the Fly Clone Project

Well said, @ahmadimran. I’m just thankful to have found others who recognize that the Fly’s proprietary construction and hardware means that it’s entirely up to either JAM Industries or the owners community to determine whether Ken’s old electric designs will continue to be played, or be relegated to broken-down relics. If I was unaware that people like VJ and Mike were carrying the Fly torch as far as they’re able to, I simply wouldn’t own one. With so few options in dealing with so much that can go wrong with a Fly, this site and community are surely the brightest lights visible since the brand went dark.

On topic, I think the only mentions of a Belew Fly on the internet in the past year came from me and two people in the Facebook groups Where are these guitars hiding? With the...let’s just say “eccentric” integration and signal routing of its circa-2007 gimmick electronics, I can’t imagine them being anyone but Adrian’s #1 guitar. Then again, some still play out with their GR303s.

Thanks, @ahmadimran and @mmmguitar


I recently began asking myself the same question: where are all of these Adrian Belew Flys? I know that only a few Adrian Belewberry DF842s were made—not many at all actually, but I seem to recall there being a lot of fuss about the Belew Fly back in the mid-2000s...so where are they?! @flyguy, do you know roughly how many of these were made?

I’ve played @VinceGenella’s and the control layout is quite unusual! It seems to me that the layout is exactly what Adrian preferred, but I would imagine other players being turned off by how particular that is; it’s kinda like wearing someone else’s clothes!!

Back when I had one of my Flys outfitted with a Sustainiac, I remember thinking, “so if I had a Variax, I’d have the Belew model”...I guess others thought the same?

Here’s another piece of the puzzle! I had a conversation about the Belew Fly model with a former USM technician who worked for Washburn and Parker Guitars from 2004 - 2008. He said:

I worked on most of
Belew's guitars, they might be on the logs I'm sending you. US Music had
an outside guy that installed the electronics into the guitars we made, he
would bring it back and we would do the final setup. I would guess maybe
15, give or take, I am not really sure exactly.

As far as I can remember we made maybe two or three for Adrian and I
recall a plan to build 20 for sale but I don't believe all 20 were made,
dealers would buy them to be a showpiece in their store. Now my memory
might not be totally accurate, and I was not in "production" at that
point, so there were people like Terry who was more involved than I with
that model.

Were those about the numbers you were thinking we’re out there, Marc?

vjmanzo wrote: ↑Sun Jan 03, 2021 12:30 am Were those about the numbers you were thinking were out there, Marc?

“Fifteen, give or take” goes further toward explaining the rarity than the “fewer than fifty” figure I got from Adrian. We need to reproduce these in captivity - They’re clearly endangered.

I’m very curious to know which colors were produced - I’ve only seen them produced in the Adrian-spec’d colors (Lime Gold, Candy Tangerine, and Arctic Silver) and Dusty Black. The DF I’ve seen only three for-sure instances of (two in Belewberry and one in Tangerine; and I think Adrian and Vince are the current owners). I’ve seen two Belewberry DFs listed on eBay and Reverb - But they may have been the same guitar or even Adrian’s, for all I know. Adrian’s fretless DF in Arctic Silver I’ve seen in only one video, and the same guitar was in a promotional image for no reason than to let folks know that Parker would happily build you a guitar without gluing on the frets.

mmmguitar wrote: ↑Sun Jan 03, 2021 12:54 am We need to reproduce these in captivity - They’re clearly endangered.

Haha seriously!

You raise an interesting topic about the colors—I think I’ve only seen the Belew Fly and DF in those colors. I’ve also only ever seen two Belewberry DF842s.

Bump. Fellow Belew Fly enthusiast Browndog Owner shared the Belew RMC parts numbers and list prices in their own Belew Fly reproduction thread:

1 set PBPF14-6 Pow'r Bridge PF 6-string 14" leads $ 349.
1 P-D 1 K Poly-Drive 1 miniature poly preamp $ 379.

