Tom,
I bought a 'Solid-Blue' Parker for a friend 10+ years ago and kept it for a month before I shipped it to him.
I really liked it. Something about the Parker neck (flat neck shape, fingerboard radius, stainless steel frets, or some combination of the three?) made it much easier to execute complicated double string guitar lines compared to any other other guitar I have ever played on!! Lines that, with much concentration, I could execute 7 out of 10 times successfully on a vintage strat I could do 9 times out of 10 on the Parker almost without effort.
It is true the pickups sounded a little metallic, plus the bodies were/are so shallow that you couldn't mount a hum-bucker with a 'normal depth frame' in the pick-up body cutouts. The company was aware of the issue and came out with a set of DiMarzio pickups that were supposed to have more of a vintage sound, but I never heard them.
The controls were in a different position from the guitars I grew up playing (Gibsons, Guilds & Fenders) but I think I could have gotten used to them in time.
The guitars do have their problems (frets are glued on and sometimes fall off, jack plugs from certain time periods of manufacture are easy to 'wallow out' and cost a big pile of money to replace, etc.), but you can google that information ('parker fly problems') and see what to look out for.
My friend considered selling it about a year ago, but I don't know if he still has it. If you want me touch base with him, I'll be glad to do that. Just send me a PM.
All the best, Harry