About the Parker Fly Classic - I AM GASSING

Mr.RangoTango

Experienced
... And there's one a few 100 kilometers away! Whats your thoughts on the parker fly classic guitar? A guy from another forum is selling this guitar S: Parker Fly Classic 1998 - Elektrisk guitar - Brugtsalg - 4Sound.dk I think it seems like it's in great condition. I sent me some other photos that really shows the beauty of this guitar. Well I just saw this comment from a guy on youtube: Parker Fly Classic Sound.Sample - YouTube Do you guys agree with him? I Mean the parker has everything I want regarding playability, but how's the sound??
 
Parker's feel and sound different than other guitars and you get two camps, love or hate. If you have a chance to try one prior highly recommend it so you can determine where you stand. Personally think they are great and use them almost exclusively these days. I use the mojo series so cannot compare to classic... Believe the differences are exposed fly wheel and possibly classic has dimarzio rather than SD pups
 
Try before you buy.

I remember well my first impression after spending time with a friend's brand new Fly in the mid 90's. It was the first Parker any of us had seen in the music store we both worked for back then. It was all black, no sight of wood anywhere on the thing. My friend was raving "It's so light! It makes every kind of sound! It's all carbon fiber and shit, so it will never warp! This is going to take over the whole guitar industry!"

It was a slow day in the store, so I spent some time with the Fly in the amp room and gave it a full shakedown. Thing was so innovative in so many ways, and I remember wanting to like it. But it left me cold. It played smooth and easy but I felt like I was playing a video game or something. All too plastic feeling. It played perfect, yet felt totally wrong at the same time. The range of tones possible was cool, but to me it seemed like every one had a bit of weird sheen on top, sounded a bit unnatural.

Since then I've owned many dozens of guitars and at least briefly had my hands on hundreds more... but none of them were a Parker Fly. I'm still friends with that guy and he has always been a way worse guitar trader/hoarder than I am (he sold me my fave Les Paul). I haven't seen him using a Fly since the 90s.
 
I had a 95. The neck is wide, flat & thin. Make sure you like that. Tuning.stability is like no other guitar. Best vibrato tailpiece ever, IMO.

The body is very thin. If you don't have large belly to rest it on, you may find it's too thin to play comfortably. Just being honest. :)

Also, the area of the body where you rest your forearm is smaller & thinner than most other guitars. Check that you're OK with that.

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I play almost exclusively Parkers. Nothing plays like them IMO.

As far as sound, I like them. But it's like anything. No accounting for taste.

As far as playability, weight, etc. Nothing comes close. The fact that they are light has got nothing to do with Carbon Fiber. It's got to do with the fact that they are very sculpted and so there's little wood. About 4 Lbs of it. The thin sheet of Carbon fiber. on the back of the guitar just makes it strong so the string tension does not break the impossibly thin guitar.

The price is really good so even if you don't love it, you'll be able to resell for a good price. I'd buy it in an instant. And if this was in the US, I might.
 
My first electric was a '96 Fly Deluxe. It was my main guitar for every gig I played up until a couple years ago when it took its first trip to a luthier for a setup. I also have a Mojo Spring #2. If you go on the Parker website or see any official photos, that's my guitar. It's the white guitar at the top of the homepage. I have a number of guitars that I love to play, but if I ever had to choose one brand to play the rest of my life and no others, I'd pick Parker. That's a good year as well. The older ones from when Ken Parker still owned the company are the best.


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Love my fly deluxe, it's a bit brighter than my other guitars, but it's playability is second to none, frets are still brand new. I got a d-thing dtuner for it as well... great gigging guitar.
 
Wow okay! I Think i've made up my mind!! :D thanks

What's the difference between those Parker's and the one I have looked at? Except that those are pre-refined?
 
I love the way they play but I'm not sure about the sound of them. Everyone that I've heard and played myself seems to have a plastic tone to it or something. I'm not sure how to explain it and perhaps it's pickup choice or some other factor but I wish I could find one that sounds like what I expect from a guitar because the playability is incredible. I also like that many models have piezo pickups in them so you can emulate an acoustic guitar with a good tone match.
 
I also considered getting a parker in the past. But none of the guitar merchants around got a single one to try out. I really dig the design of the body (not so much the headstock; I wished they'd go for a more traditional headstocke with one of their lines). I've heard extremely convincing acoustic sounds out of the piezo on recordings.

But then I decided that I will not buy any expensive guitar without the chance to try it out first, especially since most reviewers comment on the sound having certain traits that are unique to parker guitars and might feel uncomfortable.

I've heard a lot of good stuff about Parkers and I would love to try one, but I'd say don't buy one blindfolded - especially not from a private person where you got no return policy.
 
Back in 2001, my "nice guitar" search came doesn't to Parker vs PRS. PRS won because I liked its sound marginally better than the Parker. Fast forward to today and I might still own more PRS guitars, my Parkers get all the playing time. The AxeFx has enough tone shaping options that I can do a lot with any guitar. If I can do a tone match to get satisfactory single coil sounds out of humbuckers,I figure I ought to play the guitar that feels the best to me. My PRS and EBMM guitars play great but my Parker's just effortless.
 
Back in 2001, my "nice guitar" search came doesn't to Parker vs PRS. PRS won because I liked its sound marginally better than the Parker. Fast forward to today and I might still own more PRS guitars, my Parkers get all the playing time. The AxeFx has enough tone shaping options that I can do a lot with any guitar. If I can do a tone match to get satisfactory single coil sounds out of humbuckers,I figure I ought to play the guitar that feels the best to me. My PRS and EBMM guitars play great but my Parker's just effortless.

oh god you make me GAS even harder. It's almost sexual now. And.. Aleclee how well does the parker stay in tune when going from standard to drop d in floating-mode?
 
I've got my fly set to float. When I use drop tuning I simply throw the switch on the back to dive only position and it stays in perfect tune.

Works for a broken string too. Gets me through the song.
 
I've got my fly set to float. When I use drop tuning I simply throw the switch on the back to dive only position and it stays in perfect tune.

Works for a broken string too. Gets me through the song.

Is it difficult to change the switch on stage?
 
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