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Parker guitar: ugly but sweet tone...

Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
edited April 2013 in Guitars, Strings, Picks, Amps, Pickups and Other Accessories Posts: 1,878
I'm currently vacationing here in Malaga, Spain, and last night at the local cultural centre there was a jazz concert by the "Hot Club of Andalusia", so naturally I had to go.

Turns out this is a trio led by a Finnish clarinet player named Antti, accompanied by a Spanish piano player and a guitarist named Ricky Vivar.

Ricky is a real nice player! He played this crazy Parker guitar I'd never seen before, IMHO butt-ugly but a real sweet-sounding in the higher register.

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2005/12/ ... ic-guitar/

Ricky told me that Parker is more known for their electric guitars.

My California buddy Anthony Parker may find this brand interesting...

Will
Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."

Comments

  • jimvencejimvence Austin, TX✭✭
    Posts: 73
    If that is the US Parker brand, they are known for their ergonomically funky looking, but decent playing electrics. I tried one to purchase, and it plays well, but I honestly could not get any aesthetic pleasure from the guitar. Anyway, that's off the Gypsy Jazz chart, was it an acoustic? Pics or it didn't happen? :D
  • fraterfrater Prodigy
    Posts: 763
    I've got a Parker Nitefly and it's a very nice guitar although for electrics I tend to stick to my Stratocaster Vintage '57 first "Fullerton" series.
  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    Posts: 1,878
    Anyway, that's off the Gypsy Jazz chart, was it an acoustic? Pics or it didn't happen?

    Damn, if only I'd remembered my camera!

    I know it's off the GJ grid, but believe me, this guitar, which Mr. Google has subsequently revealed to be a "Parker P9EN", has a real nice GJ sound, though perhaps sweeter and not so "snarly" in the mid register as your usual Selmer-type guitar. It's very rich in overtones in its upper register, the sound sort of reminded me of a Holo in that way.

    It seems to include some real quality electronics...

    Fishman® hum canceling pickup combined with Acoustic Matrix Undersaddle pickup. 1/4" and XLR mono/stereo outputs.... Top mounted volume control


    ...which leads me to think it would make a nice "workhorse" gigging guitar... though it definitely ain't no "show horse"!

    It seems to cost around $1500, which isn't too bad, I guess.

    Check out this YouTube of Ricky Vivar playing excerpts from a few jazz tunes on his Parker, with Diego Suarez on piano.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I55k0cbVaL8
    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

    Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  • PassacagliaPassacaglia Madison, WI✭✭✭✭
    Posts: 1,471
    Wow, Will, nice music! I like this guitar's sound, agreed - sweet and rich.
    -Paul

    pas encore, j'erre toujours.
  • StringswingerStringswinger Santa Cruz and San Francisco, CA✭✭✭✭ 1993 Dupont MD-20, Shelley Park Encore
    Posts: 465
    Larry Coryell used one of these guitars when he played Djangofest 2007 with me.

    Here is a clip of him trading fours (on a blues) with Andreas Oberg. Larry used his Parker Acoustic, Andreas was playing my Gibson L-5. I am playing my Dupont and Jack Fields is playing a Dupont D hole (the actual guitar from the movie "sweet and Lowdown"). Simon Planting was playing a very big violin :wink:

    "When the chord changes, you should change" Joe Pass
  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    Posts: 1,878
    Cool video, stringswinger!

    Did you get a chance to play the Parker guitar?
    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

    Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  • StringswingerStringswinger Santa Cruz and San Francisco, CA✭✭✭✭ 1993 Dupont MD-20, Shelley Park Encore
    Posts: 465
    I did. The playability was excellent. The tone was a bit bright for my taste (but so are most Selmer type guitars. I like warm toned guitars). The electronics were confusing. It would take some time to dial in a particular sound. The volume was nowhere near that of most Selmer type guitars. NOT a Djam session instrument, unless there is only one rhythm guitar and he too is playing a Parker!

    And indeed, to my eyes, it is ugly. I am pretty sure Ken Parker gave Larry the guitar in the video. I doubt he uses it to this day...
    "When the chord changes, you should change" Joe Pass
  • Lango-DjangoLango-Django Niagara-On-The-Lake, ONModerator
    Posts: 1,878
    Thanks for the report on actually playing the Parker, stringswinger. I guess what interests me about them is...

    A) are the electronics really state-of the-art?

    B) Does it have a super-thin "Ovation" type neck?

    Those would be the two deciding factors that might lead me to buy a Parker... I do like the sound of them, despite the looks.

    Will

    Just curious, when you say "warm-toned" are you thinking about an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar?

    Me, I love the "warm and woody" sound of Eddie Lang's L-5, yet somehow in real life I've never played any kind of arch top that actually has that kind of tone...? Perhaps due to the extremely heavy-guage strings that Lang used... even his B string was a wound string, and his low E string was .78 gauge--- so thick you can't even buy them now except for bass guitars!

    The trouble with these heavy strings is that after you play the guitar for about ten seconds, your left hand begins screaming "STOP!" to your brain... that's why for an older fella like me, these Selmer-type light-strung guitars are a godsend... I think I'll still be playing till the day I die, or at least until Mr. Art Thritis adds my name to his shit list...
    Paul Cezanne: "I could paint for a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing."

    Edgar Degas: "Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.... To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."

    Georges Braque: "In art there is only one thing that counts: the bit that can’t be explained."
  • tacosandbeertacosandbeer ✭✭
    Posts: 47
    Have seen Frank Vignola play one as well.
    "Without music, life would be a mistake." --Friedrich Nietzsche
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