the Fly Clone Project

I've wanted a Parker Fly for a long time and was finally able to secure one last month for a really good price. It's a 94 Fly Deluxe in black and it's definitely a keeper. I love the weight, I love the sound. I wish the neck was a little thicker and the fretboard was a little flatter, and I wish the upper horn wasn't so pointy, but it's still a great guitar. Having said that, mine has a few extra issues that I'd love to get some guidance on addressing, which is what brings me here.

What needs fixed:
- The preamp is picking up radio. It's not too noticeable while playing, particularly if using a noisegate, but it's there. I haven't removed the electronics yet for a closer inspection, but nothing seems obviously wrong at a cursory glance. I've tried different cables and tried messing with all of the controls (including the internal trim pot). Nothing seems to affect the volume of the radio signal.
- There are two finish cracks on either side of the fretboard where the neck meets the body. The neck joint itself seems to be perfectly stable, it's just the finish that's cracked. It's not noticeable to anyone except the player when looking down at the guitar, but I'd rather not accidentally chip it further, so I'm going to look into how to touch up those finish cracks.
- It did not come with a tremolo bar. If anyone has a spare to sell me I'd be very interested.
- I would also like to get a gig bag or case if anyone would be willing to part with one of those, or if anyone can recommend something that fits the Fly well while protecting the headstock.

Anyway, time to do some digging through the forum.

@Crumplepunch, Congrats on the acquisition, and welcome to this little corner of the Parker Guitars community. Though I can't offer a solution to all you've mentioned, we can certainly get started on some of them:

The good news about your black finish is that you can fill cracks and chips with black CA glue, then sand and polish the filled areas by hand.

You can relocate the strap button on the upper horn to the "crook" of it so that it doesn't poke you.

I'm currently experimenting with increasing the neck thickness of a '90s Fly; and will eventually post my findings. In case you want to acquire others: Flys from 2011-onward have a thicker neck, and I find the necks produced circa 2008 to be the beefiest (and my favorite). Many Flys produced after 2003 are alleged to have flatter fretboards resulting from slipping tolerances; with all produced after 2011 having 14" radius boards once Terry Atkins decided that the Washburn Custom Shop's production efforts to get the CF boards to conform to a 10-13" conical radius were in vain.

Is it only the outputted piezo signal acting as an antenna - Or is it any signal coming out of the guitar?

You can make your own hex bar, and solicit for a Parker case in the Classifieds. I, VJ, and others have made our own hard cases by buying generic ones and cutting Fly body shapes into the styrofoam under the fabric (in the event that's a road you're willing to go down).

Wow, thanks for the in-depth reply! That's great info about the neck changes over the years. I'll certainly take an excuse to add a second Fly to the collection. Having said that, while I'd prefer a thicker neck and flatter fretboard, I still like the feel of the neck and I haven't been able to put the thing down since I brought it home.

I'm definitely gonna give the black CA a try and might consider the relocation of the strap button. As for the antenna, it happens with any signal regardless of pickup selection. As I understand it, even the magnetic pickups are routed through the preamp on the pre-refined Flys, so I suspect there's a faulty component in the preamp circuit. I have some experience with surface-mount soldering so I'm not worried about having to replace some components if necessary.