Parker Guitars P-38

I purchased my guitar from EBAY but I was lucky to get everything but a humidifier for my axe.

4 different pickup sounds on the electric side... I love the variations on this guitar more so that I do on the Fly Deluxe that I own. Rhythm, leads, Strat-like sounds... I love it. The acoustic sound is more of what I like, not too thin sounding. I also play a big box Takamine F-250 and my p-38 runs close to that sound.

all checked out well and it is still in mint condition...

She is my #1 guitar... I have a Parker Fly Deluxe to back it up with... but she's been 90% faithful...short of a busted string.

I had to have my piezo pickup fixed once but that's about it. I had different noise levels coming from each string when strum.

I have owned my p-38 since 1999 and was stoked when I purchased it. It came to me because at the time I couldn't afford the 'real deal' so I opted to get the p-38 as a close second. One year later and several gigs under my belt with the p-38, I was able to purchase the Parker Fly Deluxe. The REAL Parker!!! I must say, either my ear is deceiving me or I'm just plan deaf but, I love the warm textures that the pickups in my p-38 give me more so than I do my Fly. I noticed that most of the photos taken while I'm performing are always with my p-38. I own a custom shop 72 Fender Stat, Charvelle Jackson, and a Zion, all of which I play from time to time and love to have sitting in my guitar rack on stage... but it is my p-38 that I play 90% of the time. And it's only 90% because occasionally I break a string! I'm no Stevie Ray or John Mayer in my playing ability, but I am one gigging machine who plays on average 4-6 nights a week, every week. I give my p-38 a 10 out of 10.

P-38, 2000, tobacco sunburst, a korean nightfly copy produced by cort. Swamp ash body, s/s/h alnico pups. Piezo fishman / wilkinson bridge. 5 way blade. 3 way toggle for pups / mix / piezos. Very light body. Comfortable player in any position.

Not going to waste time on my preferences other than gear. I've been playing since the 60s. I use quite a few vintage Marshalls, 69 small box, 72 major, 1959, 2204, 9005 etc. as well as various other amps, fenders etc, racks and quite a few pedals. I have about 15 - 20 electrics, old gibsons (lp and 61 sg), fender strats, prs and other various brands. The p-38 is the bottom of the line parker now out of production. I find myself reaching for this instrument more than any others. I opted not to swap the pups. I'm not sure if they are all like mine but it is the best sounding strat I have. The cheap stock alnico singles can get you srv and ej very close. The bridge pup is hot enough to push an amp well without getting into the mud territory. But it's darker in humbucker than a 59 or jb. I can get an ej solo tone very well with the stock pups.. the marshalls kind of help that too.. Parker during production would sell the pups for $22 single / $44 for humbucker. I should have picked up a few sets when I could, they no longer support this model.

All around you get use this guitar in about any situation. Mixing in the fishman can be nice with some fingerstyle, I don't use that much. The trem and arm length and postion is perfect for me, only outdone by my prs. I let it float as with all my trems, vintage fenders etc. I have the trem tension so I can easily get those jeff beck trills. Tuning is very very stable, I don't use the string tree. The graphite nut helps.

Here's where it lacks.. When purchased there was quite a bit of fret buzz. Frets were thin and very high for me. I leveled the neck three times before I got it perfect. When I do a leveling I'm cautious how much to take off so I could have done it the first or second. After that the neck is one of my best players for action. I do all my setups, I can't remember how the pups and trem were at stock settings. All pots scratched after first year. Jack failed within a year causing a crackling everytime you move a cable. Blade switch was noisy. So a trip to stewmac.com was necessary. They have a replacement for the 9 pin jack that is a direct replacement. So basically all pots, except for piezo pot which is fine, blade and jack needed replacement. I altered the wiring scheme so that when in the middle / third position the neck and humbucker single coil are active, not the middle. This gives you a very nice tele tone on this guitar. Stock pups will remain in this one.

I'm an older guy now so I'm not as hard on my guitars like in the 70s... After the upgrades and setup. I'd use it anywhere, anytime. I'm actually thinking of purchasing another for a backup. Some have reporded piezos failing, I haven't run into that. Battery lasts at least a year for me.

They were helpful when I contacted back in 2000. But for this model now, they will not support. I'm curious if Cort would supply parts for this now.

Great guitar for the money, just be prepared to do some neck work and upgrading most the guts.

I don't own this guitar any longer having traded it in about three weeks ago This guitar was made under licence in Korea to a Parker design, based on the Fly model. The bridge, complete with Fishman pick-ups has a Parker designed vibrato unit. The tuning stability seemed reasonable but I'm not a great user of vibrato. Tuners are again Parker designed/parts bin but are accurate and smooth. A good feature. The body finished in black paint, I think was bass wood. It was certainly nothing esoteric. This model has a wooden neck (maple I would guess) with a rosewood fretboard, not the fibre set up as on the high end Parker Models. It is fitted with 22 jumbo frets and has a reasonable width suitable for someone more used to playing acoustic guitars. The guitar came with a gig bag (not Parker) stereo lead but was lacking the tools. It was purchased secondhand so this was not a surprise. The pick up configuration S/S/H plus fishman piezos on the bridge is controled by a 5 way switch for the S/S/H with the option of mixing the Fishmans in or out or on their own with a fairly meaty toggle switch. There is one tone control (does not effect the Fishmans) and seperate volumes for the piezo or other pick ups. The pick ups are Parker, design alnicos for the singles, I've no idea about the humbucker. The S/S/H were not active but do not work if the 9V battery powering the Fishmans runs down. The finish was reasonably good and the body was light but still had good sustain. I think the shape either floats you boat or not there does not seem a middleway with a guitar like this.

I play various styles from rock/pop through to folk and jazz. I was looking for a guitar that could cover lots of different styles and had multiple voices and tones. Over the years I had the guitar it was used with a small Crate practice amp, a Vox Valvetronic ADT 50, a behringer ACK 1000 acoustic amp, driven diect into PA systems via orchid eleronics DI box and DI'd into home studio equipment. Using the stereo facility it would run into two amps, one (or PA) for the piezos the other for electic guitar tones. The main effects used were zoom 504 (acoustic) and 505 (electric), korg Pandora, on-bord amp effects and some cheap behringer pedals. I found the single coils to be noisy even at relatively medium volumes and susceptable to ineterferance. The humbucker was, as you would expect, quieter but seem to be lacking in bite and crunch. The Fishamns were fine but could have benefiteed from some on board facility to shape the sound. The guitar was at it's best when the piezos were mixed into the sound as unless this was done it seemed to be a bit "gutless". I did wonder if over the years the pick ups had become less efficent as over the time I owned the guitar it seemed to lose punch and tone. There was a great variety in the sonds it could offer with the mixture of pick ups the problem was that none of the tones were 100% convincing. it was a good workmanlike instrument and was good for experimentation and demos but it seemed unable to cut through in a lve situation. I liked the flexibility and but not the overall tone or power.

