Parker Guitars PM-20 Pro

For an import guitar, the sound is a 10.

The Seymour Duncan pickups sound especially
good with the mahogany set neck and body.
The coil taps don't sound as different
as they do on the PM-20 (which I also own).

But the pickups on this guitar definitely sound
better than the Parker stingers on the PM-20.

Action is excellent even better then my PM-20
which when plek'ed required almost no adjustment.
I'm not going to even bother having this PM-20 Pro
plek'ed because it would be a waste - the action
is ideal already. The PM-20 neck carve is slightly
thinner than my PM-20. I like both necks in fact.
The PM-20 Pro neck has a 12" radius where as the
straight PM 20 neck has a compound 10-13" radius
neck. The PM-20 Pro is quickly becoming my favorite
of the two necks. I liked my PM-20 so much I purchased
the PM-20 Pro also.

This is a top of the line import guitar.

All the features are great.Tone pros,Sperzel,Duncans,string thru mahogany body,glued in set neck,non spliced neck head.Although I question what kind of Mahogany the guitar is made of,being Korean I highly doubt its Honduran. Oh and the ebony fingerboard is great also.Frets are on smaller size in my opinion and I wish they were stainless.

It sounds great and the pickups are powerful.It sustains for days.Unfortunately very noisy especially in split coil mode. I'm using it with a variety of top quality amps and overall has a even/warm sound.-2 for the noise.

This is where the guitar fails miserably. I've been setting up guitars for 20 years so I'm not really concerned about factory setup just solid construction overall.I like action on the lower side and everything else nice and tight and smooth.In short the fret work is horrible/some edges are now lifting and the neck is twisted,you cannot adjust it with truss rod or a fret leveling.If I pop off the frets and plane fingerboard and install new frets which is a serious job that still may not fix it. Also their is some paint issues and other finish details.The Tone pros bridge seems a little cheap also.

Apparently the reliability on the necks are hit and miss.Do not buy one online like I did. Buy in person from a shop that provides warranty as the neck may take awhile to decide what its going to do.I'm not afraid its going to fall apart it has already failed.

Bought it from some ...guy on ebay.It was used but mint and would be professionally set up,according to seller (Instruments International)but I aint even going to try to complain.I waited too long to set it up to a professional standard. I have a feeling it was probably a return at some point and then someone has to flip them.

I've been playing a long time and have many guitars.A few of them are offshore.Usually theres not a problem I cant fix. But I think I am done with this Korean shit.Its hit and miss and 99% of the time the materials(wood)are substandard. Overall the hardware maybe top quality but the rest is Junk.

I bought the guitar new in 2007. It has a mahogany body, ebony fingerboard, graphite nut, Sperzel locking tuners, Tone Pros bridge, Seymour Duncan JB bridge pickup and Jazz neck pickup with dual coil tapping, gig bag.

This is a very versatile guitar. It has a 3 position pick up switch and dual coil tapping arrangement (volume and tone control are both push pull) that allows for 8 different pick up configurations including having a single coil and a humbucker simultaneously. There is a significant difference in the sounds of the bridge and neck pick ups and the middle position also produces a good, separate tone. The Seymour Duncans sound good overall; articulate, no mud, nice sustain. Nice bite to the SD JB. With a little overdrive, you get a nice blues tone from the SD Jazz pick up in the neck. The coil tap produces the usual lighter, brighter sound. I think this guitar is well suited for blues and rock. So far, I have not found any distinctive jazz tones but, with this level of versatility, I am sure they are there. I have a SD Jazz in the neck position of my Epiphone Sheraton and it has a dramatically bigger, more distinctive sound than it does in the Parker; the difference in sound is probably due to the Parker s lighter, solid mahogany body. Also, the strings are 9s, so that could also be a contributing factor. Although 10s would probably beef up the sound, the 9s are extremely easy to play and with these pick ups, they sound very, very good.

