What I Hate And Love About My Parker Dragonfly

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[@supernoobsmith5718]

NOT ugly at all. Parker's were beautiful to me. I lusted after them. They had three problems. One, people back then were ignorant of and leary of steel frets. Because lazy luthiers didn't like working with SS, they pushed rumors that it sounds bad. And two, people were ignorant of just how durable plastic can be. Lastly, they were priced too far out of reach for the time. Never was an ugly Parker.

[@DosHemperor]

All things considered ....

[@cataclysmicconverter]

I remember the stainless fret thing and that "they'll eat up your strings!". Plus, being glued to the fretboard seemed to scare people. Those guitars almost played themselves!

[@michael1]

It's not that the frets are steel it's that they were glued on (and fell off) - but yeah it's obviously overpriced and over specced - and mostly overpriced because it was expensive to make not because it was high quality. Remember, the people who spend lots of money on guitars don't actually play guitar - they hang them on walls and look at them. That's why Phil thinks the problem is the looks or whether the guitar can be hung on a wall or not, because he doesn't play guitar he decorates rooms with them. Bottom line though, PRS would go out of business if they only sold their most expensive guitars - you need to make cheap junk in Indonesia or Mexico that sells shedloads - you can't have a guitar company premised on one or two high price products - especially when it's got flaws like frets falling off.

[@mikaelmachado4344]

Yeah they’re ugly

[@supernoobsmith5718]

@@michael1 They did make other models, without all the tech, but they didn't have the mojo imo.

[@stevenpipes1555]

I worked at Parker in the 90s when it was in an industrial park in Wilmington Mass. I can tell you that the way the carbon fiber is applied to the guitar is only one of many amazing and unique processes that went into a Fly. It is, in my extremely experienced opinion, the most precise, most unique, most articulate, and most beautiful electric guitar ever made. And the only reason I specify electric guitar is because I've seen his archtop acoustics. THEY are the most beautiful stringed instruments ever. period!

[@erikrummel6277]

I wish I hit the lottery. If I did, I would reopen the Parker factory, even if they were not profitable, they are important and I think the Parker Fly name and legacy is the perfect platform to bring even more innovation to guitars. Technology came a long way since the 90’s, and manufacturing has seen many innovations as well, I have so many ideas. Now I just need that winning lottery ticket 😅

[@BrendanMakesMusic]

My Fly Mojo Flame is one of the best instruments I’ve ever played. It’s tragic that the company went under. Thanks for helping make such a great instrument!

[@Kami_81]

I may be in the minority, but I really think this is a beautiful guitar, a very modern and avant garde sleek design, more refined than the Fly. I think if this would be released today it would be way more popular than when it originally was.

[@rnrsteev]

I had one for a week to do a set-up. felt weird at first, but when I got used to the feel I really liked it, but then again I love my small body Steinberger, both of them.

[@cataclysmicconverter]

2 very rare Parkers I let go like a fool were the Concert model, which was a solid spruce Fly with just piezo that sounded magical and a Southern Nitefly, the Tele styled Nitefly. Never see them. Ever.

[@writewheel]

I let a spruce artist go...so happy when I found a Nitefly M a few years ago.

[@stevgex]

My current guitar teacher plays one and I've gotten my hands on it a couple times and it is a truly wonderful instrument

[@_NoDrinkTheBleach]

The Parker Fly Deluxe was always one of my bucket list guitars, but by the time I had an income where I felt comfortable buying one, the company was long gone. I'm not sure I'd buy a used one unless I knew the player and how they played.

