Steve Swallow was an early proponent of the Fly bass.
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What happened to Parker Guitars?
- Thread starter Rooster009
- Start date
The Fly Bass was shown on the cover of Bass Player magazine in 1993 but the company inexplicably didn't actually ship any until 2002 
, which was a marketing disaster. The company was sold right when bass production began. Once the basses did arrive, they were quickly undercut by an imported line without all the cool features. The main thing that led to Parker's demise IMHO was the futuristic concept, not unlike Steinberger, arriving on the market right when the trend for retro instruments was gaining steam.
Steve Swallow was already playing a custom Fly prior to 1993 before moving over to Citrons and some Boston area bassists had chances to fool around with early prototypes.
Ken Parker himself now builds archtop guitars with some really unusual features here in MA. All custom builds. At a guitar show I went to some years ago, the prices were in the low 5 figures. The person at the booth (not Ken) said he builds less than two dozen a year.
, which was a marketing disaster. The company was sold right when bass production began. Once the basses did arrive, they were quickly undercut by an imported line without all the cool features. The main thing that led to Parker's demise IMHO was the futuristic concept, not unlike Steinberger, arriving on the market right when the trend for retro instruments was gaining steam.Steve Swallow was already playing a custom Fly prior to 1993 before moving over to Citrons and some Boston area bassists had chances to fool around with early prototypes.
Ken Parker himself now builds archtop guitars with some really unusual features here in MA. All custom builds. At a guitar show I went to some years ago, the prices were in the low 5 figures. The person at the booth (not Ken) said he builds less than two dozen a year.
i remember seeing one of the early prototypes on the cover of bass player back in the early-mid-90's (badass white one) and it was carved out like the guitars.. they ended up being whatever that weird production model that I wasn't really a fan of...Steve Swallow had a one-off with narrower spacing and the odd lower horn (functioned for seated playing?), and Al Caldwell (Vanessa Williams, Travelin' Black Hillbillies) had a really cool one, but the lower horn broke off of it, and it looked sort of odd..
almost forgot.. there was also a maxx fly bass that had a really cool MM + P configuration, that I believe a half dozen or so were built...looked pretty awesome, a lot closer to what the original prototype was than the flat top production model
boom...Al's broken fly and the maxx fly that i'm not sure got off the ground
As Brianrost has said, Ken Parker now builds archtop guitars. The neck is carbon fiber and to my ears they are one of the finest sounding archtops I have ever played.
I remember having serious GAS for a Fly bass after watching Steve Swallow play them. I will admit I was kind of torn because they sounded great but looked kind of ugly in a new weird futuristic way... and then I realized the price of them and moved on.
I have a Parker P6E acoustic/electric guitar that was made about 20 years ago.
They were only made for one year. Not a big commercial success. But probably the best acoustic/electric that I have owned. (have owned Gibson, Guild, Yamaha, Taylor, Martin).
They were only made for one year. Not a big commercial success. But probably the best acoustic/electric that I have owned. (have owned Gibson, Guild, Yamaha, Taylor, Martin).
I've never played a Parker bass but I did play a Parker Fly guitar. Very light! Neck was very smooth but a little wide for me. Tone was very pretty.
Unfortunately, the early Flys were made with lots of proprietary parts (including ribbon cables to connect the pickups to the tone controls), if something breaks on them then it's going to stay broken unless you're very close with a machinist. That makes them less than ideal for gigging.
The later Flys have more standard parts, but they also lost some of the features that made them special.
Cool video of a guy going over a vintage Fly guitar.
Unfortunately, the early Flys were made with lots of proprietary parts (including ribbon cables to connect the pickups to the tone controls), if something breaks on them then it's going to stay broken unless you're very close with a machinist. That makes them less than ideal for gigging.
The later Flys have more standard parts, but they also lost some of the features that made them special.
Cool video of a guy going over a vintage Fly guitar.
Adrian Belew has been a long-time proponent of the Parker Fly guitar and still plays them live all the time. I assume he has a bunch of them. Never saw a Parker bass.
I never played a Parker bass, But my current guitarist plays the Top of the line Parker now. It is an amazing instrument.
- Jun 6, 2012
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I doubt if there's a human being in this universe that doesn't know this......Either way (google search or talkbass conversation)...the internet is your friend.
The higher end guitars are amazing. Super light and they play effortlessly. A lot of people compare Aristide to them. Kind of the same deal, synthetic materials with some pretty wild designs.
Aristides Instruments | Aristides Instruments
Aristides Instruments | Aristides Instruments
To me it seems like they got out of the game too fast. For all of us aging musicians where instrument weight is now a concern, it seems like they would have a market. In 1993 I could care less about instrument weight, age changes everything.
This is my feeling, too. They were somewhat ahead of their time and aging players really like them. Light weight, climate stable, flexible tones (including piezo), stainless steel frets and came with a nice gig bag. This is all relatively standard stuff now, but in the mid 90s it was somewhat looked at as sorcery and the vigilantes were gathering at the town square, haha. Adrian Belew and Reeves Gabriels made them seem more OK at the time, but they are also technology loving guitarists.
I played a Parker Bass somewhere around 2008 - 2010 at TimeWarp Music in Venice and really liked it. As an aside, my band was playing at a venue called The Good Hurt that was literally two doors down from the music shop.
Anyway, the bass was light, played super well and had a cool sound. However, I couldn't afford it and, after doing some research, heard that they had weak neck joins or bodies prone to cracking or something of that sort. I used that info to quell my GAS (regardless of whether it was accurate - see also "sour grapes").
Anyway, the bass was light, played super well and had a cool sound. However, I couldn't afford it and, after doing some research, heard that they had weak neck joins or bodies prone to cracking or something of that sort. I used that info to quell my GAS (regardless of whether it was accurate - see also "sour grapes").
Cool looking basses, I remember them but never saw one in person.
The history of Parker, Steinberger and Kubicki show that guitarists and bassists are extremely conservative.
Parker were way ahead of their time mainly in that they were just crazy expensive (especially in Canada). Nowadays, people are much more inclined to be shelling out that kinda dough on a really nice instrument, but back then - not so much 
I remember a local music store having one there on consignment back in the early 2000's. Had the J pickups and individual bridge saddles and it was a darker shade of teal. It played and sounded really awesome, but that upper horn bothered the hell outta me lol. Could never get past the looks and price.
