How to buy a Parker Archtop

[KenanJ]

Hey guys,

It's a curiosity to me about how can we buy an archtop not on a used market, but directly from Ken himself and if so what would be a ballpark for a price range?

Thank you guys !

[mmmguitar]

It's a curiosity to me about how can we buy an archtop not on a used market, but directly from Ken himself and if so what would be a ballpark for a price range?

While you're waiting for someone with more firsthand experience to reply:

You can message Ken directly on this site, Facebook, Youtube, etc.

From what I've read in the past, Ken determines his prices by taking what he anticipates his living expenses for the year being, then dividing that between how many guitars he expects to build within the year. They are generally in the five figure range for this reason - Certainly in that artisan tier of luxury items where "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" (though it's still likely less than I've spent on my guitar hobby over the course of my lifetime ). I take the absence of advertising or order forms to mean there's sufficient demand that Ken never has to ask anyone to buy his guitars. I imagine there's a waitlist.

[KenanJ]

Thats interesting to know, I knew it was in the 5 digits range but I saw some in the after market for like 40k+ so I was wondering if it's inflated or if it's really the work valu of Ken.
Since I'm a big fan of him I wish to save money in that regard that's why I'd like know what to aim for!

[vjmanzo]

+1 to what Marc said. The waitlist is at least a year and they start at around $35k; that’s for one without a pickup.

[KenanJ]

+1 to what Marc said. The waitlist is at least a year and they start at around $35k; that’s for one without a pickup.

Let me take a crypto bump and I'll add my name to the waitlist let's go!