[@DimKAt21]

Same

[@michael1]

I doubt there's a single feature you couldn't just fit to another guitar - and that other guitar would be better in numerous other ways to you. It's like piezo pickup is on a ton of guitars as an option. SS frets are more or less ubiquitous now (I certainly don't consider any manufacturer that doesn't use them when I'm looking for a guitar - at any price point) and SS frets on other guitars don't fall off because they are just traditional frets but made of a different material. Sustainiac is easily retrofit as well as stock on a bunch of signature guitars these days. But all of these features push the price up and there's going to be more people who don't care about a feature than do. It makes no sense to make the guitar that's all-singing, all-dancing from a feature perspective - it's obvious it will end up overpriced, overengineered and only a handful of players will be keen. The rest will be thinking "I'll put a sustainiac on my Jem" or similar. e.g There are very few people who need a trem that is and isn't a trem too - Guthrie wants that because he's in that unique position of touring the world but not being popular, so how much it costs him to ship guitars and kit is a huge factor, especially if he's only really doing a guitar clinic by himself. He can't fill a plane hold with mountains of amps and cases full of guitars - so for him the signature guitar that did everything he wanted - including having the ability to block the trem made sense - even then he's still got 2 guitars for drop D. Most famous and popular touring guitarists would just have 3, 4, 5 however many guitars they needed to cover and a guitar tech to tune them all and work on them. If they wanted a hardtail for a couple of songs they'd have one. Most people sat at home playing will be the same, they'll either have a style of playing that largely means they either always want a trem or always don't, or they'll have a bunch of guitars and at least one has a trem, at least one doesn't. So overengineering the trem makes no sense. It just makes the guitar more expensive. It's like Guthries USA sig guitar with the tremol-no ends up ridiculously overpriced so they end up making a cheaper one without it to try and sell a few. Of course now that things like roasted maple, stainless steel frets and locking tuners are on guitars costing £400 to £2k they have nothing special. Charvel and Fender are still trying to sell SS frets as though they're a premium feature but every other manufacturer that builds guitars in Indonesia now has them on their cheapest products. PRS are so arrogant they don't even think SS is a thing (but I guess they mostly care about the boomer market of people who collect guitars rather than play them)

[@Yardbird68]

The burnt orange is a BEAUTIFUL color! And I wouldn't really call "this" model ugly either. Sometimes it is refreshing to see someone think outside of the box. LOVE your stuff Phillip!

[@judih.8754]

I agree. That color is great and the style of the guitar is hardly ugly. I love it.

[@bretheweb]

Ken Parker recently did a few videos (titled The Journey on Ken Parker Archtoppery) where he walks thru the design and thought processes for the prototype and production guitars when he started the company and it's pretty phenomenal. He approached it like an engineering problem, so all of those decisions were to fix the problems he was encountering/hearing about with electric guitars. Highly recommend watching. During the 80s and 90s I lusted after Parkers. They were the hypercar of guitars to me. So freaking cool, so unattainable.

[@GuitarGuy4647]

God, I wish they’d bring Parker back.

[@MrShooter72]

Amen brother!

[@nadrojgansi1345]

I was in college and guitar crazy when Parker came out. One hell of a guitar! A local band front man is still playing it, i guess.

[@jimruddell3265]

Grabbed one of the original Fly models and I have to agree that that it's great but everything is custom other than the strings so it's hard to repair and mod. The PO beautifully replaced the pickups but it was not easy. Nuts, output jack are custom so when they wear out be ready to find NOS or someone who can recreate them. Is it worth it? Yes. :-)

[@zz-.-]

Dude I want that orange or lime, those are the 2 baddest Parker’s I’ve seen

[@joellebrodeur1015]

Same. Don't know why some thought it was ugly. I dig it even though it's not my style. I want one because it's so different. I hope someday someone can do right by Parker and resurrect the brand

[@jtyoung706]

I played a few Parkers back in the early 00's and they were amazingly well crafted. They were also way out of my reach at the time! A fly is on my bucket list.

[@WattchomanBrandySavage]

That guitar is beautiful! I love all the features on it too.

[@CA10Z]

I still have my ATLANTIC NUX....I use it on a flyrig....you talked me into a year or so back. Nice you see you run one as well.

[@jokeassasin7733]

I own 2 Emerald carbon fiber guitars, and I'm surprised at how affordable they are vs how much is put into making them. There aren't many small companies that even consider lefties.

[@edge13429]

Ken Parker Makes acoustic guitars now.

[@chrispile3878]

Archtops - a specific type of acoustic.

