Parker Guitars P-38

The Parker P-38 is the most versitile guitar I own, I have several, my last count was having owned over 150 guitars that have passed through my hands in the last 15 years. And this Parker is like them all in one.

It has the usually slelctor for piezo, single coil, double coil or a mixture of both. With its tone and volume contorls you can pretty much deliver all the sounds of the most poular makes.

Well again were do I start, it takes time, if you go to the Parker web site there is a demonstration video for one of teh P-38 models and if you apply it too your own model you can produce a wide sound.

It has the best rythum guitar clean sound ever.

I use a variety of amps and effects, but even on the cheapest amp and no effects it is still great.

I brought this second hand, luckily my guitar shop is also a first class guitar set up genius.

It is low and even using just your left hand a musical passgage is easily played.

The tunnings pegs are marvelous, easily moving a little to add that perfect tunning.

It came wiht a perfect whammy bay, even the delicate of touchs is enough to create the usual deep depression of a normal guitar.

I use it on stage occasionally, I usual take about 20 of my guitars with my to a gig. A guitar for each song, even though I don't need to its all part of show business, to entertain people.

It always stays in tune and never ever needs more than a little tweak to be corrected.

The guitar seams tough enough to survive a entrie gig.

Strap buttons, a strap will rip before these things give up.

Never had to call them.

If money is tight this guitar will cover all the guitars you could ever need. Every sound you will ever need. All in one little package.

I love the look of the guitar, it looks like no other on the planet and is always easy on the eye and a comfort to paly sitting or standing.

I only hate one thing about it the headstock, it never looks strong enough it is that thin put hey one fault is not bad.

I brought this for a relativly chaep price for a Parker second hand guitar. I was not disapponited.

I bought a 1997 P-38 used in November 2003. It had stock Parker pickups, which I understand are Korean-made. The body is ash, the fingerboard is rosewood, neck is maple. The standard P-38 specs are on the Parker web site for the genuinely curious. I bought if for its playabilitym light weight and of course the added piezo pickups. The neck is wide and flat, similar to an Ibanez and much more playable to me than a fat, round Gibson neck or a narrow, cramped Fender.
The finish is a tobacco sunburst type around a white pickguard.
The Wilkinson tremolo/piezo bridge had almost no tuning problems even before I installed locking tuners. The tiny (1.5mm) Allen screw that keeps or reduced tension on the tremolo bar is a nice innovation. I've had Floyd Rose bridges whose tremolo sockets got stripped within a couple of years just from ordinary playing, which can never happen with this bridge.
The body is perfectly balanced, and as with any Parker it vibrates against your ribcage much more than other guitars.

The stock bridge humbucker was very powerful and good sounding. The stock single coils had a very low output and were really only suitable for clean-toned rhythm playing. I fixed all that by putting a Duncan JB in the bridge, which has a screaming output and beautiful tone, a Duncan Little '59 in the bridge, giving it the classic Les Paul tones, and a Duncan Hot Strat Stack in the middle. The change in the bridge pickup made surprisingly little difference, but changing out the neck and middle pickups gives the guitar worlds of versatility. The middle noiseless single-coil is the biggest change (I used a bridge model for the higher output to match the two high-output humbuckers). You couldn't get a more versatile guitar short of a Line 6 Variax. I play everything from clean-toned jazz to classic rock to heavy metal with it and couldn't be happier with the sound. Having spent a total of around $700 on the guitar (after also installing Planet Waves locking tuners) I am well satisfied.

I've read P-38 reviews, usually by people who haven't been playing long and apparently didn't play the guitar before buying it, which expressed dissatisfaction with quality control. My experience was very different. Nothing about this guitar is poorly made - except that one of the pickguard mounting screws does not line up with the hole drilled for it. This has no effect on the guitar's playability or appearance, however. My only other complaint is that, even with locking tuners, the 3rd string consistently goes out of tune if I use the tremolo much. The neck is a bolt-on, but the neck's base is cut away towards where a player's hand reaches for the high frets so that it does not interfere. Contrast that with even a high-end Gibson or Fender neck that seems designed to prevent you from using anything higher than the 17th fret.