…

For anyone wondering: The only instance of these guitars I’ve seen outside Adrian’s and Vince’s videos is a gentleman from one of the Facebook groups sharing a photo of his DF842AB. Hence, I’m afraid this thread will continue to center around Belew Fly Clone Projects:

Aside from Browndog, I and one or two others have been (very gradually) modding our Flys into a facsimile of Adrian’s, with one common deviation: No Variax.

For those unacquainted with the iterations of the Line 6 Variax, suffice to say there’s a great deal of overlap in ground covered between the COSM guitar models in Roland’s more recent hardware offerings (e.g. GR-55, SY-1000) and the most recent Variax 2.0 products (though a vguitarforums member named arislaf deserves a shoutout for painstakingly producing some lovely patch bundles that arguably improved upon the accuracy of Line 6’s circa-2010 guitar modeling still being sold in 2022).

Considering the Belew’s Variax integration was not full-featured (i.e. no interface/option for software editing tunings, banks, pot values and tapers, etc.), that aspect of the Belew Fly was unfortunately rendered obsolete before the guitar ever made it to market. Though due in-part to the Variax Workbench software not being available during the Belew’s R&D period, it is mainly owed to the “impossible” fit of components inside the Fly electronics cavity. When I asked Dennis about the omission of the Variax’s RJ-45 jack from the Fly, he claimed that he merely unplugged it from the main board in order to get everything to fit; and that the part could be plugged in with the cavity cover removed, if a Belew owner so desired.

Whether the Belew Fly’s onboard Variax 1.0 circuitry should stay in 2005 or inspire similar functionality through more modern means (e.g. a JTV Variax transplant to bring it into 2010, or just a heavier emphasis on 13 pin outboard gear to “future proof” it) is a topic that I feel shares much with the often-overlooked MIDIFly (an instrument some owners swear to be utterly irreplaceable as a recording tool). In my case, I own both a Variax and a Fly with full 13 pin/Sustainiac functionality, for the reason that I’d rather have two guitars than one and a half (though I admit the impending obsolescence of my Variax is leading me to consider selling it).

In the case of USM, Line 6, and Adrian himself, however, their individual decisions of where to go from Variax 1.0 paint a clear picture:

-The Variax functionality was dropped entirely from the second iteration of the guitar (the DF842AB),
-Line 6 reinvented the brand with the James Tyler/Variax 2.0 line (different hardware and expanded functionality), and
-Adrian had one or more of his Flys’ Variax components replaced with an onboard Antares ATG autotune kit (presumably to streamline recording). Note that Antares abandoned the Guitar Autotune product line so hard that the company currently pretends it never existed - Raising the question of what Adrian will end up having Andre Cholmondeley replace it with.

Add to that the inelegant workarounds of how the power and isolation requirements demanded by the three interfacing products crammed into the same cavity rout were integrated, and we can see how easy it may have been to write the Variax 1.0 hardware and its compromised functionality off as being the guitar’s most expendable feature (some claim “gimmick”).

It was also arguably the guitar’s most expensive feature: USM was buying Variaxes from Line 6 at-cost, and paying Dennis for the labor of transplanting the hardware with modification.

Those of us wishing to acquire a Belew Fly through reproductive means are therefore confronted with a question: Should the Variax 1.0 hex DSP circuitry that dates and relegates the Belew model to being a “product of its time” stay where it belongs in 2005 - or are the peculiarities of the guitar’s “kitchen sink” approach precisely what warrants preservation/reproduction?

I feel this vguitarforums post does a fine job of explaining the inherent shortcomings that relegated the Variax to being more of a novel concept than a successfully executed product:

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index ... ic=33898.0

has anybody ever found one of these guitars?with all the electronics in it?

@mapletop, I’ve seen a number of V1 (Fly with Variax) and V2 (DF842AB) listings over the years. Aside from the googled Reverb links, I recall seeing lime-gold and black V1 listings on eBay. I know Wildwood Guitars ordered a black V1; because they had Adrian demo it.

