Parker Guitars NiteFly Mojo

My only complaint is that the body is hardly carved/sculpted - it's basically a slab of wood cut into the familiar Parker shape. For this price (about $1500), I wish Parker had done a little more in this regard.

Very versatile sounds...

Very well made...note that the neck is slightly fatter than the standard Parker neck, which some may prefer (but not me).

Very reliable. Easy access for changing the battery (much easier than on a standard Fly)

Nice website for Parker...but I've never tried to contact them for support.

I also own a Parker Fly Mojo, which I prefer in every way (except for changing the battery)...but this is a very solid backup to that one. Other guitars include a Martin D16-GTR, Fender Tele, blah blah...

This is a Nitefly Mojo Natural Mahogany finish with a Duncan JB on the Bridge and a Duncan Jazz on the neck plus Fishman piezos. The knobs consist of magnetic volume, push-pull magnetic tone that splits the coils, and piezo volume. The neck is a bolt-on made of mahogany encassed in Parker's carbon-glass-epoxy composite. The fretboard is the same composite with 22 stainless steel frets. It has that famous smooth Parker tremolo and Sperzel locking tuners. For detailed specs check out http://www.parkerguitars.com/code/models/models_nitefly_mojo_specs.asp

This is the most versatile guitar I have. It sounds like a Les Paul in full humbucker mode while it will get you near strat and tele sounds with the coils split. I use it mainly through a Rocktron Prophesy preamp hooked to a Carvin TS 100 tube amp and a Carvin Legacy CE212 cabinet.

I have compared the sound with a Les Paul Standard and a Les Paul Studio. The pups are hotter than the Studio pups and about the same as the Standard Burstbucker Pro pups. While the sound is not 100% Les Paul, it is darn close (a little less edgy). This thing does what PRS and others have been trying unsuccessfully to do for years: produce a guitar that will cover most bases. I gave it a 9 only because I don't think there is a guitar that gives you a 10.

I bought this at a store and everything was perfect except for a ding in the top part of the back that someone playing it in the store had made. I got the store to take off $100 because of the ding which is not visible when you are playing it.

It feels very light but very durable. It is heavier that the Parker Fly because of the thicker solid body (no composite on the body like the fly) and the thicker bolt-on neck. My only complaint is a crackling sound with the magnetic pickup switch. Sometimes when I switch to the bridge pickup I don't get any sound and I have to switch back and forth. This is a know problem with the newer Nitefly switches and I fixed it by filing some of the plastic near the contacts. However, because of this I took off some points.

I sent an email to Parker support about my Fly (not the Nitefly) only once and never received a reply. So, I ducked a couple of points for that. Most other people that have dealt with them seem happy, and they have some guys that will answer questions in the Parker forum.

I have been playing on and off for 36 years. Most recently I have been playing and ocassionally gigging with an experimental band (only good description for the odd mixture of world/rock/jazz/blues that we play). I own too many guitars right now: 3 Parkers, 2 PRS, 2 Les Pauls, Strat, 2 Aria Pro II's, Brian Moore i8.13, Ibanez RG1520GK, Carvin Holdsworth Fatboy, Line 6 Variax 500. However, after a period of testing and reflection, I have concluded that I am Parker guy. So, I am in the process of selling both PRS's (beautiful finish, no soul), one Les Paul (only need one), one Aria Pro (nice classic Japanese but only need one), the Variax (yuk! getting this thing was a mistake!), the Carvin (nice guitar, but not for me), and the Strat (I'll use the Parkers instead). As you can see, I am keeping all the Parkers (Fly Mojo, Nitefly Mojo, Nitefly NFVII), the Brian Moore and Ibanez (mainly for use with my Roland GR-33), the Les Paul Studio (for those occasions when I really need that Les Paul sound) and a 24 year old Aria Pro II CS 400 (for sentimental reasons).
I love the feel and playability of the Parkers. I really believe in their slogan "Nothing Plays Like a Parker". The Nitefly Mojo is my favorite guitar. My second favorite is its more expensive cousin Fly Mojo which is a great guitar, but does not quite have the same warmth as the Nitefly (less mahogany?).

