NGD: Parker P36

[8livesleft]

Hey guys,

Just got this P36 which was basically a trade with a taylor 110e acoustic. Parkers are probably as far as it gets from a tele but this truly does remind me of one...

Been curious about Parker guitars for years and years but the original ones that I tried had a weird fret issue and the mahogany version didn't interest me that much.

Fast forward to now and I see this tele-type, right when I'm into my fender phase so the timing was perfect.

Typical tele specs: solid ash body (with what seems like multiple pieces) and a maple neck. It even has that modern tele bridge (by Wilkinson) with Alnico V pickups. 3 way switch.

Sound on electric mode is almost 1:1 with a standard telecaster - to my ears anyway.

The departures are clear tho: signature Parker shape that's contoured, bevelled and thinner up top and gets wider in the bottom. Rounded neck heel. It's kinda heavier than expected. But the contours make it way more comfortable on the body than a tele.

Playability is another area where this departs. Neck is a modern C, bigger frets, with that distinctive minimalist headstock. The neck is more flat, faster and the frets are bigger. It's also satin finished. It's more like an Ibanez or Yamaha vs a fender. I've owned my fair share of Ibanez guitars so this feels really familiar to me.

It has a Fishman piezo with a 3 way switch to go from "acoustic" to electric or blended and it has individual volume knobs and a shared tone. In the back there's a switch to go from mono to stereo - where I can connect to an acoustic amp (or PA) and an electric amp at the same time. The acoustic and blended mode is why I got this guitar. It sounds great! Surprisingly big sounding. And when blended, it's a real trip. It sounds chorused, percussive with the added acoustic sound and it's easy to control with the dual volumes. Add the tone and the sonic capabilities of this guitar are tough to beat. Just so many tone options.

The most divisive detail with Parkers is their shape. Too modern, and to pair it with the 1st production solidbody? No way. Or so they say. Personally, I like it! I think it looks great. They managed to balance the tele and parker designs very well in my opinion.

So, who is this for? Definitely working session or gigging musicians. This can handle any genre they or their audience wants: jazz, blues, country, pop, rock or metal. Actually, the previous owner was in fact a professional musician who has already toured internationally. I'm nowhere near as good as he is, obviously, but I'm exploring the world outside of blues/rock/metal and this gives me all of that and then some.

Cheers!

 

[lupowitz]

Congrats on a rare find!
I toyed the idea of getting one when they were new, tested a few, and while I liked the controversial asthetics, the not chunky enough neck was a dealbreaker for me.
I waited till an original -the model the P36 based on - the Southern Nightfly was offered, and it came as a shock, that it had an even thinner neck than the P-36. I mean, a lot thinner. An Ibanez Wizzard in comparision would feel like a baseball bat thin.
So that was the end of the road for me and Parker Guitars.

 

[JonnyDee]

My first reaction was to look away but then my eyes adjusted, quickly spotted the Tele-ness of the underlying design and it quickly grew on me.

Congrats on doing the deal and hope you enjoy playing it.

 

[Michael Poche]

I’ve never seen that model before; very cool. I own what I believe was their cheapest ever model, the P-10, a.k.a. the Parker Hornet, a Korean-made single-cut two humbucker neck through model, with none of the innovations Parker is most known for. Plays great.

 

[DOC DYA]

Wonderful guitar ! And it's a pity that Parker is no longer active...

 

[El Tele Lobo]

The thinner neck would be a dealbreaker for me too, I'm afraid. I do like the "controversial" aesthetics though and I've gained a whole new respect for Parker in recent years, especially since running across their archtops. Never played one though. If I could afford one, I'm sure I could afford to custom order one with a fat neck...sadly neither condition is true of me...which also eliminates most of the "better" archtops for me. That, combined with the fragility/tempermentality of archtops is why, as a budding jazz player, I'm strictly using partscaster teles. They take a beating, are infinitely moddable and offer a great jazz sound and the option of a fat, comfortable neck in whatever radius/nut width I like.

However, I am toying with the idea of getting an older 72 thinline reissue. The fat neck, chord-friendly radius and pickups offering fat tone without sacrificing clarity are real temptations, even for a guy who has effectively sworn off production F-brand guitars. Anyone else using one of these for jazz?

 

[Lonn]

I had a couple of their P-38 models. I also quite like the Piezo blend option.

 

[Old Plank]

Congrats! I've been browsing for Parkers lately, and didn't even know this model existed, cool!

 

[willietheweirdo]

I recall getting some really wild overdriven sounds with a fishman powerbridge. I can dig it! Love the fingerboard.

 

[trandy9850]

That’s a pretty cool guitar….and I like the acoustic pickup aspect.

 

[fenderchamp]

I always thought those were pretty innovative, and pretty affordable too, I remember them in the stores.

Strandberg makes some tele-esque guitars as well, I'm assuming they were inspired by the Parkers. One is an ash butterscotch (i think solid body) and the other, more expensive model, is an alder thinline with a f-hole like thing too. As I recall they both have suhr tele pickups, they don't have the piezo bridge like the parker. or a tele bridge at all for that matter. It seems like the Piezo was one of the defining features of Parker guitars.

