrato system. As others have complained of Parker axes, one is not able to select both humbuckers for output at the same time but, considering the goods range of tines produced by the current configuration, I am not bothered by this oversight.

At first I cranked up all the knobs and did find the sound a bit mechanical and harsh. Then, after reading everything in Harmony Central (thanks guys) on Parkers, began to pull sweeter noises by adjusting the various knobs (try the volume controls at 50-70% and see what you think). Others have noted excessive brightness of tone but, as a fingerpicking player, I find the instrument perfectly bright, clear and pronounced for my style. Tragically, the number 1 string does lack the sustain of the remaining ones, but I am not overly put out by this and tend to play around the limitation without incident. This is due to the wonderful array of voices I cull from my baby and do find it very versitile and aurally pleasing. In short, with properly tweaked knobs, this guitar sounds like the high-quality beast it is. I mainly play poppy rock, by the by.

Despite having purchased it used, I found the instrument to be perfectly set up and playable (I belive it was fabricated in the early 90's abd I bought it in 2000 or so)! Once I got used to the slightly-wider-than-average neck, this became the instrument I play almost exclusively and it has spoiled me for other guitars. Tragically, the finish (gorgeous black) does tend to mark easily so I treat it with kid gloves. The "horn" that marks a distinctive Parker pokes a bit if playing from a seated position but I rarely do so and so can't complain overly. Playing it is a dream. The Parkers I had tried in the store tended to have big, fat necks (ugh), but my baby is slim and trim and feels silky smooth under my fingers.

I've never had any mechanical or electrical problems and consider it to be entirely reliable for my playing, although it must be noted I haven't gigged since acquiring the instrument. The knobs are somewhat loose and the positions of knobs and switches does make it challenging to make changes while playing but I have never accidentally whacked anything while making music with. All in all it looks and feels solid depite the mouth-watering four (4) pound weight!

I have yet to find a reason to contact the company but their web site features easy downloading of all their documents.

As noted, this is my guitar of choice now and I even have another one (white this time) actually in the mail right now. My other instruments have included a wonderful (but stolen, boo) G&L Telecaster, a sweet Ibanez somethingorother and an Ovation Breadwinner. I used to know a guy who said he would probably quit playing if his fav, custom guitar were stolen. I chortled to myself at such a STUPID statement but now have to agree that hitting strings would not be nearly as much fun with my Fly Deluxe Hardtail. The fellow who passed it on said it was a bit "too much guitar" for his purposes but if one takes some time one can make pretty tones. Again, playing with my fingers I find the sound perfectly bright where other guitars I've used have tended to be somewhat muddy and unpronounced. This is mah baby!

usa made i think mine has basswood neck and poplar body. its one of the older ones. later ones are basswood/basswood. with all the epoxy and graphite it doesnt really matter. it has a switchable stereo jack so you can sum or split the magnetic/piezo outputs. i like the fishman piezo a lot. i have a crate 2 8"+tweeter acoustic amp i run it into. in my opinion the dimarzio magnetic pickups need too much eq get real tone. they are very versitile, but somewhat 'shallow' for a guitar in this price range. they are not easily replaced, because the guitar is too thin for standard pickups, and preamp electronic compatability may be an issue if it were possible. ed roman has special made semour duncans he will install for about $250, but this voids the warranty. i dont know how these sound.

i actually prefer this guitar for country music. i can get ballsier tone out of my voyager series kramer or my esp m-1 for hard music. there is lots of output, but there is a certain "hollowness" that doesnt do a good tube amp justice. the fishman is the shit. it is worth buy an acoustic amp for. graphite fretboards dont have deadspots either. stays in tune.fishman-10, dimarzio-6-8 depending on application.

work of modern art. i am an occasional woodworker. i love wood. i cant believe i like a "synthetic" guitar this much. i bought it because i had carpal tunnel syndrome, and this giutar is just so easy to play. low action and thin neck. it made a real difference.

the frets fell off. yeah baby, the damn things fell right off the guitar. o joy. parker backs up their high dollar guitars with a 12 month warranty. if the frets just start popping off after a couple years, its your problem. guess what- they are not set into the fret"board" they are glued on! no guitar shops would make the repair, so i got to send it to parker and im out another $400 counting shipping. just freakin stab me and throw me in the ally. they did do a great job on the guitar and my rectum is almost healed.

it was either great or dreadful, depending on who was actually there.the folks that knew anything where gone a lot, a whole lot, trying to drum up business. i know why they would not want the other ones talking to potential retailers. gibson or fender would get that business. they "lost" my guitar. after several months the smart ones got back and found my guitar. when i finally got it back it was like new. i think it was new. i think they really did lose it!

it is super light. very well balanced. great playabilty. acoustic to les paul to strat to sort of an es-335 sound. playing 4 hour sets to marginally interested bar dwellers? this may be the ax for you. p.s. the back is scooped out. perfect for your beerbelly!