The original set up, I bought it second hand, was ok. I did get a set of tools from Stewart Macdonald and lowered the action slightly. The main problem over the years was that the neck was not stable. I also felt that the screening inside the body was poor. I would say that the fit and finish was acceptable for a licenced product. The frets were well finished and the tuners were very good. The paintwork was thin and scratched easily irrespective of the care lavished on the guitar.

This was the killer with this guitar and led to me ultimately getting rid of it. As I said above the neck was not stable and ultimately it required attention from a guitar tech. I know enough to know I don't know enough. There were several problems, as I have said above, the pick-ups seemed to lose output. I don't ever reall keeping it near a magnetic field and can think of no reason for this, but over the 4 years I had it but it lost it's bite. The next problem was setting the intonation, which became necessary as the neck moved. The fishmans are connected by a very thin wire (about as wide as a hair) and any adjustment can break this connection. Due to the movement in the neck the inevitable happened, fortunately for me when it was in the workshop, and the wire was reconnected, a very delicate operation. I was quoted ??75.00 (UK) for replacements should they need break beyond repair in the future and the advice given was that it would be best not to adjust the bridge in the future. I have to say I don't tinker with my guitars all the time (well hardly at all) but I was concerned it would only get worse so having had a set-up done on it I let it go. I would suspect it had a good few years in it but I was not happy with it any longer. In addition as I have said above the finish was thin and scratched easily, I don't mind my guitars having playing marks but this was looking poor given the very limited gigging it had done. I would have to say it was not a guitar I would have depended on in a gigging situation.

As I have said above yes it was repaired. Harmony Music of Dorcester in the UK, who sold it to me second hand, went above and beyond the call of duty to keep it going for me, particularly as i owned it for over four years. They said that Korg, the UK distributer had provided support but ultimately the cost of parts could have been more than the instrument was woth. So I would say good local support and I've not tested the national UK distributor. The overall rating is for Hrmony Music, Trinity Street, Dorchester, UK. I can't rate Korg.

I have been playing for 34 years. I own a custom made acoustic (based on a Martin 000M) made by David Oddy of Exeter Devon UK, a Blade Durango T Classic, a 1970 Janaese Copy of a Jazz Bass, a Crafter Mandolin, a Peavey Briarwood 12 String, a troubodour travel guitar, Behringer ACX 1000, a small PA rig (18 channel), Korg D3200 digital studio with various outboard kit and I also use my sons Indie Les Paul and R shape guitars and his Vox amp. I've got various pedals etc.

I was pleased to get the Parker in the first place this was the first semi-serious electric guitar I had purchased, these were ??599.00 new, and Hrmony Music did me a good deal on a second hand model. The problem was with ownership as over the years it became more of a liability than an asset. There is nothing I could have asked before I bought it that would have made much difference, these were relatively new to the market so there was not much history to rely on for the product. Had it been lost after about the first year I would proably replaced it with something else. I loved the tone and versitility when i first got it but in the end lost faith as it went flabby and became unreliable. The best feature was the Fishman bridge, which sadly became the ultimate weak spot which led to me letting it go. It was versitile but flakey and unless someone was prepared to upgrade the pick ups and run the risk of breaking the Fishmans I would not really recommend the guitar as anything you spend on it would be better invested in getting something that is already up and together. If you come accross one second hand which has up graded pick ups and the fisman is working well, if the price is right consider it, if it is standard you may find you can get more for your money on something else.

My first submission for this guitar didn't make it, don't know why. So here is my second submission.

Even these Korean made Parker guitars are made quite well and play great. They have one humbucker, 2 single coils and a piezo that you can blend with the electric pickups. I wasn't fond of the tuners or the pickups (Parker pickups), so I changed the out (read more below). When I bought this guitar, it was brand new from a friend who just collects guitars and never plays them (best kind of friend to have if you are a musician). This particular model works well due to the fact that you have many pickup combinations and the piezos. I also have a Parker Fly which is much lighter and is already pimped out, but I prefer the P-38 over it any day. I never play the Fly.

When I bought this, I got it cheap since there was such a screwed up ground thing happening. There was so much hum in certain positions. I took it to a tech and found out that the piezo pot was dead. Also, while the pickups were not too bad, I didn't fully like the sound. On all my guitars, I always change what I can. I've been pro for 25 years and need gear to work for me. I play many diverse kinds of music (fusion, straight ahaed jazz, rock, top 40, country, blah, blah, blah) and need a guitar that kind of fits each style. I started out by changing the pickups. In the neck position, I put in a Seymour Duncan JB Jr. for a thick, almost jazzy sound. Granted, it's not a hollowbody, but I've managed to use this on big band dates and actually got a decent tone. I put a Duckbucker in the middle (I play a lot of funk and country) and a full size JB in the bridge. This gives me great lead tones and some very clean, clear beautiful tones with the neck and bridge pickups combined with the middle. It's funky, clean, thick in the bridge and cuts through the mix every time. I ended up calling Parker (for a while, they sold parts at Stewart-McDonald while they were changing ownership) and talked with a tech about ordering a new piezo pot. Man, it cost 90 bucks!! For a pot!! That's quite a bit, but that's business. I also took a tip from one of the other reviewers and installed some Planet Waves tuners. These things work like a charm. Low maintenance and they stay in tune perfectly.

I currently play through a Fender DeVille (the 2X12), a Crybaby wah, a Loooper A/B box (one side to tuner, other to effects), a Barber Tone Press, Barber LTD, Boss SD-1 with Indyguitarist Fullclone mod that I did myself, Barber Direct Drive, Boss CE-2 chorus and a Digitech Digidelay. I also loop a Digitech Digiverb through the effects loop of the DeVille. I use a myriad of effects and change them all the time, but currently this is my setup. I string it together with George L's and power it all with a Dunlop DC Brick. My sound is FLAWLESS. I should eat this tone. It's working well with all kinds of music and settings and even through different amps. I doesn't have ice pick highs or muddy lows, no noise and has beautiful Nigel Tufnel like sustain. Perfect!!! Sounds better than my Strat and Tele and much more versatile. Sounds great through an acoustic amp as well. What more could I ask for?

