Parker Hornet Bass??

[Barry]

I just stumbled across this little video of a guy examining a Parker Hornet BASS.
I didn't know there even was such a thing.



The opening few minutes serve to diss the Profile gig bag that the bass came in so you can skip past that if you want.
After that it's fairly informative.

It's not terribly interesting aesthetically. Dull as hell actually.
It's equipped with active EMG's (which I detest)
The detailed look at the weird 4 pc individual bridge is an eye opener
It's Made in Indonesia

Despite it all he demos some decent playing.

[vjmanzo]

Interesting video...and very interesting that it says “Hornet” on the headstock. I’ve gone through all of the catalogs, and, unless I’ve overlooked something, there is no mention of a “Hornet Bass” in any of the Parker Guitars catalog. Actually, now that I’m looking: is there any mention in the catalogs of the PM-20 guitar being officially called “the Hornet”? I’ve see that logo on some guitar headstocks, but I don’t recall seeing any guitar called “the Hornet” in the catalogs.

The bass in this video is certainly part of the P Series basses and definitely dissimilar to the FB-4 with regard to materials and other finishings.


Very cool find nonetheless!!

[Barry]

No idea what they were doing there VJ.
Obviously some sort of "kewl" marketing attempt methinks.

My 2005 PM-20 is branded PARKER "HORNET" where it more often reads PARKER "GUITARS". Perhaps that was the original launch name and they changed it subsequently. The catalogue scans I posted are not clear enough to to tell what's on the head stock, but it looks like it says "guitars".
Not sure what's on the PM10 model.

Maybe there is a catalogue somewhere out there with Hornet on it??

[vjmanzo]

“kewl” indeed!!

For a short while, I owned the PAB-40 Parker Acoustic Bass; it had a truss rod cover that said “Tomahawk “ on it, and, for the life of me, I couldn’t track down what that was all about as there was no mention of that name in the catalogs. That bass was, for certain, made in America, so, if that truss rod cover was original, maybe the marketing folks at Parker Guitars were pursuing those types of approaches toward increasing allure.

That theory would align with some of the questions @rjsa00 recently asked in a thread related to the Fly Classic headstock logo.

[Barry]

It's not unusual for guitar makers to try to be "hip" by using funky names for their products.
Lord knows there are lots of historical examples out there.

In the end, though, if the quality isn't there, it doesn't matter what in the hell they call it. The name might generate curiosity but will not make anybody want to buy it if the instrument is a dog.

Changing the emphasis back to Parker was a step in the right direction, if perhaps a tad late.

[MrWalker]

The Hornet basses were introduced in, 2006 with the P41, which had a body made out of urethan and neck made of maple. It was followed in 2007 by the PB51 and PB61, which was pretty much identical except for the flame maple top for the first and spalted maple top on the second. They were more traditional neck-thru designs, and didn't have the advanced neck joints. In 2009 they were produced with phenolic fingerboard, and they were discontinued in 2010. They are in the catalogs from those years.
Obviously an attempt of making the Parker range available to a larger audience.
The basses were playing nice, but sounded pretty generic, due to the EMG electronics. But they were quite lightweight and had the asymmetrical shape introduced by the Fly Bass.
I guess this was US Music Corps attempt at building a product range that could carry Parker.
Cudos for trying.