On this week’s Fretboard Journal Podcast, we check in with legendary guitarmaker Ken Parker. The archtop creations that Parker has built over the last decade are truly works of art (in fact, one example is in the permanent collection of the Met). Parker was the subject of a mammoth two-part Fretboard Journal feature in both the FJ #38 and FJ #39, penned by author Joseph Skibell. On this week’s podcast, we hear about some of this builder’s more recent developments. He tells us about the importance of hide glue in his instruments; we learn about a new pickup he’s developing with musician / pickup engineer Bob Palmieri; and we hear about his recent acquisition of some wood from the famed “The Tree” and what he plans to do with it.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Retrofret Vintage Guitars.

Above image of Parker taken by Talisman Brolin for the FJ.