Fly Pickups (Gen 1, Gen 2, and Other)

[mmmguitar]

I just wanted to share my experience with Gen1 vs. Gen2 pickups

After owning a Parker Fly Classic for more than 25 years (mine is a 97 which I bought new) and doing a lot of research and trying to find videos, reading posts, etc. last weekend I took the plunge and went ahead and swapped the bridge pick up from Gen1 to Gen2.

The videos I found were not really much help, but I figured out that if the company decided to take such a big decision there might have been some good research behind it.

After doing the swap at 1st I thought there was not that much of a change. I used to roll the tone on the bridge pickup 1/8 of a turn to mitigate the HiFi high end on the Gen 1 and that used to work for me. So, after I just did the swap to the Gen 2 and tested it, I though "great" now I don't have to roll the tone back.

However, once I had a chance to crank the amp up to good "valve" levels, the difference was very noticeable and for good to my ears.

The Parker Fly was my main guitar for good number of years, but eventually I moved on to Les Pauls and PRS custom 24's, my favorite tone is a Mahagony / Maple capped set neck guitar.

Now with the new bridge Gen 2 pickup, my Fly Classic sounds fairly similar, especially on the low registers to my Alex Lifeson Les Paul, I did back to back comparisons and I'm most pleased with the results.

I still believe that the Les Paul has a slight edge on tone, but if you take into account the playability, comfort and spot on intonation of the Fly, it's probably going to be my main guitar again.

For Metal players I think the decision of going from Gen 1's to Gen 2's is a no brainer.

Anyways, hope this helps anyone that like me was on the fence about changing the bridge pickups.

BTW I have never had a problem with the Gen 1 Neck pickup, I think it sounds great. But after this positive change with the bridge pickup, I'm getting curious about the sound of the Gen 2 Neck pickup

Thanks for sharing your impressions and encouragement for experimentation, @hectorpena, and welcome to the site.

One of my Flys came with a Gen 2 bridge + Gen 1 neck combo for the same reasons you mentioned: The previous owner had no complaints concerning the neck pickup, but wanted a bridge pup sound more in line with the comfort zone he had found in his other guitars. I feel every Fly owner can stand to benefit from refining and personalizing their tools until they're confident it's the best one for a particular job; and encourage it.

For whatever it may be worth, my impressions of the Gen 2 neck was that it was wound as part of a mated set so that people who played lead on both pickups could switch between it and the bridge without experiencing a drop in output or having to change any EQ.

[hectorpena]

Thanks for the feedback mmmguitar (did I get the number of m's right? ).

I'm feeling curious about buying and trying the neck pickup, so far I don't see any problems with how the Gen1 matches with the Gen2 bridge, but on the other hand the possibility of improvement is enticing.

I was telling my kids that I should have done this pickup swap 15 years ago haha.

I'll let you guys know how it goes if I go for it.

Thanks for compiling all this great info!

[Voice Of Reason]

For anyone else not liking the gen 1 (or 2) pickups, consider switching the magnets.

This works well with an A2, for instance. That’s part of what I did with my neck pickup.

[mmmguitar]

And just to +1 that suggestion; I'll point out that Dimarzio's method of getting their A5 magnets to "sound" like A2s via their "air" mod (replacing the metal retainer bars which slide over the pole pieces/slugs and help hold the magnet in place with spacers of non-conductive materials such as rubber or plastic) is a way to experiment in that direction without buying an extra magnet - If you happen to like the effect, consider buying an A2 to see if you like the real thing even more.