Parker Guitars P8E Acoustic Event Series

The maple back and sides of the Parker PA8 make the guitar bright and loud cutting right through the mix in a band or recording situation. But as with most maple guitars the sound can be tiny and harsh at times. The Solid Cedar top and Bass balanced Ebony Bridge is an interesting concept to curve the brighter side by bringing out more of the bottom end. I admit it does have a positive effect, but again this is a maple guitar yielding a loud and bright tone. Unplugged, the sound is loud with that typical maple bright sound that can sometimes be too harsh, but plugged into an amp/PA the sound comes alive with astonishing flexibility.

The longevity of the Parker acoustic line remains to be seen. However, what attracted me to the Parker P8E is the type of woods and materials used in the construction of the instrument. Martin, Taylor and Gibson can be found using lesser materials in their lower end lines, but Parker uses materials that command a quality product with the ability to last rigorous road wear. Neck Wood: 5 Piece Indonesian Mahogany Top Wood: Solid Canadian Cedar Back Wood: Solid American Flame Maple Side Wood: Laminated American Flame Maple Machine Heads: Taiwan Gold Grover ¿¿¿Butterbean¿¿¿ Sta-tite 14:1 Electronics: US Made Duel-Source Hum canceling neck pickup with Fishman Active Matrix System Nut Width: 1.69" Scale Length: 25" Fingerboard: African ebony Bridge: Bass balanced African Ebony Bridge with compensated Bone saddle No. of Frets: 19 Position Markers: Microdot Controls: Master volume, Magnetic /Piezo Blend, Active bass and treble controls Pickup Switching: Blend control

As a player of nearly 30 years who regularly gigs and owns several high end guitars both acoustic and electric I have learned to judge guitars by their construction, playability and sound. A Taylor 714CE with Fishman Prefix Blender and a Taylor 810 Custom are my primary gig axes. I would not place the Parker P8E in the same league as Taylor, but it is a wonderful compromise to taking a $4-$5-k guitar on a gig.

 

That being said, the Parker P8E is designed with the live professional musician in mind. Parker and Larry Fishman teamed up to create an amazing Duel-Source Pickup System that will blow you away. Access controls are at your fingertips for easy use during a live performance. The Magnetic Hum canceling neck pickup and Fishman Active Matrix Undersaddle are incredibly quite and responsive. You can easily blend between the warm Magnetic neck pickup and the brighter Active Matrix Undersaddle piezo to easily cut out harsh highs and bring out a mellow bottom without the boom. The XLR D.I. allows you to connect simultaneously to an amp and a PA. The result is an interesting full sound when using an effect such as a Chorus through the amp the XLR dedicated D.I. out to the PA.