New Parker Owner

[axejock]

Gosh, I really didn't mean to start such a long thread, But I have sure learned a lot about my Parker since starting it. Funny story: I live in a relatively small town with a relatively small music store. The owner of the store and I are pretty good friends and he has been begging me to bring the DR into the store so he could play if. Well, we hooked the piezos up to a Large PA amp and the mags to a Fender Twin Reverb amp. Talk about overkill, but it sounded incredible. His only exposure to a Parker was some time ago with one of the early Fly Models with the crooked upper horn, and that was a short experience using only a regular guitar amp. He is an excellent player and really made that DF 724 sing! He liked it so much that he would like to get some in his store to sell.....I told him that I didn't think the guitars were still in production, especially in the USA. Is someone building guitars like the DF's in Asia, and calling them the PDF series? I really didn't know where to direct him to find out about availability. Does anyone know the answer to this? One thing for sure is that he would have liked to keep my guitar long term....that seems to be the general reaction from folks who play this thing!!   

[Mr303]

He liked it so much that he would like to get some in his store to sell.....I told him that I didn't think the guitars were still in production, especially in the USA. Is someone building guitars like the DF's in Asia, and calling them the PDF series? I really didn't know where to direct him to find out about availability. Does anyone know the answer to this? One thing for sure is that he would have liked to keep my guitar long term....that seems to be the general reaction from folks who play this thing!!   

No new guitars are being made that’s why forum members tend to hoarde the guitars they have.
Even the Indonesian models are very good.

[axejock]

Is there any plans to restart the Parker line or for another company to come in and manufacture a guitar like the original Parkers? It would seem that would be attractive to some "makers", even if they had to go to low cost labor cost areas. These guitars are still a technology and playability leader!!

[jester700]

No. For a few years they said new stuff would be coming, but nothing showed. Now there's no US factory and all the parts inventory has been sold off. Someone COULD buy the brand and retool, but that's a huge startup cost, and with a brand that's lost any momentum. If they weren't successful then, I doubt anyone would risk it now.

Someone COULD buy the brand and make some guitars under contract to their specs, but it would likely use off-the-shelf parts. That could actually work, with a Gotoh or Wilkie trem or something. It could be equal to an import Parker or even a US bolt on, but it wouldn't be a high end thing.

[Mr303]

Hold your friends close, hold your Parker closer.

[axejock]

Well, I certainly didn't realize it at the time, but I guess I was incredibly lucky to find and buy my essentially brand-new 2011 DF 724 a couple of months ago, especially from a guy that I knew and that he had this guitar. When he first showed it to me and bragged it up, I just sort of shrugged it off as I had never heard of it and just wasn't interested. I don't know what changed my mind, but I did decide to buy it and have become incredibly amazed by it and have learned more about just how unique and capable it is. Both the guitar and case could not be called anything but in brand new condition. I polished it up when I got it and was amazed by the beauty of the thing. I guess that's why I am so surprised at the "demise" of these Parker guitars....I own a lot of "mainstream" guitars, and this Parker is certainly in, if not above, the desirability of any of them. I guess this has definitely become a long term keeper and one to be carefully handled and cared for.

[Notes_Norton]

I'm caring for it, and hoping my two Parkers last the rest of my life.

There is nothing else remotely like them.

Bob

[axejock]

Boy, maybe I had better "mothball" this thing and keep it "brand new". If they aren't going to ever make any more of them and parts are already scarce, it only follows that there will be a dwindling number of operational guitars out there as well as a declining number of folks qualified to do any maintenance on them. Should I be worried or will they become sought after collector items? What is the owner community theory on this?

[Mr303]

I vote for play the guitar since that’s what it’s made for.
Closet guitars are a waste of equipment and money and in my opinion are unlikely to become a true investment grade item.

[jb63]

If you want to make it an “investment” guitar, it probably runs a risk of depreciation more than anything else. Parkers of any model jump around in price like the Dow fluctuates. No real rhyme or reason and suddenly a particular model sells for 5 times what you would expect or a fancy pre-refined artist model sells on the cheap.

My advice, which is pretty solid thinking, though YMMV, is have a carbon-wrapped on and AND light bolt-on neck one and keep them both in your heavy use rotation. If that’s not enough, keep your eye out for a third to keep in rotation. Always try to buy the color you like, because that’s the thing that kept me buying another when it was impractical. There are really only about 5 different stock setups between the models they manufactured over the years and I think they still have the catalogs through the years archived on the Parker site for you to check out the changes. (The original nitefly, for instance, is heavy, but well worth a try with its neck shape and ease of modification. Lots of opinions on the nitefly around here.)

Basically, because they are guitars, I’d assume there will always be some of them to affordablly aqure in your lifetime.

[axejock]

Good points. I will certainly keep using and enjoying it, but will take extra care to keep it looking and performing great. I don't "thrash" any of my guitars and always keep them cleaned after use and stored in their case. My only worry is parts if the need ever arises. Maybe it won't need anything if I'm lucky.

[Notes_Norton]

I don't see it becoming a collectors item.

Early models of popular brands, better than average models of popular brands, and sometimes the flops of popular brands are most likely to become collectors items.

