Parker Guitars Fly Supreme

The Parker Supreme has 24 frets, amber coloured solid flamed maple body, basswood neck, black coloured back, polycarbon fingerboard, stainless steel frets, custom Dimarzio pickups, I guess you could say they are active as they run through a pre-amp. The bridge is a Parker tremolo and contains Piezo elements, locking tuners by Sperzel (black coloured), comes with a nice case with cords, manual etc. Electronics are master volume, volume, 2 tones, 3 way selector, and another switch that handles Piezo, magnetic or both Piezo and magnetic selection. There is also a stereo, mono switch. Whew!!! The master volume is redundant (useless) and is waaaaay too close to my picking hand, so I end up bumping into it. Also, the access to the battery compartment is a nightmare. It wouldn't be so bad if they installed something in the cavity that EJECTED the battery when you pressed in on it. Very stupid idea for such a well thought out guitar. They have remedied this problem by placing the battery on the back of the newer Parkers. Hence, the 8 rating.

BRIGHT!!! I guess I can get used to anything but what can you expect from solid maple and Dimarzios. I run it through POD XT and a 15 watt Marshall MG series. More bottom end would be nice, but it still sounds great. I actually quite like brightness so I got used to it quickly. The guitar does excellent acoustic sounds. The notes pop out at you when distorted. I think this guitar covers all styles of music. It operates very quietly. Forget coil tapping, this thing would puncture your eardrums if it had that feature.

I bought the guitar second hand, and the setup was out of wack, but once my guitar tech fixed it, it was incredible. I've never played such an easy playing guitar, its almost unreal. In fact, it took me a while to just relax enough to appreciate it. The flame body is not completely bookmatched, but I hear talk that really good Parker flames are few and far between. The pickups were adjusted fine. The knobs are cool looking and feeling but they are very loose, this may be the fault of the pots tho...

I think this guitar needs TLC, especially at gigs. Its not a strat, so don't throw it around. If you just play at home, then nothing to worry about, just remember its not a strat. The hardware is good but I would rather use Schallers. The finish seems a little bit thin on the flame. I wish they (Sperzel, etc) would make black tuning machines that don't chip/scratch easily. This isn't Parkers fault of course. I normally hate black hardware, but it works for a Parker.

Ah here we go... As mentioned by another reviewer, Parker doesn't even know where Canada is and couldn't care less. If you are in the states, I doubt that you'll have a problem. Its sad to think that such a great guitar is being built and distributed by such lousy representation. Their website was down for months and they apparently weren't aware until months later. That problem seems to be recursive with them. I can't remember how many of my emails went into oblivion. Their phone etiquette lacks as well. I'd like to put less than 1, but that's as low as it goes.

If lost or stolen I would buy another Parker, but considering their wait time to get one, it would be faster to find a used one.
Its a guitar in a class by itself, you can't compare it to any one guitar.
I wished I could have had one when I first started playing, it makes you want to keep playing.

I did the review on 05/16/2002. Just to update that I still think its great. The new model has less knobs, which is tidier but I've found that the number of knobs on my older model makes it easier to install things like a GK-2 internal kit or a sustainiac (sustainiac.com can fit a sustainer into a Fly that doubles as a pickup when not in use)Instead of adding switches etc. I can just use double pots/switch pots etc. Speaking of which, the Parker electronics use these wonderful tiny pots by Tocos but they're all strange values which makes it very difficult to replace them with items from Stewmac etc.

Although my amp can be quite bright (a cybertwin, it still doesn't do the piezo pickup justice. I'm using an active studio-quality monitor for on-stage monitoring and the sound is superb - as ringing as an acoustic but with sustain.

only one minor. I very gently unscrewed the horn strap button to fit a straplok and a small area of paint+carbon fibre popped out of the body. It looked as though the strap button had been put on before the paint had fully hardened and had stuck. I glued it back but its imperfect and irritating.
I reduced the action quite a bit which I found odd as most reviewers had commented on how low the action was. I'm not a shredder and I play open chords quite hard without buzz, it just seemed odd that Parker should set a higher than necessary action.

No problems.

I still love it. A guy in a music shop recently got me to try what he reckoned was the best PRS McCarty he had played, and it was really, really nice, especially through a Boogie. But when I put it down I had no desire to try it again - it didn't have whatever it is that my Fly has. I don't know what it is, but I haven't found another guitar that has it for me. Shame really,as it would have saved me a load if I could have found it in a cheaper guitar.

Year : 1998, november. It was the 12th guitar off the production line that day...

No need to say a lot : stunning stuff. I especially like the thin body, so light, the incredible neck - which is a comprise between Fenders and Ibanezes plus something unique... it looks really modern and that's what i like - we're in 2003 for Christ's sake, not in 1967 !!! It inspires me to play.

