Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I saw a jazz quintet in DC a couple of month ago and the guitar player had a Parker Fly...his playing was sick...not to mention that the guitar sounded great...

I thought I'd resurrect this one to report that I played one these in the flesh tonight and found it most agreeable. I didn't get a chance to plug it in but it's a pretty astonishing little player, feel-wise. Nice slim neck, slightly more tapered than I usually like but no real problem with that. Strange to look at the back and see that body and neck are one piece in totality - from the front it appears more normal due to the veneering. Fit and finish were very nice indeed, and there are some technical innovations that I want to explore a little further. Happily, I should be able to spend a little more time checking this particular one out - it belongs to my new neighbor. All in all, even though the styling is a bit weird to my taste, it is very comfortable and light with nice ergonomic aspect and a great smooth board, so I can overlook the weird styling - I could learn to live with the cheese slicer headstock. I wouldn't mind owning one at all, I must say. He said he paid $1500 for it used, which doesn't exclude it from my wish list of players. I give it two thumbs up.

I'll report again after I've plugged it in.

No, he's spider. Tommy Troy was Fly.......



[ducks and runs]

good one, John!

A month or so ago, I got a sale flyer with an order I placed with MF....they had a sale on the Parker Deluxe Fly that wasn't too much more than what your friend paid for his used one....

(mild gassing) Good thing there's not a snowball's chance of me buying a guitar right now at any price ...

Too bad, you are about a year late Kira. I sold a Fly Deluxe (with OHSC) as part of an estate sale last year for $1000 shipped to San Fransisco. These play very nice and are extremely light weight. Note that different years have different pickups and electronics. The early ones had Dimarzios and were later changed to Seymour Duncan. Also the acoustic circuits on the early ones were something that may have been designed by Parker (not sure). The later ones use a Fishman Powerchip. I used a Powerchip in my home built guitar and can tell you that I actually prefer the early circuit in the Parker it has tone controls plus a manual switch (button near the output jack) to switch from stereo to mono. I see these from time to time used going from $700 to $1200. They don't seem to hold their value as well as Rick, Fender, and, Gibson guitar but the quality is there.

Cool, Ken. Thanks for the info. There may be hope for me yet. That lightweight, ergonomic aspect is something I can't put out of my mind - the one I tried is super comfy. Still waiting for a chance to plug it in so I can report.

I found it comfortable standing but when sitting the top of that curved back cuts into my ribs, but then so does most big body guitars.

A couple of pics:

I found this on You Tube, a new Parker Dragonfly. It has a new body style and headstock. Factory link:http://www.parkerguitars.com/News/dragonfly.html
<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2S-gQ1kjues&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2S-gQ1kjues&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>[/youtube]

That's great, Ken, thanks for those. They seem to have read my mind a little in designing the Dragonfly. I find the body shape and headstock much more appealing on these, and the V-shape neck sounds really great too. They're still no great lookers but ergonomics and functionality go a long way to compensate in my book, a very long way.

Now if they only would offer a short scale model I'd be all the way home with one without any reservation. As is they seem an attractive substitute for my acoustic guitar, whose long scale doesn't bother me as much as with an electric. I know - picky, picky, picky ...

To resurrect this thread yet again, I'm here with more details about my neighbor's Fly which is an early model with the active DiMarzios and the Fishman acoustic circuit. It has the push-button mono-stereo switch and the thumbwheel bridge adjuster. I found an older manual online that explains what and how to adjust things so I'm actually basically familiar with its innovations and find them quite nice. I never used a guitar with a battery before so that's new, but I like the sound of these humbuckers. If I have any complaint it's that they sound too clean and snappy and the tone knob doesn't do a lot to change the tone. The acoustic circuit sounds great, much similar to some acoustics with Fishman pickups I've heard. The controls are pretty intuitive and my only complaint is that the master volume is a little far forward of the bridge.

The body and neck are carved and joined solid wood which is glassed over, super light and nicely contoured for comfort. The fretboard is glass and epoxy and plays super nicely.I know I'm using a lot of superlatives here instead of very descriptive terms - sorry, but I don't know the technical lingo but you can find it online if you're curious as to exactly how these work and are made. But all in all, do I want one? You betcha! I'm trying to think of something to trade for this very one, if my neighbor would consider letting go of it (don't worry, my Ricks are off the table). I'll have to let you know how that works out when I see him again. This one has a nice dark wood veneer finish and is very attractive to my eye, well, if I could live with the aesthetic quirks which I have mentioned earlier. Considering its virtues, I think I can learn to love its warts and all.

See ya next time when I let you know how the deal goes.

Kira i believe that the piezo bridge is made by Fishman. Besides the glass/epoxy fretboard the frets are tang-less, glued to the fret board, and made out of stainless steel. I think the SS frets have a bit to do with the "clean and snappy" sound.

Yeah, Ken, the piezo pickup is from Fishman. I opened the control cavity and looked at the guts. It looks like a computer in there with all the ribbons, and it's dated from '01 I think. The Fishman circuitry is labeled plainly and there's a gain or balance control on it. Tangless and glued on frets, you say? That is amazing. In fact there seems to be no end to the innovations of this guitar. And it really sounds and plays like nothing I've ever experienced. There is nothing to compare it to, which may be off-putting for some people, but I find it just takes some getting used to. I read all the reviews I could find last night. A couple of reports of a fret falling off. Some people report a noisy selector switch, but this one is not. Some people just couldn't get used to the sound of them, but those who love them say they would never give them up. I myself find this guitar to have one of the easiest and fastest full-scale necks I ever tried, faster than I probably even need, but its width puts me off just a bit. It would make a nice alternative for an acoustic guitar for me, while I still prefer my little short and narrow Rick necks for playing lead.