Parker Guitars Jazz

this is just an update on my previous review . I have owned this guitar for two years now and it still is the most unique sounding guitar I have ever owned,the list includes L-5's,es5's ,335,prs etc. you get the picture. all I can say is please don't let other guitar players judge this axe.let the horn players,drummers.piano players etc. do it.guitar players are the most opinionated,closed minded bunch out there. and as for the pickups, yes,pre 2000 parkers were under the control of korg and they were not as good in general pickups and workmanship were iffy.but since then the control is back with parker and the workmanship is impeccable.the pu's are redesigned and are great. plus dimarzio offers a number of their pu's for the fly so you are not restricted in choice. as for ed roman and his seymour duncan fixation,all I can say is I would take his word with a large grain of salt.I had a very negative experience with him that frankly makes me doubt his honesty. and if the dimarzio's are so terrible,then why did the latest guitar player review say that the dimarzio equipped fly supreme had the most distictive sound of the group tested,including the mojo? enough said.

the truss rod never needs adjusting , there is no fretwear in two years. and I play every day.

the finish is as good as my 1989 prs. the hardware is still like new.I would trust it anytime on any gig.

always answers my e-mail promptly

I have been playing 37 years and I think my feelings about this guitar are evident.why spend 2,500 on a gibson or a strat or a prs for that matter when you can get more features,in many cases better workmanship,and an incredible range of sounds with a parker. stop living in the past folks,who knows what hendrix or charlie christian or django would be playing if they lived this long?

a 2002 parker jazz model,now discontinued. same as other parkers in a general way but with a hardtail. The body is mahogany and the hardware is gold plated with the exception of the toggle switches (bummer). the tuners are non locking for the reason that parker wanted to make this guitar a more traditional model that would stand out from their rock guitars. I would have preffered locking tuners,I guess I am spoiled. the neck pickup is voiced for jazz. Of course there is a piezo .

The guitar sounds great,the neck p.u. truly sounds fuller and sweeter than other parkers I have owned or tried. I run the guitar in stereo ,mag p.u. thru my rivera 1-12 and piezo thru an effects unit to an SWR strawberry blond. sometimes I'll run with the pickups blended (piezo and neck) thru the effects and out in stereo to both amps. either way gives a unique full ,complex jazz tone. let me also say that I have gotten more compliments from other players,non guitar players than any other guitar I have owned

The setup and finish were perfect and I am very picky

It seems very stable very well made, and the synthetic carbon fiber adds greatly to the strength

very friendly company,they once repaired a neck on a nitefly I had and sent it back within 2 weeks with a new neck.One thing I would not reccomend is buying a parker made during its affiliation with korg. buy from before or after.

I have been playing for 35+ years and have owned many guitars which if I still had would probably pay for my kids college. I love the parker, they are unique sounding ,versatile sounding,great playing guitars and well beyond any other guitar in the same price range. I suppose its a minor point but I wish it had locking tuners,thats all! just remember you must run this guitar with the piezo thru a p.a. or an acoustic guitar amp to get the fullest potential from it,it wont sound like a martin but will sound like itself

First, I must say that I do not own this guitar, I only tested it out at Rudy's Music Shop in New York City. For the features (Too many to list), check out www.parkerguitars.com. The only things that irk me are that the hardware is gold (I like all black), the pickups were not active EMG-81s, and that the woods are not environmentally certified, like by the Rainforest Allience (What can I say, I'm a radical treehugging metalhead!). I do believe that all industries should play their part in cleaning up this world and preserving and sustaining our strained resources. What Gibson does with their Smartwood Les Pauls is truly remarkable. This is certainly the lightest guitar I have ever played.

I tried this out through a Rivera combo. Even though I kept this on clean only, there is little wonder how this woul've sounded with a kickass thrash tone. Again, I'm a metalhead, but I don't limit myself and can play a lot of other stuff. Between all the controls, i could get every single kind of clean tone on the planet. I could get convincing Dick Dale, Bob Dylan, Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, clean Metallica, Pearl Jam, and jazz tones. The guitar was the most responsive instrument I have ever heard bar none.

Psycotically fast! Very thin neck and smooth fretboard. Finish does not slow you down.

This is a set neck instrument, which normally means one drop and the neck falls off. However, there is carbon fiberglass reinforcment on the back, which is the equivelent of a sheet of metal on the back. I doubt that this problem could happen on this guitar.

Rudy Pensa himself helped me and knew every single fact about this guitar dead on. Top quality experience. Never dealt with Ken Parker.