[@jacobthellamer]

I love his archtop series on KZbin

[@chrispile3878]

@@jacobthellamer As do I.

[@sigsfast]

Always really wanted one. Wish they’d come back.

[@KainzMusic]

I'm fortunate enough to have played on a couple of the original Parkers. They were incredibly light and resonant and had such an amazing overall sound. It's a shame they didn't last.

[@itzed]

Beautiful design. Ken Parker is an amazing luthier. I have three of the import PDF models that have a standard ebony fretboard. I’ve re-fretted all of them, two with SS frets. The Graphtech piezo saddles tend to die over the years, but they are still available and easy to change. I understand why they went out of business because of how they made the USA guitars, but there’s no reason why someone couldn’t pick up the licensing for the traditionally made import models.

[@jimruddell3265]

Great vid, thanks for posting!

[@BuckFlicks]

That isn’t ugly. It’s spectacular and I want it. I felt that neck pickup clean tone in my soul. That amp is top shelf.

[@randysmith8770]

Long Live Parker Guitars! Beautiful guitar, beautiful playability.

[@rudiyantohalim736]

It sounds and look awesome, especially the green one

[@hunter37334]

I have a first year production Fly and LOVE IT! It won't leave me til I leave this earth. Also own a 97 Nitefly. Foolishly traded it away then bought it back! Also a keeper.

[@KfirOchaion]

I had a Parker Fly and I thought (and still think) that it's gorgeous. Problem for me was in the tone.

[@snowdevil7727]

Did you change the pickups from Dimarzios to Duncans? People used to recommend doing that.

[@andrewdiederich3833]

I had the same experience with the tone (and that upper horn just was a direct shot to the sternum if you weren’t careful leaning forward). I changed from the original pickups to custom dimarzios to Duncans, but never could get rid of a strange high end presence that were related to the ultra hard carbon shell and frets and the complete lack of lows from the thin body like an Ibanez S. It only sounded decent with hotter pickups. I loved how it played, hated the flat spring you had to change out to change string gauges, and grumbled that the soft poplar gave out if you had to screw or unscrew into it more than a few times (fly deluxe). That said, I’d still have it if I could get around the sound. And the glue thing except for people trying to oil carbon fiber was mostly a brief issue in production from a bad run of glue if I recall. I owned the thing for 10 years, those frets couldn’t be more solidly attached. The fret issue got more attention than it deserved. BTW, the complicated luthier’s solution to fix this fatal flaw was… to glue it back on with epoxy.

[@cameronjack1095]

Pretty elegant looking guitar IMO. Seems like a seriously nice piece of kit

[@jlg052]

I tried Parkers in the 90s and loved them but couldn't get past the pokey upper horn. When the Dragonfly/Maxxfly came out, I bought one. I now have a carbon wrapped one and a few USA made bolt ons. They're still my favorite guitars. Simply the most ergonomic design I've ever played.

[@johnnyxmusic]

Dr. Fludd has entered the chat.

[@ey870]

Gee teh mechanics of it is awesome - love the trem system - I tihnk it looks great

[@tedjohnson5210]

That thing sounds pheNOMINAL.

[@MotorcityBart]

I knew my two cousins graduated high school, and they both attended Berkley in Boston in the early 90s, and they already were seasoned musicians playing several genres of music. Rock, metal, industrial even country. They opened up for Tim McGraw...anyways I first saw a Parker from my guitar player cousin....he loved it and he played strats and Gibsons for rock and others for metal...but loved that Parker

[@robphillips8351]

Tangerine and lime gold are freakin amazing looking finishes

[@chrisggoodwin777]

Ooh that lime gold looks great...the tangerine is cool but the lime gold is killer 😁 piezo sounds pretty good, too

[@andyt5559]

the same thing applies to Bond guitars made in Scotland with the stepped anodised aluminium fretboard, unique pickup switching, and display! they were super cool looking, but the problem was like early mid 80s midi systems it required an outboard power supply for the inbuilt electronics, these usually failed within a short period of time and the guitar was useless without it? if they stuck with that board on an ordinary guitar, they might still be in business?? a couple of steps too far! the same thing goes for Relish with their pickup swap option! AMAZING IDEA ¿ BUT?

