Parker Guitars P9E

The guitar I am reviewing is a 2008 Parker Acoustic guitar. It was built in China and has a handy little sticker that describes where the materials were cultivated from giving the guitar a pretense of international design. Cool marketing idea. I am not familiar with other companies doing that.

It has 19 frets made of nickel, NOT stainless steel, like the Parker electrics.

It is a solid wood guitar constructed with a cedar top and rosewood sides and back.

The controls demonstrate ingenuity. There are 2 pickups designed by Fishman. There is a piezo pick up in the saddle and a hum canceling pickup in the neck. There is a master volume on the top of the guitar. The side of the guitar has a blend control for the pickups as well as a bass and treble control. Great functionality with this set up.

The finish is Polyurethane and is without flaw.

The fretboard is Ebony. The neck is Mahogany & Rosewood.

The Tuners are Grover Sta-Tite. They look like open antique style tuners but are very functional and hold the string well.

The guitar came with cheap Bronze guitar strings. The sounded horrible and dead when I first played the guitar. Change them immediately!!!

The neck is similar in profile to a Taylor neck in that it is slim and comfortably playable.

The hardshell case is cool. It appears to be an old leather case, but is really a regular case with extra padding and a cheap hydrometer. Points for the cool appearance, but the functionality of it is the same as any hardshell case.

This is a guitar built for performing. It is not a show peice, even though aesthetically, it is pretty. I play acoustic metal, meaning, Van Halen and Sabbath on the acoustic guitar. I utilize a few different tunings and play pretty aggressively.

I play the guitar through a PA mosty dry with a little chorus here and there.

The unplugged sound of this guitar is right on with what I paid for it. Without an amp it sounds and feels like a $1400 guitar. It is not inspirational in the way that a high end acoustic guitar is. The Cedar top compliments the Rosewood sides and back very well. The treble range is well pronounced and rounded. Not shrilly to the ears or unballanced. The guitar has more bass than I thought it would, which was a nice surprise. It sounds slightly better than s similarly expensive Takamine or cheaper Taylors.

Plugged in this guitar is a wholeley different animal. The Fishman pickups are AWESOME. There is a blend knob on the guitar that enables the player to find thir own blend of the peizo or humbucker. You can go all the way to one or the other or blend the two to your liking. This knob is really the heart of the live sound of this instrument. The harsh peizo sounds become mellow with a slight blend towards the humbucker. If you go all the way to the humbucker, you can get a great and authentic jazz tone that is warm and clear.

There is some feedback issues at higher volumes-same with every other acoustic out there.

The electronics bring this guitar into a realm similar to a high end Taylor or Martin. Yes, it sounds that good. When plugged in there is finaly room for this guitar to really inspire.

Not much to dislike.

The guitar played OK when I got it. I put Elixers on it immediately since the strings it came on were junk and it made all the difference in the world. The neck had a slight bow around the 9th to 15th fret that required a few turns on the truss rod. After that tweak the neck and action were low and comfy without buzz.

The construction of the guitar is good. Again I must note the price point, you get what you pay for ($1400). You will not be blown away, but you will like it.

Everything worked well with no obvious flaws noted.

I have not gigged it yet but will be soon. I don't expect any problems.

N/A

I purchased sight unseen for the sole purpose of gigging. I have a Parker electric I love and have been eying the P9E for a year or so. In that time I have been looking for a review of this guitar somewhere and have found nothing, which is why I am writing this one.

I have a great deal of experience with guitars and in order for me to rate beyond an 8 it has to be extraordinary. I did not find this guitar to be extraordinary at all. Good, but not curl your toes and make you sigh good.

I would recommend this guitar to anyone who is looking for a solidly built and sounding acoustic for live performing. The acoustic tone un-amplified is average. Plugged in it is great.