6 Things You Didn't Know About The Parker Fly Guitar

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[monstrok]

The Fly in my photo is an original 1993 and is one of my main guitars for practice and gigging. Its range of sounds are almost unequalled - very few guitars can go from jazz, to out-of-phase strat, to metal, to acoustic with just two switches. Weather and temperature has almost no effect on the neck or playability. After 26 years of playing the stainless steel frets, there is zero visible wear. It is a pleasure to play.

[robertowen]

The first year these guitars were available(I forget when) I was in a guitar store in time to see a dozen of the Parkers come in. They were in gig bags laid on the floor, waiting to be examined and hung on the wall. ALL of them came out of the bags in tune. Astonishing!

[stankfanger]

6:00 Corrects coil tapping to coil splitting. If I ever make it to your shop I will hug your for that! My pet peeves are few but severe!

[SpaghettiYettiTV]

You're so happy and positive and it is easy to tell that you love making these videos, I love it! Keep it up man <3

[dominiquefarese]

I bought one Parker Fly deluxe in Rudy Pensa's shop in New York (1995), and I loved this guitar, although the little E-string had a tendancy to break easily. Unfortunately, when I came back to France, my guitar teacher harassed me until I sold her to him. I still missed her. When Rudy opened his little shop on 169 W 47th street NYC, in 1980, my brother and I were his first buying customer. We bought two electric legend ovation, one wine red Les Paul Custom, and one super heavy Twin reverb. I was amazed to come back in 1995, and see how he expanded so much, four floors shop, Pensa-Suhr guitars, etc. Rudy recognized me instantly. He was happy to see his first customer again, and offered me plenty of little stuff. Old memories...
Thanks for your nice guitar descriptions.

[andrewswiftmusic]

5:21 The wheel actually changes the angle of the bridge. To change how firm the tremolo feels, you need to open the back - there are 3 slots that the leaf spring can sit in - each one of those settings changes the firmness of trem arm. When properly setup, a Parker should be able to switch from floating to fixed tremolo without any change in pitch on any of the strings. The wheel is designed to facilitate this. Set the small plastic lever on the back to make the tremolo fixed. Tighten the wheel until there is no change in pitch when you pull up on the tremolo arm. Tune the guitar. Flip the lever on the back to set the tremolo as floating. Now loosen the wheel until each string is brought to the correct pitch. DO NOT adjust the tuners. Now you should move that lever between floating and fixed without the guitar going out of tune. It was designed this way so if you break a string while playing with the trem floating, you can switch it to fixed and still play in tune. Great video by the way about these awesome guitars!

[espressokoffiepot]

I've got a Parker Fly Deluxe in Antique Gold since a couple of weeks and by far the best guitar I ever had. And I've had Fenders, Gibsons PRS and more. Plays absolutely like a dream

[deenhubin]

In 1997, I bought the last one ("Italian Plum") the local G.C had when they stopped carrying the brand. I did only two things to the instrument after I took ownership. I had the nut slots widened to accommodate 10-46 strings as it came set up for a 9-42 set. The vibrato uses a leaf spring rather than coil springs, and it came with two - one calibrated for 9-42s and the other for 10-46s, so that was swapped. After this, I set the intonation. That's it. String height was perfect, action was perfect, pickup height was perfect. I have not had to adjust anything other than tuning on this guitar in almost 20 years.

[mikelawrence]

At 65 yrs I love the weight of my Parker. Play with the band for 3 hrs., no problem. It did take may mates awhile to warm to the look.

[Djarra]

The main problem with the Fly was probably timing. Five years earlier they would have been huge but they came out just as Grunge and Britpop were hitting their stride and all anyone wanted was retro, retro and more retro. It will be interesting to see if the relaunch in 2017 will see them catch on any more.

[RICCARDOREARDON]

EXTREMELY INFORMATIVE AND ACCURATE VIDEO..VERY WELL PRESENTED..

[hughcrawford]

Ken Parker and I were both had gigs as artists in residence at artpark in Lewiston New York in the summer of 1986. One of the other artists was working in very high tech cement and he and Ken built a guitar out of concrete that was very lightweight and would sustain till next tuesday. I sort of lost track of Ken in about 89 or so when I got married, but I remember that the concrete guitar was the same shape as the fly guitars. The first time I walked past a guitar store on 48th street in NYC and saw a fly in the window I immediately recognized it. Super nice guy.

[jonmagnus]

Your vid helped me get off the fence about buying one at my local haunt. I’ve played it like 4 million times but could never decide. I’m buying it. Thank you!

[wesleywhite]

I had a Night Fly back in the day, one of the best guitars I ever owned, I still regret selling it

[mercurialno]

Best one yet! I didn't even know it was made of wood! Cheers!

[josephkuhlman]

I bought a Parker Fly the first year they came out and it is still my favorite guitar to play. There is a truss rod under the headstock but I have never had to move the truss rod. Great playing guitar and very versatile.

[AlanKaruzo]

I did not know until now that this guitar is made of wood. Every detail of this guitar is so precisely made.

[AJgeartalk]

Keep em coming Phil. These videos are bothe educational and entertaining!!

[pulpdoc]

Keep the videos coming. Presentations are getting better each time
My T shirt came yesterday.

[bruceparkington]

I just finished watching the video on the Parker Fly. I was Enlighten Ed to say the least. I tried one way back when they first came along. I thought they where really comfortable and played great. The concept was so new and me being a traditional LP or Strat kind of guy I never gave it a second thought. After that video, and thinking about the weight and all the other great features on this guitar, I'm going hunting for one. I'm 62 years old. I have been playing for 48 years, it's time for something light, sleek, strong, with great playability. Thank you KYG