Parker Fly - The Electric Guitar That Couldn't
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 พ.ย. 2023
- Even though it was truly revolutionary, the Parker Fly just couldn't make a real break through.
I do not believe that electric guitars are anywhere close to reaching their final form and I never understood why there is such incredible resistance in the guitar player world for anything truly innovative. Even if Parker Guitars came along today I don't know that the outcome would be any different... guitar players are still way too concerned with looks and tradition, refusing to give up their hard to play and keep in tune 70+ year old designs.
In the second half of this video I go over all of the caveats of the Parker Fly. They're fine if you like them as is but doing any kind of modifications to them is very difficult.
Here is how I added a coil tap switch to my '95 Fly Deluxe without drilling any holes -- • PRE-REFINED Parker Fly... - กีฬา
A few things:
1) The Flyclone Project has remanufactured the Ribbon Cables. Not cheap but they are available
2) Dimarzio will still sell you Parker Fly compatible pups. Available via Custom Order
3) Both Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan pups are screwed to the guitar body using Pole piece screws and body inserts. Dimarzio use "A" Pole on coil closer to the Neck and "B" Pole on coil closer to the Bridge. Seymour Duncan use the Low & High "E" screw pole pieces.
4) Graphtech Piezo Saddles are available for the Parker Fly. Ditto the Ghost Acoustiphonic board & optional Hexpander for Midi functionality. These items were fitted to the final variants of the Fly/Maxxfly/Midifly guitars.
Two items that are a potential PITA for Fly Owners:
1) The plate springs are still available in short production runs but they're not cheap. Shipping costs (via Reverb) outside the USA (plus local import duty & taxes) make them verrrry expensive
2) The Plastic Trem bushing used on the early Nitefly/refined era models has a habit of splitting/falling apart. OEM items are no longer available. Some enterprising souls have 3D printed replacements but they don't look nice. If you're handy with a Dremmel, it is possible to make one out of a Black Nylon Spacer...
Thanks for the tips. I was not aware that replacement ribbon cables were available - good to know. I know about the GraphTech saddles but I didn't to go down that road, and from what I remember the output of those was much different than the original Parker saddles, which forced a few unfortunate people to have to completely re-wire their guitar. Fortunately I was able to obtain a couple of the original Fly saddles thru someone that used to work with Ken Parker back in the day. Prior to that I had one dead piezo pickup, which was OK when I acquired the guitar but somehow went bad. 😞
Ken Parker built the most advanced guitar on the planet. Unfortunately the industry is one of the most backwards with dominant designs and tech staying the same for over 60 years.
I believe if the original fly came out in 2030 it would be a hit.
I saw one in church, of all places, in 2005. It’s beautiful and sounded great.
That’s where I played mine
I worked for Ken briefly. Amazing guitars! I loved the sound of Ken's spruce guitars!
I remember reading that somewhere. I know he experimented with different types of wood, and still does to this day!
I think the same, I love my strats but you are always fighting with it, I once had the opportunity to play a Parker on a rehearsal and I was on fire that day, I was playing without anything holding me back. It's the perfect guitar, the natural evolution of the instrument. Here in Mexico 🇲🇽 you can see some people still playing Parker guitars, I have a friend who plays one every weekend with his cover band. I wish they still make it, with the original specs of course.
Yes, there is a saying that says "Nothing plays like a Parker". It is true!
I have Parkerfly deluxe! I bought it 1998. I played a lots of gigs and studio sessions with it until 2006, when I played more PRS and Fender... there was really no reason for this :) I liked it very much. Then I forgot Parker in its own bag in the studio. Then 2021 I brought it up (for a project in the theater) and yes it was still in TUNE (after 15 year)!!
Ha ha yeah they stay in tune remarkably well!
@@VegasCyclingFreak Ineed!
The Fly is an AMAZING guitar! I love mine!! I have played 3 Fly and one NiteFly. Hated the NiteFLy, loved all 3 of the Fly though. They are amazing!
