Kenneth M. "Ken" Parker

Kenneth Murray Parker, age 73, passed away peacefully at his home in Gloucester, MA on October 5, 2025, with Susan Kolwicz by his side.
Ken was born on August 25th, 1952, to parents Richard, a Methodist pastor, and Grace Keefer Parker, an elementary and Sunday school teacher, in New Haven, CT. With his siblings, Ken was raised in parsonages in Kensington, Connecticut, in Islip, Long Island (for ten formative years), and in Poughkeepsie, New York.
The family's heroes were the champions of human rights and justice all over the world. Dinner table discussions were focused on current events, social justice, and lessons of history. His parents instilled a passion for a life filled with the joy of music, sailing, and love.
Ken began a lifelong journey exploring musical instrument design and construction when he built his first guitar from wood and cardboard at age 13 and later an electric bass for his brother Alan.
This passion and commitment led to some of the most exceptional and influential guitars ever created. Ken intently studied and applied history, while embracing and adapting modern materials and techniques, to create superb instruments that overcome traditional limitations. He believed that a guitar must be "in agreement with itself", meaning each must be perfectly balanced by every measure to perform at its absolute best. Seeing and hearing his guitars making inspired music in the hands of the world's finest musicians always made Ken swell with pride, which was clear in his wide grins and applause.
In the early 1970s, Ken moved Rochester, NY, to work with furniture maker Richard Newman where he began to design and build stringed instruments, including his first archtop guitar. Later that decade, Ken moved to Manhattan and began working at Stuyvesant Music on instruments for many iconic musicians, repairing and eventually improving their playability and sound. During this period, he met famed guitar maker Jimmy D'Aquisto with whom he established a cherished friendship based on their mutual love of making archtop guitars.
Ken opened his own shop in 1983 in Connecticut. Working with stringed instruments such as violins and cellos, Renaissance lutes, and vintage and contemporary guitars, he continued developing his unique ideas for improving instrument design and construction. These ideas are manifested in the instruments he built during this period, such as Steve Swallow's immediately recognizable five string bass guitar.
Parker Guitars - co-founded by Ken and Larry Fishman - was launched in 1990. By 1993, the
iconic Parker Fly was brought to market. It featured a radical design that improved virtually every aspect of the electric guitar, positioning Ken as one of the most revolutionary, innovative, creative, and influential guitar makers in history.
In 2004, Ken turned his attention to reinventing the archtop guitar that first enthralled him at age 13. In 2006 the first of his modern archtops, "Olive Branch," was completed. This guitar remains in the Ken Parker collection. Olive Branch, as are all Ken's archtops, is distinguished for its light weight, use of composite materials, and unique adjustable neck.
Ken Parker's endless energy and curiosity fueled his dedication to constantly improving his craft. Those qualities, coupled with his gregarious and generous nature, made anyone he'd meet feel as if they were life-long friends. He loved his craft, his family, sailing and rowing, traveling, and baking popovers and bread.
And certainly, it was his greatest satisfaction to hear brilliant players make music on his guitars.
Everywhere he went, Ken hosted spirited discussions, sharing his knowledge about guitars, music, life, the universe, and everything.
Ken continued building his archtop guitars while refining and improving their design. His mission for the archtop was to liberate the sound and make it more accessible for all guitarists. In 2020 he began to document his process in a prolific series of videos called "Archtoppery." Offered to the world for free, Archtoppery, comprised of over 190 videos, demonstrates not only his method of constructing guitars, but also shares his invention of tools and techniques as well as his inspired philosophy.
His work is on permanent display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, is part of the music
collection of the Museum of Fine arts in Boston, and has been displayed at the Smithsonian.
An artist's work and personal life are almost always intertwined. For Ken Parker, that meant a life that was the best of all worlds at once. And, like his guitars, a life that was in agreement with itself. His love of life was contagious, and his love of those closest to him is eternally enduring. He will be deeply missed.
Ken is survived by his life-companion, Susan Kolwicz, his sister Debby Parker and brother Alan
Parker, their adopted brother Petero Sabune, niece Emily O'Connor, and nephew Colin Huntemer and their children, cousins Chris Parker, Dana Parker, and Maura Tobias, aunts Dorothy Parker and Nancy Parker.
His extraordinary and unequalled instruments also survive, living on in the hands of legions of
guitarists worldwide, as well as luthiers whose lives are immeasurably enhanced by his shining example, his insights, and his encouragement.
A memorial is planned for a later date.
Donations can be made to the Friends of Ken Parker GoFundMe and National Public Radio (NPR).