Years ago, my friend April Morgan and I on a regular basis would drive to Ashville, NC from central NC to see one our favorite bands, Soul Miner’s Daughter. SMD was a southeastern-based regional band, playing a exciting mix of rock, soul, gospel, blues, and country. I really can’t explain their sound better than that. You really need to hear their albums to understand their sound. It doesn’t really fit into those record company-forced categories. Their musicianship was superb, and the vocal stylings of Jennifer Nettles and Cory Jones were haunting. Going to their shows was always a blast. I’d leave from my apartment in Cary, drive to Greensboro to join up with April, and then we’d start our 3 hour drive to Ashville. After a while, we went to enough shows that Jennifer would recognize us, and chat with us at our table for a while before each show. It was a lot of fun. SMD released 2 albums, The Sarced and Profane, and Hallelujah. Both are excellent albums, but I tend to like Hallelujah more because is has a more mature sound, and better production.

Time passed, and eventually Cory and Jennifer had a falling out. (From what I’ve heard it was quite explosive, but I never bothered to dig any deeper than that because it seemed to be a sensitive subject.) Anyway, Cory and Jen split ways, and Soul Miners Daughter was no more… in name anyway. Essentially, the band continued (sans Corey) with a new name, The Jennifer Nettles Band. With Jennifer now the sole front person, the new songs were written around her vocal style and used her lyrics. The songs were still very reminiscent of the SMD sound, but with Jen as the focus, the lyrics were very deep, and very personal. (A couple of the songs were obviously about Corey and the SMD breakup.) The JNB released 3 albums, The Story of Your Bones, Rewind (which were redos of SMD songs), and Gravity : Drag Me Down. All 3 are great albums, with Jennifer’s lean toward country hinted at in “Gravity : Drag Me Down.” This is where the next chapter in Jennifer’s musical stylings begin.

In 2003, Jennifer was approached by Kristen Hall and Kristian Bush, to join their project, a country band called, Sugarland. Jennifer joined the band, and Sugarland has become very popular. (They’ve won awards, Jen’s done a track with Bon Jovi, it’s pretty cool.) Now, that being said, I’m not a country fan. At all. Bluegrass I can stand, but country – no. So, I was pretty disappointed to hear that Jennifer was doing country now. I had lost one of my favorite artists. (I actually like Sugarland’s first album okay, but the second one is just too country for me.) But, you know what? That’s okay. She’s doing great, is very successful, and she deserves it. I just miss the rockin Jennifer Nettles. The jazzy Jennifer Nettles. The, soul-gospel-blues Jennifer Nettles.

Oh well. I guess I’ll always have Ashville.

I’ve had a couple people ask me, “if you wanted a ‘Strat-like’ guitar, why not just buy, well.. a Strat?” (Meaning a FENDER strat since “Strat” is actually a trademark of Fender.) I have several answers to this question, but the ones that matter are 1) Fretboard Radius, 2) Tremolo design, and 3) String Trees. Let me explain in greater detail below :

1) Fretboard Radius – the fretboard radius is the roundness that the fretboard has. It is measured in inches, based on an imaginary circle in which the fretboard is a section of the circle’s circumfurance. The lower the fretboard radius, the rounder the fretboard. The higher the radius, the flatter the fretboard is. Rounder fretboards are more comfortable to play, but flatter fretboards are more precise and intonate better. (Bending a note on a rounder fretboard can cause the string to “fret-out” killing the sound, this doesn’t happen on a flatter fretboard.) For the most part, modern Fender Strats have a radius of 9.5″. Over the years I’ve become accustomed to a 12″ radius neck, and prefer it. So, that’s strike one against the Fender.

2) Tremolo Design – The Fender synchronized tremolo (tremolo is actually a Fender-created term for Vibrato) was revolutionary for it’s time, but hasn’t really changed since its creation. The tremolo connects to the body and pivots via 6 screws. Unfortunately, this causes tuning problems because using any aggressive vibrato can cause the tremolo to bind on its screws knocking your tuning out of wack. You’ll notice that when Leo Fender left to create G&L with George Fullerton that one of the first things he updated was the tremolo to a 2 stud design that holds tuning better. Strike 2 for Fender’s strat.

3) String Trees – Their primary purpose is to guide strings toward the tuning pegs, and to keep even tension across the guitars neck’s nut. The problem with string trees is that a lot of times when the tremolo is used the strings can become snagged on the trees (and sometimes the nut) creating tuning problems. Many moden guitar manufactures get around having to use string trees by angling the headstock back thus keeping even tension on the nut and preventing string-snag. Strike 3 for Fender.

Now, please don’t take this post as an assualt against Fender. Fender makes an excellent guitar, I’m just making note of 3 things about the Strat that bothers me. There are a bunch of other things about the Strat that I love. (It’s versitility for example. I also love the “C” neck shape.) Many people (if not most) that buy a Strat buy it because it’s exactly what they want. They want to buy a guitar that was around in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and for the most part is exactly the same. They want a true representation of a “Classic” guitar. (It would be like being able to go to the Ford dealership and still be able to buy a new 1969 Mustang.)

So, about my purchase… I bought a Parker P30, which is essentially a lighter weight, differently shaped Strat. It remedies 2 out of my 3 Strat complaints. 1) Fretboard Radius : The Parker has a 10″ – “13” compund fretboard radius. 2) Tremolo Design – This one didn’t get remedied. The Parker has a 6 screw trem, but I don’t plan to use it much anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal for me. (I have other guitars for hardcore Trem action.) 3) String Trees : The Parker has an angled headstock which eliminates string trees. So, for $519 I get the great verstility of a Strat without 2 of my 3 Strat peeves. I think I made out well.

I’m selling my Peavey Wolfgang hardtail on eBay, and it’s already had its reserve met. So, I went ahead and purchased its replacement, a brand new Parker P-30. It arrived today and it’s an excellent guitar for the price. It has a single-single-single pickup configuration with a traditional Fender-style synchronized tremolo. The pickups have great tone, and the action on the compound radius neck is smooth.

It does have a couple quality issues, but neither have anything to do with playability. (On one spot on the body, the pickguard doesn’t sit flush against the body, and the volume and tone knobs are pretty cheap.)

All in all, this is a great guitar for $520. It’s just what I was looking for as a Fender Strat alternative.