I actually started out on a Nitefly Mojo, which was a pretty nice guitar. It was better than anything else I ever had up to that point. I still wanted the Fly, just had to get in a financial position to afford own. 16 months of unemployment 2009-2010 and almost being literally homeless takes a while to recover from.
Always wanted one back in the day, but they were expensive and i could tell they would be a pain to work on. Now they're even more expensive and impossible to repair or modify. I do think they look cool and play well.
I was a senior in high school, and had taken to hanging out at the local Guitar Center after class. Got pretty friendly with the crew, good guys with wildly varying tastes and interests in gear. I remember how stoked the manager was to show me the "Fly Yellow" Parker Fly he just got in. The headstock was the most striking part, I remember, but I was overall underwhelmed. Did my best not to show it, though I'm sure he saw straight through my "Ohhhh.... neat...? 😬" _but I was young and foolish then, I feel old and foolish now..._
Had no idea what I was looking at, I really didn't know jack back then, to be honest - I had just traded a perfectly fine Am. Std. Tele for a Candy Apple Red Japanese Mustang and thought it was the absolute pinnacle of cool (twenty years later I still have it and I still do, lol)
I bought my first Fly Deluxe when I was 17 and kept it for over 20 years. Sold it for 50% more than I paid for it. I did love it, but I always kept other guitars around to modify. I also owned a hardtail Deluxe from a very early '93 run, with a Redwood neck. I'm convinced that many people were confused by the humbuckers more than anything, because it was designed to sound like a Fender, and with the proper amp settings, it did. The vibrato system was inspired by the Jazzmaster, and early prototypes had three single-coils arranged like a Strat. Leo Fender also hoped his later companies would make his Fender designs look primitive, but guitarists are notorious Luddites. As Les Paul put it, "people listen with their eyes."
You mean like this prototype? Was on ebay many years ago now...
www.diyguitarist.net/Guitars/FlyProto.htm
I really loved my parker guitar, so light and so versatile. Someone wanted it more than i did and stole it from my house and never found out who or where it went. Checked all pawn shops but it never showed up and i never could really afford another one. But awesome guitars!!!
Wow sorry that happened to you. That sucks. I agree, pretty awesome guitars!
I love my Parker Fly Deluxe. I bought it in 1996 and love it.
Informative .. thank you. I have a (98?) pre-refined fly in great condition. Everyone who plays it loves it.
As the often quoted phrase at the Parker Guitars forum said, "nothing plays like a Parker".
I hope Parker makes a come back. They are such gorgeous guitars .
I think it's not very likely but it is interesting that Larry Fishman re-acquired the trademark.
I don't believe it for a second, I'm fighting every guitar I've ever played. The guitar always wins! 😂
Never seen one in the flesh but I quite like the way they look.
@@VirtualModular Seems the people either love them or hate them.
Just watching this. I'm a bass player, but I always wanted a Fly, ever since I saw Adrian Belew playing one. I actually didn't know about half the innovative features you've covered in this video, so thanks for that. As a bass player, I've been playing MusicMan Bongos for around 12 years now, and they still get a lot of hate from bass players who just can't look at anything that wasn't designed or heavily influenced by Leo Fender. This, in spite of the fact that the Bongo does offer some great ergonomic advantages over more traditional designs.
It's worse here in the UK, where you can't even find Bongos for sale most of the time.
lol I was just thinking this morning about how dumb tradition can be. I see you're dealing with same nonsense as a bass player. People would really lose their minds if you were playing a Parker bass!
@@VegasCyclingFreak Yeah, I know. I suppose I've always been more attracted to the weird and wonderful. My other main bass is more of a Musicman/Jazz hybrid, which I actually bought because I wanted something a bit more 'acceptable'. Did Parker make a bass? I'll have to look and see if they did.
@@joemills4603 Yep they sure did! I don't know too much about their bass line up.
I never took the FLY seroius until I saw Joni playing one, it was obvoius after that they must be great pieces of gear.