IMO, the humbucker sounds are the strong suit for this guitar; that is immediately evident when you start playing. The SD humbuckers are designed to sound like classic Les Paul pick ups and they definitely accomplish that. With a good amp, you will definitely nail your favorite humbucker sound. The single coil sounds are good. I can get a solid Strat neck pick up sound from the SD Jazz using the coil tap. Some very good single coil sounds in the middle position especially when you leave the bridge pick up in a humbucker mode and the neck pick up tapped. With the right amp and some experimenting, I think you could get some very respectable single coil sounds.

This was a scratch and dent find that was not scratched or dented. I think it was just a return. The set up was a little high (easy fix) and the pick ups were adjusted way too high (another easy fix) so the pick ups initially sounded awful. Once that stuff was done, this became an easy playing guitar. The locking tuners are great. The neck is kind of Strat like; not too wide and not much girth. One particularly nice feature is a long, grooved area in the back of the body where the neck meets the body. It allows very smooth, easy access to the upper frets. It is very, very cool. I notice it every time I pick the guitar up. The ebony fretboard looks great. Although it has no fret markers on the fret board itself, surprisingly, the dots along the side are enough to get the job done. The hardware is all high end: Sperzel, Tone Pros, Seymour Duncan. The only disappointment is what may be a fake flame maple top and the definitely fake abalone trim (which, IMO, cheapens the look). Personally, the mahogany on the back of the guitar looks good enough to stand on its own. The Parker literature always refers to the top as ???flame maple finish???. They never say ???flame maple top??? or ???flame maple veneer top???. If it was either of those two things, I think they would point it out. I could be wrong.

Although this seems like a well built guitar, it does not strike me as having the rugged durability of a Tele, Les Paul or Strat. I could foresee problems with pick scratches since there is no pick guard.

No need for contact yet.

I really like the Parker PM 20 Pro and I???m playing it a lot. For $750, it has a lot of range and it is an extremely comfortable guitar to play; Parker did their ergonomic homework. The grooved area on the back of the body where the neck comes in is really something. The access to the upper frets is amazing. I am surprised that other guitar makers are not ripping them off on that one. I also really like the neck on this guitar. It is on the slim side (similar to a Strat)and plays really well. It is also a guitar that does not need any upgrades; Parker did not leave anything out on that one. I think this Parker would be great for a gig because with its sonic versatility, you could easily get into the tone ballpark of a lot of songs. Sounds great, plays great, and in this case, a great price (usually $900). If you want a comfortable, easy playing guitar that can cover a lot of territory, this would be one to consider.

Think I covered most of this already...

This guitar is versatile enough to play anything that resembles music. It's naturally a very lyrical instrument: the combination of mahogany tonewood, well-selected pickups, ebony fretboard, and amazingly fast & responsive neck makes it more than just sensual-sounding. It's simply the best guitar built under $2000. I play thru a Trace Elliot Twin Stereo Quad Chorus, using Line 6 ToneCore stompboxes. With the tap of a toe I find it easy to switch from Brian May to Dave Gilmour to Dave Martone (tone, not talent!) It's almost like Zen Guitaring. Seriously... this instrument seems to anticipate the sound I'm looking for and just PRODUCE it. Love the coil tapping, but I'm solidly set in my humbucking ways, so I use it very rarely. The lows in this guitar are clean and full but not gutteral. Mids are WTFO, and highs shimmer and sparkle in a manner that realy compliments the Trace Elliot's sound. Blend the humbuckers for perfect roundness of tone. Highs speak cleary, even at high gain. My fingers aren't good enough to make the guitar sound "blurry."

Yeah... Here we go. This guitar was set up fairly well at the factory in Korea. Parker would do themselves a tremendous service if they charged an extra $40 for the guitar and had American techs check them out when they arrive. I mentioned this in my review of the PM20: their quality control sucks ass when it comes to fit & finish. My BLEM PM20 was better finished than my alleged "Top Shelf" PM20Pro. This after a wood curing problem caused the neck on the original PM20 to crack... I paid $200 to upgrade to the flame maple top, fake-abalone purfling, Sperzels and DiMarzios, and received a guitar with buffer burns on the edges and black paint overspray (though only a couple of specks) from the pickup routs in the clear poly finish. If I were a customer service rep and had a customer who had a negative experience with something as intimate as a guitar, I would make bloody damn good and certain that the replacement -ESPECIALLY IF I WAS TOUTING IT AS AN "UPGRADE"- was flawless.