I play jazz fusion and some rock a la Greg Howe. I use it with a VG-88, but i assume i can get anything i want with the 'real' PU. I put it a 9 because i don't trust my ear and nobody's perfect when it comes to sound.

I made the adjustments (the original gauge is 9-42) at the french shop "Backstage" which doesn't exist anymore. The got the best price at Pigalle, the french guitar area ! No flaws apparently...

Well, i have to admit i'm too scared to take it outised when you see the beauty and the price of it.

Anyway, everything looks solid, but i'm not your average Pete Townsend - i'm a maniac when it comes to taking care of beauties.

I have to say they're very helpful. A LOT. I asked a zillion of stupid questions, and they've ansewered it all very gracefully.

Real pros. Not like Ibanez, of course....

If it's stolen i think i'll buy something cheaper, like the Carvin, because i don't want to spend twice this price and also because i have this principle - never the same thing twice (guitar, car, shoes, condoms). That's why i put a 9... but i know GOOD things are (almost) always expensive.

ATTENTION : if you buy it new, be sure it's the NEW model. Check the serial number, send it to them if you're not sure. The NEW Supreme has some NEW specs it's good to have (and have not : there's less knobs on it, so it's somewhat lighter). Not crucial, but nice.

Standard Fly features, including the carbon-fibre fretboard, locking Sperzel tuners, dual DiMarzio custom passive humbuckers, active Fishman piezos in the bridge, tone and volume control for both magnetic and piezo pickups, three way selector for magnetic pickups (including coil split), three way selector for magnetic/piezo output (all magnetic, half and half or all piezo), stereo output with a switch for mono, floating custom Parker vibrato with tension wheel and semi-locking feature. Features I wish it had were active magnetic pickups (or at least the option) and a real locking bridge, as is you can lock it so that it only goes down. Since it doesn't lock completely into place like a fixed bridge, it still has problems with alternate tunings and bends. Other than these it has a great feature set.

I liked the extra punch of the maple enough to spend a lot more money to get the Supreme over the regular models, but I wish they offered a Parker with a less-figured maple body for less (although I'm not sure if this would have any effect on the tone). I like the sounds on the guitar, although personally I would prefer a fatter neck pickup and a hotter bridge pickup, but these would likely make the Parker sound more like another guitar so chalk it up to personal preference. Sustain isn't bad, but it's not great either, an active pickup option could work well here.

Guitar finish is excellent, it's a much more flame-y maple in personal than the pictures I've seen on the net indicate, although personally I would have been fine with a plain maple finish. The action is nice and low, although I think it can go lower without too much trouble. What sealed the deal for me on this guitar is the neck and fretboard, this is hands-down the best playing guitar I've ever laid hands on, including a Steinberger GL. I played fast runs noticeably better almost as soon as I started playing it, and it's also great for strumming and picking.

I've already chipped the headstock by lightly touching it with a pair of wire cutters while clipping a string, and marked up the horn with a zipper on my shirt. This doesn't affect the guitar's playability or sound of course, but all the same I feel I have to be a bit more careful of it than my other guitars which have withstood a lot more abuse than this over the years.

Haven't dealt with them, I understand they're a helpful bunch.

Flys are great guitars, and I think the Supreme is the best sounding of all the woods Parker offers. However, I'd rather see a maple model for a lower price (assuming it sounds the same as the flamed version), and a real locking trem with active pickups would make me give the guitar a 10 overall. As it is, it's probably the best single guitar out there, with its incredible playability and tonal versatility.

For all the features you might as well read the many reviews on the delux they are the exact same guitar with one major difference. This is made from solid flamed maple. I have a Sunburst model, actually is more of a Tabaco Burst cause it is only two colors. Mine was made in 98 and was the first burst supreme ever. It has I would say a AAA top. It's not crazy flame but it's very nice and even and really just beautiful. It changes the tone quite a bit, and is really just an amazing instrument.

Different from the Deluxe that I own, it is smoother much more balanced and really just great. Terrific for anything clean and even better for dirty and hard. It just keeps sounding better and better. The one thing that I notice is that it seems to have a little less of that chunk chunk chunk palm muted power chord sound but it might just be a matter of refining my setup. All it all incredible tone.

When I got this it had 10s on it, and I prefer 9s. So I had to change them and I still have not gotten the setup exactly as I would like. It's really made especially well though, and was even a joy for me to play with 10s on it.

They are great, but just take care of it and it should last as well as any guitar. The tuning is the most stable of any guitar I have played.

The guys at Parker are really helpful and take a lot of pride in their work. I was recently there for a tour and it was quite an operation. Not very big, and almost the entire guitar is made by hand. Really a great company. And Ken Parker was there not in an office or anything, but actually sitting there and working on the guitars.

