Welcome 2018!

We made it folks! I am planning on getting more Spectres out in the world this year. I couldn't do it without the support of you all. If you know some guitar heads (and who doesn't,) please send them my way to check out the latest and greatest here in JPCG&E land!

Our good friend and Spectre slinger, Dave Rosser lost his battle with cancer last summer, as did my former boss and luthiery giant, Bill Collings. Their influences on me were invaluable and I am one of the multitudes that miss them. Here's to you and yours, wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2018!

Joe

A Couple weekends of shows

Two weekends ago I went to Washington for the Tacoma Guitar Festival held at the Tacoma Dome. I met and and connected with some cool folks like Leon at Pelican Noiseworks, Rick at Matthews Effects, James at Seattle Guitar Store, Jason Lollar of Lollar Pickups, Ken at Roadhouse Pickups, Pat at Vashon Guitars, Wes at Lewallen Guitars and Thomas of TV Jones fame. While there, a cool guy named Roman Shnobel shot a quick video of my guitars and pedals. It was unexpected and I'm glad I didn't have more time to ponder it, I would have only been more nervous. The video is in the sidebar there if you'd like to check it out.

This last weekend I showed at the Oregon Guitar Expo in Portland. There I ran into Mr. Paul Rhoney of Rhoney Guitars. Paul and I have been web acquaintances for a few years so it was super cool to meet in person, randomly to boot! I also chatted with Caleb from Bridge City Sound, who makes killer amps and fuzz pedals, and Jaye of Jayemar Guitars. I had a good time showing my new guitars and recieved a lot of good feedback (pun intended.)

 

-Joe

 

A new look for 2017

If you check out the DELAY and SABRE pedals you will notice they are sporting and update in appearance. I am moving in that direction with all the pedals in my line so if you are partial to the etched look, get 'em while the gettin's good!

New digs and happenings...

Hi there folks, been a while since I've posted and a lot of stuff has happened! First of all my family and I are now living in beautiful Eugene, OR. We sure miss our wonderful friends in Austin and Jacksonville so we'll definitely be making visits. As a result of our move, I have been able to put so much more time into JPCG&E. I am offering a line of effects pedals and slowly expanding it. As of right now we have: GEAR 7 germanium fuzz, BOLO silicon fuzz/overdrive, SABRE fuzz/distortion, TREMOLO amp-like trem, and DELAY with oscillation footswitch. These are all handbuilt, chemically etched, and lacquered for great sound, durability, and killer looks!

I've just completed the DMO 1608. It is the first guitar to be done here in Oregon and I'm so very pleased with how it came out. It plays great and sounds fantastic. I have the next few on deck and will have them available in the coming months. If you would like one, please let me know and we can get one going for you. That's about it for now, stay tuned for more!

Cheers,

Joe

Booshy Box Gear 7 Germanium Fuzz Pedals!

It's a mouthful for sure! These pedals grew out of my love for all things distorted and dirty in electric guitar-ness. I spent months auditioning various fuzz circuits and tweaking things to my liking. The Gear 7 is a germanium/jfet hybrid fuzz that is sweet and gnarly. It is comprised of a twin germanium transistor fuzz circuit followed by a jfet clean boost/preamp. The vintage voiced fuzz provides great, over-the-top mayhem as well as subtler, overdrive tones throughout the range of settings. The controls are Volume, Fuzz and Bias. The first two are fairly self explanatory but the Bias controls the voltage to the second, distorting, transistor. Originally intended to help keep the temperature sensitive germanium transistors in their ideal operating range, the bias control is also a cool tone shaping option to have. Counter clockwise yields a brasher, brighter sound and clockwise shows a more compressed, creamy aspect to the tone. The addition of the clean boost insures there is enough gain to push the front end of an amp or other pedals. The pedal is powered with either a battery or standard boss style 9v dc. It is daisy chain friendly.

For those with the preference, the Gear 7 can also be made using two matched silicon transistors. The silicon have higher gain, more sustain and a more scooped eq. They are also not sensitive to temperature like germanium transistors. One isn't necessarily better than the other but they are different. The standard Gear 7 comes with germanium so if you'd like silicon, please specify when ordering. There is no additional charge.

The enclosures are chemically etched and then lacquered (because everyone knows lacquer sounds better ;^). Then they are sanded and buffed to a high gloss to really bring out the colors. Hand made right here in the USA! Demo video is coming soon.

Rock On,

Joe

 

Summer has arrived...

And so has the DMO! my single cutaway design prototype is finished and is performing admirably. It's named after one of the myriad nicknames Jen and I have for our son Desmond. It narrowly beat out Desmo, Desi, Desmondio, Deserton, Dester and Desi-Roo. It's a different guitar than the Spectre but a good companion. I have some future design ideas that it is leading me toward, such as a single pickup version and a hollowbody.

Spectre #006 is on the road as I type. Dave Rosser of the Afghan Whigs is using it on their current tour. I am pleased as punch that he's rocking it! I hope to get some pics soon. He had some real kind words about on his blog:

Joe Parker is a luthier from Austin, Texas. He builds guitars inspired by 60’s modernist architecture of the Japanese pawnshop prize guitars like the Teisco Del Rey Spectrum (only not shitty and they stay in tune). Different neck profiles & pickup combinations are available. Some models come with Bigsby’s or Jag/Jazzmaster vibratos, others have Tele or Gibson-style fixed bridges. He uses Jason Lollar pickups. I’ll be using a Joe Parker Spectre VI on the European leg of the 2014 Afghan Whigs tour – I acquired it last week and have not been able to put it down since. It’s bizarre – the pickup combination isn’t really found on any production model I’ve ever seen, but seems to be equally great at pure R.O.C.K. as well as twangy stuff. It feels great at any height, has good balance and is super lightweight and sustainy. You should check out his work and get you one, before they become popular & the back-orders stack up. These are pretty goddamn affordable despite being handmade. There is a neck shape & pickup combo for just about any hand or style of music, and the body shape is a show-stopper. I took one to New Orleans’ Frenchmen Street to sit in with friends last weekend and got a dozen comments before I’d played a note.

http://daveaux.com/newblog/

March enters like a lion...

...and couch surfs for the SXSW festival.

We've had some fun visits the last couple weeks. My good friends Gerard Egan and Carolyn Sills came in from Santa Cruz, CA and Gerard was kind enough to take a Spectre for a quick spin around the garage and let me viddy it.

I've been working on a new guitar design lately. It is a single cutaway body that has a certain 'T' style vibe. It's a very light, one piece ash body and a 25" scale maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. I am eager to see and hear how this one turns out. Here a few previews:

newb 1
newb headstock
newb body joint

The Spectre and its origins

The Spectre is patterned from my beloved Spectrum 22. I walked into a pawn shop on Blanding Blvd. in Jacksonville, FL and saw it hanging on the wall. The year was '91 or '92. I inquired how much it was and quickly went to fetch the $95 asking price. It was funky, not incredibly well made but had loads of character and to my eye, a sublime design. It was quickly pressed into duty and served as a number two or three guitar for several years. I always thought I would love to have a nice, quality copy of it made. Nearly twenty years later I found myself in the position of being able to make that version myself.

While not a strict reproduction I tried to preserve the qualities I love. With a few line tweaks here and there, I've tried to adapt that cool, 60's retro, surf-style, import axe into a modern classic. My intention is to make guitars that appeal to a player's aesthetic sense and inspire performances with sound and playability. I hope you like what you see and stay tuned. There's more to come!

 

Joe