PDF-100 Fret material question

[goodluckpete]

I have a PDF-100 in my area I am interested in checking out and was curious if anyone knows if these have nickel silver or stainless (glued) frets? I know these are not made in US models so I suspect I know the answer and its not stainless, but I cant find a definitive answer anywhere. Thanks!

[vjmanzo]

Hi @goodluckpete! You are correct, that these are not the same stainless and tangless frets as a on a Fly. I do not know for sure what material they are, but I’d be willing to bet that they are nickel.

[mmmguitar]

Edit: Ninja'd by VJ. Someone is liable to correct me, but my recollection is that It was only the US-built guitars (RF SKU/price tier and above) that could be ordered with the choice of either ebony or carbon boards (with the tangless frets); due to the USM Washburn Custom Shop being converted to a build-to-order model in their last years of operation. I don't recall any non-US Parkers having stainless frets - For certain, they exclusively used wood fingerboards.

[jester700]

mmm is correct. No imported (PDF) models had stainless frets.

Within the USA-made DF line (Dragonfly/Maxxfly), the DF8xx models had carbon wrap and glued SS frets. The DF4xx had tanged SS frets on a rosewood board, and DF5xx, DF6xx, and DF7xx had tanged SS frets on ebony.

I'd think these number conventions held to the RF line as well.

[vjmanzo]

the US-built guitars…could be ordered with the choice of either ebony or carbon boards (with the glued frets)…

I don’t recall seeing this as a custom shop option—was the choice possible in the USM custom shop?! The choice was definitely not possible during the Ken-era decade of Parker Cigars. I know some people who became frustrated with fret issues and elected to have a traditional fingerboard installed on their Fly, but that required a lot of other things to change in compensation like the nut and the bridge.

I’m very curious about this!

[mmmguitar]

@vjmanzo Yes; late Buffalo Grove production. It’s mentioned in the 2015 catalog I consulted for my earlier reply. To reiterate, these ordering options weren’t emphasized in marketing or within the official forum until US production switched to a build-to-order model (“Washburn Custom Shop” was the new title thrown around by Strandberg and whichever other brands were being produced under the same roof).

[vjmanzo]

Wow! Great find, Marc! I’d missed that!

[jester700]

That sure was a looker! I wonder how many were ever made? Here's a gorgeous maple fretboard one from Reverb. I'm partial to ebony, but that birdseye is beautiful!

[vjmanzo]

Wow! I agree—looks killer!

The composite fingerboards could have been dyed other colors than black, and I know that Ken wanted to explore this very thing further One of the many things that got sidelined…

Here’s the Fly he built for Fender during the brief pre-Korg time when they were interested in buying Parker Guitars:

The fingerboard is just like ours only painted. More of what could have been!

#ParkerPrototypes

[vjmanzo]

Ken also made at least one Fly with a one-piece nickel fingerboard...no photo (he knows where the guitar is!), but here's the mold he used to make that:

Ken had all sorts of experiments in mind and others, like this, that he tried out!

#ParkerPrototypes