When I bought this, like I said, it was noisy. But it played really well. I liked the high frets (much higher than my Fenders) but the sound was jacked. With a little bit of imagination and cash flow of course, this thing went from crap to phenomenal. I did the pickup work myself so that's good. There are really no problems with the action, fit or finish. It's made well, feels great and plays great.

One thing that I forgot to mention, the placement of the the strap button on the horn is bogus. But, considering the shape of the guitar, it might be the only option. I've heard about people attaching the strap button to the neck plate. Good idea, haven't done it. I actually got some locking tuners (which I don't really like, it makes the guitar feel a little bit different to me). If you plan on using a normal strat and not taking precautions, prepared to have it drop on your foot (it's happened to me twice already). There are also things that will slide between the strap and the button to lock it on, I suggest this more than the straplocks since the straplock screws are longer and require you to really grind them into the guitar. Not advisable. That said, when I dropped the guitar, it actually didn't do any damage other than making me walk like a gimp for about 2 days. Good finish on the guitar as well. No complaints. I use this without a backup and have no problems. A soldered wire joint can detach, but that's with any guitar.

I've only had to deal with the one call for the pot and the guy that I talked to was friendly, curteous and very helpful. Based on the one experience, I give them a thumbs up. There is no warranty on this guitar anymore, but I don't sweat that.

I've been pro for 25 years and have made my living from touring the world. I've had gear break down and come and go. Some of it I miss, some I was glad to get rid of. I have many different amps, some direct recording preamps, about 60 different pedals and all sorts of other crap. I need gear that is consistent, works, sounds good and can be the perfect sound for the gig at that particular time. Playing such diverse music can be a drag since you have to change your setup every time. This guitar eliminates that. If this were lost or stolen, the thief had better hope that he moves to the moon or something because I would definitely beat his ass blind. This guitar is the last guitar that I'll probably ever buy, unless I buy another P-38 (I've been checking out eBay for them). They are still pretty cheap, that's a good thing so far. It sounds great, plays great and looks outstanding. I definitely scored on this one. It's more versatile than my other guitars and I don't think that I'd change a thing. If you buy this guitar and play it stock, you will have some dissapointments, but with some personal touches, this guitar is way ahead of even the high end Parker guitars.

P-38 no Pickgaurd, redish brown, korea, 22 fretts. Got it from Shreve audio with a free shirt yeah for 385.oo clams. I like the guitar it has some problems like the trem arm design not sure if I agree with it, like I said no pickgaurd makes me wonder is this a p40 body with a p38 neck?
Anyone know? I like the fishnet stockings / sounds sweet! I play it in stereo our a RP7 into a Fender twin and a 57 Magnatone double v 280a and for the clean I send it to a PA or Dean Markley 112a. I get a damn good sound out of this thing its light my back thanks me, the fingerboard is okay, I like my Vaccaros and Aluminum neck Kramers better I think I am hooked on the ebonal boardmy back hates them, studio only sitting down thank you. Taking the Parker to New Orleans to do some recording hope to get on the plane with the damn thing hate to check it in with the gig bag an all! I am sure the Fly is better and more money right! I bet they hold their value and maybe even rise a little, Parker seems to be putting out some cool new stuff I heard someone eles is making them??? OH yeah the stereo cable with it sucked have to buy a better one, broke 2 string at once that was a 1st and it killed and chance of finishing a song without anyone noticing.... what else? Action can be set low or it buzzes real bad, it looks like the bridge could have been better maybe the install was bad to start with? overall I like the guitar fishhead, hum, single, single is good. I can't get sustain like I want thou out of it so that is a problem, its not noisy but you better have a 9v ready cause it gets pissed if you don't and it affects the whole damn guitar. Well I give everything a 5 and was expecting a 9 or a 10.
Strats, Teles, Les Pauls they just keep kicking that A$$!

Yall have seen them all in previous post

I was rather pleased with the sound for the very short time I kept it, I enjoyed being able to flip to the piezo pickups, I was playing through my stereo system so that really helped the acustic type sound. Over all I liked the sound better than the Import Charvell that I have been messing with.

Now this is where things really went south for me. Of course I was like a little kid on Christmas ripping open the package, I was pleased that the guitar looked better than it did in photos. It was nice and light, the neck felt pretty good, but something just didnt seem right about the whole set up as began to look. The first thing I noticed was that the nut was not straight, was a few mils lower on the bass side, I so happy to just have a Parker, been wanting one for 10 years, I think well I can just move the saddles back to make intonation right. I plug it up start tuning it up play for a while with the different sound combinations which I liked but then I look at e pickups and the high side are all screwed down like half a inch lower than the other side, Im kind of curious why this is,im thinking maybe it has some thing to with the piezo pickups. So I start messing with it, I put the tremelo arm in, as I look at the bridge I notice it is no where near level, Im thinging maybe shipping messed it up,its just loose, but it is all tight, the bass side has been raised up so it is about half and inch higher than the other side. Of couse the first thing i think is, the strings can not be level like this, I look at the strings, they look level to the finger board. Impossiable Im thinging, so I start to look at the neck joint and I can see that I is not level, there are no loose screws or gaps, it was just not cut right from the start. Of course my heart just sank, its like a bent frame on your new car. I start thinking how could this thing even leave the factory,someone had to sit there and move the pickups and bridge to get the strings level, I guess they just tell them level the strings with the finger board anyway you can. I think these are made by Cort, mine was in a cort box, it was $349 from shreve audio, they were great, so it must have been a B stock, of more like F stock. I called them the next day and set up to return it, Im just getting a refund, because Im affraid the rest of them may have similar problems. So all in all I more than unhappy with the way it was built, believe me I wanted to be happy with this guitar, been telling everyone it was coming and how cool it was, couldnt wait to go to my brothers house, he has 9 guitars and show him, of course the first thing he would have said was "what the heck is wrong with this thing" so I will be looking for something else to purchase, been looking at rickenbacker 650s, or maybe a Schecter, dont know yet, im still pretty bummed.

didnt have long enough

Im very amature guitarist been messing around for 10 years off and on, but im affraid someone that had started playing last week could tell this poor guitar was in bad shape.
So im going to give it the hunk of junk rating I cant believe someone could actually be building and setting up this guitar and not see how out of whack it was. Believe me it makes me very sad, I wanted to be the coolest kid on the block, well im 43 so it would have to be rather old block,hhehehe

I've had mine for two years. It has been may main axe on & off during that time. I always replace stock tuners with locking Sperzels. It is NOW very reliable (see below) and beautiful to see, hear & play. The piezo sound, especially when blended with the magnetic pickups, is awesome.