I didn’t know she played one… cool 😎
@@VegasCyclingFreakI saw her as well ... some late show (Kimmel?)
I love tech and cool designs, so when I saw ads for the Fly I was stoked. They played nice, and sounded good, but not nice and good enough for me to fork that kind of money over back then. What scared me however was that the guitar had more bespoke parts than a McLaren F1, making anything on it potentially (and eventually) expensive to repair or replace. And that's before issues with frets popping off. And I've met Ken a few times, at acoustic guitar shows where he would exhibit his amazing archtops. Again, great sounding and playing, but you pay for the styling and I couldn't say they sounded as good as a traditional archtop. Both are great for those with disposable incomes, a problem I wish I had.
Ken's archtops are amazing... I like his innovations in that area too. The sound hole and floating neck joint thing are very cool, and they sound wonderful.
I would *love* a Fly!
I yanked out the piezo electronics soon after I got my Fly, in the early 2000s, because they didn't work when I bought the guitar. They're just not needed. The piezo will still work if wired directly to the jack, you can then just use an acoustic preamp, which is what I did for a while.
With all the extra space I had left in the cavity, I installed Roland VG system GK pickup and wired it together with the rest of the pickups and installed switches for everything.
Needless to say I'm not planning on ever letting go of this guitar. I'm not a huge fan of shallow necks but overall this is one of the nicest playing guitars I've ever picked up. And for me, I always thought it's a beauty in all black.
I remember at the forum a couple of people put a sustainer pickup system in their Fly. I didn’t think it was possible… but they did it and man was it stuffed!
@@VegasCyclingFreak I was on the forum for while too. I was proudly showing off my conversion at the time.
@@BucoBucolini I probably saw your posts. It’s been a while….
@@VegasCyclingFreak many years ago :)
I had a Deluxe in the early 2000's - pre-2003 for sure (so must be Ken's era). I sold it. The reason being I couldn't get over the upper horn digging into my sternum when playing sitting down. Other than that it was a flawless instrument (albeit somewhat sterile sounding if I'm completely honest), and I have played it at many gigs as it was a very comfortable guitar to both play AND carry to a gig. Since then I have changed the way I play sitting down - now I hold the guitar on my left knee, and I think the horn would not be a problem anymore. I'm thinking of picking up a Fly again. But the prices now, of course, are ridiculous.
I did hear that complaint about the upper horn by a few members at the Parker Guitars forum back in the day. Never was really a problem for me. Yeah, the asking for Parker guitars are like to 2x to 2.5x what they used to be. Seems like everything else is outrageously priced these days. Where I live we have 20% inflation at the moment.😕
Back in the 90's they were to expensive for me. Finally got one in 2021. Makes me a better guitarist every time I play it.
Someone is making a new ribbon cable.
DiMarzio quoted me about $90 per replacement pickups in 2022.
Subscribed and Best Regards and Best Wishes!
Love my MOJO
It's an amazing guitar. Just a small correction - the refined fly was created before the Washburn acquisition - not long before that, though. I have a 2002 Fly Deluxe that is refined , but it was still made pre acquisition
Now that you mention that, I seem to remember Ken Parker referring to the refined Fly as "the watered down version". I don't remember exactly how/if he was directly involved with that.
@VegasCyclingFreak He was. He made a reasonable effort to make it more affordable without sacrificing the original design too much. It was ultimately a better business move to sell it while the brand was still valuable and stay on as a consultant for a few years; Leo Fender did the exact same thing.
@@ziggyzipgun Yeah that sounds familiar. I also remember Ken saying they were making $10,000 guitars and selling them for $2,500. Seems that at a certain point Ken got tired of of the business side of things, and all the unexpected outcomes/resistance to the brand.
@VegasCyclingFreak Keep in mind, Ken Parker is still very much in business today, and makes $40,000 guitars.
@@ziggyzipgun Yes I'm subscribed to his channel. He has pretty much reinvented the "arch top" guitar.
