Need help identifying my new Fly

[FlyFan]

Hello all,

I just received a Fly I bought at an auction. I can't figure out which model it is, can anyone help out? Some basic info:

1) The SN is 090028, which appears to date it to March 30, 2008.
2) The neck/body identifier is BBN, which I believe is basswood/butternut. I can't find anything in the 2007 and 2008 catalogs about models with Butternut bodies, although this site's wood identifier info shows BN as meaning butternut.
3) The guitar is signed on the neck by Ken Parker, and also shows '98, #27. What does #27 mean; was this maybe a special run? See pics attached.
4) The auction was from a collector who only bought high-end or unusual instruments, so I wonder if this was a special order.
5) The auction paperwork said Fly Deluxe, but there was no supporting paperwork.
6) This is my first Parker, and I would appreciate all and any help figuring out what kind of interesting Fly this is.

thank you !

[vjmanzo]

You got the Butternut!!!!!!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!!

Here’s some info on the different types of wood, but you’ve got a rare one that Ken and crew only made about 50 of due to limited supply of butternut wood (the body material).

There are several other tonewoods variants that have existed through the years as custom shop or special orders including Flys with bodies made of koa, butternut, walnut, and cedar. Ken regularly experimented at Parker Guitars, and sometimes he would get limited quantities of certain woods resulting in short runs of 50 or so Flys like the so-called "Fly Butternut" model. The butternut wood, for instance, was supplied to Ken from a one-off supplier; in Ken's words, "We would have made more of these instruments, but we only had a limited supply of material...they sound like 'mahogany-plus!'". Such one-off models never received differentiated monikers (like Deluxe, Classic, Mojo, etc.) that were officially noted in any catalog and they were, most commonly, guitars sold at trade shows like NAMM.

I have one too!! Congrats! I hope it gives you years of buttery joy!

#WoodTypes

[FlyFan]

vjmanzo, thank you very much, this is so helpful! I couldn't read the wood type off the pictures from the auctioneer, and guessed it might be a maple Supreme. But the auctioneer pics did not resemble flamed maple, so I was puzzled. I bought the guitar anyways, on a hunch it was special.

I did not realize that there was info on the Fly site about this particular run of butternut models; thanks for pointing me to that article/posting. Looks like I may have lucked out; "mahogany plus" sounds promising to me! My aging back does not like Les Pauls any more..

I assume the #27 means the 27th piece from that run of 50? Makes sense.

Am having fun learning this unique beast, and am currently cleaning and setting it up for 10's. Totally unplayed since 1998, not a mark on it, never set up, completely dead battery in it with an ancient date code haha. At least the battery died gracefully without leaking all over everything.

I plan on keeping this guitar, but in case I decide to part with it, do you have any idea how the market values these unique runs? Probably people keep their special Parkers; I have never seen anything like this on Reverb, GBase, EBay, etc.

[vjmanzo]

Happy to help, @FlyFan! Yes, 27, means 27 of 50, and the person you bought it from was likely a collector. I looked at that auction and was discussing a bid on that one with @Ken Parker who had asked me to keep an eye out for a Fly Butternut. Ya know...'cause he doesn't already have enough guitars!

If you decide to part with it, please let me know, if you'd like, and I can loop Ken into the discussion. He has a number of friends that collect and might be interested since he specifically had a hand in this limited run. There may also be people here on Fly Clone interested in this piece specifically, so you are welcome to post an asking price in the Classifieds section.

In terms of the market value, I hope you'll forgive me from borrowing/adapting some narrative that I recently sent to a fellow member: it’s tough to know what someone might be willing to pay and, thus, the “market value”, but the right collector might already be prepared to go above $5k or more for it if you put it up for sale. I’d personally value it at $5k—maybe $6k—based on what someone else might be willing to pay for it. Someone looking to play it might be willing to offer around $4k or so, but if the right person caught wind of it, I think it would fetch north of $5k or 6k. Sometimes a unique Parker like this will go up online for $7k and just sit there—sometimes it’ll disappear at first sight once it’s a little lower than that. Many different markets, as you know, are anybody’s guess right now and the guitar/Parker market is no exception, but “collector market” is sometimes exempt from that—the right person might be waiting for this to show up and consider it a $7k guitar without question.

Having said that, the auction you participated in did get a lot of attention leading up to it—I had several Fly fans/collectors ping me personally on some of the rarer pieces up for bids. Other friends of mine saw the auction because of the various other items up for sale (amps, other guitars, etc.), so I would guess that the "market" for this Fly spotted the BBN in the serial and knew what it was. Given the absence of Fly Butternuts in the market, I'd suggest that whatever price you paid for it all in was the market value.

We have an ongoing thread here on the "market value" of Flys, which is fluctuating quite a bit. For reference, that guitar sold new for about $3k in 1998, and, today in 2022, that seems to be about the going rate for a Fly in great condition.

