Parker Fly

Parker Fly
Manufacturer	Parker Guitars
Period	1993-Present.
Construction
Body type	Solid Double Cut
Neck joint	Set
Scale	25.5"
Woods
Body	Various tone woods with a carbon fibre exoskeleton
Neck	Various tone woods with a carbon fibre exoskeleton
Fretboard	Carbon Fibre
Hardware
Bridge	Fishman piezo vibrato bridge
Pickup(s)	2 splitable Humbuckers 1 Single coil 1 Piezo
Colors available
Various

The Parker Fly is a type of electric guitar. It was designed by Ken Parker and Larry Fishman, and first produced in 1993. It is noted for its light weight (4.5lbs) and resonance, and the overall quality of its construction. The Fly is differentiated from all other guitars by its novel use of carbon fibre in its construction. It was the first electric guitar to use piezo pickups which give an acoustic sound. The Fly has been awarded 11 patents. Ken parker came up with the idea for using carbon fibre in guitar construction when he visited a friend who built racing boats. He had been working with ebony veneer which has been used in musical instrument construction for centuries, and is very hard to work with. He realized that a carbon fibre exoskeleton, would provide strength in the same manner as veneer, but would also be much easier to work with. The use of carbon fibre also eliminates dead spots on the fret board and wolf tones.

Electric guitars are typically made of hard woods such as mahogany, as their strength leads to greater sustain. Acoustic guitars and most other musical instruments such as violins and pianos use tone woods such as spruce, which are prised for their resonance. The carbon fibre exoskeleton allows you to use tone woods in electric guitar construction, while retaining the sustain of hard woods. Energy conservation in the fly is further enhanced by the guitar’s multiple-finger neck joint, which provides additional gluing surfaces and fits precisely into a pocket in the body.

Parker Flys have been played by Adrian Belew, David Bowie, Reeves Gabriels, Pete Townshend, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Eddie Van Halen, Joni Mitchell, and The Edge.

Carbon Fibre Exoskeleton

The Fly is built with a Carbon Fibre exoskeleton that makes it light weight and strong. The carbon fibre is on the back of the guitar and is thinner than the paint.

Frets

The frets on the Parker Fly are constructed of hardened stainless-steel, they have no tangs, and are instead attached using a high-tech adhesive. Stainless steel frets wear more slowly than traditional frets, and the strings slide over them more smoothly allowing for easier bends.

Vibrato System

The Parker Fly has a unique vibrato system with its selection of three operational modes—fixed, down only, and up/down. The vibrato system uses an unusual flat spring, and you can adjust the tension of it using a wheel that passes through the body of the guitar.

Pickups

Most versions of the Parker Fly feature a set of two magnetic Humbucker style pickups , which are splittable into single coil pickups and a piezo electric pickup designed to emulate acoustic sounds. The Piezo pickup is active, and thus requires a 9v battery for operation. The magnetic pickups are passive, but sit within the active circuit path. The guitar also features an onboard preamp. Some models of the Fly in the line omit the magnetic pickups in favor of lighter weight, and are designed primarily as acoustic-electric style instruments.

Stereo

The Fly is a stereo guitar, which allows you to connect up to two different amps. This means that you can send the piezo pickups to an acoustic amp and the magnetics to an electric guitar amp, giving the sound of two totally different guitars playing together.

Refined Fly

In 2003 the parker fly was updated dramatically, shortly before Parker Guitars was acquired by US Music Corp in 2004. The biggest changes were that the trem wheel was moved from its original through body position to being behind a cover., the battery compartment was made more accessible and the 3 way tremolo arm switch was moved. The stereo button was removed and replaced with a smart switch. The ribbon wiring harness was replaced with point to point wiring.

Different Models

• Fly Supreme

The Fly Supreme is constructed of solid big leaf maple with a basswood neck, giving it a bright and exceptionally clear sound.

• Fly Deluxe

The Fly Deluxe sports a solid poplar body and a solid basswood neck. Tonally, it fell somewhere in the middle of the Supreme and the Mojo, with slightly less brightness and upper clarity than the former, and less darkness and warmth than the latter.

• Fly Classic

The Fly Classic has a Mahogany body, Bass wood neck and Dimarzio pickups

• Fly Mojo

The Mojo’s body and neck are both constructed of solid mahogany, giving it a warmer and deeper tone than the other two instruments. Combined with the Seymour Duncan Jazz (neck) and JB (bridge) humbuckers. It was designed to appeal to Les Paul players. This guitar is an adaptation of the Fly, and was not designed by Ken Parker.

• Nylon Fly

Designed to appeal to classical guitar players, this is strung with nylon strings, and has piezo pickups and no magnetic pickups.

• Nite Fly

Constructed of a variety of different tone woods, and with a pickguard which gives it a different look. This guitar is an adaptation of the Fly, and was not designed by Ken Parker.

• Adrian Belew Edition

This is a Fly Deluxe with Sustainiac pickup in the neck position RMC piezo pickup 13 pin out and Line 6 Variax components

References

• Parker Guitars official website
• New Yorker Profile
• Guitar Player Magazine
• Adrian Belew Edition
• Refined Fly