This is the ultimate Parker. It is my second, but I might have to sell my Deluxe to afford having bought this one. I hate to do it too, cause it was my favorite guitar to play till this one. Strikingly beautiful and wonderful sound. If you can afford to get a supreme this is the one to get, if not and of the others are also terrific instruments.

Mine is a 2002 model, they're now only made to order and personally supervised by Ken Parker, I'm told. Body is a single solid piece of flamed maple and mine is stunning, full of flame and whirls and sparkles nicely in the light - the nicest anyone in the shop had seen for 3 years and they're a PRS agent, so it's good!. In the flesh, it doesn't look nearly as orange as the photo's on the Parker website it look like wood. More controls than I'd normally like but I've ended up using them all so I guess it's OK. Master vol, magnetic vol, mag tone and a twin-pot piezo vol/tone. Two 3-way switches neck/inside 2 coils/bridge and mag/mix/piezo. I'd like to be able to select just one coil of the pickups so I guess I'll give it 9 for features. I'll probably do this myself with a push/pull pot.

The neck Humbucker is thick and warm, like most, but it combines really nicely with the piezo if you want an acoustic-type tone. Also good for high gain lead as the tone control has a good range and you can really take the treble off and get that nice fluid sound.
The middle one-coil-from-each setting is the one I use the most. It can sound very stratty and you can get a fair amount of that hollow twang so sounds great through Fender amps. The bridge humbucker is just beautiful. In comparison to other twin humbucker guitars owned by friends, it has a tone that they can't get. Don't know why, there's just some kind of really good interaction between the wood and the pickup tone and you can just lose yourself in it. Even at high gain it keeps a woodiness that gives it so much character.
The piezo is much more useful than I expected, not least because, if you need a bit more grunt, going to the "mix" position gives both more power and sharper definition at the same time, which helps at times.

Absolutely perfect. It plays so good that it's spoiled me for other guitars a bit. I'm certainly playing much more cleanly at speed than I did in the past. The fretboard has a "slippery" quality, probably due to the hard stanless frets but it makes things smoother and less grabby. The vibrato is great as well as there's nothing to catch on your hand and it's easy to palm-damp or play at the bridge. The normal "violining" position of the master vol pot tends to get in the way sometimes but that's just me so I might put a lower knob on it. I normally have the vibrato set to bend-down only as I can keep the spring hard and keep full string-bending-still learning how to get the best out of it though.
The prong on the top of the body does stick in your chest like they all say but I've grown to like it! Standing up, the guitar weighs nothing and sits comfortably at any height, sitting, I can trap the guitar between my knee and chest so that both my hands are free to play instead of balancing the guitar as well. I just found myself doing it naturally and I wouldn't have it any other way now.

It's all pretty solid and strong. I play either in churches or with friends. Churches are (mostly?) civilised so, provided I case it up promptly after playing I don't see any real problems in this area. Doesn't seem to dink any worse than others.

Been playing amateur 25 years leading church bands for 15. In church, they don't like AC/DC so much so I tend to stick to chimy Eric-Johnson type sounds with reverbs,delays,bit of chorus etc, tweedy-crunch or high gain lead with the treble down to take the spikes off. At home & with friends it's just great and I'm going places that I never thought I'd go, which is nice! I can't say it's great value any more than a Ferrari is great value. It's too much to spend on a guitar, and I've had to delay building the garage, but I spent it and I would again if it were nicked I guess. It's just an amazing guitar. Nothing costing this much should get a 10, but I can't give it less.

See previous review or parkers site

Pretty nice clean tones, the neck pickup is full and rich, not hi-fi sounding like some of the cheaper models, decent (if somewhat thin) single coil twang. Very lively sound, this guitar defies physics by somehow producing rich tone, amazing sustain and easy on-demand harmonic overtones despite it's tiny, thin, relatively light body. The addition of the wood top changes the entire character of the sound and the additional weight helps alot. The bridge humbucker is what sold me on this thing - it's VERY hot and as nice a pickup for mild to wild distortion as I have ever heard. I have a Carvin Holdsworth with an SD Lynch in the bridge and the Parker is so far beyond that it's just plain sick.

Amazing. Simply beyond words. This guitar was set up perfect sitting on the Guitar Center floor (including perfect intonation all the way up)and I have yet to tweak a single thing, which for me is pretty absurd. Every other gutiar and bass I have ever owned has been the subject of never ending tweaking and experimenting in a the never ending quest for the perfect setup. The Parker is so perfect I am afraid to mess with anything and have no nagging feeling AT ALL that anything could be any better than it already is. I hate to invoke the old cliche but this instrument really does just play itself, it is the most effortless guitar I have ever laid hands on, moving up and down the neck is just pure magic. The neck is VERY thin, which might bother some folks, but every time I pick this thing up a I am just struck with the feeling that Parker has achieved ergonomic perfection, I honestly cannot imagine it getting any better than this.