I bought the Parker Nitefly Mojo, natural mahogany color. One-piece body, bolt-on neck. Pickups are: 6-element Fishman piezo on bridge, Seymour Duncan JB on bridge and Seymour Duncan Jazz on neck (both are humbuckers). It has a volume control for the piezo system, a volume for the magnetic pickups and tone control common to both systems. Coil tap for both magnetic pickups. It has the Parker dsigned cast alumimum vibrato which can be used in three settings: fixed, bend-down only or floating, controlled by a set screw adjustment. Carbon fiber fretboard and stainless steel frets.

I play blues and jazz fusiony type stuff. It does every style that I like to play well. I use a Seymour Duncan Convertible, a '74 Fender Twin Reverb, a '98 Fender Hot Rod DeVille, Gregory Mark X or any one of three DIY amps that I have built with it. It is very quiet, and in fact, it has the quitest single coil pickups I have ever heard. It has a nice sound, and the piezo gives a nice acoustic kind of flavor. The magnetic pickups can pretty much give you any sound that you are looking for.

The action can be adjusted incredibly low - lower than any other guitar I have ever owned. And, no buzzing frets! It is manufactured with amazing precision. The guitar is flawless in finish and sound.

I would have no problems taking it anywhere to play any kind of music.

My contact with Parker Guitars so far has been positive and propmpt.

I wish I would have bought one of these sooner!

This is the new model (2004) nite Fly Mojo. Made from a solid piece of mahogony with the very cool carbon fibre encased neck and stainless steel frets. This guitar is worth buying for the neck alone! There's also a set of Sperzel Locking tuners that are simply the best I have ever used and Seymour Duncan pickups. A Jazz in the neck and a JB in the bridge. The tremolo is excellent, however I have a few more comments about it in the "action" catagory. Also fitted is the Fishman Piezo's in the bridge for some very authentic acoustic sounds (as long as you plug into the right kind of amp!)You can also split the coils on the mags to get single coil sounds and they actually sound pretty good which is a little unusual for this kind of set up in my opinion! Often the SC sounds of a humbucker can be a little weak and leave you wanting more but not these ones! This is a real "Jack of all trades" guitar and is perfect for those who play in a cover band and need lots of different sounds in a night! I really can't think of anything it dosen't have that I wish it did except maybe a 3rd pup so you can get those in-between sounds but then, thats not really the point of this guitar.

I play this through an Orange AD30TC Head and 4x12 Cab with various pedals inbetween (I won't bore you with the details)and there are very few sounds I can't achieve with this rig! There are many great things about this guitar, the way it plays, it's lightweight, fantastic neck etc, but for me, it all starts and ends with the tone! All those other features are not worth shit of it sounds like crap! Well, relax friends, this thing sounds awesome!! Those Seymour Duncans sound as fantastic in this guitar as they do in anything else I've ever played! There's some very cool single coil sounds, in fact, I almost prefer this guitar in single coil mode as the neck sounds like my strat and the bridge sounds like my tele. Unbelievable really. Push in the coil split and you have instant Les Paul tones. Thick and creamy in the neck and raspy and crunchy in the bridge! All that and we haven't even tried the piezos yet! I always split the signal and send the mags to my amp and the Piezos to the PA. This thing sounds as good as any plugged in acoustic I've ever heard and you don't even have to swap guitars! Run the amp and the PA together and the term "Wall of Sound" takes on a whole new meaning! I mean, it's just amazing! For cover bands (which lets face it, most of us either have, will, or are playing in one!) it is the only tool you need to cover all the bases. I actually considered the Line 6 Variax before I bought this but you can't have the mags and the piezos on at the same time so I think the Parker is better and more versitile in that regard. From blues to rock, pop and country, it's all here with the flick of a switch or twist of a knob.

