the Fly Clone Project

Hi everyone! New Parker NiteFly owner here

I just got my hands on a Parker NiteFly, but I'm not sure which version it is. Can anyone help me identify the model? I'm having some issues with the electronics and hoping to find the wiring diagram to get it fixed.

Thanks a lot in advance!

roads9988 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 27, 2024 1:55 pm I just got my hands on a Parker NiteFly, but I'm not sure which version it is.

Though I'm no Nitefly expert, this PDF in the Nitefly History thread pinned just above yours seems to state that the pickguard-mounted mono/stereo push-button switch (known as the NiteMix preamp) and HSS pickup layout identifies it as a NFV4.

Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm mistaken about your serial 19074 indicating it was the 74th guitar built in January of '99 (1=month of the year, 9=1999, 074=production number of the month).

If you click the "Wiring Guides" link here or at the top of the page, you can scroll down to diagrams for the varying Nitefly iterations, as well as the NiteMix preamp. Feel free to reply to this post with a description of the problems you're having with the guitar - One of us will happily chime in with more prescriptive info.

Edit: Oh - And WELCOME! Once you have your electronics issues sorted, you may find other guitars forever spoiled for you.

Thanks a lot! Appreciate it.. hopefully i can get it to work again

as of now, completely no signal when plug in. Will be back with an update

roads9988 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2024 3:56 pm as of now, completely no signal when plug in. Will be back with an update

Have a fun surgery!

In the last photo you attached, a black wire connected to the magnetic tone pot appears to be broken. However, I can't tell if it's a trick of the angle, or not.

For the sake of anyone else who finds this thread:

The magnetic pickup circuit signal path outputted by the middle lug of the volume pot inputs into the NiteMix preamp in series (meaning the preamp determines whether the signal is passed on to the output jack, or not). If

-there's continuity measured between the jack's tip and shield lugs and the tip and shield at the other end of an inserted guitar cable, and
-a fresh 9v battery seems to be supplying power to the preamp (i.e., the red battery positive wire is connected to it, and the black battery negative wire has continuity to the shield portion of a 1/4" T/S or T/R/S plug when inserted into the jack),

and you're still not getting signal after trying the stereo/mono switch, bypassing the preamp by connecting the output of the middle lug of the volume pot directly to the tip lug of the output jack will either output a passive magnetic pickup signal (indicating a fault with the preamp), or indicate a faulty component further up in the magnetic pickup signal path.

If the NiteMix preamp itself is found to be faulty, there are no exact drop-in replacement preamps available; due to the preamp having been replaced by the Fishman Powerchip (which is still produced, and can be retrofitted). Because the push-button stereo/mono switching was abandoned for "smart-switching" piezo preamps beginning in the '00s, a NiteFly NFV3 or 4 retrofitted with a more modern preamp will lose the functionality of that switch; resulting in an unused hole in the pickguard where the switch/preamp assembly was previously mounted. This can be replaced with a similar pushbutton for an additional switching function, or the pickguard can be replaced.

thanks for all the help! manage to get the to come back to live! however the piezo isnt working..everything else is good. Sigh.. is there anything i should try troubleshooting?

roads9988 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2024 11:37 am Is there anything i should try troubleshooting?

Have you bypassed the piezo preamp or tested to determine if all the elements are working (or at least generating a bit of voltage when tapped)? Has the piezo volume pot been tested for continuity and the expected resistance? If you've narrowed the issue down to the NiteMix preamp and determined that it's receiving power from the battery, there's not much to be done without getting hands-on with the preamp under a magnifying glass to see if there are any corroded or burnt spots on the PCB.

For as frustrating as chasing electronics gremlins always is, the upside is that the worst case scenario seems to still guarantee a working guitar (i.e., replacing an obsolete component at the end of its lifespan with the current version).

Thanks! will give these a try and update again