Ken Parker Archtops Resources
Ken on the Harvard Guitar Design Zoom Conference
On December 4th, Ken took part in a Harvard Graduate School of Design conference about guitar design. He joined Ulrich Teuffel, Michihiro Matsuda, Rachel Rosenkrantz, and Jamie Gale for a fascinating discussion. Here’s a video of that conference.
Bruce Forman on Lucky
We received this video from the great Bruce Forman. Here, he’s been playing Lucky for a bit and felt compelled to let the world know how he feels about it. With his permission, we share his kind words and phenomenal playing.
Ken on the Luthier on Luthier
Michael Bashkin interviews Ken on his Luthier on Luthier podcast…
“Legendary guitar maker Ken Parker is known worldwide for his innovative archtop guitars. For Episode 35 of the podcast, I caught up with Ken after the first-ever Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival. Ken shares how he blends his deep understanding of classical methods with modern techniques and materials to achieve his goal of making the ultimate acoustic instrument. “
Click the photo at right to listen.
Ken at the Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival
On September 21st, Ken gave the opening talk at the Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival in Arvada, CO. He covered the history and evolution of the archtop guitar. It’s a fascinating insight into what’s driving the development of the acoustic archtop guitar today past that point where adding the pickup essentially stopped development more than 50 years ago.
Ken at the Electric Guitar Innovation Lab
Master luthier Ken Parker (Ken Parker Archtops, formerly Parker Guitars) gave a lecture and demonstration at WPI on November 27th, 2018 at 6pm in the Higgins House Great Hall. This event was organized by V.J. Manzo, Director and PI of the Electric Guitar Innovation Lab (EGIL) and was sponsored in part by Frank Hoy (WPI, Business School, Coleman Foundation) and the Music Division of WPI, and the WPI Media Arts Group Innovation Center (MAGIC).
Adam Miller in Fretboard Journal
March 2019 Fretboard Journal features an interview with and performance by guitarist extraordinaire Adam Miller. There’s a great video of him playing his composition “Habit” of Ken’s Lucky. There’s also a Fretboard Journal Podcast where Adam talks about Lucky as well as all things guitar. Just a wonderful performance!
Fretboard Journal
Fretboard Journal # 38, with Leo Kottke on the cover, features the first of a two-part article about Ken.
Be sure to pick it up at your local guitar store, book store, or what the heck, they've got great deals on subscriptions, so you don't even need to leave your house!
While you'll have to buy the magazine to read the articles, you CAN listen to a podcast Fretboard Journal has featuring an interview with Ken. The audio is a little rough, but the content makes it worth the effort. Just click on the image above.
Premier Guitars' Feature On Ken
Check out the August 2011 for a GREAT arcticle on Ken, his history, his guitars and his vision.
Just click on the preview to read.
The New Yorker
The New Yorker magazine featured an extensive review of Ken's career as well as a most interesting overview of his current work and philosophy in its May 14th issue. It's a fascinating read and is sure to surprise even the most ardent Kenophiles.
Click the illustrated image to download the article.
The Dutch Luthier Blog
On the heels of Ken's visits to Europe this year (2016), comes this wonderful story of the a meeting at one of the events and its meaning to the author of this article.
It's a GREAT read (click the image to read)
ToneQuest Report
The December 2009 ToneQuest Report has a GREAT article on Ken. They've graciously allowed us to share it with you. If you are seriously into your guitar and its tone, we strongly encourage you to subscribe to the ToneQuest Report. Click here to subscribe.
Acoustic Guitar Magazine
Ken's article/interview is available in the January 2009 issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Read the article here.
Just Jazz Guitar Magazine
Dave Stephens visited Ken last year and published a great article in Just Jazz Guitar magazine. It was in the November 2007 issue and can be downloaded here.
Adam Miller on Lucky for Peghead Nation
From Peghead Nation:
”It’s hardly a stretch to call Ken Parker one of the most innovative luthiers of our time. Ken built his first archtop in 1976, and by the time he co-founded Parker Guitars in 1991, he’d established himself as one of the premier makers on the East Coast, specializing in a line of solid-body electrics that re-evaluated just about every aspect of guitar construction. After the sale of Parker Guitars in 2003, Ken refocused his attention on archtops, coming up with an original design that has been the foundation of his instruments ever since. His guitars have been used to play a wide variety of music (one of Ken’s goals is to expand the archtop’s role outside of jazz), and one of Ken’s instruments is among the very few contemporary guitars in the permanent collection of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ken only builds a small handful of guitars each year, so when Australian fingerstyle ace Adam Miller stopped by the Peghead Nation studio with one of these rare archtops last spring, we took the opportunity to have him demo the guitar.”