Jump to content

An entire year without GAS - I think I found my ultimate guitar


Notes_Norton

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Today my Parker DF524 (DragonFly now MaxxFly) is exactly one year old. In this year, I may have picked up my other three guitars (Gibson, Epiphone, LTD) less than a total of one hour for all three combined. I look at gear mags and see some beautiful guitars, and think they look nice, but have no impulse to buy them.

 

What is so great about the DF?

 

 

Sound - 2 Duncan SC pickups, one Duncan SC/Humbucker, and a Fishman under the bridge. The Fishman can be played alone or blended with the mag pups. The variety of sounds that come out of this axe is amazing

 

25.5" scale - especially when playing the higher frets, it's much easier than on the Gibson scale guitars

 

14" Neck radius - this is the main reason why I have never owned a Fender, I don't like short radius guitars, they add problems with note bending, and the curve at the picking hand slows me down (and I'm not super fast to begin with).

 

Light weight - 5 pounds - but sustains as well as my much heavier LP clone

 

Well balanced - take my hands of and there is no neck dive

 

Comfortable - it seems like I'm wearing the guitar instead of holding it

 

Stainless Steel Frets and Ebony Fingerboard make string bending easy as putting a hot knife through butter

 

Fast neck - even faster than my ESP/LTD

 

Tapered master volume right near my picking hand - I don't know how I ever got along without this feature.

 

Straight string path and Sperzel locking tuners - even when wiggling the whammy, this guitar stays in tune better than my guitars without a whammy

 

 

Is it perfect? Almost, but to be honest there are a couple of minor things that could be improved.

 

 

The mag/piezo switch is in an inconvenient position as I can't see it's state without bending over, it's also a cheap switch and I feel I'll have to replace the switch eventually

 

Fret marker dots were too small for a dimly lit stage so I enlarged them with automobile reflector tape

 

whammy arm was too far away from the strings so I had a new one made

 

battery cables need a quick connect/disconnect plug

 

Easy stuff to take care of.

 

So the best thing is that I just love to pick up and play this guitar. The sad thing is I really used enjoy having GAS and I no longer have it. The good thing is that I'm so happy with the guitar that I no longer have GAS. (Catch 22 isn't it?)

 

Bonus: it was made in the USA

 

Notes ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
A picture is worth a thousand words they say.:poke:


<...>



So let's go for a few thousand ;)

In the case:
df2_in_case.jpg

close up of body and pups BTW I put the reflector tape on the knobs too:
df3_body.jpg

top with enlarged fret markers:
df7_top.jpg

and the headstock:
df6_headstock.jpg

and the knobs/switches
knobs L-R Piezo Vol - Magnetic Tone - Mag master volume
Switches L-R Piezo/mix/mag - normal 5 way pup switch.
df5_knobs.jpg

Ain't she pretty!

But I'd love to play her even if she was ugly.

Notes ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I've got a P-38 too, a like it alot. Hybrid guitars like these are great.

I thought I got the ultimate in my Ovation VXT. Almost all of your comments about the cool stuff could apply to that too. It's SD 59s in it and is similar to a chambered Les Paul, besides the Fishman.

I wish they had some tone control for the Fishman. That is only wish I have regarding those hybrids.

You could try a Reverend. Not hybrid. Just several cuts above the pack, imho.

Don't worry too much, your gas will come back! Maybe some take on a hollow body?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I'm in kind of the same boat. No real gas for any guitars for a while now since I bought my LP 50s tribute goldtop. Once I added that to the rest of my small collection, I really haven't been able to think of anything else I need or want. That doesn't mean that if something amazing came along I wouldn't want it but for the time being, my collection is complete.

 

Same with amps. I'd still love to get a small tube amp like a bugera V5 but I just haven't had any serious gas for any amps either. My current amp collection covers pretty much every need I have. Only thing I've been keeping an eye out for is some kind of discount on one of those EHX pocket amps like the 22 caliber or 44 magnum. I want to get one of those as a backup amp.

 

I guess not having gas is kind of boring but it has also allowed me to upgrade my car stereo which was in dire need.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I too like the looks of this better than the original Parkers. The upper "arthritic thumb" horn of the original Parker just turns me off.

I also like the new headstock. It keeps the looks of the old one (which I like) but adds the ability to use a hanging stand. I play sax, flute, guitar, percussion controller, vocals and sometimes keyboards on stage, so I feel the hanging stand is safer and more secure than the 'old fashioned' guitar stand.

I like the fact that I can change pickups on this model, where the original Parkers with the cabon coating needed to go back to the factory for a pickup swap. But then, I like the sounds this one makes so I see no reason to swap pickups. The SCs have the bite of a Strat and the SC/HB in the bridge pickup sounds like a PAF. Add a little piezo to the mid SC and there is a tele-ish twang. Plus there are a few varieties of tones I can't describe.

The only thing it doesn't have is a P90 sound.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...