the Fly Clone Project

The description says that all the original parts are there. They are just all in plastic bags. I haven't seen it in person yet, just photos on an auction site. There's a new pickguard, so that's good. Saturday I'll know more what I've gotten myself into once it is in my hands.

Part of the description says

This guitar features an Original stereo side jack and owner installed mono side jack
This guitar is not in working condition and will need restoration. All original hardware needed for guitar is included in this listing
Last 3 photos in listing are the Original pickguard (modified) front and back, and the replacement pickguard front

Owner installed mono side jack doesn't sound real good.
The original pickguard has a couple of extra holes in it and appears to be completely covered on the back with something metallic. Is that metallic stuff normal?

Hopefully it hasn't been too desecrated.
This site has already been really helpful to me in figuring out what I may need to put it back in shape.
Thanks to everyone that has helped build this knowledge base.

With just the text to go by, the “metallic stuff” covering the underside of the pickguard sounds like foil shielding; which will hopefully mitigate some of the single coil hum. Looking forward to seeing what you ended up with.

mmmguitar wrote: ↑Thu Sep 23, 2021 1:36 am Looking forward to seeing what you ended up with.

I second that, @ClydeCrashcup! Looking forward to hearing/seeing that NFV2 in action!

So, I took possession today of the guitar and parts. With commission and sales tax it was $330. Very happy about that!
Overall I think it looks really good. The neck looks like new. The tuners look oxidized but functional.
There is a new pickguard. The old one has some extra holes in it.

BTW, This is what I had to go on from the auction website.

As much as I can piece together, the guitar was in the possession of a luthier who either had it for themself as a project or it was brought to them by a client who may have decided it wasn't worth fixing.

So, my biggest fear was confirmed in that it looks like the owner tried to add another jack to the guitar. I can't really imagine why or how but it appears that they butchered the attempt.

I don't have the stomach just yet to unscrew the chrome plate as I can already see the body has been a bit mutilated by power tools in the hands of someone that has no business wielding them. I think that's really the worst of it but there's a lot more to figure out.
One of the bags of parts had an extra saddle in it [from what I've read these are "dog bone" saddles?] along with two teeny tiny what look like ball bearings. [seen in the top left corner of the plastic bag below] I was wondering about them until I lifted the tape on the bridge and it looks like the two little ball bearings are missing from the low E string saddle. I'm guessing I can't just pop them back in place? So does that mean that I need to snip the lead and remove the old saddle [leaving enough lead to solder to the lead of the replacement saddle] and replace it with the new saddle? There are two switches. The one in the bag is a 5 position switch. The metal bit the sticks through the pickguard has been bent at a 90 degree angle. Not sure why or how. The other switch is a 3 position switch [made in Germany]. I haven't checked the spec to see if the Nitefly came with the 3 position or the 5.

There are 3 knobs and one small 3 position toggle switch. The three pickups... Must have hit a limit on the # of pics I can attach...

Here's a closeup of the front of the body
[finish on the guitar is fine. Reflections are tree leaves and sky above me.] And the back Other things that came with it. I understand the whammy bar and the two T shaped allen keys. The smaller one fits the bridge saddles. The other fits the bridge height adjusters on the back and also the hole in the back having to do with the whammy bar. Is there a purpose for the metal rod? Oh, wait. I think that's for the neck relief knob where the neck meets the pickguard.

My plan is to put it back to its original stock form. I was thinking of putting an active upgrade [fishman power chip] in it but I found a fishman powerblend on ebay that should be here sooner than I could use it.

There is only one set of tremolo springs so I'm guessing it is still as it shipped. I need to confirm whether they shipped with 10s or 11s on them when new.

There were definitely not enough little black wood screws to secure the pickguard and rear plate. I'm guessing that Stewmac has that covered.

Now for a deep dive into wiring diagrams of the NFV2.

Just read in the Players Guide that Nitefly guitars came with .009-.042 strings on them so I guess I was wrong about the .010s or .011s then.

Also, have been seeing on photos and videos of the tremolo springs in the back, that nobody has the screws screwed all the way in like mine does. Not sure how I should go about adjusting it properly but I'm sure that can't be done until there are strings on it.
I landed a Fishman Powerblend on Ebay too. I figured it was either that or install a PowerChip [pre-amp] with a battery in the guitar.

Hi @ClydeCrashcup,

This is great for $330! Nice!

Here’s some info on the ball bearings. If you have the ball bearings you can just pop them in place on the saddle that’s missing them.

Looks like the previous owner had issues with the piezo smart-switching and decided to route them permanently to separate jacks. Not the worst mod I’ve seen.

NiteFlys typically came with 9s (or 10s by request). The type of claw-spring system in the NiteFly is nowhere near as nuanced as the Fly, so, in principle, you tighten the claw with the screw like you would a Strat vibrato system.