I haven't taken the guitar out to play live yet but I can't foresee any problems with it. The finish had lasted six years before I ever got hold of it and I can't imagine any problems. I would definitely use this guitar in a gig without a backup - the Planet Waves tuners make changing a broken string a 30-second job at most.

I haven't had to deal with customer support so have no opinion.

I've been playing for 23 years now; I've owned a number of electric guitars and play this through a Digitech effects processor and (usually) an old Fender M-80 combo.
If my Parker were stolen or lost I'd probably try to either find an affordable used Fly (and then change the pickups) or make all the same modifications to another used P-series.
The ability to choose and/or blend a piezo signal adds a dimension to this guitar that I'd never want to do without again. Players who've only had standard electrics can't imagine the way that Piezo pickups can expand a player's palette of tones.
I'd recommend replacing the two single-coil pickups, which were just too low-output to be of much use.
I don't think there is a fair comparison to Parkers outside of Godin/Seagull, the only other hybrid magnetic/piezo guitars I know of, or maybe a Line 6 Variax (which is probably my next guitar). Every guitar I've played that I liked the feel of as much, cost at least $1,200 and wasn't as versatile.

For the exact specs, I recommend you just visit www.parkerguitars.com. Mine is the black P-38 with the faux mother-of-pearl scratchplate - very pretty, and makes the guitar look much more expensive ;-). Light as well; I could not imagine lugging around my Les Paul for an entire gig but this guitar does not bother me at all. It came with a nice gigbag, although not the Parker one... Oh, yeah: the tip of the selector switch has a tendency to come loose very rapidly (read on for details). A little bit of Loc-Tite did the trick.

I play everything from funk, pop, rock metal and jazz, and this guitar handles all styles nicely... Well, OK, it's probably less suited for metal, but this is - on the whole - a great all-round guitar. The piezo is especially nice, but I am thinking about replacing the standard pickups with EMGs.

The action and pickups were set up just fine, although I can not tell whether this was done in the store or by the factory. Not a single flaw in the finish... all but one minor gripe: when I got home with the guitar, I noticed that the small o-ring which locks the bar in place was missing entirely, and the pickup selector switch tip as well. I got a replacement guitar immediately, but this one's tip also came loose very quickly... For the lowdown, scroll down to "Customer Support". Rating 8 -1 for the switch tip.

It will sure stand up to live playing, although I bought it mainly for studio use. While it's a light instrument, it feels - reassuringly - "heavy" and solid enough. I would NOT trust the front srap button with a regular strap (this has to do more with the location than with the strap button itself), so I put on a DiMarzio cliplock. No problem.

I have not dealt with Parker themselves yet, although I would like to share my great experience with the Soho Soundhouse people (and Rainer Hauser in particular). Initially, I was looking for a P-40. Did not see any of them at Soho so walked on over to Rose Morris on Denmark Street. I was the only customer, yet had to wait about a quarter of an hour until the two metalheads behind the counter decided which one of them would help me. They had some P-40s, but none in black (my favorite colour) and they would not be re-stocking them "because they were too cheap". Needless to say they lost a sale. Off to Soho again, where I tried a P-38 anyhow and received stellar service. No pushing, take you time trying... Now comes I got this guitar on a discount because it had been used as a "demo" instrument (but hardly played). When I arrived at my hotel, I noticed that the o-ring assembly for the bar was missing. I went back to the store, where I got a new-in-box replacement at no extra cost with lots of apologies ^-^. Stellar service !

I have been playing for 15 years but have never really suffered from the dreaded Gear Acquisition Syndrome: I have always preferred better gear to more. That means that I don't have 15 rock guitars, but ONE good Jazzer, one good rocker and so on... and although this guitar is the least expensive of them all, it stands its ground. I also believe that it has enormous value-for-money. I'd buy another one without hesitation.

Made in Korea by Cort as told to me a Parker Customer Service Rep.
Far better craftsmanship than expected.

I own several Strats, some very high end and this has more of a classic Strat tone than many Fenders. Several reviewers complain about the pickups, but I imagine they are actually playing through poor amps. These pickups are excellent.

