Grab a copy of the May 14 issue of The New Yorker for a great article about luthier Ken Parker and his re-invention of the archtop. Parker created The Fly a while back, a light-weight solidbody with a carbon fibre exoskeleton and a dozen or so other improvements on standard electric guitar design. He couldn’t make the business pay (“We were building ten thousand dollar guitars for twenty five hundred,” he says), so he sold it to Washburn. They’re making it work, and he has devoted his attention to archtops for the ensuing years.
The new Parker archtops will go for thirty thousand dollars or so. They're light - 3.5 pounds - and use plenty of carbon fibre along with tonewoods. There's a soundpost holding up the top, rather than the bracing other archtops use. There are pictures and sound files (14 full songs featuring guitarists John Guth, David Acker and John Hart) on his web site. The site is well worth a visit - the instrument is gorgeous, and sounds great. The New Yorker’s site has a summary of the article, with supplemental audio material from the article’s author, Burkhard Bilger.
[TJH]
Do you know how many of these are being made and where someone might go to check out getting one? Thirty Thousand is a lot but I'm sure there will be interest.
Posted by: guitarstruck | January 24, 2008 at 06:39 PM
There's a link right in the story to bring you to his page, contact him directly and go git yerself one!
Yee Haw!
listen to the soundfiles... they sell the guitar.
Posted by: Monk | January 25, 2008 at 02:38 PM