Parker guitars- Quality going downhill?

[Thor Von Clemson]

I was talking with a local dealer today about a parker guitar I tried out (the P-42 fyi). It was great. The neck felt perfect to me. I could reach all the frets without any discomfort, it balanced nicely, and the neck was very fast. Plus it had NO INLAYS!!! Come on, who does not love that?

I did not have a chance to plug it in but based on the wood and construction I am sure it would sound fine. The pickups would probably have to go but meh..

So I was shooting the breeze with the dealer and he went off on a tirade about how he will no longer be dealing parker guitars. He got quite a few pieces in lately and they were trash. I'm talking $2500 plus guitars that have major defects. Apparently he is not the only one either. He went on to say that other local parker dealers are having the same issues.

Whats worse is that he said he tried to contact customer service and they would not do a thing about any of the defects on his merchandise. He said he was beside himself and that the newer parker guitars where going downhill in quality. He then stated that the reason may very well be because parker basically "squeezed" (his exact words) Ken Parker out of the company and that they were bought out by the same company that owns Washburn. He finished by saying he won't stock anymore Parkers but the older ones were amazing instruments.

My questions for you guys are:

1. Can any of you confirm or deny this?

2. I loved that guitar. It felt great and I would really love to get one but not if the company is going to produce bad instruments. I don't want to have problems down the road. I noticed this any a few other parkers I have seen have brown streaks in the ebony fretboard. I know this can happen naturally but it makes sense if Parker is cutting corners and producing bad instruments. I've had a few ebony fretboarded axes and I have never had problems with brown streaks in the ebony. Can any of you suggest anything that is comparable in terms of neck size, shape, playability, etc, etc. I'm thinking Carvin may be able to make me one that is somewhat close but I doubt I can afford that right now. Ibanez makes some fast, thin necks as well.

The specs are here.. http://www.parkerguitars.com/code/mo..._p42_specs.asp

[CharvelRocker]

I played both a P036 and a P-40, and loved them. The P-38 was set up like crap though. He is right about them being bought by Washburn, which probably has something to do with it

[Thor Von Clemson]

Another thing I absolutely LOVED about it was that the frets were not Jumbo

[Blazer]

Well as a professional luthier/guitar repairman we've had several Parkers in the workshop. We had a nitefly (from which P38 is a Korean made copy) coming in with a terribly bend neck.

As you might know, the necks from US-made Parkers are made from "tone wood" (which can be any wood you want for it's tonal qualities, want an alder neck because you like the tonal qualities of Alder? No problem) incased in carbon graphite resin to give it a big stability. So the fact that this guitar had a terribly bend neck made us scratch our heads and go "Why did it bend?'

So, we ordered another neck from the Parker factory to replace the old one. Exactly the same woods, exactly the same profile, exactly the same fit into the body and...

...you guessed it, exactly the same problem as with the old neck, it was very badly bend and no matter what we tried, it stayed that way. I don't handle the business side of things at the workshop but the fact that that Parker Nitefly with two fucked up necks has been stored away for four years and counting also says something about the owner of the guitar, he apparently is not in a hurry to get his guitar back.

[Thor Von Clemson]

Blazer- I think those niteflys are USA made right? I have heard that they had some serious problems with the USA made stuff and their quality recently or in the past few years.

The import side of things sounds like it has been running pretty well.

[thetroy]

I played a new Parker Fly Deluxe about 1.5 years ago and it was AMAZING. Best feeling guitar I have ever played. I'd really like to buy one but they're damn expensive.

[jim777]

They're not that expensive

[Accept2]

The new Parkers are still made by the same guys in a tiny little shop the same way they have always been. The only difference is some very high priced hardware has been replaced by decent more moderately priced hardware to bring the cost to the consumer down. As far as low quality, no, but as far as not being able to make a huge markup like the dealers did before, no. Its like anything, the dealer wants to trash items with low markups and talk up items with high markups..................

[charvelguy]

Well as a professional luthier/guitar repairman we've had several Parkers in the workshop. We had a nitefly (from which P38 is a Korean made copy) coming in with a terribly bend neck.

As you might know, the necks from US-made Parkers are made from "tone wood" (which can be any wood you want for it's tonal qualities, want an alder neck because you like the tonal qualities of Alder? No problem) incased in carbon graphite resin to give it a big stability. So the fact that this guitar had a terribly bend neck made us scratch our heads and go "Why did it bend?'

So, we ordered another neck from the Parker factory to replace the old one. Exactly the same woods, exactly the same profile, exactly the same fit into the body and...

...you guessed it, exactly the same problem as with the old neck, it was very badly bend and no matter what we tried, it stayed that way. I don't handle the business side of things at the workshop but the fact that that Parker Nitefly with two fucked up necks has been stored away for four years and counting also says something about the owner of the guitar, he apparently is not in a hurry to get his guitar back.

Just for futures sake, what tone wood would you be discussing here as being prone to warpage?

These guitars are very well balanced. If you like those, you'd probably an Ibanez or MM Petrucci.

[MountainDog]

I have a Fly Deluxe made a few years ago and a PM10 and PM20G, all great instruments. I'm very impressed with the quality of woods, hardware and fit & finish on all. The PMs are from Korea, but they look and play excellent. Pickups sound great in my rig.

Thor, if you really like the P-42 you played, then don't let any recent parker quality issues stop you from that particular guitar. If you like it and they'll sell it to you for a good price (compare to what you see on ebay), then get it. If the guitar has any quality issues or neck issues, it would be evident now. I doubt you'd have problems down the road.

[69dodgecharger]

I just picked up a used fly delux and I love it. I think I like it better than my jacksons.

[Jackson-Charvel]

Are the P-30 or P-32's cheap crap? I know they are Korean or Chinese made, but they are cheap and they come with a Maple fretboard and I would jump on board if they play ok.