Parker Pickup Modification
"Great News for Parker Owners"
The biggest problem with the Parker guitars has always been the sound of the magnetic pickups. Many people buy a Parker for it's rich deep piezo electric acoustic sound, and easy playability. However, they usually become disenchanted with the DiMarzio magnetic pickup system that comes with all Parkers. The Fishman acoustic system is not my favorite Piezo Acoustic System but it does sound great on the solid body Parkers.
The Parker guitar was probably the first guitar to be produced that successfully combined electric & acoustic sounds. Because the Parker Guitar is so extremely thin, Ken Parker had to design a special proprietary pickup that would actually fit the guitar. I believe Ken should have gone to Seymour Duncan, but instead he selected DiMarzio to build his pickups (I believe that was a mistake). I would speculate that this mistake was probably made due to simple geographic location. When Ken was in the original design stages for the guitar, he was located in New York, and so is DiMarzio. I would also speculate that the people at DiMarzio made it easy for Ken to simply just pop in again and again until the pickup was to his liking.
I had one of the first year original hardtail Parker guitars. It is one of the first ones made and it only took me about three months to come to the conclusion that the pickups simply did not have the bottom end or the balls that I was looking for. The newer ones I like even less. So maybe there was some cost cutting done or perhaps the magnets are less powerful. I simply don't know, I'm just guessing.
In any case I never bothered to do much about it because I knew that the pickups were a special reduced size and they were simply the only ones that would physically fit the Parker guitars.
In June of 2001 one of my customers traded a Parker in because he thought it ''sounded Rizzy,' To quote him exactly. "...like a fly buzzing around my head." After he left, we were all sitting around having lunch and talking about (what else) guitars. The subject of the Parker pickups came up and we all concluded that the pickups just weren't making the grade.
Several days later, Jim Van Campen, one of my staff technicians brought in the traded in Parker to me and asked me to check it out. I plugged it in and was pleasantly surprised to hear a creamy fat bottom end, the deep brown sound that I could normally not get with a Parker. I asked him what he had modified? He explained that he had adapted a pair of Seymour Duncan Black/Back TM pickups to fit in the Parker.
The amount of work to make each and every modification by hand was simply not economical so I contacted the folks at Seymour Duncan and explained what I would need. As usual, Seymour's staff was extremely helpful, even though I was only starting out with 10 pickups.
So here's the bottom line...$279.00
My shop can now replace those Rizzy sounding DiMarzio pickups with genuine Seymour Duncans, and the price is affordable. The total cost is only $279.00. That includes 2 Seymour Duncan Black/Back TM Pickups, with complete professional installation. When the Job is done there is no way that you can see any trace of the modification.
You also get a choice of 3 different color combinations for no extra charge. Before you run to the phone, please read below.
Now Here's the Fine Print...
The system has to be installed by a qualified professional. That's us. No exceptions! Parker guitars are like no other guitar, everything is different including the pickup mounting process. We screwed up several of the first installations that we did and we are supposed to know what we are doing.
All e-mail concerning this subject will be ignored. I simply do not have the time to answer questions and I wish to remain tight lipped about this process.
Simply pack up your guitar and include a LEGIBLE note with the information below.
Magnetic Pickup recommendations for your Parker Fly.
Pickups installed in a Parker Fly will sound different than the same pickups installed in a conventional guitar, because the Fly is built differently. This is true whether your pickups are DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, EMG, or custom hand-wounds. Pickups only copy the acoustic properties of the guitar. They can shape tone but they don't create tone. It all starts with the guitar. Before choosing pickups, consider the tonal character of your guitar and the ease of pickup installation.
Nothing sounds like a Parker Fly. They vibrate so much; you can actually feel it as you play.
All guitars soak up some of the "sound energy" of a vibrating string. Parkers soak up less "sound energy" so the pickups "hear" more overtone harmonics, which produces uncommon richness of tone. The frequency response extends much higher than other guitars due to the unique materials used in its construction (for example: lightweight tone woods, composite skin and stainless steel frets). Therefore a pickup, which sounds dark or muddy on another guitar, may sound more clear and bright in the Parker Fly.
Sound choices:
Building fine pickups is a real art, but it doesn’t have to be mysterious. Basically, the guitar pickup is a coil of insulated wire wrapped around a magnetic core. It is positioned so the strings are within its magnetic field. These things can be altered to shape the tonal characteristics of a pickup. The main design factors for magnetic pickups are:
· Coil configuration and locations (for ex. a pair of Humbuckers, or three Single-coils, or two Single-coils plus a Humbucker)
· Wiring of the coils in relation to one another (for ex. series vs. parallel, in-phase vs. out-of-phase, hum-canceling vs. noisy)
· Magnetic field (several materials are available including Alnico ll, Alnico lll, Alnico V. Ceramic and Neodymium)
· Coil wire; diameter, length, number of wraps, and overall coil shape.