"nothing plays like a Parker." Thats what the advertising says anyway! Well, for the most part I have to say I agree, however, it's not perfect! The problem is that this guitar has a fantastic tremolo system. It's solid, smooth, stable and fully adjustable. In fact it is the best I've ever used. Combined with the sperzel locking tuners and graphite nut it's practically faultless! So what's the problem? I hear you say! The probelm is, I can't bloody use it! For some insane reason, they have chosen to put the pickup selector virtually right below the Trem bar so when the bar is in the right position to actually use it, you can't get your hand to the selector! I have tried all manor of contortions and positioning of the bar to make it work for me but the bottom line is, it's all setup wrong! However, if you take the bar out, the switch is in the perfect position! It has become so frustrating trying to play live that I now just don't worry about using the trem at all. This is not really a big problem as I never use it heaps anyway, just a little wiggle here and there for effect, but it really bothers me that I have a guitar with such a great trem system that can't really be used in a live setting! I am actually considering swapping the tone control position for the selector switch position to see if that fixes things but I really shouldn't have to do that I don't think! This is a real ergonomic cockup in my opinion and one that simply shouldn't have happened on an otherwise perfect instument. The other problem I have had is that the action can be lowered insanly low, but only on the treble side! The system is very simple, you just put the supplied hex key in the hole in the back of the guitar and turn it to raise or lower the bridge. Problem is, the bass side locks tight and won't move, while the treble side will lower down till the strings lay flat on the fretboard! I don't get it!. I fixed the problem to a degree by removing the neck and placing a small shim between the neck and body to move the neck closer to the strings and thereby give a little more adjustment, and also replaced the nines with tens. It's a lot better now, but I still don't understand why I can't lower the bass side when I can screw the the treble side down so low! Anyone from Parker answer this question for me??? Anyway, I can only give a 6 in this catagory because while for the most part it plays perfectly, but I can't forgive the wrong positioning of the controls or this action problem. PS. The Fly's controls are the oposite way around with the knobs on top and the switches under them and this works much better. I think Parker should adopt this setup across the board.

Well, it's strong, tough and well made. The frets are Stainless steel and will probably never wear out. It seems to be impervious to temperature change and stays in perfect tune cold or hot, so I doubt there will ever be any reliability issues.

Tried to contact them via their website regarding the bridge issue, but their direct email thing dosen't work, so no points there! The local supplier whom I purchased the guitar from was fantastic with outstanding service, but with Parker being sold to AMI he has lost the dealership so he's not much help to me either. I only hope that AMI don't do to Parker what they did to Washburn when they bought it and send all the manufaturing offshore to Korea and completly devalue the entire brand! I bought this guitar as it was one of the last ones out of the original factory and I'm hoping that one day it will be worth something, just like a pre CBS Fender.

I have several other guitars, a good Strat, a Tele, a Les Paul Studio, a Flying V (very cool) and a 335. I love all the classics, they are great instruments and all have their own pros and cons but for the best all rounder that lets you get virtually any tone without the need to change guitars, you can't go past a Parker. They are a real players guitar, they look different in a good way, they are lightweight, versitile and have perfect neck dimentions (for me anyway!). The SS frets are unbelievable and should be used on every guitar! The graphite is the most perfect playing surface.
If it sounds like I love this guitar, it's because I do. It's now my main axe and pretty much all I need. My other guitars and now mere art pieces as they rarely ever get played anymore. They feel positivly antique in comparison. The Parker will let you play faster, more accuratly, and encourages you to try different styles as it's not associated with just one style of music like some others are (Strat-blues, Tele-country, Les Paul-Rock etc). Ergonomics and setup aside, this guitar is as close to ideal and perfect as any other instrument out there and is more versitile than most. Buy one and you wont regret it! My only tip is to get one with the Seymour Duncans in it not the DiMarzios as they are far superior in my opinion! Bottom line it's a nine. Fix those niggles and it's a ten.