Hope this helps—just one person's opinion of course! The bottom line is that you should be so thrilled to have this beautiful instrument and I'm sure you're just going to love it! Please send us some photos if the mood should strike you!

Other random fun fact: Paul Simon owned a Fly Butternut! And he is a rock!

[FlyFan]

Your pricing discussion makes sense- there is a difference between what a collector will pay and the average player/enthusiast.

I wish I had bid on the Koa Parker with the Adrian Belew signature at the recent auction, but when the pricing rapidly got into collector pricing range, I declined. Maybe a mistake, but I am not a dealer or collector. The Belew Koa guitar seemed to have a resale profit potential, but I only buy guitars I want to play, and only sell them to "cull the herd" or free up storage space

For now I am going to get familiar with this new beast, and see what it can do.

Don't have any more decent pics of my new beauty except the following.

[vjmanzo]

Lovely guitar! Thanks for posting that pic!!

I only buy guitars I want to play, and only sell them to "cull the herd" or free up storage space

Hahaha same here!!

[Patzag]

Hey FlyFan.
Welcome to the forum.
I drooled over this guitar for weeks while it was listed and prayed that the price would not escalade beyond my means.
Congratulations on your purchase. I am sincerely jealous!!!
What I am happy about is that you want to play it.
Enjoy and make beautiful music!

[FlyFan]

Thank you Patzag. I spent yesterday putting on new strings and setting it up. Unusual tremolo etc, but it made sense after going through the manual and Youtube videos. The only minor mod I am considering is putting on locking Schaller strap buttons - easy to reverse. Would hate to break the neck on this beastie.

Guitar prices are climbing along with everything else. I don't think the manufacturers can make as many as they could pre-pandemic, and used guitar prices are definitely higher than a couple of years ago. There were some crazy prices at the recent auction for higher-end PRS and limited-edition Les Pauls.

[vjmanzo]

The only minor mod I am considering is putting on locking Schaller strap buttons - easy to reverse.

Good idea! I’m a DiMarzio Straplocks fan myself (similar concept), so I may I recommend to use the screws that are already in the Fly if possible as the ones that ship with the Schaller and DiMarzio are often longer than the ones in your Fly. Some Fly players have, unfortunately, poked a hole right through the upper horn

[FlyFan]

After a bit of digging, I did find one previous Butternut on Reverb from 4 years ago. This guitar is #59, so the BN series may have been ~60 guitars and not 50. In the description, the seller of this item included an interesting response he said he received from Ken Parker. Shines a little more light on the history of this particular model.

https://reverb.com/item/13008688-parker ... _sold=true

From the Reverb posting:

Hi Antoine,
This Fly guitar was made with a one piece body of Butternut.
Butternut trees are uncommon, and usually don’t live very long, so trees big enough to make one piece guitar bodies are very rare.
We were fortunate to get a little pile of beautiful Butternut boards in 1998. Very stable, resonant, and light weight.
The Fly guitars made from this wood sound wonderful, kind of like a cross between swamp ash and mahogany, only better.
We would have made lots more of these if we could have found the material.
There was only enough wood to build about 60, + or - , I can’t remember the number exactly.
Paul Simon owns two of these, and used one every night on tour with Bob Dylan in 1999, as I remember it.
This guitar (...) was built in one of the “golden years” of our production, and, at least in the photos, appears like new.
I signed them all, as we called it a special edition or something, but it’s really only because we were never able to get any more beautiful wood like this, so me signing them was just a kiss on the way out the door.

Best,
Ken

[vjmanzo]

Thanks for posting this, @FlyFan! I absolutely remember seeing this post years ago, so it’s great to have a record of Ken’s words about this in this thread! Ken has recalled this same information to me and others many times, so I think the email narrative is legitimate as the seller claimed.

Hope you’re enjoying all of that butter!

[FlyFan]

I completed a basic setup, after switching from the original 9's to 10's. One of the original wound strings actually crumbled and broke when I undid the locking tuner!

Thought I would let the guitar settle in a couple of days, then do some fine tweaks. So far, all I needed to do for basic operation was to set up the tremolo and lower the bridge a bit. I don't think I will need to tweak the truss rod.

I don't see screws for pickup height adjustment like the manual says, but maybe I am missing something. The mag pickups do not seem to require adjustment, so no big deal at this point. Intonation seems very slightly off on the A string, but if I lower the bridge a bit on that side it may all come together.

Intonation adjustment is puzzling - not clear how to slightly move a string that is under tension. I am used to turning little screws (Fender Gibson etc) for occasional intonation tweaks.

I am trying to avoid filing the nut, but might do a little bit just for width, not depth. I don't want to go through the aggravation of accidentally filing too much depth and messing up the nut; want to keep this one as original as possible. Overall, this is the best "factory" setup I have encountered - Fender, Gibson, PRS etc. all seem to need a fair amount of work to be reasonably playable.

BTW I found many pictures online of Paul Simon playing a Fly on the Dylan tour. Only found one video of him playing, and unfortunately the audio wasn't great and it was unclear whether Paul Simon or someone in the backing band was playing.