· Other things which have an effect on tone are: coil wire insulation type, potting, pickup covers, mounting plates, pole pieces, distance from string to pickup, pot values, etc.
The key point is, you can modify any number of these factors to impact your overall sound.
The Parker Fly is factory equipped with DiMarzio pickups. Ed Roman firmly believes that Seymour Duncan Pickups are sonically superior, shape the sound more consistently and are built using better quality components. Plus the people at Seymour Duncan are very easy to work with, I have had numerous horrible attitude experiences with several people from DiMarzio.
Other than DiMarzio:
There are three things to consider when retrofitting non-DiMarzio pickups onto a Fly.
· The Parker guitar body is so thin (just over ½” at the neck PU) that special pickup mounting is required. Fly Humbuckers are anchored with two pole piece screws going into threaded brass inserts in the guitar. If a pickup doesn't have pole piece spacing identical to the Fly, modifications will be required. (The screws are 1.400" on center, on the diagonal of a 0.720" X 1.200" grid.) A direct coupled or solid mounted pickup is imperative for top performance when playing loud.
· Parker base-plate corners have a 3/8" radius. Most other pickups have a smaller radius and won’t fit into the pickup hole without modification.
· String spacing at the Parker Bridge is about 2.150". The pole pieces of the DiMarzio pickups are 2" apart ( 0.400" o.c.)***. Narrower spacing may diminish the sound of the E strings. So be careful if you attempt to do the modifications yourself.
Tech Notes:
Flys built since April of 1999 are equipped with DiMarzio newer Parker Fly Custom Neck #PHWP1, and Parker Fly Custom Bridge #PHWP2. These are identified by a DiMarzio logo, which is 5/8" long.
From 1993 through March of 1999 Flys had the original DiMarzio pickups, which were based on the Air Norton for the neck position and the Tone Zone for the bridge position. These are identified by a DiMarzio logo, which is 3/8" long. These were the same pickups that Music Man was using in their Axis type model or earlier EVH but they sound worthless and weak in the Fly
Ed Roman
Frequently Asked Question on the "Parker Pickup Mod"
Q. How long will it take to do the Job?
A. Usually about 3 to 7 days.
Q. How long does it take to ship a guitar?
A. About 1 week if we are at the
opposite end of the USA.
Q. Where do I ship it to?
A. Ship it to my Las Vegas store or the
Connecticut location.
Q. Where can I get a shipping box?
A. Almost any music store will have a box that they will probably glad to
give you free of charge.
Q. Will this modification hurt the resale value of my guitar?
A. I should think not. Besides, you won't want to sell it anymore after you
make the guitar sound good. I never believe that an improvement to any guitar
can be a detriment to the price. Especially when the mod is completely invisible
excepting for the pickup brand name.
Q. Can I or anybody else tell that this mod is done by looking at it.
A. I doubt it! Especially because I couldn't when Jim first showed it to me.
It never occurred to me to look at the actual pickup.
Q. Will this void my warranty with Parker?
A. The official answer here is yes. However, I should think not. It may not
cover the new pickups, but I am relatively sure that any other unrelated
problems would be covered. Besides I have been carrying Parkers for about
10
years and I cannot remember a single warranty situation. No one ever sends their
guitar to Parker for warranty anyway, unless it's a finish or paint issue.
Q. I live very close to your shop. Can I
come in and drop it off?
A. Yes, no problem. Just call and make an appointment.
Q. Can I wait for it to be done?
A. No. Unless you live outside the continental
USA and you are visiting for one day. Even then, we can't guarantee
a same day modification.
Q. Where can I try one of these out?
A. Nowhere else but at Ed Roman Guitars.
Trust me, you will love the modification.
Q. If I think of a relevant, intelligent question regarding this mod can I
call you and pose it to you?
A. Yes you may. Just please don't call unless
you are serious about actually getting it done.
Q. Can I pay by credit card?
A. Yes. But only if you live in the USA. You will
also lose your cash discount
and the price will be $264.00 complete.
Q. What do I do if I hate it?
A. Just send it back within 15 days time and we will put it back to 100%
stock. You will only be charged $50.00 which will cover our labor costs.
You will receive a refund check for the difference with your guitar. To date,
everyone who has done this modification has been immensely pleased.