Nice! I just posted an hour long video about Ken Parker, the company and the Fly that I had been working on for the last few years... I found that many videos and reviews I saw did not talk much about the influence of the Lute, so good job! I also did not know that Larry Fishman bought the parker company in 2021 so that is really good news! maybe they will make a come back... but I doubt it. would be cool though.
I read about lute thing in an interview some years ago now, but I can't remember which interview it was or when. Fishman actually re-acquired the Parker trademark in 2021, so I guess that's as good as owning the company again.
@VegasCyclingFreak same here. I want to say it was in the New Yorker article "frets and struts".
@@Jack_Plisken That’s what I’m thinking too. I made a hard copy of it… it’s in my office somewhere.
@@Jack_Plisken I did a little digging. There is mention of the lute in Tonequest Report March 2001, page 5-6. Also in Struts and Frets article 3 pages from the end (page 91), which is what I remembered Ken talking about.
I was also surprised to hear that Larry Fishman bought the rights to the Parker brand in 2021. I'd love to see that corroborated @VegasCyclingFreak do you have a link/reference for that?
Any hoo, if true, Larry will not be in much of a position to restart production of the Fly. All the prior expertise has scattered to other companies/parts of the industry and the tooling/hardware from the factory has long since been sold off too. The Pizza Ovens may even be making Margherita's again... 🍕
I guess there is a market for replacement PCB's, they would be expensive though as the run would be relatively small.
I can only remember one case where a part on a PCB went bad, on the forum back in the day. PCBs have gotten to be be remarkably reasonable in price these days, nowhere near what it used to cost.
Love mine
I love unusual shapes. I have Moderne and Breadwinner shapes guitars, so the Fly shape appeals to me. I cannot abide thin necks though. So, no Parker for me.😢
I normally don't like thin necks but the Fly fret board is wider than typical guitar... almost like a classical guitar, so it works for me.
Thanks for this video! I’ve had my Parker Fly Deluxe for quite a while now, but I never knew much about it. The only problem I have with it is that when I palm mute, I touch the pick-up, which gives a low buzz or background noise. Ive never had this problem with others guitars though. Is there a different fix than learning a new right hand placement?
Sounds like a grounding issue... perhaps the bare wire on that pickup isn't making a good contact with ground? Does it do this no matter what it is plugged into?
@@VegasCyclingFreak Thank you for replying! Lately I’ve only plugged it into DI interfaces, and it seems to always make a sound as soon as a finger touches the pick-up yeah. I always thought it was just a normal thing for these pickups
@@zyxo1848 No problem... thanks for the comments. My PUPs don't do that. Not sure why yours does. I would say it's a grounding issue though.
@@VegasCyclingFreak I appreciate your input a lot! I’d be so happy to get that fixed! It’s been hard to play around it. I’ll have to take it to the shop and hope they can get this fixed.
Thanks a ton!!
@@zyxo1848 Best of luck. Likely no one will have had any experience with it. I have webpage on the Fly with schematic, PCB layout, etc. if needed - www.DIYguitarist.net
Specific webpage is here -
www.diyguitarist.net/Guitars/FlyDeluxe.htm
Ken Parker didn't just design the Fly - he designed the tooling to manufacture the Fly. There are many new brands with even more outlandish and non-traditional designs selling for higher prices today, but they are highly customized and the ergonomics are tweaked to fit the owner. A mass-produced instrument will never be truly ergonomic for any one musician. Also, even "custom shops" that don't offer different scale lengths, multi-scale, and extended range options will be stuck with the traditionalists. Rick Toone knows what's up!
Yep... I've seen some of the jigs Ken Parker has made on his TH-cam channel - he's kind of a machinist too.
Here's Ken's TH-cam channel for anyone interested in what he's doing these days: www.youtube.com/@kenparkerarchtoppery9440
Guitarists are traditionalists for the most part. The parker fly is still by a huge margin the best guitar ever made, even better if Ken had been allowed to build it how he originally wanted. The world just wasn't ready for it and probably still isn't.