On the old Parker forums, there was a touring female artist I no longer recall the name of who sold her tangerine V1 in the classifieds after having mistakenly purchased it not knowing it required outboard 13 pin gear. I recall no others from that site.

Adrian was either told or (mis)heard/remembered that fewer than fifty of the V1 Flys were produced. In reality, that number seems to have been around fifteen. Adrian owns the tangerine prototype made by Axel Rudich (which appears to have started its life as a Ken-era Fly with the spring tension wheel) and three production models produced by USM and completed by Dennis Anesi in tangerine, artic silver, and lime gold. Allegedly, Adrian later had one of the Flys’ Variax components replaced with an Antares ATG kit - Though it’s likely this account was actually referring to the fretless 842.

Around five DF842ABs seem to have been produced: Adrian owns two in the form of a fretted Tangerine and fretless Arctic Silver with Antares ATG autotune. Vince Genella owns one in BelewBerry along with a tangerine V1, and I’ve seen two or three V2s change hands on auction sites.

I’ve sadly seen none for sale since at least 2018. I think two people in the Facebook groups own V1s.

https://reverb.com/item/407519-parker-a ... are-beauty
https://reverb.com/item/14206179-parker ... eluxe-2009
https://reverb.com/item/10303474-parker ... ine-orange
https://reverb.com/item/845440-parker-a ... ine-orange

https://reverb.com/item/274904-parker-u ... ue-b-stock
https://reverb.com/item/450023-parker-d ... -signature

Bump. Someone with a Tangerine Belew 1.0 hit up the Facebook groups asking the model be identified and appraised - Which means one of the three people most likely to purchase it through Messenger can be expected to immediately post it on Reverb for $12,000 plus $200 shipping, a 12 spring installed, and the proprietary power supply listed separately for $599.

mmmguitar wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 6:38 pm Bump. Someone with a Tangerine Belew 1.0 hit up the Facebook groups asking the model be identified and appraised - Which means one of the three people most likely to purchase it through Messenger can be expected to immediately post it on Reverb for $12,000 plus $200 shipping, a 12 spring installed, and the proprietary power supply listed separately for $599.

You beat me to it @mmmguitar. Yup someone posted about a Belew in the Facebook "Parker guitar owners and lovers" group. He might be itching to sell.

I’ve heard that

mmmguitar wrote: ↑Fri Apr 29, 2022 6:38 pm $599 proprietary power supply

goes up to eleven!


“Rare!!! L@@k!!!”

vjmanzo wrote: ↑Sat Apr 30, 2022 2:55 pm goes up to eleven!

“Rare!!! L@@k!!!”

“Even if you don’t own a Baloo model Fly, you know it can’t hurt owning one of these - So why wait until it’s too late?”

https://reverb.com/item/54992091-parker ... ature-2009

Nope, nope and nope for that price. Very interested to see how quick this goes!

Oof. If only I hadn’t gotten that Aristides two weeks ago, I’d have already bought the thing and swore to pay myself back, later. As it is, I got to the checkout screen, saw the final price, and looked around at all the guitars I’d have to sell in the next month or two just to try out the Belew. I’ll breathe a sigh of relief if someone buys the guitar before I can convince myself to throw one of mine on Reverb.

I feel your inner turmoil, Marc!!

Sorry I knew that would ruin a few people's day lol let the rationalizing begin I suppose if it was THE one and only bucket lister maybe but...

I mostly want that crushed velvet case

@mapletop

https://reverb.com/item/54992091-parker ... ature-2009

I keep telling myself that lime gold has always been my least favorite Belew finish, that I already have four Flys with 13 pin-outs (two with sustainiacs) to scratch that itch, that I didn’t just sell my Variax 2.0 to buy a 1.0 in a Fly body, that I’d rather still have the guitars I’d need to sell to justify owning just this one, etc.

At the same time, I’m cleaning the guitar I know I could list tomorrow and ship Monday if the listing is still up, and wondering how much Matte is willing to take off the final price if I contact him through his website.