Parker Fly

  • Thread starter Thread starter joro
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joro

joro

The Pie Guy
Ok...being a dunce...I have to ask....
Are they worth the money?

I have a chance to buy a brand new Parker Fly ......it's a one year left over at a small local store....it's been on display for a year and the owner of the shop is discontinuing the line (Parker wants him to buy six and he doesn't want to invest that much into the line...)

I want a good acoustic tone without the feedback issues I get with my Taylor or Martin... for stage performances and this seems to be the answer

the price is $1200........list is $2500..case included (list $125)

and...if I do buy it....what amp reccomendations do you guys have?

I am gonna go play it later today...
some input would be cool though...

Thanks fellas..
Joe
 
joro said:
Ok...being a dunce...I have to ask....
Are they worth the money?

I have a chance to buy a brand new Parker Fly ......it's a one year left over at a small local store....it's been on display for a year and the owner of the shop is discontinuing the line
Click to expand...

Never having played a Fly, I dunno what they're like. One thing I do know is that guitar is a prime candidate for some serious dickering. It's inventory that's not moving and simply depreciating on the wall. My gut feeling is he'll take quite a bit more off the price just to get it out of his store. Be honest and tell him you're interested, but you want to know how much of a loss he's willing to take to get rid of it.

If he quotes a price lower than the sticker price - say he comes down to $1100, offer $800 (half the original price plus $200).

If he turns that down or makes a counter offer, bump the original offer by $100, then $50 increments after that. My guess is that he'll let it go for 70% to 80% of his current price just to get it out of inventory.
 
Paying in cash would probably be a good way to convince him to come down in price. No credit card commissions, no waiting for checks to clear...just cold hard cash. Make sure you let him know that you'll be paying in cash (if thats the way you're going to pay).
 
Although there are some who do not love this axe, I am a big fan of the Parker fly. There are really 2 basic versions, the Nightfly, which has a bolt on neck, and the 2 higher end versions, which have the straight-through neck. I'm not really a fan of the piezo pickup in them, which can be used to add "snap" or "crack" to the magnetic pickups, but it is one versatile sucker indeed. Joni Mitchell recorded all of "Wild Things Run Fast" with one. For straightforward acoustic tone from a solid body, I like Telecasters, but I would take a well priced Parker Fly in a heartbeat. As far as amps go, you can get good acoustic sound from a good acoustic amp or a small PA. I get the sound you are looking for by jacking a Tele into a Behringer VAMP-2 for tone shaping, and then into a Fender Passport PD250. If I was just using it for a guitar amp, I'd use a PD150. At around $500,(the 150) it costs less than many acoustic amps, sounds great, has XLR mic inputs, dual speaker cabs, on board reverb and EQ on all inputs. It's portable, usable as a PA for small gigs, and simply is a good amp for electric or acoustic, if you want clean sound. If you are looking for a Marshall stack with a slant cab, this probably isn't going to do it for you. With the VAMP-2, I can dial up clean sounds or distortion, and access my presets at the touch of a foot pedal.
Note- the older Passports, P150 and P250, were upgraded to PD150/250 (D for deluxe). The only difference is the speaker cabs, which are much better sounding than the old ones. A note- I also find that using the VAMP as a front end eliminates most of that nasty single coil hum that teles can make.
As a PA, it also has RCA tape outs and ins (good for sound reinforcement at parties, etc). It sets up in 3 minutes flat. I think the Passport is the best acoustic amp that isn't an acoustic amp. For pure acoustic amps, the SWR Strawberry Blonde and California Blonde are very good, and the Trace Elliott rocks. But for sound/versatility/price, I think the Passport is the best acoustic amp on the market.-Richie
 
I really like the Flys. A lot. They are very cool guitars, they have nice necks, and they sound really good. Their piezo pickups do NOT sound really acoustic, but they are not bad for a solid body guitar which is, let’s be honest, designed as an electric guitar first. I like them a lot.

