Parker Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses, started by luthier Ken Parker in the early 90s.
Beginning in a workshop in Rochester, New York Parker designed and crafted electric guitars without depending on the examples of traditional acoustic and electric guitar design.[citation needed]
Contrasts between his guitars and others include :
Thin, lightweight guitars, generally made from lighter woods like poplar and spruce (although there is a mahogany Fly which is still fairly light).
Extensive use of composite materials (resin and carbon fibre) vs. all-wood or plywood construction.
Composite fingerboards with stainless steel frets vs. wood fingerboards with nickel-brass frets.
Integrated use of coil and piezoelectric pickups with active electronics.
Ergonomic body design.
Adjustable, lockable floating bridge.
In 2004 the company was sold to U.S. Music Corporation based in Illinois. Budget models, similar to Parker originals such as the Fly model, but with bolt-on necks and other features more typical of standard electric guitars, are made under license overseas and sold in the USA under the Parker label.
Since 2002, Parker has also produced the Fly bass guitar, in both 4-string and 5-string versions. The 5-strings are noted for their ease of use for 4-string players, both with respect to weight and string spacing. As with other Parker guitars, they offer both magnetic and piezoelectric pickups, with the ability to blend the two.
In late 2006, Ken Parker, who had been in seeming absentia since selling Parker guitars, surfaced with a new take on archtop guitars. An example is an action adjustment system that raises and lowers the neck without causing the guitar to change in pitch. Other changes are the location of the soundhole, the materials, bracing, binding and basic theory of the physics of the guitar. The weight of this archtop, ‘the Olive Branch’ is a mere 3.5 lbs. It is essentially, as dramatic a change in the design of the archtop guitar as he offered in the Fly model electric solid body guitar, summarized above. Ken Parker currently builds only custom guitars
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