I recall that bout the same time the Parker teles came out Fender was selling a Nashville model with a piezo too.

 

[Dostradamas]

Never saw the wood ones.....

Schwing! Great guitar!

 

[8livesleft]

Congrats on a rare find!
I toyed the idea of getting one when they were new, tested a few, and while I liked the controversial asthetics, the not chunky enough neck was a dealbreaker for me.
I waited till an original -the model the P36 based on - the Southern Nightfly was offered, and it came as a shock, that it had an even thinner neck than the P-36. I mean, a lot thinner. An Ibanez Wizzard in comparision would feel like a baseball bat thin.
So that was the end of the road for me and Parker Guitars.

Yeah that's what I remember with the first Fly models super thin. This isn't quite as thin, fortunately.

But still, it is not like fender modern C, which to many purists is already too thin.

Again, I don't mind it. I actually prefer it to some fender necks I've tried which were VERY thick and had the tiniest frets and were really radiused lower than 9 probably. Just really NOT good.

Pure and traditional are nice but that's just ridiculous.

 

[Peegoo]

NICE guitar!

Some of the Parker imports like yours had a weird neck attachment scheme; the curved profile on the back of the neck didn't transition to a flat heel.

Instead, the rounded profile continued into a matching curved neck pocket, and some of these were extremely problematic because they were difficult to cinch down securely with the four neck screws. The necks sometimes slipped around *just a teensy bit* and this created all kinds of tuning stability issues.

Luckily it didn't last long, and they turned out a bunch with flat neck pockets which were far better.

 

[8livesleft]

My first reaction was to look away but then my eyes adjusted, quickly spotted the Tele-ness of the underlying design and it quickly grew on me.

Congrats on doing the deal and hope you enjoy playing it.

Yeah I totally get you.

The trouble is in thinking about the connection to the venerable tele and then seeing the shape.

But ignore the "influence" and the design would start to make sense.

Same thing with the Gibson SG. On it's own, it's great. A really cool looking rock/metal machine. I had one before I knew anything about les pauls.

But once you know what it's supposed to be based on, the Les Paul, you're thinking WTF?? The sacrilege! They absolutely ruined a perfectly good icon!

Then they release the nighthawk, which in dual humbucker form, was kind of what the SG was supposed to be design-wise - in my opinion. I had a nighthawk special and now have an epiphone custom. Great guitar. Very light, very versatile but again, the sacrilege!

Sometimes you just can't do anything right. Hehe

 

[8livesleft]

I’ve never seen that model before; very cool. I own what I believe was their cheapest ever model, the P-10, a.k.a. the Parker Hornet, a Korean-made single-cut two humbucker neck through model, with none of the innovations Parker is most known for. Plays great.

Their neck-thru is their cheapest? Wow!

 

[8livesleft]

The thinner neck would be a dealbreaker for me too, I'm afraid. I do like the "controversial" aesthetics though and I've gained a whole new respect for Parker in recent years, especially since running across their archtops. Never played one though. If I could afford one, I'm sure I could afford to custom order one with a fat neck...sadly neither condition is true of me...which also eliminates most of the "better" archtops for me. That, combined with the fragility/tempermentality of archtops is why, as a budding jazz player, I'm strictly using partscaster teles. They take a beating, are infinitely moddable and offer a great jazz sound and the option of a fat, comfortable neck in whatever radius/nut width I like.

However, I am toying with the idea of getting an older 72 thinline reissue. The fat neck, chord-friendly radius and pickups offering fat tone without sacrificing clarity are real temptations, even for a guy who has effectively sworn off production F-brand guitars. Anyone else using one of these for jazz?

Yeah I've seen videos of parker making this seriously cool looking archtop. Just beautiful and original.

The guy is just a pure innovator.

But yeah, he knows what he wants and I'm not sure how far he'll go to change things.

 

[8livesleft]

I had a couple of their P-38 models. I also quite like the Piezo blend option.

It's my first time to hear it. It sounds amazing!

Typically, you hear or play a guitar - usually based on the icons: tele, strat, les paul and immediately start playing and sounding like how you play on those and it's all familiar or the same.

On this, it's the same on electric mode but right when you put it on acoustic or blended, wow, it's so different. The percussiveness makes you try other things and play in new ways.

The "bass" slap pop thing is so much easier to achieve on acoustic or blended mode without fiddling too much with amp settings.

 

[8livesleft]

I recall getting some really wild overdriven sounds with a fishman powerbridge. I can dig it! Love the fingerboard.

Yes! It sounds thicker, yet brighter and more lush at the same time. Way more dynamic tone.

 

[8livesleft]

That’s a pretty cool guitar….and I like the acoustic pickup aspect.

This is the main reason I went for the trade. I wanted the acoustic sound or near it while feeling and playing like an electric.

I got all that but wow, it's a massive undersell to what this guitar can do.

The blending is next level and I haven't even tried stereo on 2 amps - which I hear is killer.