[@crock2434]

I had a feeling it was parker's nightfly

[@crock2434]

That bridge was a flutterbeast

[@thesaj1110]

I absolutely loved Parker guitars! I was disappointed that never made the American ones for lefties :((

[@robphillips8351]

Guitar materials are something that needs to be looked more into sonically IMHO. Brass, aluminum, stainless for instance all have different tonalities. Then making composites adds another layer of resonance and tonality.

[@rogerbetancourt5239]

When they first came out l looked into them. The deal breaker was the cost of a refret. The other thing was the fretboard itself it was almost as wide as a classical. guitar

[@Clabian96]

When I was 17, I saved all summer for a used Parker Fly Deluxe in Gold ($1400). I came into my local shop to play it once a week. The day I had the money, I walked in to find out that it sold 2 days before 😭 I was devasted. It's still the best playing guitar I've ever had in my hands.

[@TalkingBullion]

I have a beautiful custom made Parker guitar. I sent them a photo and they hand painted it on the guitar. It took them just about a year to do it. It was when they were US Music (who bought them from Ken Parker). It's a single cut with Piezos and a whammy bar. I have it on display (needed the "Bullwinkle" mount to hang the guitar). After that, I was invited to go to Chicago for 2 days and tour the US Music factory and I met the ladies that hand painted my guitar (they were 2 people who painted it)...it was awesome. Don't remember how long after that before US Music quit making them. I also had one of the original Dragonflys made of birch wood (my understanding is there were only 2 of them). I regret to this day trading it for a PRS...that Parker was beautiful. I should have known when the guitar store was very excited over the deal. I got a little nervous because I took it in for a tune up when one of the knobs were scratchy. The guitar tech said if anything ever went wrong with it, he wouldn't know how to fix it. Specialized parts that were no longer available. One other thing is the imported Parker guitars are fantastic. I have a Parker PM20 that I've had for a long time and I still play it just about daily. I love that thing. Feels great in the hands. I also have a Parker acoustic guitar...haven't played that it a while.

[@mikekozi-lester3887]

Hi Phil nice Guitar 🎸 and workmanship and video 📹 those color and style of this is so cool !!! How about UPS BROWN TRUCK 🚚 🛻 SWING

[@timothysprinkle3052]

I bought a blue Parker fly used for 1500 dollars. I was my most expensive guitar purchase at that time. I am so glad I kept the guitar. It is one of the easiest guitars to play. Mine came with Dimarzio pickups, and they have a bit of a bite to the sound. However, I bought a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp, and it seemed to warm up the sound significantly! I love the color of your Dragonfly. I think my guitar was made with basswood, and I would have liked to have purchased one like yours, or a newer version of the mahogany bodied Flys, but I was holding out till I could afford a new guitar. I waited too long! I saw one of my favorite guitarist give it a try because his Les Paul was too heavy to play all of the time. I noticed a few aging artist switch to Parkers like Joni Mitchell and Merle Haggard. I could be wrong. I like the stainless steel frets, and I have never needed to adjust them in any way! Thanks for the spot light! I think I will hang on to mine.

[@gregmiller7123]

Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad played a Parker for years (may still) because the light weight helped out his back problems.

[@BassRacerx]

CKY played Parker guitars and ive always wanted one!

[@writewheel]

Love my Parker Nitefly M....

[@shaunfogarty5744]

They are very beautiful guitars.

[@MrMojabo]

I have the left handed Marty mcfly. Love it

[@NicholasANappiNick]

That blue burst looks good🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

[@The-11]

I see you cut out the 'noiseless pick ups' section of the demo, lol j/k. Great guitar Phil !

[@bubkusjones]

I have the import version of that with a Floyd, in that colour. I'll never get rid of it, even if it's not the "real" thing.

