PARKER P8 Mint Acoustic-Electric Guitar and Org Hardshell Case
Excellent to Mint, set up by Pro-Tech, 2 months ago, this guitar has maybe 3, 4 hours of studio time tops, loved, well cared for. Neck optimized, frets dress slightly came pretty good, new D'Addario's Strings, . 46 a Franklin 75.00 Strap, Snark Tuner, Parker acoustic? Yes, folks, it's the 21st century, and the Parker guitar company is responding with new designs for a new era. The P8E steel-string acoustic will elicit the most "whoa" from the guitar public. Its shape is daring and distinctive - long a Parker hallmark.
More than that, this acoustic has a simply stunning design - modern, yet balanced. This is definitely the kind of guitar Picasso would have grooved on.
The P8E has a solid Canadian cedar top with rosewood binding, and a solid flame-maple back and sides, again with rosewood binding. The P8E's neck is mahogany (251/2? Scale) with a micro-dot inlaid, 19-fret ebony fingerboard and rosewood-capped headstock (the machine heads are Grover Sta-Tite 97 Series). Its neck is fast, and the generous cutaway allows for excellent access to the upper frets.
The bridge is Parker's "bass balanced" ebony with a bone saddle and, overall, the guitar weighs 4.5 pounds. You'll also notice a zero fret, which Parker feels improves intonation and creates a more uniform tone between open and fretted notes.Other controls include active bass and treble boost/cut and a master volume on the face of the guitar. The small, grooved plastic knobs are easy to grab and adjust. Interestingly, you can run these outputs simultaneously to send your guitar signal to two different destinations, such as a P.
Performance-wise, the P8E's destiny is primarily as a live guitar, since its killer looks and electronic pickups seem geared for the stage. The unamplified output of the guitar isn't incredibly loud, again reinforcing the notion that this acoustic is meant to be plugged in and used onstage. Still, the sound is very good for a "plug-in" acoustic (though for studio work, nothing still beats a mic'ed acoustic). If I could suggest any electronics to add on a future model, it'd be a mini-condenser mic mounted on the interior, which you could blend with the other pickups, which could add a more natural sound to the amplified signal.
While the P8E's price is higher than what most of us expect from a Chinese-assembled guitar, it's made at a factory known for turning out high-end acoustics and, indeed, the workmanship is stellar. The corners are clean, the abalone is exquisite, and the fingerboard and frets are nicely dressed.Twenty-five years ago, a similar revelation transpired when guitarists realized that many axes from Japan (such as late-'70s Ibanez and early-'80s Tokai) were better than many U. Made guitars of the same era. Now China is stepping up to the plate, and you can see that quality in this Parker axe. Now go check a P8E out for yourself.