The only problem I have with them, and the reason I would not buy one even if I needed another guitar (or one guitar I did not make), is that the upper horn has that angle in it, and the back side of the corner of that angle digs right into my sternum, which I find really uncomfortable. How ever, I play with my guitars rather high on my body, so it may not be a problem for you. Just make sure you try it on with a strap, just so you are sure you can be comfortable with the guitar.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Cool! This is one where Light and I agree. The piezo in it is not useful for getting acoustic tone. You'll get cleaner sound from the magnetic pickups. For that, I find a good Tele more cost effective. The Fly is, however, a great axe. The reason why I'm familiar with it is my lead guitarist, Christopher Woitach, uses one. It was used for every electric lead track on my first album, and the ES175 was never taken out of its case. I sent the piezo to the Avalon and straight to the board unprocessed. The magnetic pickups went to the other side of the Avalon, to TC Electronics M300 for a little reverb (or slapback in one case), then to a power amp and a cab. The cab was mic'd up proper. Although there was sometimes a use for a little of that unprocessed piezo track, it was in no way a clean acoustic sound.-Richie

P.S.- As far as Light's issue with the body shape, I have no problem with it, and anybody who knows me and Joro will agree we are not too different in body shape. Every player has different ergonomic issues. I still believe if you want to make a solid body sound like an acoustic, get a Nashville Telecaster.
 
There is one other issue, which I forgot to mention. The Flys have stainless steel frets which are not set in, but glued on. For most people, this is not a problem, but if you play really hard, and you play it a lot, you will wear out the frets. Parker said this would not happen when they brought out the guitars, but it has been a few years now, and I have seen a few guitars with stainless steel frets (including a Parker) with some problematic fret wear. Fret dressing on stainless steel frets is a nightmare, and VERY expensive. They are so hard that it is very difficult to file them down.

This is just something to bear in mind. If you need fret work on a Parker, it will probably need to go back to the factory to have them replaced. I know a guy in Chicago who did a major dressing for Lindsey Buckingham on some stainless steel frets Rick Turner had put in Lindsey’s Model One, and it took EIGHT HOURS. Ouch!!! I don’t mind Stainless frets, I just wish they would set them in like a normal guitar. It would make repair much easier.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Here's another tip for you, Joro. If you want to play acoustic stuff on a solid body, use strings with a wound G. D'Addario makes a set of 11's that way-
EXL115W. They are also perfect for playing The Who. And thanks for the tip on the frets, light. Glued on? That seems fairly stupid to me.-Richie
 
I had a Fly... while it was a good guitar and had nice playability, the tone didn't jump out at me like the tone from my Godin does, so I sold it off....

Doesn't matter how good or expensive a guitar is, if it doesn't suit you, you'll never be happy with it...

Incidently, LP's don't do a thing for me either!
 
I also had one for a while..It didn't grow on me{sonicly}..Different strokes!I mean after all Blue Bear dosn't like Les Pauls! Sick man :eek: :D
 
If you're looking for good acoustic tone without the feedback, I'd look into sending your Taylor back to the factory and getting the Expression system installed. I think it costs like $400 for a retrofit, and it's pretty much the best acoustic pickup system that I've heard.

~Jordan
 
Thanks for all the great advice fellas,
Excellent info for sure.


Well...I went down to the little local shop to play it...
I guess it was a slow day because the owner closed early...
so I meandered to a new Guitar Center in New Hampshire (not too far) and ended up buying a Line 6 Variax....no pickups...no feedback...modeling guitar...pretty cool.

I got $500 off list (they are coming out with a new model any day) with a free SKB hardshell case (list $95.00) and free locking strap buttons (list $25.00....the good ones...ya know? ) all in all...$785.00 and I can play it through any amp that has a clean channel and get a decent acoustic tone...or a lead channel for a Strat...or a Tele....or Reso...or banjo :D it will take me some time to figure it all out but I got nothing but time.
Thanks again fellas,
Joe
 
GuineaMcPig said:
If you're looking for good acoustic tone without the feedback, I'd look into sending your Taylor back to the factory and getting the Expression system installed. I think it costs like $400 for a retrofit, and it's pretty much the best acoustic pickup system that I've heard.

~Jordan
Click to expand...

Thanks Jordan...
I might just do that too...good idea man.
Joe
 
GuineaMcPig said:
If you're looking for good acoustic tone without the feedback, I'd look into sending your Taylor back to the factory and getting the Expression system installed. I think it costs like $400 for a retrofit, and it's pretty much the best acoustic pickup system that I've heard.

~Jordan
Click to expand...


Another perspective on the Expression System. I hate it. It sounds nothing like an acoustic guitar. To me, it sounds like a badly amplified Taylor, and I am not fond of the sound of Taylors in the first place.

Additionally, you should be forewarned that they have had a LOT of warranty issues with the ES pickups, which is not right when you consider that the system is less than two years old. We see a couple a month. Not at all what it should be, for reliability. And unless you are very good with electronics, you won't be able to fix it yourself (and would void your warranty if you tried). They are, however, very good about covering the warranty issues, so you will not have to pay to have it fixed.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
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