About the Parker Fly Classic - I AM GASSING

I love most Parkers but sometimes the sound is only an approximation of what I like. For example, the original Fly Mojo's is not a Strat, Tele, or LP. If you need those sounds, just be aware that the Fly may not do it. I often feel that they have a 'weak' sound (without defining the term that's how I react). However, if you play for awhile on something else and then switch to a Fly, you'll probably notice better clarity and I think this is part of the reason why they have a strong following. The other Parkers are cool too after changing out pickups and updating some of the hardware.

PS The original Fly's have shallow pickups and a routed body to match so don't expect to be able to change them. The MaxxFly changes this at a slight expense to the look. So as others have said, try before you buy.
 
Well a crazy thing happened to me last week. I bought a '97 Fly Classic :) I wasn't looking for one, certainly wouldn't have bought this if it hadn't been such a great price. Local deal, I don't think there's much market for these where I live but at the price I paid I figured what the heck. Would make an easy EBay flip if I didn't bond with it.

Mostly I was curious to see if my first impression of the Fly from almost 20 years ago would hold up today, now that I've had so much more experience with other guitars.

The first thing that gets you is the freakishly light weight when you pick it up. It's just unnatural. At first it kind of feels like a toy. My old Guitar Hero game controller probably weighs more. It's weird, but after a few days it just feels great and other guitars all feel too heavy.

The next thing that stood out is the neck and frets. Flawless, straight and smooth. Again, it's almost unnatural. Not even the tiniest bit of wear anywhere on the frets of a 17 year old guitar, and the fret ends are perfectly shaped and polished smooth. If only all guitars had hardened stainless steel frets like these. The neck shape is personal preference but this one suits me fine, I've always thought more guitars should have slightly wider fretboards like this (1 and 11/16" nut). The back is fairly thin but still a C shape. I've never like those flat-back necks like Ibanez, this one is more Fendery feeling. Really fast and easy to play for me.

Next I have to admit the trem bridge really is a work of design genius. The guy I bought it from had it strung with 9's with the lowest action I've ever seen a guitar that was still playable. I like 10's and higher action.. raising the bridge took 10 seconds to turn two posts with an allen key from the back of the body, which we did on the spot before I bought it. The real beauty of the design becomes apparent when you remove the back cover and see how the thing works, with the flat spring (fortunately my spring was a '10') and adjustable wheel to set the spring tension. Real easy to set up and the guitar seems to stay in tune as well as any hardtail I've owned.

Last point is the sound. I had low expectations but was very pleasantly surprised. I think I have the stock 'gen1' Dimarzios. IMO the bridge pickup in particular sounds pretty great. Balanced and nice crunch for the classic rock tones, and the middle split-coil position gives up a nice clean quackyness when you need that. It's not the best sounding guitar I own, but I certainly wouldn't call it sterile. Very useable and versatile, not to even mention the piezo saddles which can be put to good use for acoustic tones (esp with the Axe-Fx).
 
Played my first Parker on Tuesday. I have never had the opportunity before and I happened to be at the Sweetwater HQ (I was in Fort Wayne for work), so I had the joy of really checking out a blue satin Maxxfly they had hanging on the wall. Blown away by the playability. Super low action, light tension, yet didn't fret out at ALL on bends. The sound was on par with my main guitar (custom shop ESP), so it wasn't anything I wasn't used to hearing. I really liked being able to blend the Piezo with the magnetic sound through a standard 1/4" mono cable. The body is CRAZY LIGHT and a cool shape, which I dig. I firmly believe that if I had discovered these guitars earlier in life, I would likely own several of them.

This is the exact guitar I am referring to: Parker MaxxFly DF524 - Satin Majik Blue | Sweetwater.com
 
I just got a 1996 Classic that's out of this world! I've been Playing Parkers for so long, I forgot what attracted me to them originally until I picked up this beauty. I'll post some clips when I get a chance to record something.
 
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