Action was higher than expected even after my own super tweeking session. A fret dressing by a skilled luthier would correct this, but should be needed on a new guitar. Shame on you Cort. I know you are capable of better work! Fit and finish are very good though.

Great live guitar. Very lightweight, cheap and no big deal if you beat the living crap out of it. After four long sets, my back and shoulder gets tired from my Les Pauls, but that's not the case with the P-38. It's as comfortable as my trusty SG and Ibanez JEM. Seems rugged enough. Well balanced.

Parker support is the best I've experienced. I've had a few parker FLy Deluxes and Niteflys. On several occaisions they've sent me free parts. Nuts, bridge saddles, etc. Great company.

I've been playing more than 25 years. Owned everything at one time or another. I have about 20 guitars right now and this has it's place amongst them. I've owned several high end Parkers and actually prefer the P-38 due to its traditional build materials. No glass epoxy resin necks, no stainless steel frets, just plain old wood and nickle. Feels like a well played Strat and sounds better than most. A great guitar for the price. Good job Parker!

Everybody has listed the features, so I won't kick a dead horse. Needless to say, a lot of features for the money. Too bad most of them suck.

I really, really wanted to like this guitar. It was to be my new main ax....

Here's where I ran in to trouble. Sound is a personal thing - one person's stratavarious is another person's shite. Personally, I thought it sounded marginal at best. The standard pickups are worse than guitars I own that I paid $200 for, and they came with pickups I new were going to be crap. For $600, I expected something more workable. The huge volume dropoff between the bridge humbucker and single-coils is horrid. I've never played a guitar with worse pickup balance. And the sound was uniformly bad from all of the pickups. Definitely the worst sounding pickups that I've heard in some time. Perhaps ever.

The piezo as well was marginal. I have a Kramer Condor with a piezo (pretty much a solid body acoustic - nice ax) and it sounds night and day better than the parker. The parker sounds like an electric guitar going through a really bad acoustic simulator. I tried it both on a Roland electric guitar amp and a Carvin acoustic amp, and it sucked on both. And I mean sucked.

Ug. Just, ug. Although it sounded like shite, one could drop some new electronics in if the instrument was solid and well built. But the sound wasn't the only thing that sucked on it.

The action was very high, yet there was still a good bit of fret buzz (I think it came with 9's). Not cool. I'm used to setting up my own guitars, and I expect to do so, but I usually like them a little closer to true than what I got. Having to file down frets on a new instrument isn't my idea of a good time. I've bought $200 Ibanez and Kramer guitars with much better fretwork and action, out of the box. I don't think I've ever seen such a bad setup. And believe me, I've seen some bad setups.

The finish itself had some cracks. Several of the screws for the pickguard weren't in straight. The pot stems weren't straight, making the volume and tone controls do a neat little dance when turned. And that would be the super-ultra-cheapo rubber unmarked controls. Again, ug. The tuners were OK, but with a wilkinson tremolo (the only redeeming feature on the guitar), you really need locking tuners or a locking nut (preferably the former).

Ug.

I'm sending it back. It isn't even worthy of the two-handed Townsend-esque stage slam.

I never tried to call them. I wouldn't have known where to start. Plus, they might have threatened to darken my music room with a new one....

I really, really wanted to like this guitar. I was checking UPS tracking every few hours to see where it was. I ducked out of work early to go play with it when it arrived at my house. It was to replace my five other guitars (at least for jamming), free up a lot of space, and generally make me grin a lot when I played it.

What an utter disappointment. Maybe Parker's American-made stuff is better, but this thing was complete shite, from one end to the other. A lot of people seem to like the thing (of course, everybody seems to like everything here :), so maybe mine was a unique turd, but my experience with it was uniformly bad.

This is an update to a review I submitted earlier, right after I got the guitar. I have had it since December 21. It is now March 2. I was playing this morning and I realized that something is wrong with the input jack! When I plug in the guitar, there is no sound! I have to fiddle with the plug to make the guitar produce any sound. I am having trouble with my amp, this is making it worse!

This is a follow up review, I have had mine for a little more than a year now.

Features are good, look up my other review.

I like my P-38's sounds. I like the humbucker, which for a cheap no name pickup is great. I have just recently started to appreciate the single coils. I might replace the single coils, but I don't use them that much and they sound fine.