I play in a light/heavy cover band, and also do lots of private/corporate stuff. The magnetic stock pickups are a bit tinny, it can be eq'ed out, or I am thinking of replacing them. It is the most versatile guitar I have ever had (I now have a 59 Strat re-issue, 72 Gibson SG, Washburn H35, 2001 Tele, 80's Ibanez rg-something, Danelectro,, and have had many others pass through my world). This one takes the cake, sound-palette-wise.

Love the finish (Blue-ish woodgrain), love the action (perfect from factory. Love the sound, love the neck, i'll stop gushing.

The piezo under the B string was non-functional from the factory (Drag) -- got it soldered locally for under $10. No prob.

I take care of my stuff, but I buy guitars to PLAY, not shove under the bed forever. It takes what I give it, & probably would take more. I have used it on many gigs with no backup, it has been very reliable. This is the only guitar I ever bought through the mail, instead of at a local store (no local dealer here, and I wanted one of these. Other than the B string, it was perfect out of the box.

I had to deal with Parker. Here's the scoop:

It was supposed to buck hum in three of the five switch positions: neck/middle; bridge/middle; and bridge. It only did so, however, in the neck/middle and bridge positions. Of course, I do 90% of my playing in the bridge/middle position (sdame as a 5-position Strat), so the fact that this hummed was bad, especially when their literature said it wouldn't. Sooo...I called Parker, and actually talked to a tech (twice). I had to send it to them, which REALLY WAS A DRAG, but that is the only way to get it fixed correctly (and free).
While they had it, the tech actually called me to ask me something (don't remember what). Whoa. He was very cool. Turn around time was 4 weeks-not bad IMHO.
When it came back, it was perfect, and they even threw on a pearl-inlay sweet-looking pickguard for free (cool).
So, my dealing with them was great, they went above and beyond the call of duty to correct the hum problem, and get me happy.
Obviously, it would have been better if I never had to deal with them, but they handled it nicely, and that's why I'm writing this.
Yay Parker.

I own too much gear to list here. -- lots.
I would definitely get another one of these if it left my possession.
It is in my top two or three guitars all time.

There are a lot of very usefull reviews in english I've consider buying this guitar, so I think it could be more usefull write in italian to fill the lack of reviews in my language.
Chitarra del 2003 costruita in Korea nei laboratori della Cort su rigide (davvero!) specifiche Parker.Solid body, corpo in frassino dalla particolare forma Parker (piatta tipo Nitefly, non ergonomica e scavata come le Fly), manico in acero, tastiera in palissandro senza intarsi, molto duro e compatto(sembra ebano). Hardware cromato, ponte trmolo wilkinson tipo vintage,ma dal bel design moderno che tiene ottimamente l'accordatura (anche se non permette escursioni enormi). Meccaniche semplici, ma efficaci. CONFIG. PICK-UPS: H-S-S passivi, Parker custom wound, 1 vol, 1 tono, 1 selettore a slitta 5 vie tipo Fender. Pick-up PIEZO Fishman: trasduttori per ogni corda installati nelle sellette del ponte. Preamp.a batteria 9v con controllo trimmer(guadagno), selettore a tre vie per miscelare il suono dei pick up magnetici e del piezo, oppure per selezionare solo i magnetici, o solo il piezo.
Uscita cavo stereo ad Y in dotazione, in modo da pilotare il segnale in due diversi ampli dedicati (ovviamente l'ideale e 1Valvolare per i magnetici e Mixer per il piezo.Usando invece un cavo mono i segnali vengono inviati insieme ed escono dallo stesso ampli.
Il manico ha scala Fender 25,1/2 ed un po' largo e piuttosto piatto, la tastiera e anch'essa piatta e senza intarsi frontali, ma presenta solo i segnatasti laterali. I tasti sono mid-jumbo.Il truss rod e di quelli con testa scoperta a rondella posta a fine tastiera tra questa e il pick up al manico. La verniciatura e nera lucida non molto spessa (in controluce si notano le venature del legno). Accessori inclusi: pratica borsa morbida imbottita con scritta Parker sul tascone e cavo stereo jack ad Y, brugole per sellette ponte e per truss rod.

Innanzi tutto il legno e il timbro da "spenta". La chitarra ha un'eccezionale resa sonora anche unplugged, chiara, pulita e acustica, probabilmente dovuta al legno utilizzato; questo infatti,e notevole per la risposta sulle alte frequenze, anzi in quelle che lo yankee definirebbe "presence", e buona sui bassi, mentre i medi scarseggiano.Il suono riprende ottimamente il timbro Strato 50/60, coi single che rendono suoni cristallini perfetti per le ritmiche (funk, pop). Le timbriche da me predilette sono pos.3 (centrale solo)e 4 (centrale+bobina interna dell'humbucker): molto funky, ma anche corposi, adatti alle ritmiche ma anche ad assolo nasali. Il single al manico a mio gusto e un po' chiaro (credo sia uguale al centrale,ma li sta bene, li e paradossalmente piu corposo,perche piu nasale), a me piacerebbe qualcosa di un po' piu medioso e cicciotto per assoli blues e jazz. L'humbucker,in quanto tale, si distingue dai single, ma senza esagerare, mantenendo le caratteristiche di brillantezza, ed e capace di catturare dolci armoniche in distorsione.
Per quanto riguarda il piezo chiariamo una cosa: l'acustica e un'altra cosa. Qui e comunque utile nell'emulazione di una acustica elettrificata (tipo ovation), e se inviato ad un mixer ed equalizzato fa molto comodo in situazioni live tipo cover dove hai mille differenti suoni da ricreare al volo. Se usato in mono puo essere comunque interessante sia su un ampli valvolare, in quanto in un switch si puo passare ad un suono elettrico ricco di acuti e bassi definiti. Ma in una chitarra di per se con queste caratteristiche timbriche non si distingue troppo dai single (ergo:presto provero a montare un mini-humbucker al manico, tanto il suono pulito si emula bene col piezo nell'ampli valvolare).
Per quanto riguarda rumorosita di fondo direi che e piuttosto silenziosa e le posizioni 2 e 4 dei magneti sono hum cancelling.
In complesso la Parker p-38 e uno strumento versatile ed affidabile, che si adatta agevolmente nella terra di mezzo delle timbriche chitarristiche e dei generi musicali, escludendone l'utilizzo nei settori estremi (jazz main stream-metal) e prediligendo la definizione timbrica, e i suoni puliti o crunch, cosi come, pur non disdegnando l'assolo, credo che si faccia apprezzare maggiormente per chiarezza e definizione nelle ritmiche complesse (funk).
Do un 7 a questa categoria perche cambiero i pick up al manico e al ponte. Al manico voglio preovare un mini humbucker che credo possa aumentarne la duttilita e ingrossarne il suono per assolo rock-blues e jazz, al ponte mettero un Dimarzio Fred che gia possiedo e che mi soddisfa molto per ricchezza di medi e potenza non eccessiva.
In una chitarra estremamente brillante il mio ragionamento tende a colmare la mancanza di medie in queste situazioni strategiche, senza pero perdere,credo, quella definizione tanto apprezzabile