[@patrickcollins6830]

Nice assessment of the Parker Fly. I have a 2006 Fly Mojo which to this day remains flawless (except for one ding) in build, performance, and appearance. Far from being the fiddly guitar that it is assumed to be because of its unique design, it is, hands down, the most solid, stable, and reliable guitar I have experienced over many years. If set up correctly, it can be adjusted to closer tolerances than other guitars, and then it holds tghat setup very reliably. It sounds amazingly good. I have no idea where the characterization of Parkers as "sterile" comes from. It's an electric guitar, and has as complex a tone as a LP or Strat, with the additional capacity to dial in piezo pickups. I don't think the Parker story is complex -- I think it's a matter of having a product insufficiently consistent with the strong stereotype of what a good guitar is supposed to look like, and what forms function best. No, you can't pretend to be Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck when you hoist a Parker. Yoiu can be yourself -- which, for most, means being a mediocre, Squier/Epi-worthy player.

[@TheSavagederek]

Still the one that escaped me in the 90s . I got my dream guitar , but those were a close second . They still fetch big money .

[@rockinbobokkin7831]

NGL, I looked for this guitar just from your Livestream thumbnail. It's that cool looking.

[@TheNino37]

I love that guitar and that color!

[@jamesdeananderson1411]

As a graphic designer and guitar designer, I can only say that the Parker Fly was freaking cool, but at least 25% to 35% past what most people were going to be able to handle. Whoever designed them was simply a friggin' genius and was willing to take real chances.

[@kiezersosay49]

Man I've always wanted to get my hands on one... was the cease and desist sent from Fernandez? I know they have a dragonfly...

[@stevenjohnson2672]

I think the color is 🔥. I'd rock it!

[@stug5041]

I’m in Canada and post pandemic gear prices are insane - I bought a 50 watt evh head in 2018 and it’s now almost $1000 more. At least here, gear sales aren’t soft because of the economy. It’s because everything skyrocketed seemingly overnight and no one’s up for the outright stupid price hikes.

[@notonyourlife7939]

They weren't ugly...I had one years ago. Issue I had was the way the upper horn was angled back towards the player. Damn thing was pointy and dug into my chest whenever I played sitting down. Super uncomfortable. That and there were a couple of VERY bad spots on the neck... notes just died, no sustain at all. On the bright side, I held onto it for a while and ended up selling it for more than I paid, lol.

[@stringsattached67]

Beautiful guitar! I owned a parker fly mojo in red and it was an awesome guitar but I let my gas get the best of me and traded it for a ESP custom shop.

[@AJNpa80]

Theres a Maxx on Reverb with a missing trem arm in somewhat unknown condition (with pictures and explanation) for 1000 even right now. Just checked. If i didn't live in a tiny house I might check it out. Basically said they are selling for someone.

[@JayOchs]

i was always a parker fan since being a huge cky fan, Deron played a bunch of Nitefly's. I've got an import P-42 Pro with the Duncan Hot Rod set and Grover tuners...great guitar! always wanted an actual Parker...played a used one at GC last year that was only like $1200....but it played like garbage. i didn't feel like spending the money on it and working on it...probably should have lol

[@geraldfriend256]

I almost bought a second tier Parker that had a Wilkinson trem instead of the Parker trem…

[@shaalis]

That is totally beautiful.

[@kasnitch]

I also think they are beautiful and incredibly engineered guitars . I just added getting one of those to my bucket list . Fender and Gibson ..... lmfao .

[@VincentVader]

I wish I'd bought a couple years ago. I actually liked those.

[@leonarddaneman810]

Great Guitar . . . Good enough for Joni Mitchell to play on stage . . . Perfection.

[@DimKAt21]

Cool guitar, cooler story

[@8hammer2189]

I have the same guitar. I love it

[@TheRealDrJoey]

Is this the brand of guitar that Canadian busker William Shatner's Hairpiece uses?

[@TheSavagederek]

I wonder if that dude still has the blue flame top . I really wish they were still around , but yea they would be 6 grand plus now .

[@barbmelle3136]

My boss had a Parker. He thought it was great. It was a good enough guitar but that goofy handle/upper horn always hit me in the chest wrong. I am not willing to play a guitar that hurts for no good reason.