This is a brand new Parker Fly Hardtail. Its got 24 jumbo stainless steel frets, these are glued to the neck, one piece basswood body and neck. It has the easiest to use drop D tuner and locking sperzels. DiMarzio humbuckers and a fishman piezo acoustic pickup complete with onboard preamp!!

You can also get a split stereo output from this baby, more to come on that laters.

It came with a gig bag and a stereo cable.

I dont have one kinda music that I like to play. I play everything from britpop to rock to blues to country to jazz. I have been playing for the last 6 years.

I use this guitar with my Gibson Goldtone 30watt amp. This amp is great as I find it very versatile. I only use one pedal, the Zoom HyperLead and I control the levels of gain with the use of the volume controls on the Parker Fly.

To be honest, I found the sound outta this guitar horrible when I first settled down to play it. I found them brash, overly glassy and very sterile. I then thought to myself that a #2000 guitar doesnt sound like this. I sat down one afternoon and I started to mess about with my amps tone control (the gibson goldtone I have doesnt have middle, treble etc). The zoom pedal is great in that it has EQ on it, amazing pedal!

Anyway, after much fiddling around with my gear I was able to start coaxing out the most amazing guitar tones that I have ever played myself.

On the bridge humbucker with the gain on, this guitar can really rock!! Every note stands out even when playing with masses of distortion, perfect for those My Bloody Valentine moments.

The middle position, playing with the two single coils, can give a breathtaking array of tones. Distorted its spot on for Brian May-esq chordal workouts and also good for hot, distorted Yngwie or SRV type leads!! I really fucking love playing the single coils with a clean tone, sounds better than a strat I reckon.

The neck pickup serves well for solos and slightly distorted hendrix chordal/lead playing.

The Piezo pickup doesnt sound like my ovation acoustic, but then again its not going to. You can mix the piezo sound with the other pickups to give a great range of tones.

Every single note on this guitar stands out, I find that it is very well balanced in ranges of bass mids and trebles. Not too muddy and not too trebley.

If you play around with this guitar, and you have a decent amp, then you will soon begin to unlock the great sounds that are to be had from this fine instrument.

I can truthfully say that this guitar was perfectly set up!!

The action was a little too low for my liking but I sorted that out in a few minutes, check the intonation, which was dead on, and that was me away!

When you pay money like this, you can only expect it to be perfectly set up.

I aint played it live, the only thing I would do if I was playing live would be to bring a spare battery for the pre amp.

Never needed it

Fooking amazing!!! The only guitar that I am ever gonna need.

made in the late 90's in the good 'ol US
24 frets
knobs: [neck to bridge] master volume, magnetic volume, magnetic 3 way selector, magnetic tone, magnetic/piezo 3-way selector, piezo volume on top of the piezo tone.
magnetic pickup selection goes like thus...
magnetic pickup selector: neck humbucker, two single coils, bridge humbucker.
piezo/magnetic selects the magnetic pickup system or the piezos or a combination of the two... these can be sent to different destinations via the sterio out.
I don't know all that much about active and passive pickups.. but from what I gather.. these are passive minus the piezo.. I've played the guitar with no battery and the magnetic pickups sound just the same.
Made from basswood.
Finish is what they call stealth grey [the only color this model comes in, which means the guy below me is either lying or he's got some weird older model] it's a layer of grey with black slecks all over it.
Sperzel locking tuners with a drop-d tuner.
thin neck with jumbo frets
came with gig bag, some tools, instructions.

This guitar is meant for heavier styles of music. And that it does.

I play through a lil 50 watt johnson modeling combo.. does quite well since the parker is VERY versitle... I can get almost any tone I want.

The humbucking settings are both incredible. They sound very full so if you want to push the low end, go ahead. It's all there. But the single coil setting is a bit high and thin for my tastes. Significantly quieter than the other settings too.