Parkers are great playing guitars. The are comfortable to hold, well balanced, and comfortable to play. IMHO a good playing instrument needs to be played. That's its purpose in 'life'.

Tune it, caress it, and play it. Enjoy the connection between your fingers the strings and body, and your ears. That will pay you more than the cash will when you sell it.
 
I owned a Selmer Mark VI saxophone. This is now the most sought after sax in the used market. The "holy grail" of saxophones. I traded it for a Mark VII which wasn't as good, traded that for an H.Couf which was actually much better, I wore out the Couf got a gold plated Grassi, which wasn't as good as the VI or the Couf but as good as the VII, and now play a small botique sax from a company out of Texas that had them made in Taiwan.  I'd say that the intonation is definitely better than the VI ever hoped to be, the tone is as good, but different (a little bolder but not as good as the Couf), and the ergonomics are as good as the VI with the exception of the more modern left pinky key cluster which is better.

Am I sorry I sold the VI? Not at all. I paid $600 for it new, and now they go for $6,000 in average condition, but I made a lot more than that gigging with it, and when I sold it, it wasn't in average condition any more. Gigging every night wears out the mechanical parts of a sax, and one-nighters are notoriously hard on all music gear. And besides, most things that you could buy in 1960 cost ten times that much for an equivalent today, so in terms of buying power, the sax today would be worth what I paid for it.

Theoretically my Parker guitars should last longer than my sax. Wood should last, frets can be replaced, as can pickups and tuners. The whammy mechanism is great, but if worse comes to worse something else can be adapted.

I've already made more gigging than the Parker cost new. Yes, it's a tool to make my living with, but it is a very enjoyable tool to use, so why not use it?

Insights and incites by Notes

[axejock]

Y'all have probably noticed that I am an information "sponge" when I acquire a new guitar that is something that I know nothing about. That has been the case with my "new" Parker, and I must say that those of you that have responded to my questions and comments have been extremely helpful! Not only have I learned what a great guitar it really is, but also a lot about its history, different problems, how to fix little problems, how people use their Parkers, a lot about the Parker company, and on and on. Great forum, and I feel like I am now totally familiar with my Parker and will know where to go if I can think of other questions to ask (lol). Thanks!!

[TheGrail]

I'll chime in with my two cents .. I fell in love with the Fly the very first time I saw it at the NAMM show in 1994.  I was "in the business" and was able to get a very early black deluxe when they started making the whammy versions in volume (original run was stop tailpiece only).  I played the guitar a few times and then put it into a case thinking that it would become my "58 Les Paul, never played" ridiculous collector item in 20 years. 

Over the years, I got several others and the Fly has been my main guitar since then, current inventory is 5, including "Blackie".   I have come to realize that the original year Fly is not going to be collectible as I had hoped because of three factors: (1) the Fly was too different from a Les Paul or Strat and the average Joe guitar player never even considered it. (2) Some of the 'advanced' tech in the Fly has not proven to stand up to time. Specifically the ribbon cables in the electronics box become very brittle with age and cannot be replaced, hard wiring is the only way to fix it when they break. Also the glued on frets have been known to fail (I've never had that happen on any of my guitars, but you can see plenty of threads about it here.   And (3) the fact that the brand lost its visionaries when Ken and Larry exited after the Korg sale meant that the brand would get diluted - exactly what happened with the cheap bolt on flies, the "telecaster looking" fly, etc. The writing was on the wall when Korg sold out.

So my strategy is to love my collection, hold on to them, play them.  They are the best guitars I've found in my 45 years of playing. 

[Notes_Norton]

My duo partner bought a PM10, her first instrument is voice, second is synth, so she didn't want an expensive guitar. I was impressed with the build. The glued on neck fits so well that you have to take it into sunlight to see the seam, the wood grain almost matches. Opening the cover in the back the wiring was done neatly.

Guitar is my seventh instrument and I had been playing a Faux-LP (LTD) that weighed 8 pounds. I took to lead quickly as it is my seventh instrument, I played bass for a while, and I already knew barre chords. The interval between the G & B string did cause me to blunder more than a few times though. Since I wanted a light weight guitar for switching between sax, flute, wind synth and guitar on stage I went for the bolt-on DF. Again I was impressed. It is so comfortable and balanced it seems like I'm wearing it instead of playing it, it stays in tune well, and sounds good.

I had a problem, the wood cracked on the body after the guarantee expired. Parker glued it at no charge. A couple of years later it cracked again, Parker replaced it with a brand new one at no charge. Great customer service.

I loved the guitar but missed the P90 sound of my faux-LP and since I got such great customer service with Parker, I had them make a custom job for me. It took 7 months but it was worth it. Now I own two DF Parkers.

It's too bad other guitarists didn't recognize the advantages of Parker guitars, and thus it's too bad they went under.

I doubt if either of these will be collectors items, but I'm gigging with them and enjoying them. That's what counts to me. I'll probably wear one out if it's possible.

I do one-nighters which are notoriously hard on gear, and switching instruments makes it go off and on the stand all night. The light weight saves my arm, but sometimes when a switch needs to be quick, the guitar can get bumped a bit.

But I love playing it, I love how it sounds, and it puts food on the table.

Life is good.

Notes