Piezo is okay, it is the same as the one Carvin uses. I almost never use it though, but it does give you more available sounds.

This guitar is more like a Strat than anything else.

Oh, and I now use a Carvin MTS combo with it. Sounds good through that, and sounds good through most mid level amps. I don't have any Marshalls or MesaBoogies to test it out on:). I have also tried it through a Line 6 Spider and it sounded great.

I am actually giving it probably an 8.5, but rounding it up, I'll give it a 9. I am comparing this to other guitar around the price range. I don't have experience with high end guitars, as my friends and other bands I know are just teens. On the whole it sounds great.

I got it from Guitar Center right out of the box, because another one in sunburst had marks on it.

I am only giving it a 7 because I had to get the frets filed down, but it was covered by warranty and the local guy did it.

The finish is nice, my sunburst looks very nice, and so far is pretty durable. Neck is great, frets are of normal Korean quality it seems, not the best, but good for the money.

My volume knob crapped out on me, and I would have had to send it out to them for the repair, so I just got my local guy to replace it with a new pot.

The finish is good, some wear already, but I play a lot, and have fooled around with it, adjusting strings, vibrato springs, etc.

The only thing that worries me are the Fishman pickups. They are discolored from my sweat now, but I don't notice any change in tone.

The volume tone controls are far better tham Epiphone stuff, but my volume knob has failed.

I have dealt with the company on some warranty work and they were pretty good. They replied back with an email after I bitched at them for the fret work. The guy that did it isn't that great, not Parker's fault.

The only thing I don't like is you have to ship it to them for warranty work. But many companies are doing this now.

I have been playing for a little more than 2 years. I am in a band, and I have only done 2 gigs so far. It has held up pretty good, and I am pretty satisfied with it.

This is a great guitar for anyone, especially with a pretty decent price.

You have to try them out though, and a few of them of each. They are all going to be a little scuffed up sitting in places like GC.

If it were lost or stolen, I would probably buy one of these, or maybe a higher end Parker or P-Series. I compared it to Epiphones, PRS Santana SE,and lower end Fenders. I like it the best, and it looks cool and different. Great playability, sounds good, and even though the quality isn't up there like higher end Parkers, Fenders, Gibsons, etc. it is a nice guitar.

This guitar has some pretty good features on it. Piezo pickups, stereo/mono. This is the first time I have had a guitar with a wilkinson bridge. I like it.

I was expecting a pleathroe of sounds out of this one. The only pickup I use is the bridge humbucker. It sounds good but not what I expected. I use it with a Vox Cambridge 30 Reverb. Classic rock sounds can be gotten out of it because of the amp. I am yet to try it with another (high-gain) amp.
For Being a lighter guitar, it resonates well and sounds full.

After I bought it, took it home, and started to play it. I found that the fretboard has many chips on it. There are scratches- look to be from it being played by a player wearing a belt- on the back.
Also, there is unbelieveable string buzz on every string at every position. With the magnetic pickups, it cannot be heard; but through the piezo pickups it can be heard. Otherwise, the guitar came in good shape. It came with the nicest gig bag I have ever seen.

I have only had this for a few weeks. It seems that it would hold up well. I am not terriblly abusive of my guitars. I can be rough on them sometimes but not often.

I cannot give a rating in this category, for I have never dealt with this company.

This is a pretty good guitar. It obviously doesn't have the American made craftsmanship, but that is why you are paying under $1000. If I could go back, I probably would've bought something else, but I am not THAT disapointed with my decision.
If you want a Parker, go for it. Just make sure you inspect it before you buy it.

korean
22 meduim jumbo frets
solid ash body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard
non-locking tuners
Wikinson vibrato bridge
s/s/h magnetics
fishman piezos in bridge
all active pickups (runs off of internal 9 volt battery)
pearloid pickgaurd
5-way and 3-way selectors
3 knobsmagnetic volume, magnetic tone, and piezo volume

what more do u ask for on an entry level guitar?!!??!!?