La messa a punto dello strumento (arrivatomi dagli USA via corriere) era davvero ottima, ho alzato un po' i pick-up, si, ma e un fatto di gusti. Piuttosto mi soffermerei su manico e tastiera che hanno un'action morbidissima e comoda, il manico piatto,dopo poco rodaggio, facilita per davvero scorribande tecnicistiche (che,a dire il vero, non sarebbero il mio forte), i tasti midjumbo (non grandissimi) facilitano parecchio l'impostazione degli accordi e l'esecuzione di bending. Il feeling e molto buono e corpo/manico vibrano forte sulla pancia il che mi piace assai.
DIFETTI: avendo preso la mia su un sito americano (Elderly) ad un prezzo stracciato ($435,00 piu spese di spedizione e tasse di importazione), dal momento che in Italia di listino viene Eur 1.150 ed anche nei siti Usa non si trova a meno di $600, ero in ansia perche immaginavo ci fosse sotto la fregatura. All'arrivo del pacco ho scrutato attentamente lo strumento rinvenendovi: un nodo superficiale in cima al manico, verniciatura sottile e delicata tanto che in controluce si vedono le venature del legno, una quasi impercettibile scheggiatura sul lato della tastiera. I difetti ci sono e vanno annotati ma devo ammettere che sono ininfluenti: il manico scorre e vibra a meraviglia, il corpo, forse anche per quella verniciatura sottile e non ovattante vibra anch'esso magnificamente e la tastiera la liscia che e un piacere, densa e dura che pare ebano.

La chitarra e resistente e straordinariamente leggera. Questa e una delle sue doti migliori, puoi stare ore in piedi con lei al collo senza affaticarti. In realta sono andato ad aprire il coperchio delle molle del tremolo ed il battipenna: ho scoperto che nella zona centrale, dove dovrebbero alloggiare i pick-ups, il corpo e interamente forato, non c'e la nicchia scavata tipo Strato, ma c'e un bel buco quadrato passante. Ecco perche,oltre al profilo sottile,la chitarra e cosi leggera. Eppure il corpo vibra che e un piacere! Bah, meglio cosi!
L'hardware e ok, ma la verniciatura opaca del ponte si e un po' consumata sul retro delle sellette dove, per impostazione, poggio il polso della mano destra. In realta ora non si nota piu la differenza di colore perche si e tutto uniformato. I potenziometri vanno un po' stretti, ma attenzione perche l'elettronica e delicata!
Problema: anche il suono dei magneti passa atraverso il
pre-miscelatore che non ne corrompe il suono, ma in caso di pila scarica lo strumento e completamente muto. Occorre sempre una pila di riserva

Non ho mai avuta la sfortuna di incorre in riparazioni altre situazioni che necessitassero di contattare il produttore, ma comunque lo strumento e coperto da garanzia credo annuale

Suono da 15 anni: ho cominciato a 10 e ne ho 25.
E' una buona chitarra, ottima se rapportata al prezzo. Potrei ricomprarla come potrei provare altro nella spasmodica ricerca del mito della "chitarra totale",ma credo che riuscireiad avvicinare tale leggenda solo facendomene costruire una artigianale come dico io !
Non esitate a chiedere altre informazioni, saro lieto di scambiare opinioni.

The feature I enjoy the most is the Piezo pickup and the abilty to blend it with the magnetic pickups.

The ultra light-weight body provides good comfort for extended hours of playing.

I compared the Parker to the RMC pickup system found in Brian Moore Guitars and found the Parker to sound more acoustic.

I also compared the Parker to a Godin Multiac acoustic/electric and found the Parker to be more versatile since it gives you the ability to blend the magnetic pickups.

In my opinion the piezo pickup should be played through an acoustic guitar amp or stereo PA system. The magnetic pickups run through your electric guitar amp. This setup allows the magnetic and piezo signal to be separate but yet blends perfectly to create an unbelievable wall of sound. (this is easily achieved using the srereo Y-cable provided with the Parker guitar.)

The wine-red transparent paint finish and body are beautiful.

I have a slight bow in the pick-guard and my battery cover fits exremely tight... probably do to contraction from the dry weather here in Nevada.

I had to re-set the intonation on the low "E" string and tweak the buzz out of the "G" string.

Great low action for terrific playability.

I've owned this guitar only a few weeks but it seems like the guitar and hardware will hold up for a very long time.

There really isn't any support at this time since PARKER HAS BEEN PURCHASED BY ANOTHER COMPANY. When I called PARKER I was told that they won't be up and running for several months.

Unlike EVERYONE who's playing a Strat or Les Paul through a Marshall, The Parker gives you your own unique sound.

This is a great guitar for the money. Highly recommended for those looking to stop feedback and still get a great acoustic tone from a solid body guitar.

If you want the ultimate acoustic tone... play stereo through a good PA and use a Boss AD-5 acoustic processor to add body, warmth, chorus and reverb.

I bought mine when Guitar Center was blowing these out @ approx. $550 with gig bag in 2001. Sun burst with pearloid pickguard. You can read others review for pickup features.