Ed Roman
Oct 23 2002
Parker Pickup Conversion Price Increase
Sorry but I had to increase the prices on the pickup conversion. Old Price $250.00 New Price $279.00
Here's Why...
The original pricing concept was predicated on the fact that I would keep the old Dimarzio Pickups. In this way I could sell the used pickups or install them in cheaper guitars and sell those guitars for a little more because of the Dimarzios. That did not work. Currently I have over 200 sets of stock Dimarzio Parker pickups in stock and they sound so incredibly bad. I just can't bring myself to sell them. My staff all hate them as much or even more than me. Therefore I deem them un saleable. No one here wants to sell them. I could probably sell them on eBay for 30 bucks apiece but I think I'll take the high road and not do that. I never used to feel sorry for eBay buyers but lately I have been getting so many letters from eBay people that I am actually starting to feel some of their pain.
If anyone out there wants some original Parker Dimarzios I am selling them for 35 dollars a set. Most of them are brand new perfect condition. I hate them and I think they sound like crap but if you are an ebay dealer you can probably make money. I will sell them 20 at a time for 15 dollars each.
Please Call (702) 798-4995 Las Vegas
And Now for Something Completely Different
October 23
On this day in 1983, as a direct result of President
Ronald Reagan's purely political decision to maintain a barely
protected land-based presence in war-torn Beirut - a decision
which flew in the face of all his military advisors - 241 Marines
are slaughtered when a smiling terrorist
drives a truck loaded with 2000 lbs of TNT and compressed gas
right into the barracks lobby.
Two days later,
in a blatant attempt to divert the public's attention from his
disastrous foreign policy f#%k-up, Reagan orders the
Marines to invade Grenada, a tiny spice-producing
country with 125,000 citizens. This is the real-life event that
inspired the film Wag the Dog.
If You haven't seen The Movie "Wag The Dog," Check it Out
Ed Roman
Stanley Motss: Dustin Hoffman
Conrad Brean: Robert De Niro
Winifred Ames: Anne Heche
Sgt. William Schumann: Woody Harrelson
Fad King: Denis Leary
Johnny Green: Willie Nelson
Liz Butsky: Andrea Martin
Directed by Barry Levinson. Written by David Mamet and Hilary Henkin. Based on the book ``American Hero'' by Larry Beinhart. Running time: 97 minutes. Rated R (for language).
BY ROGER EBERT
So, why did we invade Grenada? A terrorist bomb killed all those Marines in Beirut, the White House was taking flak, and suddenly our Marines were landing on a Caribbean island few people had heard of, everybody was tying yellow ribbons 'round old oak trees, and Clint Eastwood was making the movie. The Grenada invasion, I have read, produced more decorations than combatants. By the time it was over, Ronald Reagan's presidency had proven the republic could still flex its muscle--we could take out a Caribbean Marxist regime at will, Cuba notwithstanding.
Barry Levinson's ``Wag the Dog'' cites Grenada as an example of how easy it is to whip up patriotic frenzy, and how dubious the motives sometimes are. The movie is a satire that contains just enough realistic ballast to be teasingly plausible; like ``Dr. Strangelove,'' it makes you laugh, and then it makes you wonder. Just today, I read a Strangelovian article revealing that some of Russian's nuclear missiles, still aimed at the United States, have gone unattended because their guards were denied bonus rations of 4 pounds of sausage a month. It is getting harder and harder for satire to stay ahead of reality.
In the movie, a U.S. president is accused of luring an underage ``Firefly Girl'' into an anteroom of the Oval Office, and there presenting her with opportunities no Firefly Girl should anticipate from her commander in chief. A presidential election is weeks away, the opposition candidate starts using ``Thank Heaven for Little Girls'' in his TV ads, and White House aide Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) leads a spin doctor named Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro) into bunkers far beneath the White House for an emergency session.
Brean, a Mr. Fixit who has masterminded a lot of shady scenarios, has a motto: ``To change the story, change the lead.'' To distract the press from the Firefly Girl scandal, he advises extending a presidential trip to Asia, while issuing official denials that the new B-3 bomber is being activated ahead of schedule. ``But there is no B-3 bomber,'' he's told. ``Perfect! Deny it even exists!''
Meanwhile, he cooks up a phony international crisis with Albania. Why Albania? Nobody is sure where it is, nobody cares, and you can't get any news out of it. Nobody can even think of any Albanians except--maybe the Belushi brothers? To produce the graphic look and feel of the war, Brean flies to Hollywood and enlists the services of a producer named Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman), who is hard to convince. He wants proof that Brean has a direct line to the White House. He gets it. As they watch a live briefing by a presidential spokesman, Brean dictates into a cell phone and the spokesman repeats, word for word, what he hears on his earpiece. (I was reminded of the line in ``Broadcast News'': ``Goes in here, comes out there.'')