The pickups are adjusted fine. No problems. the routing is perfect, even if the Koreans got too enthusiastic with the blackout spray. Hardware is perfect, though nut could have been better fitted. Parker does the worst job in the industry of bookmatching tops. I had hoped it was just a Korean thing, but they seriously seem to have two piles of slabs from different continents, and send the blind flunkie to select the two that will match up best for their tops. PRS does it better, Gibson does it better, Gretsch does it better, Carvin does it better... F&*@ing PEAVEY does it better, for f&*@'s sake! I would expect a guitar manufacturer who seems set on scooping the high-mid section of the market to have someone on staff who could bookmatch guitars. And NO, it's nothing to do with where it's made. Take a look at maple-topped high-end American Parkers and you'll see the same thing: unrelated grain matched at odd angles. I don't believe Ken Parker, as obsessed as he was with woods, would approve of US Music's philosophy of reducing cost by cheapening the wood selection process, which is probably a big part of why he's no longer involved in the process.

But how much can I really bitch about cosmetics when the guitar sounds and plays so damn good???

It's been four months now. The honeymoon is over, and I've played my PM20Pro onstage two to five times a week, and spent countless hours playing it at home. I needed to make a minor truss rod adjustment a few days ago, but I can chalk that up to seasonal climate changes. I had to tighten the upper strap button, but big deal. Anyone who pays attention to his guitar will be on top of these things. I gig with four other Parkers, so it's not like I'm gigging without a backup... but I don't carry another PM20Pro along. Finish seems durable, electronics seem reliable. Intonation is amazing: the guitar is very stable and not sensitive to temp and humidity changes. I'd prefer the neck be maple, but it's not, and I realize that's a lot of countertransference on my part- constantly wondering if I'll have the same neck problem as this guitar's predecessor. Remember though- of the HUNDREDS of PM20Pro owners on the Parker Guitars Forum, (www.parkerguitars.com) I'm the ONLY one who has had a problem with the mahogany neck, and correspondence with the service department confirmed my suspicion that the wood was improperly cured and excess remaining moisture caused the cracks. Lots of guitars have mahogany necks and do well for decades. I anticipate no less from the PM20Pro.

Parker's service department is helpful if you get the right people on the phone. If you try to get help via email and are unsuccessful, get on the forum and express your needs clearly, without childish drama, and they'll take care of you. John Page monitors the forum, and is alert for problems- he's a great guy who doesn't mind helping musicians.

I've been playing for about 32 years. If it's guitar-related and I don't currently own it, it's because I sold it to buy a Parker. It would take a real catastrophe to get me off my Parkers. Nobody can build a better guitar, so the guys in Mundelein, IL would have to severely piss me off for me to ever voluntarily pick up another Gibson, Fender, PRS, or Ibanez. If it were stolen, I'd take a hostage. I didn't really choose this guitar- it chose me. I loved its predecessor, and would have been happy to just keep the PM20. If the maple were bookmatched, and the finish flaws were left off, this would be as close as it gets to a perfect guitar. Still, for the price I paid ($600 USD) I could never hope for a similar value from any other manufacturer.

flame maple top. probably a bent veneer type thing. Les Paul-ish body. strings through the body to a tone pros fixed bridge. nice touch. sperzel locking tuners. body is 3 peice mahogany. neck is 2 peice mahogany. regarding the "abalone" binding- i wish guitar companies would STOP CALLING CHEAP, FAKE PLASTIC ABALONE!!! frankly, on an instrument in this price range, i don't expect the real thing but don't insult my intelligence by calling it abalone! real or plastic, they DID do a nice clean job with it though. ebony fingerboard. regular width neck w/a bit of a "u" shape to it. i'm sure i'm leaving out alot here. check parker's website for ALL the details. let's get something straight here- this is NOT a parker, as ken parker had nothing to do with this instrument. it has nothing in common with what ken started in the early nineties. it IS however a decent instrument worth checking out.

