Parker Bass in BP Mag...

My Hohner J fretless (plywood body) has unbelievable resonance(s) too.

Having said that, it can sound good IME.
But that Parker bass is still fugly and 10 years of "R&D" is plain ridiculous.

Some guitar designs just don't translate well onto bass, see PRS or Gibson...

 

I don't think it's a particularly good-looking bass, either. But, if the review is accurate, that bass must be smokin'!

The neck being inserted into the body is a variation on neck-thru. A set-neck is different, basically similar to a bolt-on in that it's attached to the body instead of running through the body. A set-neck generally is attached with glue and sometimes a dovetail-joint (a la Fodera).

 

I dont know about the basses, but a friend of mine has a Parker Fly guitar and I dont like it - way too bright.

 

Ugliest Bass (if you can call it that) I have ever seen......what was parker thinking!

 

I have to agree... That bodystyle doesn't translate very well to bass..

 

I too read the article in BP Mag. I think that it is weird looking but the review was good. Heck I'd be willing to buy the BONGO if it sounds good. This guy in my church band plays a Parker Guitar and I think that it's an awsome guitar, expecially when he uses only the Piezo pickup. It sound better than any real acoustic guitar I've ever heard.

 

i saw the review too, and eversince, i've been drooling to try one.

at first i didnt like the futuristic looks of Ken's guitars, but they've since grown on me. and you cant fault the guy for trying to do daring different things. pretty much trying to trail blaze much in the same way Ken Smith and the Alembic guys did in the early '80s.

btw, here's a cool interview with Ken:

http://www.tonequest.com/pdf_pubs/samples/TQRParker.pdf

 

btw, its kinda funny we're all thinkin' the Parker looks weird, when we're the same guys who dig Pedulla's, Elrick's, Fodera's, Alembic's, Eshenbaugh's, Jerzy Drozd, etc.

 

...and his tone is an acquired taste, ahem.

 

I am not sure what happened with the parker bass. I read the same review in BP magazine.

It is basically a plywood bass with the Ibanez Mono Rail bridge. I find this very strange since the first Parker guitars were made with incredible care. I am a guitar player too and own a Parker supreme. Everything on that guitar was well thought out. well implemented and well designed.

The bass looks like he cut some corners.

 

Maybe it's what his customers want

I once spoke with Mike Pedulla about why he reduced the number of controls on his basses in the early 80s from 4-5 knobs and 3 toggles to just 3 knobs and no switches. He told me it was because customers kept telling him "make the controls work just like my Jazz Bass".

 

I like the Parker headstock quite a bit.

And if the bass is as light as the guitars, it may be worth a look regardless.

But man is the body an eyesore, and is the bridge really an Ibanez? Or is it just another 4 individual bridges arrangement?

 

I don't own one, but I've played one quite a bit. If you can get past or like the design, I suspect many of you will be pleasantly surprised, if not completely blown away. It's effortless to play and sounds great!

 

Yes the bridge is really Ibanez. I have to admitt that the Mono Rail bridge is a nice idea. I don't actually know if it helps any.

 

I don't mind the body style necessarily, but there's nothing better than innovation in the bass industry - whether it ends up being successful or not. It might just be the spark that paves the way for the next great thing we ALL love.

As for BP, to say that a bass must be smokin because BP wrote a good review is asinine. Those reviews are so bias and skewed it's not even funny - even though they are SO self-proclaimed unbiased since they kicked out some of the best columnists that ever wrote in BP.

For example, check out the Epifani reviews - Nick must have really pissed them off!

That's it.

 

I've also heard that Mike stopped building neck-throughs because of his non-compete clause with Tobias, but he supposedly still likes them.

 

I played a bass just like the one in Bp for about 2 hours. My overall impression is that it is not a very versatile instrument. not only does it seem limited sonically but the body shape is anything but ergonomic.

Having said that, I own a Parker fly guitar that i love. It sounds great and feels great.