Too soon to tell. It cetainly feels light and delicate, like a very finely crafted piece of art, I don't thing stepping on the neck would be a good idea. parker has had plenty of problems over the years with the Piezzo's, we'll just have to see how it goes.

Nothing to report yet. I am hoping the fact that I own their top of the line guitar will mean I get good service if I ever need it, hopefully I'll never need to find out.

I have to admit I am not even remotely worthy of this guitar. I'm a bass player who has noodled on guitars for 15 years. I have picked up and played just about every guitar make and model on the planet at one time or another, I've owned various Strats, a Schecter, ESP and Parker Nitefly in the past and currently have a Carvin Holdsworth. I did not realize when I was playing this thing in the store that it's parker's top of the line because of the price. They have (as of 07/26/01) about 6 or 7 parkers at Guitar Center El Torro CA that they are just blowing out below cost, most of them have a minor ding or two though. Any time you can pick up s $4500 (list) instrument for $1500 ya gotta be feeling pretty good about it. Bottom line is right now I can't even imagine wanting to own or even play any other guitar, except maybe a vintage Strat or Big Ol Honking Hollowbody for novelty every once in a while. This is the perfect electric guitar and it will be a real challenge to feel anything but disgust for lesser instruments from now on. I hope to God nothing ever happens to it!

The fly supreme is the most expensive parker you can buy...its got the same hardware as the rest of the fly models except the body is made completely of curly maple which is very very beautiful...the picture of the supreme on parkers website does it no justice at all..if you look at it from a certain angle you see the flame finish..change the angle and you see the grain of the wood running throughout the guitars body

I heard people moaning on about the fly deluxes humbuckers sounding weak and thin..i cant comment ive never played one but the supreme does not sound this way...overall the sound is very clear no muddiness and it will pick up every mistake if you are a sloppy player...as far as im concerned i get get just about any sound i want with ..it the neck pickup is dark...and the bridge is cutting..the in between sound is like a strats 2nd position...there is a drop in volume in this position so beware of this...the piezo sounds great..though a proper amp p.a or a keyboard amp the piezo has all the bass you and treble you want..the only thing that stops it from sounding like a martin or taylor is that is does not have the hollow sound of a proper acoustic...witch is not a problem when you consider the other advantages that is has...for instance the stereo cable frees you up for endless possibilties...ive got it going through 2 seperate channels on the p.a...my electric is going through my boss me30 and the piezo is going through a digital reverb delay ...with the guitar set up this way you can go from a wall of sound to thin and cutting...the humbuckers are not the fattest ive ever heard...but they sound well...they seem to have the best properties of singles and hums..when clean they are clear and sweet not too fat and no noise...under heavy distortion they act like a humbucker should by soaking up all the sound and driving it out very well indeed...one thing about the supreme i have to point out is that the sustain is amazing...it sustains better than my les paul..much better in fact...which is surprising because the guitar is so small and thin

Now i have to tell the world about this...especially those of you want or have a parker fly...i had the guitar a few weeks and i started to notice a sound on the 3rd string when the piezo was engaged...it sounded like a metallic clang like someone hitting a metal pipe with a spanner when you hit the string...this sound then spread to the second and first strings...i sent letters all over the place to owners luthiers parkers site everyone that might know how to fix it...and ive come to a few conclusions..most of the people i contacted knew of this problem ...the luthier in spain said this is a characteristic of all parker guitars....i have another term for it....its a design flaw...which should not on one of the most expensive electric guitars in the world....but fret not folks...after much searching..ive found out how to fix it so here goes...the source of this unwanted noise comes from the part of the string that runs from the saddle into the bridge...dampen that part of the string and the noise is gone...the way i did it was to put a piece of foam in behind the saddles so it touches the string...but as i said this problem should not have been there in the first place...thats it though no other problems...the action is good a little higher than my les paul...you could lower it further but the piezo will buzz like hell...tremolo use will put the guitar out of tune pretty quick though...if you play high up like bb king as opposed to the likes of slash...the top horn will jab you in the chest...i had to lower my position to find it comfortable...it is comfortable though ...its very well balanced and very light

Apart from that design flaw i mention earlier it seems to be rock solid...i have heard horror stories about frets coming loose and the like...there is a possibility that other hidden flaws may arise over time....but im optimistic that this guitar will serve me well for a very long time

The guys at parker are very helpful with any questions...if you live in the states you wont have a problem..if you live anywhere else...you might..so beware of this

So it seems parker dont have it quite 100% right yet but they are definitely on to something great with this guitar...its design is a beautiful work of art it sounds great and has many usable and unique features...i have a les paul deluxe a 67 telecaster and an ovation custom legend...the parker...has its own sound you cant really compare it with anything else...clear bright with awsome sustain is the best way to sum it up...many thanks to all the people that responded to my e mails....if anyone has any questions feel free to e mail me