Keep it up!

Welcome ClydeCrashcup
I have seen a video of those small ball bearings being glued back into place with CA Glue JFYI
IIRC it was Dave's World of Fun Stuff on YouTube

Looks like you have a nice project Guitar too..
I recently picked up a Trashed Parker Fly Deluxe.
Also those trem springs appear the same as the ones Fender & Others use.
I have a bag full of them from over the years removing them from guitars that didn't require 3-5

Good Luck with your Restoration of the NFV2
Gary/Fly Rod

One of the bags of parts had an extra saddle in it [from what I've read these are "dog bone" saddles?] along with two teeny tiny what look like ball bearings. [seen in the top left corner of the plastic bag below] I was wondering about them until I lifted the tape on the bridge and it looks like the two little ball bearings are missing from the low E string saddle. I'm guessing I can't just pop them back in place? So does that mean that I need to snip the lead and remove the old saddle [leaving enough lead to solder to the lead of the replacement saddle] and replace it with the new saddle?

I found a couple of guitar repair videos where a guy just glues the ball bearings back in the saddle using superglue. He even says you can buy these ball bearings from a hobby shop. Details in this video.

https://youtu.be/-KTjiPiAaPs

I'm going to try the glue method first since I've got a replacement saddle in case it doesn't work but I don't see a problem since this guy Dave has glued them back in on more than one guitar.

As long as the neck doesn't have any chipping, everything here looks good and you can make it into whatever you like in a guitar.
I wouldn't try to revert it back to stock, but try to make it yours. Make it work with 2 jacks, rewire everything. The cost is low and you can really have a great unique player!

+1 what @jb63 said

Neck looks immaculate. Can't wait to string it up and see/feel how it plays.

The "Extra Jack" installed is another story. I finally got up the nerve to remove the screws and peek under the chrome jack panel. And yeah, the second factory jack panel screw hasn't got much but air to bite into now.
Not quite as bad as the Fly found out for the trash collection but...

And check out the ace wiring job.

Good to hear the neck is fine!
I don't se any of the routing as a problem. Sloppy, but they left a lot of wood.

My brain sees the sloppy routing as grounds for opportunity I think @jb63 probably thinks the same way!

Maybe through a Sustainiac or Fernandes Sustainer in that body and put an "engage" button back there?

I personally like the idea of having multiple pickup signals to work with--on your guitar, it could be like Rickenbacker's Rick-o-Sound!
And, here's something just to show some of the potential of layering multiple pickup signals simultaneously (40 seconds in) in case you decide to go that...route

Interesting possibilities suggested there. I have never wired a guitar before so just putting it back as it came from Parker is challenge enough for my little brain.

So I learned some more things. One is that the two things in the plastic bag that looked like the two ball bearings for the piezo saddle were one ball bearing for the piezo saddle and a blob of solder that was nearly a match for the ball bearing. Luckily I had the extra saddle and I promptly levered the ball bearings out of it. I learned that they are glued together and glued to the piezo transducer. I popped the pair of ball bearings into the saddle on the guitar just before I strung up the low E string.

Yesterday and today I mounted all the electronics [pickups, knobs, switches] on the original pickguard. I did this because it has two extra holes drilled in it. I think that at some point this guitar had a midi contraption on it. There are also two screw holes in the body where one of those Roland things could have been screwed on. I had gotten the 5 way switch wired but couldn't find a circuit diagram for wiring the mag and piezo circuits through the 3 position toggle to the output jack so that the 3 positions would be Mag/Mag+Piezo/Piezo. I had an idea but didn't want to solder it up without experimenting so I fed the wires from the output jack and the hot wires and ground from the Mags and Piezo through the two holes. This way I could test out my idea by connecting various leads. The 3 position switch is a DPDT On/Off/On type of switch. When I tried connecting the wires in the combinations I had thought would work with the switch I found that my idea of having the switch ground the lead from the Mag or Piezo in the switch positions where it should be one or the other sort of worked, but there was a lot of signal loss. So it looks like I need to get a DPDT switch that is an On/On/On type. I can't figure out how they wired it with the On/Off/On switch. If anyone knows how it's done please let me know.


In any case, the Mags all work through the 5-way switch and the Mag Volume and Mag Tone knobs work. I need to find out what the distance from each pickup to the strings should be.

The Piezo also works but the volume knob doesn't really. It's off when turned counterclockwise but it goes from off to full volume by turning the knob only 30 degrees. When the knob gets to the max clockwise it goes off again. Not sure if I wired it wrong but I didn't see any other option. If someone has images or wiring diagrams of an NFV2 I would really appreciate getting that info.

