the Fly Clone Project

hello please help I'm desperate. a car accident devastated my fly artist. is there a way of fixing the damage?

@Guitarhawk60, I moved your post to its own thread. Firstly, allow me to reassure you that it appears to be repairable, and perhaps even not as bad as it looks in some areas: Most of the photos demonstrate what appears to be cosmetic damage - When you removed the strings, was the neck shifting at all, around where the joint had strained and caused the finish to crack? Is the back of the neck bulging anywhere? I see bits of paint missing along the edges of the fingerboard - but can't clearly see if the wood is entirely broken, or if the paint has merely broken off.

Though I can't speak with certainty from seeing only the photos, it appears that most of the "devastation" is an injury commonly seen amongst Flys which have fallen out of stands or otherwise incurred an impact in which the carbon reinforcement on the back means that the front of the neck joint is the only part which flexes; causing finish cracks to form along the face of the neck-body joint from the start of the body on each side of the neck and running to the neck pickup cavity rout (which is all sitka spruce wood; with no carbon fiber) - In which case a repair could be as straightforward as wicking some Titebond wood glue into any cracks or fissures which extend into the wood, then refinishing those areas. Of course, a transparent refinish will leave the repair fills visible - So you might prefer to go with a luthier able and willing to inlay some spruce veneer and/or splines, if need be (depending on if there's indeed some structural damage on the front to correct and cover which requires extra stabilization - I can't speak to that without having the guitar on a workbench).

For any potential breaks alongside the edges of the neck and fingerboard, that's basswood which could be repaired in much the same way as the face of the guitar, but with the extra step of any potential breaks in the CF potentially requiring repair and reinforcement with an epoxy before being painted over, in the event the area has been weakened enough to flex or crack under tension.

The main potential problems to identify are whether the truss rod is intact and working, and if the CF fingerboard is separating from where it's adhered to the neck at all - Those are Fly-specific repairs, rather than the more general wood repairs described above which can be glued and painted over by a competent repairperson.


In the above photo, am I seeing a break which extends down that side of the neck? If so, is the section of the neck attached to the fingerboard separated (or separating) on that side? Of the photos you posted, that's the most severe-looking damage.

If there's more obvious damage or symptoms beyond what I noted seeing in the photos, please let us know. Anything's repairable - It's just a matter of what needs done, and how realistic the expectations for the repair are. The worst of it should be over for you, now.

And welcome to the community. I'm sorry your visit isn't under more pleasant circumstances - But we'll certainly try to help.

+1 to everything mmmguitar has mentioned here, @Guitarhawk60; if you explore each point of what he’s said you’ll be able to better assess what’s going on. Please let us know how it goes.

mmmguitar's assessment is excellent, but I don't think this is a DIY repair job. It very likely could be repaired, Parkers can be amazingly resilient despite taking some ugly damage, but it all depends on whether the wood is actually broken or the varnish is just messed up, and how much money you want to put into it.
...which brings me to another point: You said it was a car accident (I hope everyone else is Ok!). Depending on who's at fault and all that legal stuff, this could be something insurance would cover, ...depending on your insurance and all that.

Sorry to see that!
I'll also echo what mmmguitar has nicely summarized!

I can't speak to the specifics of the Fly's construction because I have no direct experience with them, but as a 'rule of thumb', when looking at shock damage such as this, the finish crack will usually follow the wood grain if there is an actual break.

Fractures which run at angles to the grain normally indicates finish damage. That's what I see, at least on the front.

That line you see on the neck is a 'witness' line where the neck joins the body, very commonly seen on heelless set necks which have suffered an "oopsie". Not usually fatal, more cosmetic than structural.

Based only on the pictures I think a lot of what we see is some light separation and finish repair.
None of this will replace a physical inspection of course, but I trust it may help relieve some of the anxiety you must be experiencing.

Best of luck with the repairs!