Joe Parker Guitars Magretti Pelham Blue w/Gemini

The Magretti gives a subtle tip of the hat to offset body design (Fender Jazzmaster, etc...) with attention to detail being the name of the game here.

One of the best things about the electric guitar is how much room it left for interpretation. Flip through any history of the instrument and you find the Fender and Gibson shapes we all know, and then just underneath them the work of people like Paul Bigsby and Antonio Vandrè Pioli, who were answering the same question and arriving somewhere else entirely. The form was never as settled as it looks from here.

Joe Parker builds in Eugene, Oregon, and the Magretti is a guitar that seems aware of all of it. Bolt-on neck, 25 1/2" scale, familiar bones. But the deep German carves on the top and back of the body do something that photographs undersell, catching light across the whole surface and moving as you move, while quietly making the guitar more comfortable to hold. There is a nod to offset design in the outline without the guitar ever settling into being a copy of anything. It reads as modern and as though it might have come from a small shop nobody wrote down in 1963, both at once.

This one is Honduran mahogany, body and neck, under a Pelham blue top. That is a warmer and thicker starting point than the swamp ash Magrettis we have had through here, and the Gemini Tone Ranger wide range humbuckers make good on it. Wide range humbuckers have always been the interesting middle path, more power and body than a single coil without giving up the clarity and the top-end detail that a standard humbucker tends to round off. Paired with mahogany you get real weight behind every note and enough definition that chords stay articulate and open when you push the front end.

Joe spent five years at Collings, the last three in the setup department, so if you have played a Collings electric and remember how it felt, you already have a fair idea of what is waiting here. The chunky C carve, 12" radius, and stainless frets add up to something that feels broken in on the first pass, and unique to Joe's builds.

We are not alone in our enthusiasm. Former Fender Masterbuilder Jay Black is a fan of Joe's work too, and we would put him in the company of builders like Joe Yanuziello, Scott Heatley, Saul Koll, and Damian Probett. All of them make instruments that function beautifully and happen to also be art - this one should not be missed.