the Fly Clone Project

Hi everyone!

Great forum. So my friend gave me his NiteFly SA to fix. It's a passive model (no preamp) and had a bunch of issues, like frets falling off etc.

Now the only thing left is the pag/piezo pickup switch, it isn’t working the way it should. I can get a mag sound in two positions, but not the piezo combination or just piezo. Same for the piezo if I connect a stereo cable and only use the piezo out.

The mag/piezo pickup switch had been broken in the past and had been replaced by a miniature version by someone, so I didn't have the original. After searching I found this website with an active model.

I noticed the switch was an C&K and it looked like a 7103 as in attached picture, these are ON-OFF-ON switches according to the digikey website. https://www.digikey.com/products/en/swi ... ageSize=25

Everything was repaired… but still no combined signal of mag/piezo. I rewired it the way I got it...
Unless the switch in the picture I found wasn’t original, I can’t find why I cannot get a signal from both mag and piezo pickups.

Who can help? Did I buy the wrong switch? https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=CKN9696-ND
Or did perhaps the previous repair person made a mistake and I just redid his work…

Thanks!
J.J.

Hi @niteflysa, and welcome to the forum!

Yes, if you have the NiteFly version 1 or 2, then you have the two passive piezo NiteFlys that were intended to operate with the external “NiteMix”. You can tell the guitar is passive if there’s no battery compartment on the back.

The slideshow shows an active NiteFly and, yes, that on-off-on switch is for the active Fishman preamp. You’ve probably already seen this electronics diagram. I think yours should be the same switch, but I don’t know for sure, so perhaps others will chime in with better insight; I don’t own one myself, but I do, oddly, own a NiteMix!

If I had to guess where the problem is occurring, it’s with the stereo mono switch. The fact that you’re getting both mags and piezo is a very good sign!

Hopefully others will have some better insights!

This model doens't have a stereo/mono switch, it does have a stereo jack.

Okay; I think I’ll defer to someone that owns this particular NiteFly, but, for reference, here’s the NiteFly History document.

Based on the first page, I’m inclined to think that your NiteFly may actually be functioning normally. Again: others may chime in, and I’ll do some digging through other documents I have about how the piezo elements on the NFV1 and NFV2 function without the NiteMix or another piezo preamp.

With a stereo cable plugged in, do you get the mags on one side and piezo (weak signal) on the other??

You may be right... I found this youtube video for a 1997

That would make sense; the more I think about it (also, having now had more coffee) I think that’s what’s going on.

Like I said: if you use a TRS cable and can hear both discrete signals, and the switch works as you’d expect (just mags, both, just piezo) then the missing NiteMix is the reason!

Looks like I did it right, just didn't know the guitar worked that way! I believe my friend doesn't have the NiteMix...
Thanks for the help!

Glad it worked! Congrats!!


It’s okay if your friend doesn’t have the NiteMix; it’s just a piezo preamp in an enclosure. You can use a TRS and a small mixer and achieve the same result, or just use a TRS and go to two different amps. You just need something in front of the piezo to amplify it, but you don’t need that in front of the mags.