U.S. Music Corporation to acquire Parker Guitars

Chicago, Illinois, March 30, 2004 – U.S. Music Corporation (U.S. Music), a leading musical instrument manufacturer and distributor, and Parker Guitars, Inc. ( Parker ), a leader in the design and production of electric guitars, today announced that U.S. Music will acquire Parker Guitars.

“This is a tremendous opportunity that I hope will widely spread the influence of Parker Guitars. I’m excited about the new possibilities ahead with U.S. Music,” said Ken Parker.

“When the opportunity arose to acquire such a leader in guitar technology and designs, and adding Parker into our channels of distribution, we saw an opportunity to elevate the Parker brand to the next level.” commented Rudy Schlacher, President and Owner of U.S. Music.

U.S. Music Corp. headquartered just north of Chicago in Mundelein , Illinois is a leading musical instrument manufacturer and distributor of guitars, amplifiers, PA Sound equipment and accessories. Its brands include Washburn Guitars, Randall Amplifiers, Eden Bass Amplifiers, Oscar Schmidt Guitars, Soundtech Pro Audio and Vinci Strings. U. S. Music Corp. is dedicated to providing quality instruments to guitar players and musicians throughout the world.

Since its introduction in 1993, out of the collaboration of Ken Parker and Larry Fishman, the Parker Fly with its patented revolutionary design, has opened the doors for guitarists to explore a whole new universe of sounds. Ken and Larry’s exhaustive research on the physical forces exerted in guitar playing, and their knowledge of tone woods, modern composites, fibers and acoustic technology, led them to create a new kind of guitar weighing only 3.5 to 6 pounds. Carved from the finest of tone woods and reinforced by small amounts of modern materials, the Parker Fly is ultra slender, innovatively shaped and is a guitar that’s responsive, perfectly balanced and with no dead spots or unevenness in tone. Parker ’s guitars perform with a precision and reliability that is unmistakable from the first note. “From day one, I’ve taken the input from the thousands of guitarists that I’ve worked with and attempted to build an instrument that encompassed all of the guitar’s best features and minimize or eliminate the worst” stated Ken Parker .

Parker Guitars’ current series of guitars include the new Mojo Series along with the new and improved Parker Fly, and the NiteFly. The original Fly started the revolution, and with the 2003 introduction of the Mojo series models and the expansion of colors, pickups and tone woods, Parker continues the evolution on building the most innovative and high performance guitars. With the introduction in 2003 of the Parker Fly Bass, weighing in at less than 8 pounds, Parker brings its high performance and quality to the bass, to the delight of discerning bass players world-wide.

For additional information about U.S. Music Corp, contact U.S.Music Corporation, 444 East Courtland St. , Mundelein , IL 60060 . Tel: (800) 877-6863, Fax: (847) 949-8444 or visit us on the web at usmusiccorp.com.

Information about Parker Guitars products is available at www.parkerguitars.com. A new version of the website will be released shortly.