Yeah Ken Parker has said that himself, that guitarists are so traditional. Kind of funny that he invents a guitar that solves all the problems that guitarists complain about and they get hung up on the aesthetics instead of appreciating the design.
I owned a couple of original Fly Deluxe guitars in the 90's and early 2000's. They were great, but the upper bout sticks in your ribs, and the headstock does not allow the use of a regular hanger. The later version addresses these issues, but you lose the cool look IMO.
I never had a problem with the upper horn but I heard that complaint now and then at the Parker Guitars forum back in the day. Parker changed the headstock shape because music stores complained that they couldn't hang a Parker like other guitars. They didn't like the bullwinkle thing required.
The Parkers were great guitars, especially the FLYS. The only thing I disliked about them(THE ONLY THNG) was the top horn. It dug into my chest really bad , but other then that, they were/are great guitars. Especially the early ones. I love teles, strats, 80s style super strats, etc, but I have been playing now for 40 years. I have changed music styles since then, and also the guitars I play. I play mostly headless guitars now, because they are more balanced, and lighter. My poor back and hips and shoulders cant stand a heavy strat or Les Paul anymore. Nor can I stand to lug around a huge amp head and cabinet anymore. Those days are over. Quilter for me now.
I've heard that complaint fairly often about the upper horn... never bothered me. Anyway, I don't think I could do a headless guitar... my hand would slide off the end of the neck. I never have tried playing one.
Yeah, I have switched to headless guitars in the past 5 years of playing. The Ibanez Q52 and two Strandbergs. They are not for everyone, like the Parkers, but they are for me in this day and age.@@VegasCyclingFreak
@@brannonevans3685 Wow I didn't know Ibanez was making headless now... actually is affordable too. Hmm...
Yep, and they play great, feel great, sound great, and are so light.@@VegasCyclingFreak
Always wanted a Fly but $’s got in the way, now at 77, have happily settled for a basic Strandberg (less than 5 lbs). Very comfortable and although not as beautiful as the Parker it does have a high tech look and feel.
Ya gotta hear Gustavo Cerati of Soda Stereo play one on "En La Ciudad de la Furia" unPlugged version! 👍🏽
It’s the Segway of guitars
🤣
cmoooon larry. put some fluence in there. direct usb + 5 pin midi out. you got the tech! and the dough
Back in the day they had a MIDI Fly but there really was no demand for it. Very few were made.
hated this thing the moment I saw it. Thank god
😆
I love my Fly i got 2004. I think it was too innovative. An average guitar player wants to play like his legend: Jimmy Page or Jimi Hendrix. He looks for this "genuine analog sound". Guitar business is driven by legends, dreams and nostalgia, guitarists believe in the sound of wood. Parker had no legendary players, idea of having carbon and glass fiber sounded like a joke... People did not understand the technology and wondered why you needed it if the legends had not had it.
I cannot imagine struggling with a Gibson guitar etc, I love the light weight and the Sperzels and the piezo, I dont like the upper horn poking in the chest... But overall I get it why it did not catch on.
Yeah that's pretty much it
The add in Guitar Mag had me hella hyped to play a Fly when I was a yung dirt bag.
It felt terrible and sounded terrible. It was extremely disappointing.
It was so lame that I played nothing but LPs for years after that.
They're not for everyone. With some of my age related ailments and an injury to left elbow that left me with somewhat limited mobility in my wrist, it's hard for me to play anything else.
It's a bit disheartening to learn about these great musical instruments such as Parker and Relish that have ceased production.
Yeah I think the last owners of Parker wanted to make the company way more profitable - they were impatient and threw in the towel after a couple of years. The "Great Recession" probably didn't help matters either. It is what it is.
“Bloody assault rifle” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Promo`SM
Keith Rixharda talking shit about parker... go complain about BC Rich!
Literally just the shape of the top horn for me 🤣 tech and everything else is cool but its so damn ugly. Not even a fender/Gibson nerd lmao. If I was rich I'd get an original one
ha ha that's one thing I like about it. Apparently the final owners of Parker thought the same thing because they made it a rounded thing that didn't quite match the lower horn.