over the last few years i've become partial to single coil guitars but i wanted to have at least one humbucker equipped guitar in my arsenal that would sound good but not break the bank...that honor is for single coil instruments. it sounds really, really good to me. it should, considering the wood types, hardware, and pickups that are used on this. it had a tough benchmark to meet too- my prs singlecut trem that is for sale to purchase other gear. the parker doesn't sound better, or worse than the prs. just different. a bit brighter and crisp (maybe due to the ebony fingerboard). i play hard rock and some heavier pop type stuff. for humbuckers, it IS a bit on the noisy side. not sure if there's an issue or not. hum goes away as soon as i put my hands back on the strings. yes, all guitars do this but this one is a bit louder. maybe i'm just spoiled by my clapton strat's noiseless pickups? i will say that when i split the humbucker to single coil mode, they DO sound better than my prs's split sound. nice surprise. this guitar is also more versatile than the prs as each pickup on the parker has it's own splitter whereas the prs splits both pickups together. for me 8 is a GREAT score here. i don't give 10's away like so many on this site.

as with most guitasr from japan, korea, china, etc. this korean-made parker's nut slots were not cut deep enough, resulting in high action at the nut. i've got a friend w/a set of slotting files that i can borrow to fix this. the finish is perfect unless you want to break out a black light and a magnifying glass i suppose. fretwork was clean and consistant- the edge of the frets, not the tangs, are actually recessed back onto the fretboard. in other words, there's roughly the width of a business card between the frets' edges and the edge of the fingerboard. not sure if this was deliberate or not, but it was consistant on all frets. this has posed no playability issues to me btw. i haven't checked the intonation w/a tuner yet, but i have perfect pitch and chords sounded in tune to me all over the fretboard so i haven't touched a thing. just had to lower the action at the bridge after deepening the nut slots. mine is a flame top and the book matching could be a bit better, but not bad enough to bum me out. pickup heights were balanced but i lowered the both a bit because the pickups are a bit louder than what i like these days.

Will this guitar withstand live playing? sure, if you don't throw it in the air and miss it when it comes down. between the tone pros bridge and the locking sperzels, you certainly won't have tuning issues. just keep one thing in mind w/sperzels- if you decide to go to drop D in the middle of a gig, be sure to snug up the thumb screw on the back of the tuner. i've used sperzels for years and their only downfall is that when you turn them to lower the pitch a full step or more, the thumbscrew will loosen a bit too. i'm in the habit of checking for this, so it's not an issue for me. i could be wrong but the finish seems thin to me. i feel this is a good thing. i'd use it without a backup as long as i had a new set of strings on it and even if i did snap a string i could change it in under 20 seconds thanks to the sperzels and the simplicity of a fixed bridge.

ever since ken sold the company, they suck. why? because it's too much trouble for them to answer emails. they should just remove the "contact" link from their site like fender did.

i've been playing for over 20 years and have owned, or still own some high end choice instruments. now that i'm a single coil guy, i can't justify having a 3K dollar prs singlecut trem collecting dust on my wall that i only play occasionally. i bought this guitar to replace it and i have no regrets. a humbucker afficianado would likely choose the prs over the parker, and maybe the prs DOES sound a bit better, but $2200.00 better? i don't think so. i considered the prs se imports but they weren't as versatile, and didn't have nice pickups and hardware like the parker does. plus, i was never blown away by the sounds i've heard from any of the se's. i DO wish that it had rosewood instead of the ebony fingerboard. i know ebony costs more, but it feels strange under my fingers when i bend. anyway, for the price this guitar is quite good. as far as i'm concerned, best in it's class right now.