Fly Deluxe gen 1 pickup swap

[brnds79]

Hi all,

First post! After years of owning a '97 Parker Fly Deluxe in Majik Blue, have decided to switch out the Gen 1 pickups. Have been speaking to the fine folks at Bare Knuckle Pickups who are willing to do some custom work required to make these fit, but wanted to confirm something on spacing first

My understanding is that Gen 1 pickups are both 51.05mm for the bridge and neck positions (F spacing). BKP only does 50 or 53mm for the bridge and 50mm for the neck. My question is, if the pickups are not exactly 51.05mm does that mean the poles won't line up with the existing bushings for mounting? Ideally would like to avoid any routing given there is not much wood to play with

Thanks in advance!

#PickupPreferences
#PickupIssues

[mmmguitar]

Welcome, @brnds79. Are you referring to BKP doing the installation, or just fabricating and sending you the pickups? Because the issue isn't actually the E-e polepiece spacing - It's the distance from the A string pole piece screw mount on the neck-facing coil side of the rout to the B string pole piece mount on the bridge-facing coil side of the rout. And, based on my measurements, I think there's a little bit of wiggle room, there:

I currently own two Flys (a '97 and '08); and caliper measurements show deviation: On the '97, that distance from one threaded insert to the other is 32.68mm. On the '08, it's 32.92mm.

In the case of Dimarzio, I've actually edited instances of that official "approx. 51.05mm" F spacing spec a few times over the years, due to the spec having seemingly drifted over the course of decades: I've seen others' documented measurements taken from the center of the E pole pieces range from 51-53mm, and even instances where people claimed it to be 55 (I assume they were mistakenly measuring from the outside of the pole pieces).

All I can speak to is that I have fit various F space-spec Dimarzios from different decades of production to Flys from different decades of production and, though some were a tighter fit than others, I never found myself needing to modify either the pickup or guitar for the sake of aligning the spacing. I have a Vintage Vibe Fly pickup which, though again not being a perfect fit (48.8mm E to e spacing and 33.3mm diagonal distance between the mounting pole pieces), fits well enough between the four different Flys I auditioned it in to be installed without further modification (Looking at it now, I see that the baseplate has deformed a bit).

I believe this is because both the bobbin material and the fixture of each to the baseplate is pliable enough to allow each coil's mounting screw to shift somewhat to accommodate a mounting screw needing to angle into its respective insert before the threads catch.

I know that BKP, as any commercial winder is incentivized to, is more willing to fabricate Fly pickups than re-wind the stock ones; and has previously been listed as a third party manufacturer of Fly-compatible pickups. Was this your experience, or did BKP give indication that they were uncertain if the pickup would be to spec? Do either of the pickups you're wanting to order feature a thick ceramic magnet, single row of slug pole pieces, or any other features which may give it dimensions different from the stock Dimarzio Gen 1 pickups?

[brnds79]

Thanks for the response @mmmguitar!

BKP only fabricate, no installation. They suggested the Silos, Aftermaths and Warpigs as the magnets are not too thick and can be spec’d to come with double row of hex bolts. Mounting would require transplanting the two longer bolts from the DiMarzios, with custom order to remove the legs and round-off the baseplate corners

Based on your experience, seems like there is enough wiggle room for installing so am inclined to order the entire set in 50mm and have a go at it

[mmmguitar]

am inclined to order the entire set in 50mm and have a go at it

I very much feel that it's BKP's duty to assure you that their "Fly" pickups fit your Fly as a condition of your committing to a purchase - Especially given that they're supposed to have a reputation for producing them. I'd hate for you to find out that previous endorsements for them producing Fly pickups are either exaggerated or no longer the case (if they *only* produce neck winds in one spacing - despite Flys using the 51.05mm spacing for both pickups -, that is a red flag). If you do happen to receive the pickups and find the spacing between the mounting poles to be insufficient, you could probably get away with using only one of them for mounting (I've confirmed that this works with Dimarzios with a row of slugs).

[mmmguitar]

Bump. I ended up taking some pickup baseplate footprint/spacing measurements in a different thread; should the numbers prove useful.