TDC: Ken Parker, founder of Parker Guitars and Ken Parker Archtops

[tbonesullivan]

Just saw this, and it's definitely been sad time for the guitar industry lately. Back when I was in HS the Parker guitars were THE thing that the buzz was about. They were pretty much the Steinbergers of the 90s. I wanted one, everyone wanted one, sadly I never got to play or own one. He sold Parker in 2004, but in a strange twist of fate, Ken Parker started making archtops in the mid 00s, which were just as different as his electrics. He'd been battling cancer since 2023.

https://kenparkerarchtops.com/

 

[ZR]

Never had or played one although I looked.

I read a few of his posts in that link; he was a smartie pants!

I liked his comment below about not needing any fretwork ...

: About the Fly fingerboard

Post Thu Feb 01, 2024 6:00 pm

I forgot to mention that the fretted .020" fingerboard was bonded to the basswood and later, mahogany necks with an additional layer of .010" thick prepreg fiberglass cloth. Essentially, this created a fingerboard that was 2/3 fiberglass/epoxy and 1/2 carbon fiber/epoxy measuring .030" or .75mm thick. The fingerboard gluing surface was conical, and the fingerboard was cylindrical, but high pressure and a very precise, stiff steel caul brought them together to form the correct conical surface. Confused? I hope not, it was a beautiful system that worked to perfection, and completely removed the necessity of adjusting the fret heights after assembly. Result? we did absolutely zero fretwork, and every guitar was shipped with frets exactly as supplied by our wire rolling vendor company.

"It's not me that designed the Fly guitar, it was all of you guys." - Ken Parker

Edited October 6, 2025 by ZR

[BruceM]

I bought myself a dark green Parker Fly for my 40th birthday in 1996.  I played it a decent amount, but never really bonded with it, so when a friend asked me he could buy it a few years later, I sold it to him.  Of course, 1997 was the year I found the HFC, and also the year I started my Hamer buying spree.  That also had something to do with my neglect of the Fly.

[BoogieMKIIA]

Local Blues legend, Tee Dee Young, plays a Parker fly. I have never seen an arch too but would love to try one.

[MPR]

I tried a Parker Fly once at a shop back in high school when I was first looking to upgrade from my cheap starter guitar. It felt unbelievable—light as a feather, and the neck somehow made fast lines just effortless. As in, I literally played faster than I ever had before. However, shred isn't my thing, and I hated the way that guitar sounded.

[Steve Haynie]

18 hours ago, MPR said:

However, shred isn't my thing, and I hated the way that guitar sounded.

Do the Parker Fly guitars have an identifiable sound?  Mark Farner was playing one when I saw him a couple of years ago, and I did not like the sound of his guitar.  So, could it have been the Fly, or was it just his amp settings?  

[django49]

An original Parker Fly was one of my "go to" guitars for a long time. (The others, a Hamer Artist with upgraded pickups and serial/parallel switching and a Gibson ES-347). I was not in love with the pickups and the neck was thinner than I preferred. But I always was able to get the tones I wanted with my rig. I did have good comments from other people I played with, largely due to the ability to blend in a bit of "acoustic" crispness that cut through.....Nice contrast to the guy next to me with a Les Paul into a Marshall.....Split the coils for clean arpeggios behind a singer, switch to HBs and click in the Mesa Mk2C  tones when I needed to step out. (Shouldda kept that amp!)

I later picked up a Mojo Fly. Different wiring, mahogany body vs basswood. Still light weight. Also, proprietary Dimarzios were replaced by Seymour Duncans. To me, warmer tone and easier to swap out if desired....I felt no need to replace them. I still have that guitar and like it a lot. If I did not have the Shishkov (and Grez Mendocino)  that cover the same ground, and then some, I suppose I would play it more.

Best played standing as that horn will dig into your body! 😏

Interesting that Farner went to a Fly from his infamous Messenger guitar, apparently for many years now. Yeah, I once had one of those too. Not a great guitar, but a key part of his 60s sound, it seems. I would take the Fly over the Messenger any day.

[MPR]

16 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

Do the Parker Fly guitars have an identifiable sound?  Mark Farner was playing one when I saw him a couple of years ago, and I did not like the sound of his guitar.  So, could it have been the Fly, or was it just his amp settings?  

It's been way too long for me to remember the details, but I distinctly remember loving how it felt and hating how it sounded. And then I plugged a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion III into the same amp at the shop and it sounded fabulous (neck pickup, at least). Obviously, people will have different tonal preferences, but the Fly will sound distinct by virtue of its construction—the extremely thin/light body, and carbon & glass in the neck, make the instrument resonate differently than a more traditionally constructed guitar.

Edited October 13, 2025 by MPR

[hamerican gigolo]

On 10/7/2025 at 11:47 AM, BoogieMKIIA said:

Local Blues legend, Tee Dee Young, plays a Parker fly. I have never seen an arch too but would love to try one.

Tee Dee plays it through a Roland JC200. The blues purists are overwhelmingly agast! 🤮  😉

[alantig]

2 hours ago, hamerican gigolo said:

Tee Dee plays it through a Roland JC200. The blues purists are overwhelmingly agast! 🤮  😉

Reminds me of something Cody Kilby said - he played with Ricky Skaggs at a festival, and it was when Skaggs first had his PRS deal.  Kilby said Skaggs was on fire that day, and he couldn't wait to walk through the crowd to hear people's reactions.  He said all he heard was people saying, "Can you believe Skaggs wasn't playing a dreadnought?"  Nothing about his actual playing.  Too often we don't just listen.

[BoogieMKIIA]

3 hours ago, hamerican gigolo said:

Tee Dee plays it through a Roland JC200. The blues purists are overwhelmingly agast! 🤮  😉

And BB King used a Lab Series Amp. It really won’t matter for those guys.