Mostly I liked the sound. Piezo sound great for acoustic rendition though to use live, I had to buy a longer V cable to use. Disorted, it sometimes got mushy but was able to get good sounds most of the time. When the battery voltage got low, sounds would get "brownish" then die into a clicking sound.

Frets a little too high for my preference, especially for sliding. I did quite a bit adjusting the action when I first received to clear initial buzzing. Filed down nut, put strap locks on. Adjusted truss rod to get neck where I wanted it, which was at the end of it's turns.

Looking at that hockey puck neck makes me afraid to drop or bang it against anything though nothing happened while I had the guitar playing live. Using dive bar or breaking a string puts this thing out of commission tuning-wise. Mine also chewed up batteries and this requires a screwdriver to replace (roughly once a month - don't forget to unplug it when finished playing!), not the easiest battery replacement. Whammy handle just doesn't like to stay in place, I would have to look on the floor sometimes to find it popped out while I played live.

never called.

Playing over twenty years - I have Gibson J180EC, ES333, Tele. I bought P-38 based on glowing magazine review, Parker website, and trying out at Guitar center and making that spontaneous purchase.
I couldn't get used to the upper wing digging into my chest when I played it sitting down. Battery replacement was a drag, breaking strings puts this out of commission. Great range of sound possibilities though and the neck felt great otherwise. I ended up trading it away after 5 months. It just didn't work for me.

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.

There are plenty of other reviews for this guitar, so I'll try to skip the redundant info and focus on what stands out to me.

Pros:
- Awesome neck profile. Reminds me of the older PRS wide-flat neck. Best playing guitar I own (out of 8 others, although my Hamer would be a close second.)
- Excellent hardware as related to the instrument price. Fishman/Wilkinson bridge, Grover tuners, Dimarzio pickups.
- Mother-of-toilet seat pickup cover. My wife thinks it's sexy. Gotta love it.
- Very distinct shape. I've found that people either love it or hate it. I love it. You can tell it's a Parker from 100 feet away.
- Fairly low price point. More expensive than the entry level guitars, but cheaper than most Fenders or Gibsons. Helps mortals like me join the Parker club.

Cons:
- No Sperzel tuners. The Grovers work great, but I'm a dedicated Sperzel man.
- Didn't come with a case as part of the base price.
- No easy way to track battery life, so you risk going dead in a live situation.

The pros on this guitar far outweigh the cons. For the money, the cons can hardly be held against it.

To help you understand my point of view, I need to give a little explanation on my background...

I've been playing semi-pro for about 13 years now. I'm a self-admitted gearhead; I've owned roughly 20 guitars in this time period, and still have 8 of them. I've had everything from budget axes up to high end custom models (though more from the budget end since I got married 8 years ago!) When purchasing a guitar, I try to listen to the tone of the guitar. Hardware can be upgraded, setups can be adjusted, but if the piece of wood sucks wind, there's not much you can do. In my experience, you can't base this on price (although generally the more an instrument costs, the better the wood and the more likely it is to sound good - no guarantees though.) Whatever instrument you buy, at whatever price range, you need to close your eyes and listen. My first Hamer was a beautiful piece of art, played wonderfully and cost me an arm and a leg. Unfortunately, after I had it for a few months I discovered that the tone would make Roy Rogers punch a nun. Too bad, because Hamer makes some great paddles, but that wasn't one of 'em.

My main and best sounding axe is a cheap Chinese made Strat copy that somehow sounds like the Holy Grail. God must have smiled on the tree that produced the piece of wood. I had to replace most of the hardware and completely rewire it, but that guitar is magical. I installed a Mike Christian piezo pickup in it to give me semi-acoustic sounds, so I'm going to use this guitar as a reference to the Parker.

Also for reference: I use .011 strings. For amps, I either play through a Line 6 Pod, or a Sovtek Mig60 head through a custom 4x12 cabinet.

When I went shopping I played all of the P-38s (and P-40s) in the store, and bought the best sounding one. Too bad it was the red one as I wanted a blue one, but such is the price of tone. I'm sure Stevie's Strat wasn't the prettiest axe in the store either.

The humbucker sounds good - the output is not overly powerful, but not as wimpy as my old Kramer. The sound is similar to my Les Paul in the bridge position, but with more top end.

The single coils are decent. It's got the 60 cycle hum when not running in positions 2 or 4, but that's why you play single coils. I found the single coil sounds to be somewhat strat-like, but not quite as "quacky" (quacky is good when talking Strats.) There was quite a volume difference between the single coils and the humbucker, but I resolved most of this by adjusting the pickup heights.

The piezo-acoustic bridge sounds OK. Obviously, it's not my Taylor, but it's a lot more convenient than switching guitars and it allows you to approximate acoustic tones mid-song. As compared to the Mike Christian in my Strat, I don't think the tones are quite as detailed and realistic. However, the Fishman pickup allows you to run the piezo output through a mono cable for use in one-amp situations, which is a lot more convenient than the Mike Christian which forces you to always use two amps. When I've asked friends to compare the two sounds, the average person thinks they sound the same so the difference between them is probably neglegible.

The Parker doesn't seem to excel at any one particular type of tone, but approximates them all fairly well. Many of my other guitars sound better at the tone they were designed to produce, but that's the only general sound they can make. With the Parker, I can get close to all of the different tones without having to haul a load of guitars with me. Interestingly enough, this is the same reason I use a Line 6 Pod.

Overall, the Parker's sound is more mid-range oriented vs. my Strat. When playing by myself, I prefer my Strat. However, in a band situation I've found the Parker cuts through a lot better and holds it's own position in the sonic spectrum rather than trying to fill up all the frequencies. If you want to be heard in a multi-guitar situation, this is a good one to play.

Of course, you can get some ve

First, here's my rant: ignore the factory set up. Whatever guitar you end up buying, do yourself a favor and learn to tweak your guitar and set it up yourself. Maybe you don't have to learn how to do fretwork and wiring, but you should know how to adjust the truss rod, set up action, pickup heights, etc. Unless you sit with the guitar tech as he/she does the setup and tweaks everything exactly to your liking, it will only be by chance that the axe is adjusted perfectly to your tastes. It'll save you money in the long run and you can make little tweaks as the guitar ages and settles without having to return to the shop.

The first thing I did was replace the .009 strings with .011s. Then I set it up for the heavier string gauge. After I did this, the Parker became a simply amazing player. String height is low, with little buzzing. The neck is not Ibanez-thin but not as thick as my Strat, and is a tad wider.

