If that is a Luuke build (based on the avatar), it's probably a good replica. He may have gotten good info from one of the limited Parks. I also know for a fact that Tim Peneta (Jedi135) borrowed a limited Parks to do his replica. Back in this day, not many people did hollow hilts, mostly solid statics. I know Larry Leung (aka Larbel) also offered a nice replica of the hilt prior to MR starting up and he being hired on. Also later, Chen (5postboy) also did a nice replica. Most builders tend to idealize the design especially the control box. Jeff's also had a very unique way for switching out the brass know for a covertec knob for those that wanted to wear the saber on a belt but his wheel he made was bare metal as most others made the wheel out of brass to match the knob for consistency.
A good copy should be on the short side. Parks made them a little longer when he started openly selling them because for most people, the hilt would seem short
Just another Parks story. Around 2003, Parks was able to offer purple EL blades. Still no sound. He also changed the switch from the skinny one you had to hold down (momentary switch) to a larger one that you could press just once (latching switch ). I reached out to him and asked if he could build me a MJ saber of the original design but purple blade and using the old style switch but make it a latching switch. So he agreed. When I got it, I was disappointed because he changed the way he made the lower grips. Instead of individual plates, bolted on, he now milled them as part of the body design which also made the area around the brass knob rounded instead of squared. He also included the little holes around the top of the emitter like he did when he started offering the hilt openly. This was a similar design he used when he made Obi A New Hope hilts. He confessed to me that he really did not remember all the details of the original design he had built years prior.
One last thing... I at one point owned 2 of the 5 original Parks replicas. Someone sold me theirs. However, it was stolen during a military move.
The above photo was taken around late 2000, early 2001. Two of them are the original Parks, I believe the other is a Larbel and the other could be a Luuke's . I know Jedi 135 did not make his till 2003. The mini one was made by someone on the board for my daughter. She was 3 years old at the time. For those that do not know, my daughter's real name is Mara Jade (hence my RPF callsign).