[@CR0SSJ]

Over Engineered but in the right way I think. When I first saw Parker Guitars I just didn't get wtf these were about, but later with all these Strandberg guitars floating about in YT did some quick googling around ergonomic guitars and learned about what Parker Guitars did at the time. It's so understandable why they went out of business like Phil says in this video, but the engineering was all for a better guitar experience and that's highly appreciative. Also, Ken Parker himself has a YT channel called Ken Parker Archtoppery which I highly advise to check out as you see the man himself explaining a lot of things around guitar making in their architecture, and ergonomics and what not.

[@shopmanlerxt9813]

Where can I get my Parker repaired? It won’t stay in tune when using the tremolo.

[@tankdarla637]

Awesome!

[@jrm2fla]

They ARE cool looking to me… I like the Dragonfly headstock best

[@thinkingjack]

I rue the day I turned down a neighbors offer to buy his Parker. Guy was moving back to Europe and offered it to me for 450 🤦🏽🤦🏽

[@UnitedEffect]

I was SO close to buying a Parker Fly (Mojo). Still sorry I didn't get one.

[@stringsattached67]

The The closest guitar that I feel is a lot like the parker is the Ernie Ball music Man Majesty. Love them both 😍

[@kebotrans]

I liked this new design better. I loved them. They sounded kind of thin though. With the pickups available now it would be awesome. Not sure about the business issues but how nobody owns or makes these is crazy

[@sigsfast]

They’re gorgeous

[@StoneXue]

Yall nuts, that guitar is beautiful.

[@skycaptain141]

The parker dragon fly is what I imagined fusion players to play back in the day.

[@thiefoftime101]

My Parker is the most ridiculously perfect guitar. Can’t believe they ever went out of business

[@Jack_Plisken]

Parkers were beautiful works of art and an engineering marvel. However, Ken Parker himself has said the "refined" (post 2003 Parkers) were "dumbed down, de-featured, and uglified," 😆

[@AJNpa80]

I like a lot about these. The parker headstock looks better on these to my tastes. And I prefer the more subtle handle horn on these to the one we all know. Mr. Parker has a great KZbin channel making archtops etc.

[@crucifixgym]

Joe Bonamassa should have a signature Parker Fly

[@sonijam]

I really wanted to like them when they first came out. I remember trying one at Guitar Center and... I don't know, it just didn't like it. Maybe my expectations were to high. Or maybe the first ones made weren't as good as the last ones made?

[@spawn302]

Why do people say they are ugly? LTD has crazy designs, Abasi is crazy, Aristedes even. I love all of them but nothing about the Parkers look ugly or am I tripping? I think they aged well and can see other manufacturers coming up with a similar design

[@josephbrewer7026]

Not ugly at all! I kind of love it.

[@marmadukewinterbotham2599]

Personally, I've always thought it was a very beautiful shape. Many makers have attempted over the decades to come up with designs as unique and perfect as Gibson and Fender, and in my opinion none have managed it. Except Parker. But I do appreciate it's a 'Marmite' thing though!

[@coolwaterdvr]

If possible next to review Aristides Guitars?

[@robertandre778]

Parker Fly they have a body shape that looks like a Fender Performer 😁😁

[@jackkay4310]

It's a damn shame Parker went out of business. So advanced for their time. If they were still around I could see them employing that crazy carbon fibre quilt top technology so they could get around the flame or quilt top problem without bursting the edges.

[@ericwilliamson9869]

I have always wanted a Parker Electric since I was a kid. To me, they are the Lamborghini of guitars. Over engineered and fun as heck. Unfortunately, I have never been able to afford one.

[@thestuffmikedoes2309]

Honestly I hated the way Parkers looked in the 90s. But with each passing moment, that thing is really growing on me.

[@jcheever37]

Ive always wanted a parker

[@tgunmusicchannel1973]

That is lovely

[@ibanezleftyclub]

Gorgeous guitars, but as a guitar tech, I shutter at the thought of having to refret it.