i mainly play punk rock, but i also do classic rock and jus plain classical (i learned to play on a nylon string acoustic).
i run the guitar straight into a crate gfx-15 amp and it sounds great!
the effects dont sound too hot through the singles (or the humbucker, for that matter) because the pickups arent really that great, but for a punk rocker who mainly goes with distortion, they're fine.
there are audible differences between the selector switch settings, but not as much as you would expect out of "custom" pickups.
the piezos sound moderate through my transistor amp, but when i tried it thru a PA, its sounded just like an acoustic!
overall, the sound does pretty good, but when compared to what parker can do on their flys, or even the higher p series that i tried out in stores, it sort of falls behind.

my finish is supposed to be sunburst, but it is more of a tobacco sunburst and it is flawless. the cutouts in the pickguard are perfect (it is square around the humbuckers) and the neck is bolted on without gaps. the fretwork is also excellent.

the setup had a bit to be desired though. i had to play with the truss rod because of a lot of fret buzz, but that was ok. however, the piezos needed major adjustments. the guitar came with the piezos not quite parallel with the bridge, causing feedback when amplified. easy to adjust, but the a string keeps moving out of alignment. this doesnt affect the magnetics, but the moment you select piezos, you will get feedback.

This guitar seems quite durable as long as its reasonably well-taken care of. the finish looks and feels solid and the hardware is much of the same.

however, i had to replace the strap buttons with strap locks because my strap was at risk from coming off (due to the wierd placement of the top button on the back of the guitar)

the only thing i would be really worried about would be the battery life for the active preamp mixer. the manual says 150 hours and the website says 200 hours, so i'm not so confident in how long that will last. i jus keep a screwdriver (for the back access plate) and batteries in my bag just in case.

i sent a couple emails to the company, but i didnt get a response for a month so far. because guitar center discontinued the line, i just went to my friend's music shop (a mom and pop store) and he just showed me how the fix the piezo feedback. dont expect help from parker unless you spent more than $3000 because they probably wont help you.

i have been playing for about 2 years on a nylon string classical while borrowing friends' guitars and this is my first electric. i think that this is an excellent beginner's guitar with parker quality (foreign, but still parker) and plenty of features.
im perfectly happy with it and if somebody stole it, i would hunt them down.

if you are a beginner and you want a guitar that you wont have to replace even after you get better, this is for you (especially if you can get it for my price)!

Typical features... no need to elaborate.

Ahhh... herein lies the trouble. In and of itself, it sounds very good. Good quality tonewood, but the mediocre pickups which Parker disguises as "custom Parker" are in all honesty very plain sounding imports. The sound would be MUCH better, however, if the fretwork wasn't so disastrous. Law of the cosmos is the highter the string height, the more articulate the tone, but to play clean, this thing had to be raised WAY to bloody high (we're talking near half inch where it meets the body). So end result is moderate sound quality which is wounded by terrible fretwork.

The piezo pickups, too, are hugely disappointing. Even though Parker admits themselves that it is NOT intended to even moderately replicate the sound of an acoustic, it's only real utility is in a blended mix with the other (magnetic) pickups, and providing a separate signal to a recording rig which can be run through whatever effects you can think of to turn it into something useful.

Fit and finish are immaculate, but the action is bar-none the worst I've ever seen in a >$600 production guitar. But if you put it into perspective, that's not terribly ironic. Remember afterall that it came out of a Korean factory where one person routes the body, one person finishes it, one person installs frets, etc... Everything was exceptionally clean EXCEPT for the most important playability ingredient... Some of the frets weren't leveled at all, not to mention poorly dressed. But the fretboard itself was absolutely lazer-level, perfectly fitted to the neck, go figure.

Other than the sketchy quality control, it is very well made. Decent finish which should stand up to routine abuse provided folks care for it like they should anyway.

I left messages with Parker concerning warranty AND out of warranty repair work, and I NEVER got a single reply. I was even willing to pay for what THEY should have fixed, but oh well.

In my personal experience, customer support is imperically none better than any single un-returned phone call. Nuff said.

I've been playing for about 15 years, and I'm an electronics technician by trade, so I'm fairly adept at the A-typical repair work, and even though I re-crowned and dressed the frets and got the thing sounding as good as the neck would let it, I was at the wrong point to now look to replacing 3 poopy pickups.