Motss assembles the pieces for a media blitz. As spokesmen warn of Albanian terrorists skulking south from Canada with ``suitcase bombs,'' Motss supervises the design of a logo for use on the news channels, hires Willie Nelson to write the song that will become the conflict's ``spontaneous'' anthem, and fakes news footage of a hapless Albanian girl (Kirsten Dunst) fleeing from rapists with her kitten. (Dunst is an American actress, and the kitten, before it is created with special effects, is a bag of Tostados.)
But what about a martyr? Motss cooks up ``good old Shoe,'' Sgt. William Schumann (Woody Harrelson), who is allegedly rescued from the hands of the Albanians to be flown back for a hero's welcome. Shoe inspires a shtick, too: Kids start lobbing their old gym shoes over power lines, and throwing them onto the court during basketball games, as a spontaneous display of patriotism.
It's creepy how this material is absurd and convincing at the same time. Levinson, working from a smart, talky script by David Mamet and Hilary Henkin, based on the book ``American Hero'' by Larry Beinhart, deconstructs the media blitz that accompanies any modern international crisis. Even when a conflict is real and necessary (the Gulf War, for example), the packaging of them is invariably shallow and unquestioning; like sportswriters, war correspondents abandon any pretense of objectivity and detachment, and cheerfully root for our side.
For Hoffman, this is the best performance in some time, inspired, it is said, by producer Robert Evans. (In power and influence, however, Motss seems more like Ray Stark.) Like a lot of Hollywood power brokers, Hoffman's Motss combines intelligence with insecurity and insincerity, and frets because he won't get ``credit'' for his secret manipulations. De Niro's Brean, on the other hand, is a creature born to live in shadow, and De Niro plays him with the poker-faced plausibility of real spin doctors, who tell lies as a professional specialty. Their conversations are crafted by Mamet as a verbal ballet between two men who love the jargon of their crafts.
``Why does a dog wag its tail?'' Brean asks at one point. ``Because the dog is smarter than the tail. If the tail was smarter, it would wag the dog.'' In the Breanian universe, the tail is smarter, and we, dear readers, are invited to be the dogs.
If you haven't seen this Movie it's on my "A" list, watch it several times, you will be surprised how much you missed the first couple of times.
Ed Roman
Other Great Obscure B Movies recommended by Ed Roman
Hey, This is my soapbox, and I can say what I like..... You don't have to like it.. You just have to buy a guitar !!!!
The Betsy, (Tommy Lee Jones, Sir Laurence Olivier) Spans 3 generations loosely based on some famous Automotive Mogul, Tommy Lee Jones' first break, movie has a surprise ending that really makes you think.
Freejack, (Mick Jagger, Emilio Estevez, Rene Russo Buster Poindexter ) Music by the Scorpions Great Action Movie a little campy definitely B movie... but I thoroughly enjoy it every time I watch it. Mick Jagger is excellent and the futuristic time travel thing is in full throttle on this one.
The Long Kiss Goodnight, (Samuel Jackson, Geena Davis) (Great Action Movie) Amazing movie, with a subplot that smacks of the World Trade Center 9/11. The villain in this movie gets rated as high up as Bullseye in "Daredevil"
Super Fly, "Ron Oneill" When I saw this movie in the theatre in the 70's Joanne & myself were the only white people in the theatre. The movie was good but the audience was incredible, see the movie dig Curtis Mayfield's excellent music be a Black 70's Pimp in your next lifetime.
Dr Strangelove, Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers Slim Pickens. Slow moving but very fucking deep !!!!!
Delirious, Eddie Murphy, that's a real favorite around the Roman household. Every time I put it on (Quite often) Joanne goes Ballistic and flips out on me. Whooo Hoooooh what fun!!!! Doh !!!!!!!!! You can no longer buy Delirious, Eddie Walt Disney Murphy has sold out totally just like PRS & Gibson and has had the movie removed from distribution. If you don't have a copy o "Delirious" or his second movie "Raw" I suggest you immediately run, don't walk, right down to your local video store and try to procure a copy. If you can't get one steal it someplace anyplace as long as it's not from me. Even though he is now Dr Doolitle and The Nutty Proffessor, I still love Eddie Murphy !!!!!!
These Movies are up there with The Terminator, Total Recall and Reefer Madness ha ha
If you liked the Titanic (Hated it) you won't like these movies!!
If you liked Steel Magnolias (Hated it) you will not like these movies !!