Total Refurbish of Trashed Fly Deluxe

[Fly Rod]

I got with Mike & Kathy Gallenberger as they just moved to Florida & GmanMusic & WiGuitar & their inventory was moved to a warehouse
They are sending me two stabilizer nylon bushings & the two new bearings for the tremolo next week

I picked up the used board from a NightFly @ Maxwell's House of Music in Jeffersonville Indiana = FREE, THANKS MARK!
It's a different board than the one my 2007 Fly Deluxe Used BUT might just work out
Have to wait & see on that as I progress forward on the project
I have never gone to the Auto Body Paint shop to get the paint for the FLY YET!
Super Bowl Sunday Tomorrow = No Time to work on anything

The nightfly board is different than the Deluxe but am unsure if it can be used or not?
I will note than Mark @ WiGuitar/GmanMusic has three different boards on eBay for under $50 & inventory is drying up on the parts
I would never have been able to get the FLY to the stage I'm at without his stash of Parts = Thank You WiGuitar & GmanMusic

Has anyone here seen the three used Fly Tremolo Springs = 2x10 & 1-12 + five rubber knobs for $799 on Reverb? WOW!!

I Turned 56 on 1/27/22 = 1st One without my Twin Brother Jerry

[goodluckpete]

Any chance I could get a link to those fretboards on ebay? I'm in the market for one but couldn't find them through search, Thanks!

[mmmguitar]

Any chance I could get a link to those fretboards on ebay? I'm in the market for one but couldn't find them through search, Thanks!

I don’t see any, either - but if Mike has stock he’ll let you know. He can be contacted on eBay and Reverb at

https://www.ebay.com/usr/wiguitar?_trks ... 3561.l2559
https://reverb.com/shop/gmanmusicllc

[Fly Rod]

When I said BOARD I meant the electronics NOT the Carbon Fiber FRETBOARD
There used to be a few listed somewhere??
Haven't seen one in a while

Sorry about the confusion
Welcome To The Forum goodluckpete
Gary aka Fly Rod formerly FlyWheel

These are what I was trying to reference
https://www.ebay.com/itm/174612137019?h ... SwJ09gCJBG
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175152511098?_ ... 1113.m2108

[goodluckpete]

Ah no worries haha thanks for the welcome! Will keep my eye out for the boards. I build guitars and fell in love with the feel of carbon fiber, would love to build a guitar using a fly fretboard if I can!

[Fly Rod]

As I await the bearings for the trem I was looking at how I am going to press the bearing off the pins
I have came up with a brass pin pushing the pin into a 9mm brass bullet casing
I am going to paint the bridge soon as well
Have the new nylon stabilizer bushings coming too

[Fly Rod]

Here's the board from the trashed guitar from Maxwell's House of Music

[Fly Rod]

Bushings came from Wiguitar

[mmmguitar]

We’re all going to owe Gary a pizza by time this is over - His documenting of the literal nuts and bolts of how Fly parts may be refurbished and (re)installed is replacing quite a bit of what was lost after the plug was pulled on the old messageboard.

[Patzag]

We’re all going to owe Gary a pizza by time this is over - His documenting of the literal nuts and bolts of how Fly parts may be refurbished and (re)installed is replacing quite a bit of what was lost after the plug was pulled on the old messageboard.

I'm in!

[vjmanzo]

Same! I’m in!


Agreed—great work, Gary!

[billy]

Hey Gary

Hope this helps- sometime between refined and usm closing down they switched from imperial to metric. Or vise versa.

So the pins may be very close but not actually a fit. Please measure your diameters carefully including the pin and where the bearing fits the post. Both bearings are readily available. You want shielded but not sealed. Sealed have too much internal friction.

You have the right idea for removal- I drilled a hole with slightly bigger diameter than the pin in some 1/2”thick hard plastic and then tapped it out gently with a punch.

You’ll want to avoid any sideways pressure on the outer bearing or you’ll mess it up.

I used a small flat washer to keep pressure on the inner bearing sleeve and the tapped in the pin from the top.

Then I tapped the pin into the bridge using a feeler gauge to retain the proper gap.

Good luck!

[Fly Rod]

Thanks Billy

I have not been working much on guitars
Got a wild hair today to have a look at the broken headstock on the Takamine New Yorker
Need to remove the headstock veneer, removed the tuners & can't find the nut now
Need to cut a new veneer from a piece of Brazilian rosewood I bought from Stew-Mac
Started the removal & got tired, went on to sharpen a 100 year old chisel on a straight razor stone
Shop is a mess & can't find anything
The next two weeks are always crazy as The Kentucky Derby is 1st Saturday in May
I live two miles from Louisville in southern Indiana
Here's a few photos I took of the broken headstock after glue up of the break

Fender Jazzmaster 2013 Reissue $425

[Gregsaab]

How did the refurbed fly turn out?