The Upper Horn is one of the features of the Fly that is more "form over function", rather than the other way round. It clearly takes it's design cue from the headstock. Many owners find that the upper horn digs into their sternum when playing the guitar in the seating postion. That may have been another reason JAM/Parker decided to create the Dragonfly/Maxxfly - so they could appease tradionalists and stop maiming people... 😜
@@ThePedroDB Yeah I heard that complaint about the upper horn from some people that hung out at the forum. Never bothered me. I like that it mimics the shape of the headstock - one of the first things that struck me when I saw the Fly.
If it was really that great, it would be have been widely adopted. There's a reason that one of the most popular PRS guitars of all time is a copy of a Strat. Those shapes are classic for a lot more than just nostalgia. Sorry your favorite guitar is a POS.
lol PRS? You mean those overrated pretty pieces of furniture with the worst neck heel joint ever?
@nohero178 (aptly name for a keyboard 'warrior'..) Guitarists are traditionalists. Marketing has told them that the 'Holy Grail' is a vintage Les Paul or Fender. The Fly was ground breaking and was never cheap. These guitars were £2K in the late 90's/early Noughties, so they were far more expensive than a Fender or Gibson of the day.
PRS are well made but evolutionary rather than revolutionary. I own a couple of PRS but they're nowhere near as special as my Parker Flys. PRS only really got their break through having Carlos Santana as a famous brand ambassador. With a similar 'big name' Artist fronting them, the story of the Parker Fly might have had a very different ending...
@@ThePedroDB Yeah there's another bit of insanity - how much money people will pay for a 50s-60s-70s Fender or Gibson, like it possesses some kind of magical qualities. Maybe if I spend $35-50K on one I'd be a better player? Right. Those old Fenders with the tiny fret board "radius" lol (don't say that around Ken Parker, it's a "conical section"). I'm with Allan Holdsworth, I prefer an almost flat fret board. Helluva a lot easier for me to play.
@@ThePedroDB marketing doesn’t tell guitarists that. If anything, they want to market the latest and greatest thing to sell more guitars. The manufacturers don’t make money on vintage guitar sales. People want vintages guitars because some of them are really, really good
Vettes, have been ugly since the late 1960's. Leo got it right, time after time. The fly is FUGLY as it gets. Looks matter. Beauty in the eye of the beholder. I hate the look of PRS guitars. But like the Fly, they are extremely well made, but to me, they sound generic. Maybe that's because the music made on them, I find generic. Parker Fly's sound. . . too perfect (lol). The engineering is AMAZING, for sure! But. . .that's my take.
Yeah, totally Parker’s look way cooler than an old telly… If you’re an Incel!!!!!!
😄I'm sure there are plenty of low testosterone incels around that play "normal" guitars. Shallow people judge a book by the cover.
They dont sound great. And they were competing at the price range of higher end Gibson and American Fender.. Parts are not available and they are impossible to work on. Terrible planning made them basically throw away guitars
lol the sound is totally subjective - whatever equipment you are using is far more impactful than the guitar on its own. It is different than most guitars, you just have to learn how to work around that. Was never a problem for me. There's a thing called a tone control, and it helps to use it.
There are some replacement parts available, but yeah it's not like if you have a Fender/Gibson where everyone and their brother makes a replacement whatever. Also is not a problem if you actually take care of your guitar.
@VegasCyclingFreak don't disagree with any of your points. But at the end of the day, the brand folded. They were not successful. They were too expensive and competing with known instrument brands with decades old proven records. The market spoke
@@contrabandjoe7974 Yes and no. They seemed to have been doing OK until Washburn acquired Parker. Things went downhill really fast after that. I think they wanted to make Parker super profitable overnight and ignored the fact that Parker was a niche market that appealed to a certain kind of guitarist. Anyway, I like the fact that my '95 Fly weighs less than 5 lbs still has no wear on the frets!