Fit and finish are top-notch. There are no noticable flaws that I can see. The quality is really quite impressive for a Korean made, budget instrument. When I bought it, I traded in a '92 Les Paul Standard. It is unfortunate, but there was an extreme difference in quality between the Parker and Gibson, with the scales being tipped towards the Parker. Especially noticable in the fretwork, the Parker's fretboard is darn-near perfect while the Gibson was a disaster. My Gibson had glue drippings, poor sanding, and uneven frets since new, which is very disturbing considering the difference in the base price of the two guitars. Hopefully Gibson has improved their product in recent years, but unfortunately my experience with the two Les Pauls I've owned have tarnished my previous loyalty to their brand.

From what I've gathered, there were some quality issues Parker had to resolve on the early production runs of the P-38. In my opinion, it looks like they have gotten the kinks worked out. My P-38 is as good quality-wise as any guitar I've owned. Might want to keep this in mind if buying a used P-38 or one that's been hanging on the wall for a long time, though.

The only thing I found annoying was how difficult it was to get the protective plastic off of the pickguard. I almost had to remove hardware to get it all. So I'll ding the rating a bit because no guitar is perfect.

I play live about every other weekend. I never use a backup guitar no matter what axe I bring, as I don't like hauling gear if I don't have to. I have played the Parker live 5 or 6 times now, and have found it to be dependable. The hardware is good quality, and the finish appears thick, so I am of the opinion that it will stand up to many years of playing.

Admittedly, I am very easy on my equipment. I don't tend to beat my stuff up, so usually I'll notice fret wear on my guitars before I notice any other blemishes.

As other reviews have mentioned, the strap button on the upper horn is in a different spot. I haven't had any trouble with the strap coming off, but it's something to keep in mind.

The vibrato arm does tend to fall out of the hole it sits in. I haven't figured out a way to secure it in place. I don't use the vibrato much anyway, so it's purely a vanity thing to have it hanging there. Someone who relies on the trem heavily may want to be aware of this as it would stink to reach for the arm and not find it there. It's embarassing enough having it fall out mid-set and not noticing until you step on it. Oops.

After I had the guitar about 3 months, the volume knob did come loose. Two minutes and a deep well hex socket fixed it.

Haven't had to deal with them, which is a good thing.

I purchased this guitar about 9 months ago. I traded a '92 Les Paul Standard (minus the road case) even up for the new P-38 with a soft case. Seeing as the Paul needed a complete refretting and some other work, I felt like I got a good deal. Especially since the street price on the P-38 and case was pretty close to what I paid for the new Les Paul 9 years ago (right before the whole vintage craze got going and they were just about giving Les Pauls away.)

When I first saw a Parker Fly on the cover of Guitar Player in '92, I fell in love with the shape and had lusted for one ever since. Unfortunately, the price of the USA made models was keeping most guitarists (myself included) from ever being able to own a Parker. When the P-38 came out, I was excited but skeptical. I liked the idea of having a chance at being able to afford a Parker, but I was leary at the thought of a reputable manufacturer releasing a "budget" line that doesn't cut it in terms of quality (i.e. Fender's Squier or the Hamer Slammer series.) I'm certainly not against playing cheap instruments (my mutant Strat is proof), but if I'm going to shell out good money to get a particular name on the headstock, the quality had better be there.

Thankfully the P-38 lives up to the Parker namesake. While it doesn't have all the fancy features of it's older brothers (carved body, stainless steel frets, carbon fiber skin, etc.) it does provide a lot of bang for the buck. No it's not perfect, but I've yet to find an axe that is.

If you need a guitar to cover a variety of musical styles and you dig the distinct Parker shape, it would be well worth your time to investigate the P-38 model.

I'm not sure on the year-built on this guitar, but I bought it brand new. It is black with a pearloid pickguard. The pickups are Parker made single, single, humbucker, and a fishman piezo. The neck is a little more round than I am used to, and it has 22 rather sharp frets. I don't think mine are jumbo, like everyone else says theirs is. Non locking tuners.

I play heavy music to jazz to blues. I am a huge fan of John Petrucci, so my Ibanez has his old pickup configuration. In comparison, the parker does sound like a strat, so I get a totally new set of sounds with it. My signal is such; from my guitar to a whammy, Bad Horsey, either a Peavy Rockmaster (4 tubes, screaming tone)or a ADA MP-1, a ART FXR Elite (actually a studio rack, but I only use 1 or 2 delay effects that are perfect for me, a DBX 166 (both the Peavy and ADA can be noisy) into a Mesa Boogie 50/50 stereo
amp, out to a old Carvin 4x12 loaded with old 25w Celestions. I use custom made coaxle cables, Jazz III picks.
The Pickups sounded great when I first plugged it in. The humbucker is a monster, and I can get pretty good sound out of both the singles.
The piezo is amazing sounding, and will add a new touch of brilliance to my playing.

The action is a bit high, but I'll take it to Mike Lull in Bellevue, WA, and he and his shop will do their usual incredible job. The pickups were adjusted funny, but a couple of seconds and a small philips fixed that. I did notice that the paint on the back has a weird "wavyness" about it, and I hope it is not something that is going to haunt me later. The friction fit hole for the trem arm looks like it was quickly placed, then trimed with a dull boxcutter.

I tend to be a very aggressive player, and am a rather large guy, so my '80 Gibson Explorer and Ibanez RG 570 fit me well. I also tend to sweat under those pesky microwave-like lights they put in at venues, so I hope the metal holds out. I do hate where the upper horn strap is placed, and it hangs a tad funny.

N/A

I have been playing for 15 years and have played everything from Hohner to Gibson. I went into GC looking for the Ibanez Premier version of this guitar, but it was sold. I miss the ultra flat neck, but I can learn. I love the fact that the plug is stereo, and the piezo pickup is really the only reason I even looked at this guitar. Yeah, sure, I'd love to have the weightless parker fly, but this does pretty much the same thing, so all is good. I will be adding locking tuners, and i may change the position of the upper horn strap peg.
All in all, this will be a great addition to my collection, and I will use it a ton at church; Playing for Jesus Christ is the other reason I wanted a guitar with a piezo. I can plug into my amp AND the PA for lighter songs.