The piezos come from the factory preset for even volume on all the strings. [I think it actually came from the factory in tune too!] They sound beautiful through a P.A. If you try to play them through your amp you're not going to get the tone you want. It actually sounds like the magnetic pickups but with some behavior differences [less harmonics, ect.]

Not noisy at all. If yours is.. then it's something else in your rig.

It handles distortion quite well. Artificial harmonics are a bit harder to pull off than other guitars, but not by much at all.

The guitar was set up at the factory like it was someone's most beloved instrument. The action was perfect as for my tastes. Set a bit high but not because the neck bows or anything. Just preferance I guess.

It plays like... I don't know.. liquid. everything is so smooth. ..Let's put it this way. I went to the guitar store to get a nice lil number in the 800 dollar range. I had one picked out and then the salesman goes, "Hey. Why don't you try this one out." ..the jerk. I couldn't leave the store with any other guitar. I had to take out a loan for christ's sake. I was only a dishwasher at the time.

If I had to find a problem with it, it would that when you sit with it and put it on your knee, it digs into your chest. I got used to it eventually. But it weighs half of almost any guitar out there so you really have no reason to sit down with it.

This guitar will withstand almost anything you put it through. Incredibly durable. I've walked around the house with it on, hit it on every doorway I walked through, I broke a remote control with it, it's been hit by the end of a cord I don't know how many times, and there hasen't been a scratch for any of that. The ONLY incident it's had that's put any kind of dent in the finish was when I was stupidly unrolling my cords and knocked it off it's stand and it hit the concrete floor. ...I cried that day. It took a little chip out of the very tip of the head and put a horizontal crack in the finish acrossed the top cut away. The finish hides these fractures very well.

Oh. no. wait... there was another incident. The drop-d tunner was very awkward. It would rarely tune right and it came lose a lot. So I tried tightening it too much and I snapped the whole bottom half off. [so it was just a normal tuner] I was going to get it fixed [under warenty] but opted not to as my playing became more agressive and it got in the way. And I found that tuning to D by ear is incredibly easy anyway.

I don't have a backup now, nor would I ever need one.

Parker has a great reputation for customer support. I emailed them once and got a reply right away.

I've been playing for about 4 years now.

If it was stolen I would take out a morgage and buy a new one.
If I had 4 thou, I'd buy a midi fly instead though.

I wish Parker would make stickers or shirts or something. I'm proud that I own one and I want to make sure I can rub it in other guitarist's faces.

usa made parker fly hardtail. the only black fly hardtail i've ever seen. same features as normal fly minus the trem and tension wheel. dimarzio custom humbuckers, fishman piezo acoustic bridge. basswood body, graphite neck w/ glass like fretboard. hardshell case and y-cord, sperzal locking tuners. master volume and tone, blend volume and stacked piezo volume,tone pot. 3 way switch for neck, inside coils or bridge pickup and 3 way switch for piezo only, blended, or magnetic only. outstanding features. only wish there was switching for both humbuckers at once but everything else is pretty much covered.

definetly suits my style. i was a les paul guy for years and this covers the lp humbucker growl very closely. the middle position is legitimate strat tones which i dig. the piezo isn't gonna sound like you're taylor but its real close. the neck will take a little time getting used to but once you do you can fly around w/ ease. definetly the best playing guitar i've ever played.

bought the guitar used w/ some nicks and dings and most notably screw holes from a roland gk2 synth. overall everything was of the highest quality. the neck is unlike any that you'll ever play and all the hardware is of high quality.

seems very reliable. having active pickups forces you to have batteries on hand just in case but it seems very sturdy. the amazing light weight (mine is about 4lbs) will make you think that its not gonna be able to withstand gigging, but its held up very nice for me. i always gig with a backup just in case, but parkers are legit.

i've dealt w/ them in the past and they've seemed very receptive, answer emails very quickly. lately they haven't been returning emails so that makes you think. i've heard stories of ken parker actually coming to your house and fixing problems.

been playing for about 13 years, the last 3 gigging reguraly. other gear i own now include a fender twin reverb 65 ri, a line 6 ax2, tacoma jk50ce4, gibson les paul studio and a usa jackson rhoads. i've owned other high end stuff from fender, hamer, jackson, ibanez, guild and others and i can without a doubt that the parker is the best of the bunch. there not lying when they say "nothing plays like a parker"