the Fly Clone Project

Hello again,

I am still on a quest to get my first Fly . I have looked everywhere I could find, contacted some people about their announcements and I found some specimens. Most of them unfortunetly overpriced in my opinion. The ones near me have a lot of paint issues and rusty hardware from saddles to vibrato balance wheels. I begin to get the feeling US prices are going higher than European prices nowadays... This is good news for me! I read a lot about springs and nuts in the meantime and I think I will have trouble getting my Fly with .011 or .012 after finding a $/€150 spring and I will probably have to look for a compatible nut too.. Right?

In the good old days I believe Parker offered at no charge 0.11 and 0.12 springs if you would called them. Would they send a new nut for those springs too? Corian nuts is what I should look for... Right?

Anyway I am trying to negotiate between 3 or 4 "flies" I found so far and I am confident it will lead me to a nice Parker Fly (fingers crossed). In all the research made I gather of course a lot of info and I am now at a point I would appreciate some help concerning witch Parker will suit better my needs between Deluxe, Classic and Mojo Vibrato and no Vibrato models. I learned from one post here in the Fly Clone that the pre 2003 Classics, specially the hardtails could be the lightest ones, what will be the weight difference between 2 identical Guitars one Vibrato and another hardtail? (it feels strange to call the first Flys "pre-refined", as from what I've learned the pre-refined are much more refined in comparison to the following ones)

I play a lot acoustic and mostly clean when I play electric guitar: straight to the amp only with a little reverb. I started to learn Guitar in a Nylon classical Guitar and the sound I like the most to ear from myself even today is me playing with my finger nails. Like VJMANZO I also have a Godin Multiac that I use a lot live amplified with my AER acousticubes or practicing at home simply acoustically. I try to avoid using my nails too much with steel strings and when I am soloing so I use a 2.0mm pick in those moments. I prefer strong gauges and even on my Strat I have 0.11, but I am comfortable with 12-52 that I use in my Jazz boxes and hollow and semi hollow body guitars.

At this point I must say @vjmanzo I was very impressed with the piezo sound you recorded with the Aura 16 System and one of your Flys - man what a Great Parker collection you have!

I would like to have a go with the Godin Slim neck Nylon, I tend to prefer the narrow necks than the wider ones, one can find in the traditional classical Guitar (I have relatively big hands but not so long fingers . I think I will be Ok with the fly, as far as I understand they have narrow, slim necks in the 1st fret and it goes wider down to the the 24th. I play some Jazz Fusion, Bossa Nova, complex pop and rock, but I like pretty much everything from classical to rock. Very hard rock and Metal is not really my thing. I tend to be impressed with very colorful (for some conservative people - dissonant ) harmonies, with emphasis in acoustic sound. I love a good "old" solid wood archtop sound too. I am lucky to have a Ephiphone Triumph Regent built in New York in 1952 I bought in California 2012 - I could not afford an L5 and the EPi was a great surprise

Arriving at this point and although from everything I heard and read I know any Parker Fly will cover a lot music ground with all the pickup options, what would you Fly masters recommend me looking for? Taking in consideration what I said above from what I am expecting from sound and weight. I unfortunately still did not have the chance to play any fly and I just can't go to a nearby shop and try 5 of 6 different Fly models nowadays, they are gone. The nearest Fly Deluxe I found is about 500KM away, rusty and with a lot of paint issues, God knows what else in person...

What are are the big differences between the 4 or 5 "standard" models: Deluxe, Classic, Jazz/Mojo, Artist and Hardtail? What would you say will sound better for example through a fender blackface amp in clean mode? I am concerned that a Fly with Dimarzio Deluxe will sound a little too sterile because is intended to be used with plenty effects/distortion as opposed to a Seymour Duncan Jazz in a Jazz/Mojo. Could you please point me in the right direction? I have not much experience with basswood or poplar, but I also don't want to sacrifice much over the 2,5Kg

Regards
RR

Thanks for the kind words, @rmrosa—I’m glad the Fishman Aura video was helpful!

My personal opinion is that the Flys are all quite versatile and you really can’t go wrong. Ken didn’t design them, specifically, to be heavily processed, so although they also sound great when juiced up with effects, they really all do sound terrific clean. I mean—really: they sound awesome!