So you want to put Piezos on your Strat and a Humbucker in the Bridge position, Well save your money and buy this baby. IT has 22 Jumbo frets, two Single-Coils and one Humbucker, A Wilkinson/Fishman Piezo Vibrato Tailpiece, a Smart-Switch for discerning between mono and stereo signals(giving you the choice of playing mono or through two amplifiers,eg: regular guitar amp & an acoustic amp or a P>A> system), Lightweight, easy controls( you don't have to be an M>I>T> grad to play it. A lot of bang for the buck. The only thing missing is a Humbucker in the neck position w/coil splitr/tap.

IT is my "DO ALL" axe, since I can cover any style in a pinch and it can hold its own Tone & Outputwise in any live situation I may encounter. I have been playing since 1964 and I mostly work in classic and early Rock'n Roll and R&B, Light Jazz, Funk, and a little Salsa music. It's just about as noisy as a Strat or Tele, so I use it live on stage except in venues that have hum problems such as lighting, etc. In which case I go with my '77 ash Strat w/ Vintage-Noiseless pickups. I do a substantial amount of recording session work' but I've yet to get to use my P-38 that way. IT is my most versatile stage axe, and if it's not my #1 on any show, it is surely my backup instrument.

I recieved the guitar in perfect playing shape, it came with .009-.042's and it felt so good that after I tried changing to .010's (which I prefer on my Strat), I settled on a hybrid mix of .010,.012,.016,.026,.036,.046 for a fuller sound. I've had this guitar for over 1 year and the only two problems I'm having are that the G string Piezo is losing volume at times and I cannot find a fix for it, and the Tremolo arm bushing has worn out causing my Tremolo arm to go limp in its hole as if it needs Viagra. I love the weight and feel of this axe so much that with the playability and tone I get from it, I can live with the above mentioned flaws.

I know this guitar can take it because one night I was performing on stage with my Oldies band and during one of our choreographed moves, my left knee buckled and gave out, causing me to fall backwards on stage and also causing the P-38 to become airborne and crash on the wooden stage. When my sax player finished his solo he helped me up and I picked up my P-38 and finished not only that song, but the rest of the set and another set that evening.

Warranty is one year, so now that my piezo is acting up and my tremolo bar is slipping out, I guess I'm out of luck. Otherwise I haven't needed them before.

I'VE BEEN PLAYING SINCE 1964. I OWN A '77 STRAT W/VINTAGE NOISELESS PICKUPS, AN IBANEZ 6/12 DOUBLENECK (1974), AN IBANEZ ARTIST (70's), A JACKSON FUSION STD. PRO, AND AN ARIA ELECORD MODEL #P-90 (acoustic roundhole arch top), AN EPIPHONE SHERATON II, AND AN EPIPHONE CHET ATKINS CEC (nylon string electric).THE P-38 CAN BACKUP ANY OF THESE INSTRUMENTS EXCEPT THE 12 STRING. IF THIS AXE WAS STOLEN AND I WAS NOT PROSECUTED FOR MURDERING THE PERP(s), I WOULD BUY THE P-38 OR AP-44. ITR CAN DO EVERYTHING I NEED IT TO DO ON STAGE WITHOUT BREAKING MY BACK.

this is an update on my previous review (made a few months ago) by me, cosmo mcturk.

since then, the bridge humbucker has broken.
i was really starting to like it too.
apparently, according to my guitar tech in town, a korean pickup of similar standard would cost #20 ($30)... which incase you didn't realise, isn't alot.
so i am changing it for an EMG 89... which will give me some single/humbucking changing action (baby)

i'd like to see the difference.
time shall tell.

This is a Korean made guitar with the Parker name on it. My guitar was made in 2001. It has non-locking tuners, 09-42 strings, Fishman Piezo pickup in the bridge for an acoustic guitar sound, a humbucker by the bridge for the Les Paul sound and two single coils for the Stat sound. There is a volume, tone control, and 5 way selector switch for the three magnetic pickups and a volume control for the piezo. There is also a three way switch to choose between the piezo, the magnetics or both. The piezo uses active electronics and the magnetics use passive electronics. The body is ash, the neck is 22 frets and made of maple with a rosewood fretboard. It has a Wilkinson bridge with a whammy bar and the output jack is stereo. The piezos on one channel and the magnetics on the other channel.

I have only owned this guitar for a few days, but I have an observation I wish to share with anyone interested in buying a Parker guitar. The output from this guitar can either be summed to mono (by using a mono guitar chord) or it can be split to stereo (Piezo on one side and the magnetics on the other). My point is that the sound of this guitar is terrible in mono, but it is unbelievable in stereo. I run the piezo signal clean through either the PA or a second amplifier. I run the magnetic pickups through my processor then into a Marshall 50 watt and the results are a wall of sound that cannot be duplicated by any other guitar on the market. The piezos are in direct contact with the guitar strings and the magnetics require the sound to jump a small air gap (between the strings and the pickups). This makes the two signals a small bit out of phase and really fattens up the sound. It sounds like we have added another guitar player to the band. If we play larger gigs I will use two Marshalls instead of one Marshall and the PA. If you are considering a Parker then try it out in stereo and prepare to have your mind blown. I dislike the mono sound but I still give it a 10 because this guitar will never again be used in mono.

I bought this guitar used on eBay for $450 but it is about as perfect as a new guitar can be. The bottom E string had a small buzz so I took off a point for that. That problem was easily solved. The neck on this guitar is better than any neck I have had my hands on in 37 years of playing.

Since I have only had the guitar a few days I can't comment on reliablity or durability, but to quote another review here, the finish looks like it would take a hammer and chisle to do damage to it.

I have been emailing Parker with questions and they have been fairly good about providing answers. I must say the P-38 is the bottom of the line Parker. I actually prefer the P-38 over any of the more expensive Parkers. I tried out several Flys and several NiteFlys and the P-38 does everything they do but at about 1//3 to 1/4th of the price of the more expensive models. I could have afforded to buy the more expensive models but could not find a reason why I should, so I got the P-38 and I am thrilled to death with this instrument.

I have a bad back and this guitar is extremely light weight. I can play it for hours and my shoulder doesn't feel like it is going to fall off. The neck is very silky and smooth and very easy to play. Especially chords in the first position, like C and F. The stereo output is orgasmic and it does an incredible job of sounding just like a real acoustic guitar. I can play the intro to Hotel California and sound like an acoustic then punch a button on my processer and shred on the solo.