[mmmguitar]

Intonation adjustment is puzzling - not clear how to slightly move a string that is under tension. I am used to turning little screws (Fender Gibson etc) for occasional intonation tweaks.

Each Fly saddle is held against the bridge by the single Allen screw.

Assuming the trem and step-top are calibrated, make sure the stop is set to down-only trem movement.
Detune the string enough that it moves out of the way of the the saddle screw easily (assuming you pulled all the slack out of the string before locking it into the tuner post and initially tuning up, this doesn’t require much of a turn), use an Allen key to back the intonation screw out enough that the saddle is free to be moved forward or backward to the desired position, then retighten the screw and tune the string back up.

Once you get the routine down, you’ll find the speed and simplicity of intonating a Fly beats most other guitars.

Two of the pole piece hex screws going through the Fly humbuckers are the mounting screws (neck-facing coil under the A string, bridge-facing coil under the B). Here’s an old pickup adjustment post I made:

…Fly pickups have a thin cushion of material glued to the baseplate, and you’ll compress this material by pushing down on it. Unscrew the two mounting screws until the pickup is free to move, push the pickup down to compress the cushion, then retighten the screws while keeping the pickup pushed down to the desired height. Note that there is little actual room to lower the pickup.

If you want the pickup even lower, remove the strings from the guitar, then loosen the pickup mounting screws until the pickup can be lifted up out of the rout. Turn the pickup over and remove the cushion by either peeling or prying it off, then replace the pickup and screw it back into place.

For what it’s worth, the lack of pickup height adjustment may be my least favorite Fly quirk.

[FlyFan]

Thanks @mmmguitar, that is the process I thought I would need to follow. What is different is the need to detune the string. It is not really a big deal, as I don't change string makers/gauges very often. On a well-made guitar like the Fly, I may only need to do it once. As I mentioned earlier, only one string (A) is slightly off, and may be fine when I lower the bridge on the low side a bit.

[FlyFan]

The only minor mod I am considering is putting on locking Schaller strap buttons - easy to reverse.

Good idea! I’m a DiMarzio Straplocks fan myself (similar concept), so I may I recommend to use the screws that are already in the Fly if possible as the ones that ship with the Schaller and DiMarzio are often longer than the ones in your Fly. Some Fly players have, unfortunately, poked a hole right through the upper horn

Thanks vjmanzo, you are definitely right about the locking strap buttons and Fly's. I received some black Schaller buttons and screws today, and it turns out the new Schaller design (not sure about DeMarzio) only has one screw choice, and it cannot be separated from the button. It is DEFINITELY long enough to go all the way through the Fly horn. Is not tightened with a screw, needs an Allan wrench. It is also wider than many screws, which may not be necessary. Not sure this is a great design decision by Schaller. The say it is quieter, but I'm inclined to think it is a cost reduction.

The older Schaller design had a choice of two screw lengths. Not sure if the shorter screw is appropriate for the skinny upper horn on the Fly, but I was able to locate black non-Schaller-made buttons on Reverb for reasonable cost. The screw and button on these are separate parts, so my plan is to see if the existing Fly strap button works well with the new Schaller-like locking button.

[FlyFan]

I meant to say, use existing Fly strap button screw, with new Schaller-compatible button. Apologies for poor explanation.

[vjmanzo]

Ahhh—glad the unthinkable didn’t happen to you and your Fly, @FlyFan!

[Patzag]

Hey @Flyfan!
Here we are 6 months later. How are you getting along with that Butternut beauty?

[FlyFan]

Hello Patzag

Thanks for checking in.

I have Ms. Butternut dialed in, and have been enjoying her greatly. Everything else I own seems so much heavier, after playing a Parker for a while! These are certainly amazing guitars, so far ahead of their time and haven't seen anything comparable since. I keep seeing Parkers on Reverb for eye-popping prices, but everything else is going up so why not Parkers.. Just like real estate, they are not being made anymore. The super-high-priced ones I noted on Reverb a few months back have not sold.

Ms. Butternut has been successfully integrated into my guitar harem, and seems to get along well with my other guitars. (There are long ones, tall ones, short ones, brown ones, black ones, round ones, big ones, crazy ones, etc. to paraphrase Eric Burdon haha) I suppose the Parker is a light one, possibly a crazy one

I recently welcomed a '95 MIJ TC-72 Tele into the harem, and swapped out the pickups with a new Fender CuNiFe humbucker and a matching Alnico 5 single coil taken off a Fender guitar for reasons unknown. For anyone with a post-79 US or MIJ reissue '72 series Tele, Fender has reissued CuNiFe wide-range humbuckers and they sound great IMHO! The matching Alnico 5 single coil is not available as a standalone pickup (yet) but I got lucky and found one.

Need to pay attention to all members of my modest guitar harem, but Ms. Butternut will certainly get lots of play time in the rotation. ~

[vjmanzo]

Ms. Butternut…

Ugh—I love this!