People hate on the Gen 1 pickups for being cold, but if you’re comfortable with the process of dialing a good tone via your amp and your fingers, you’ll be warm by the fire in no time!

Regarding the different timbres of each Fly, here’s an excerpt from a post you may find helpful where a fellow forum member was asking specifically about the Fly Artist:

vjmanzo wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 6:36 pm Happy to respond and speak highly of my Fly Artist, other Fly Artists I’ve played, and my two Fly Concerts, which are effectively Fly Artists without magnetic pickups. Of all the Flys I’ve owned, the Fly Artist, to me, sounds the least like all the others; granted, the different tonewoods all have their own character, and no two guitars even of the same model and same tree sound the same.

The Fly Artist is more acoustic-ish than a Deluxe, for example, and, with moderate overdrive, breaks up in a more diffuse manner. The Fly Hardtail (a.k.a. Stealth), by contrast, has a much more prominent fundamental and a very tight frequency response that is particularly noticeable in the low end.

Clean, the Fly Artist will sing and be full-bodied and potentially the fullest electric guitar you’ve ever played and with a pleasing clarity in terms of note separation. To be fair though, most Flys are capable of this.

The Parker Guitars website had this tone-wood guide, which, in my opinion, was helpful and accurate.

#WoodTypes

I use my Fly Concert regularly and I love how light it is—it especially sings with bronze strings. However, the lack of magnetic pickups limits its versatility—so you really need two!

Do you intend to use the vibrato much? A good Hardtail definitely removes some of the variables that can make it more challenging to separate the good from the bad when looking for one used.

vjmanzo wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 9:45 pm
Do you intend to use the vibrato much? A good Hardtail definitely removes some of the variables that can make it more challenging to separate the good from the bad when looking for one used.

Not really and that was also my though at the beginning: without vibrato I would avoid many problems, and "win" actually loose some weight

Even if every Parker can sound good clean as you say, would you recommend one more for clean, jazzy tone? An Artist perhaps, they seem to be very rare nowadays, on the used market...

rmrosa wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 9:54 pm would you recommend one more for clean, jazzy tone?

When I do clean fingerstyle playing and I want warmth, I reach for my Fly Mojo with the Jazz neck pickup. I use D’Addario 10s, I have the bridge blocked, and I’m very happy with the results. If I need a little more articulation for each note, I dial in the piezo and it’s just the right thing.

That could be a good direction for you The Mojo is a little heavier and it only comes in the vibrato flavor, but if that’s not a deal-breaker, maybe that’s a good place to start.

vjmanzo wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 10:01 pm

rmrosa wrote: ↑Mon Dec 12, 2022 9:54 pm would you recommend one more for clean, jazzy tone?

When I do clean fingerstyle playing and I want warmth, I reach for my Fly Mojo with the Jazz neck pickup. I use D’Addario 10s, I have the bridge blocked, and I’m very happy with the results. If I need a little more articulation for each note, I dial in the piezo and it’s just the right thing.

That could be a good direction for you The Mojo is a little heavier and it only comes in the vibrato flavor, but if that’s not a deal-breaker, maybe that’s a good place to start.

But then you are playing a heavier thing, right? Mojo or Jazz Flys are heavier with the mahogany parts right?

Thanks for your advices

Yes, Mojos and Classics are a little heavier than other Flys, but not “heavy” by any other guitar’s standard.

I'm used to my Gibson ES330, it's s a <2,8Kg Guitar and I would like very much to go below the 2,5Kg line with the Parker. Do you have an idea what is the specific weight of your different Parkers?

A Mojo is about 6lbs (2,7Kg), so you’re close. If you swap out the knobs for the lighter rubber ones Ken used, you’ll be closer to your target even given the added weight of the mahogany neck and body. Small weight considerations like that were Ken’s passion with the original Fly: the knobs, the flex PCB wiring, the choice of wood, the truss system, etc. All of those things were changed after the first decade at Parker Guitars.

One alternative to the Mojo is to get the benefit of the lighter Deluxe or Artist Flys, and put a bit of effort into dialing in a mellower tone—which is not impossible. I really don’t think you can go wrong with any Fly and a little bit of patience dialing in the tone you’re after.

Here is a beautiful 1994 Deluxe at a decent price.
In France.

https://www.zikinf.com/annonces/annonce-2119474

Thank you @Patzag I had already seen it and contacted the seller