[Fly Rod]

A project that is slowly coming together
I haven't got the paint YET & need to clean my shop up badly & find ALL those parts

Yesterday I setup my son's Brian Moore i2000 1.13 & it set a fire beneath me to start back on the Parker Fly Deluxe Project
I have a Gibson Les Paul Studio Lite M-III & a Takemine that have broken headstocks + a Jackson DK-2M Pile O Skulls that need attention too
Need to get my stuff together & get on to it...

[Fly Rod]

I have two questions

1st Does anyone have the factory polymer strap buttons, The ones the guitar strap go onto.
I have several from over the years in my stash that are metal, Schaller, DiMarzio, Jim Dunlop etc. See Photo.
I also know where one is here in town on the smashed wall art, It will be mine Oh Yes!

2nd on the tremolo spring does the spring catch fit on with the bigger part toward the body front or the back = See Photo.
I know there are three different notches for the spring to fit in on the trem & ASSuME you want the black spring level or parallel, This makes the springs pressure to the trem arm adjustable
Understand I have never seen a Parker Fly apart in the real world, only online & it just doesn't show in photos

Got saw dust all over all my parts from routing the Parker's Body for the Poplar Patch
NOTE: The $100 Spring I scored from a Musician in Nashville Tennessee
Going to try D'Addarrio XL .009s on the Fly & still need to get the electronics Ironed out, I assume it will need the two toggle switches replaced & possibly the pots too, have to wait & see, I will have to unsolder the pickups etc. before painting anyhow.

[Fly Rod]

I just contacted WiGuitar again as they show having the Strap Buttons
Wanted to know if they are Polymer or Metal
https://www.ebay.com/itm/173353682417

Son's 31st Birthday Present = 2013 Fender Jazzmaster

[Fly Rod]

Been working on the Brian Moore iGuitar i2000 1.13 this afternoon
I got a black tip from Fender for the tremolo arm that needs drilling a bit bigger
Also put some foam under the center EMG Gold pickup to match the height of the two EMG Red Humbuckers
Got a dozen of the trem arm springs that go in the threaded hole under the bar to remove the wobble that threaded trem arms have
Still working on it & stopped to say HEY!!

My Son also has a B.C. Rich Eagle I just restrung with .010" Polyweb strings..
It's another OffSet Guitar that ROCKS! It has a Bigsby & requires finesse to string up, better to bend the end & get it on the roll pin & then use a capo to hold it while you wind the strings on the tuners = Needs Sperzel Locking Tuners = Coming SOON Enough!

Got the headstock veneer off the Takamine by using an iron & then a sharp chisel & then sanded it flat with the orbital sander
These now leaves me a unique opportunity to put splints under the veneer
I ordered a Tusq nut from Graph-Tech that should be here next week sometime
Got two water slide decals for the Takamine as well
Need to go out to the wood shed & make a couple maple splints the width of my router bit & put at least two splints in this headstock or three?
It glued up well but it very thin BUT doesn't have a truss rod in the way like the Gibson does, It WAS a complete broke off headstock & the back isn't pretty YET!! More to come on this Surgery... Will need an amber/orange tint to make it disappear completely...

Well at least the Brian Moore is repaired & back in the studio upstairs

[mmmguitar]

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the Takamine, Gary. One of my beater guitars has a hideous scar from a headstock repair (the guy who built it in his garage opted not to have a volute; so the head popped the first time the guitar fell over). The whole guitar is bubinga under clear nitro; so I’ve been considering a veneer job like what you’re doing - Either that or spray the whole thing an opaque color.

[Fly Rod]

Thanks mmmguitar!!

It looks like I will be able to put the veneer right up to the fretboard & then the nut on top of that?
Unsure, this my 1st headstock overlay, But would make the headstock stronger IMO?
It will also give me the unique opportunity to put splines in the headstock hidden under the veneer
I could make a template & rout a couple splints of hard maple into the break area = see orange strips I photoshopped
Been sanding the break on the back of the neck with 600 grit slowly but it will need something else as the break was not 100% clean
Have a look at the back & sides of this guitar = SWEET!
I'll have $50 +my time in this one

What do you think? Should I put splines/splints under the veneer?
Thinking about having a look at the router bits I have & making a template for Gibsons & maybe using it on the Takamine even though it doesn't have a truss rod up in it's headstock