So I strung it up today with a set of 09|42 strings for the first time.
I got them all up to pitch and my heart sank because even though the action at the 22nd fret was not really low some of the open strings just buzzed and buzzed. I loosened the truss rod to the next hole in the wheel and that helped some. I could see what I would consider an amount of relief that should be close enough but still there was loads of buzzing. I started playing some notes and chords up and down the fretboard and no really buzzing. So I think the problem is that someone cut some of the slots in the nut too low. I should check the nut to see if a 10 or 11 E string would fit in it but I don't think that thicker strings would make a difference with the buzzing open strings. I put a capo at the first fret and it seems to play nicely so I think it's going to need a new nut.

So I got it wired up mostly. See my previous post for all the gruesome details.
In this pic there is a capo on the first fret because someone cut the nut so low that the open D and G strings just buzz on the first fret. The capo let me make sure the rest of the neck was ok. I have since put a 1.75mm piece of wire under the strings up against the nut to make a "0 fret" temporarily just to make it kind of playable until I get the nut problem solved.
The wires coming out of the two extra holes the previous owner left in the pickguard are the leads to the stereo output jack and the leads coming from the Mag volume, piezo bridge, piezo volume. [Luckily this "kit" guitar came with a new pickguard.] I did this so I could test out my theories using alligator clip jumpers as to how to go about wiring the 3 position DPDT On Off On switch before soldering it all up. I think I have determined that it can't be done with an On Off On switch and that I need an On On On switch to get the Mag/Mag+Piezo/Piezo outputs from that switch. I don't really understand how the On Off On switch is supposed to work in that capacity. If anyone knows... Please.
Also, any advice on what to do about the nut?
Is there something I can use to build the slots back up?
What's it made of? Can I get one?
What should the string height be at the first fret?

You CAN get a new nut, I don't have a link but someone will, I hope.
I use a few guitars with a zero fret and I love it! You may want to keep your fix if it works!

OK, so here it is in its first incarnation. Zero fret is currently a piece of orange wire [with plastic insulation! I just realized I should replace it with a piece of black wire. DOH!] that is about 1.75 mm according to my digital caliper.
Anyone know what the string height at the first fret should be?
It still has the original pickguard that was modified by the previous owner. There's two extra holes in it and you can't see it but the Mag volume hole was drilled out to be larger.
Figured I'd wait to put the new pickguard on when it's really done and I have all the screws for the pickguard and rear plate. There were a lot missing.
Still need to figure out why the piezo volume doesn't work properly. Not critical since I now have the Fishman Powerblend volume pedal thingy. I connected the piezo directly to the 3 position switch for now. It would be nice to have the piezo volume knob working though.
Getting to know it by playing it. I play acoustic mostly so this is VERY different for me. Getting to know the guitar, the feel of the neck. How to approach picking. And .009s! That's really going to take some getting used to. Not at all like my dreadnaught. And truth be told I'm much more a drummer than a guitar player but I've wanted a Parker ever since I saw Adrian Belew playing them. Very excited to have one now.

So it is playable and I am loving playing it. Woohoo!
There are only a few things to be ironed out at this point I think.

I had to guess at how to wire the piezo volume knob as it appeared there was only one choice but it didn't quite work. The volume went from off to maximum in about 15 degrees of clockwise rotation and went off again at max rotation. So I bypassed the knob and wired the piezo directly to the output. I got a real bargain on a Fishman Powerblend pedal on ebay so I adjust the piezo volume there. [winning bid $85! Woohoo!] But it would still be great if I got that knob working. The foot pedal is very awkward to use. [but at least now I have tone controls and a pre-amp]

The only other thing I am questioning and think I probably have wrong is the 5-way switch wiring for position 2. I found a wiring diagram for a guitar with two single coils with a humbucker at the bridge that in position 2 combined the middle pickup with only the North pole of the humbucker. This was supposed to use the humbucker as a single coil in a noise cancelling configuration with the middle pickup. I think it's not quite right because the output level on position 2 is much lower than any of the other positions and sounds very hollow. It's not like position 4 where it is just as loud and the 60 hz hum disappears.

I replaced the orange wire I had as a zero fret with a black one so now you can't see it, but it really needs a new nut. In the meantime.. does anyone know what the string height at the first fret should be on the high and low E strings? My zero fret piece of wire is 1.75 mm and I'd like to try to get that dialed in so the action is a close to where it should be. Right now I'm seeing .5 mm at the first fret.

One more question...
I imagine that the routed part of the body is painted with some conductive paint to limit hum and interference. Can someone confirm this? Is there a way to test it? I have tried poking at it in various places with the leads of my multi meter but don't get it to beep.
The pickguard is covered on the back with metal adhesive tape but the rear cover is not.

Thanks.