the Fly Clone Project

I recently had my gen 1 pickups replaced with gen 2 because the people at dimarzio refused to custom wire me up some hotter pups, even though they advertise it on they're website. They sound better, not quite the power I'm looking for (I play metal mostly), but they'll work. The problem is that I pick up radio stations, with every pup or piezo setting. Some said it could be a cold solder, or a broken ribbon cable. I asked my luthier, and he said he thinks its the ribbon cable. Maybe he fucked it up when doing the repairs, who knows?

I've tried finding a replacement ribbon cable, and that seems impossible. My luthier was trying to talk me into rewiring it passively. Can anyone weigh in on that, pros vs cons? Or where to find a ribbon cable? Or how to get dimarzio to wire me up a custom set of high output pups?

Spirit-Crusher wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:23 pm I pick up radio stations, with every pup or piezo setting. Some said it could be a cold solder, or a broken ribbon cable. I asked my luthier, and he said he thinks its the ribbon cable. Maybe he fucked it up when doing the repairs, who knows?

Did it start doing this only after your tech swapped the pickups?

Spirit-Crusher wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:23 pm I've tried finding a replacement ribbon cable, and that seems impossible.

They’ll come eventually. I’m afraid that’s as much as I know.

Spirit-Crusher wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:23 pm My luthier was trying to talk me into rewiring it passively. Can anyone weigh in on that, pros vs cons?

You can rewire your Fly “point-to-point” active with a Fishman Powerchip and keep everything the same, with the exception of losing the stacked concentric piezo tone controls (though perhaps someone will chime in as to how to retain that pot) and the mono/stereo switch (the Powerchip switches between these automatically if you plug a stereo cable in).

Do you specifically want to rewire the Fly passive, or was that strictly the tech’s suggestion? The “downside” is that you lose the piezo preamp and active controls/signal buffering.

Spirit-Crusher wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:23 pm Or how to get dimarzio to wire me up a custom set of high output pups?

At the moment, you would need to be a signature artist. Did Steve or whomever you contacted refuse to wind one of the models they claim to make for Flys, or did you specify only that you want a hotter, custom pickup? Because if the Gen 2s aren’t hot enough or voiced right for your metal needs (even with the pickups raised closer to the strings), then you may want to consider going with a winder other than Dimarzio or modding the Fly so you can put your preferred pickups in. You could also pick up a NiteFly and use whatever pickups you want.

mmmguitar wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:17 pm

Spirit-Crusher wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:23 pm I pick up radio stations, with every pup or piezo setting. Some said it could be a cold solder, or a broken ribbon cable. I asked my luthier, and he said he thinks its the ribbon cable. Maybe he fucked it up when doing the repairs, who knows?

Did it start doing this only after your tech swapped the pickups?
YES

Spirit-Crusher wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:23 pm I've tried finding a replacement ribbon cable, and that seems impossible.

They’ll come eventually. I’m afraid that’s as much as I know.

Spirit-Crusher wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:23 pm My luthier was trying to talk me into rewiring it passively. Can anyone weigh in on that, pros vs cons?

You can rewire your Fly “point-to-point” active with a Fishman Powerchip and keep everything the same, with the exception of losing the stacked concentric piezo tone controls (though perhaps someone will chime in as to how to retain that pot) and the mono/stereo switch (the Powerchip switches between these automatically if you plug a stereo cable in).

Do you specifically want to rewire the Fly passive, or was that strictly the tech’s suggestion? The “downside” is that you lose the piezo preamp and active controls/signal buffering.
That was the techs suggestion

Spirit-Crusher wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 1:23 pm Or how to get dimarzio to wire me up a custom set of high output pups?

At the moment, you would need to be a signature artist. Did Steve or whomever you contacted refuse to wind one of the models they claim to make for Flys, or did you specify only that you want a hotter, custom pickup? Because if the Gen 2s aren’t hot enough or voiced right for your metal needs (even with the pickups raised closer to the strings), then you may want to consider going with a winder other than Dimarzio or modding the Fly so you can put your preferred pickups in. You could also pick up a NiteFly and use whatever pickups you want.

I just asked for one of the pups they offered to make for a fly. I have been thinking about grabbing a nitefly, if I can find one fairly priced.

@Spirit-Crusher, I hate to say it, but that tech sounds like bad news. Getting radio signals means there’s a ground issue he caused - Not that the whole guitar should be rewired passive. All he had to do was solder each new pickup’s leads to the same five places he unsoldered the old ones from. His suggestion reads as though he’s wanting to rewire the guitar into something he’s more familiar with by throwing the baby out with the bath water and starting from scratch, rather than admit he doesn’t know how to troubleshoot a 90s Parker Fly.

Given that you’re getting radio signal in all mono/stereo, piezo-only, and humbucker selections, the grounding issue may be at the Fishman preamp, the mag/mix/piezo switch, the master volume pot, or the jack - Unfortunately, the delicate nature of the old ribbon assembly means that a whole lot could go wrong without being as obvious as in point-to-point wiring; where the signal path is pretty linear and connections are straightforward to check for continuity as you go down the line testing switches, pots, and jacks.

Depending on which pickup Dimarzio refused to wind for a Fly, you could still get away with swapping or trimming the baseplate of the pickup you want(ed).

Again, sorry you’ve had so much trouble just trying to dial the guitar in to your preferences. If you could post any photos of the Fly’s control cavity, it’s possible one of us may spot something - A grounding issue affecting the output of two parallel circuits (mag and piezo) is pretty difficult to diagnose in this case without having the guitar on-hand. If it was anything other than a 90s Fly, I’d say the gremlin surely lies at the end of the signal path in the guitar, between where the mag and piezo signals converge and the jack.

Where in the PNW are you? I'm in Seattle if you need help.

Got a picture of inside the Fly to see if the ribbon is actually damaged? I agree with others that is unlikely and it is another wiring/soldering issue.

dayn wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 11:33 am Where in the PNW are you? I'm in Seattle if you need help.

Got a picture of inside the Fly to see if the ribbon is actually damaged? I agree with others that is unlikely and it is another wiring/soldering issue.

Hey I just saw this. Im in Oregon. I will post pictures shortly. Thank you!