Parker Guitars Fly Deluxe

I've got a 2000 Deluxe I bought used. I've been playing for 20 years and this guitar is really nice. It's does everything but fix you a martini and take you to the airport. Lots of versatility if your into that. I mostly just wanted something light, neck-through, and cool to look at. I own a few other interesting eye candies including a Tacoma, Breedlove, and a VOX. This is a great addition.

I've been reading all these reviews about how thin the sound is. I'm not really sure what that's all about. I'm playing this instrument through a Line 6 Spider II with 2 10" Celestians. Sounds pretty good to me. It does require some tweaking to take the highs down but I didn't think it required as much tweaking as adding tone to a Les Paul that sounds like mudd, or a Strat for that matter. In the world of effects and processing this instrument is as good as any other high quality instrumen. If yours sounds crummy, take a look at your effects bank or just spend some quality time with this guitar.

I bought it used so I'm not sure how the factory set it up; however, I got it clean. No dings, dents or scratches. Played it right out of the case but the strings where rusty. I took it to my local luthier and he said this guitar is fine, but for a fee he could put some new strings on it........ I declined. As far as the construction of the instrument all things seemed to be in order. One problem with this instrument is the poorly placed volume knob. Thats pretty lame. Took the advice of one reviewer and put a foam nut under the knob. Problem solved. I have heard the horn digs into peoples sternum too. This is a user problem. I found that this happens when your sitting, slouched over the instrument when it's on your right leg. Well sit up straight, don't be lazy, and put it on your left leg. Problem solved. The sperzel tuners are showing signs of wear and sticking. They will have to be replaced soon. Sticking is a common flaw with this type of tuner. Not really a Parker problem.

I've played with it live tons of times. It seems just fine. The finish seems tough so far, no stress cracks, peeling or flaking. Shows no signs of wear and tear as of yet. This is important to note. I am a very VERY consistent player. I hit the same mark everytime. Other guitars I have show severe scars from repeated playing. This one had a few marks that I buffed out very easily. Overall I can depend on this instrument, but it eats batteries like crazy. If you forget to unplug it forget about it. Keep batteries handy. Lots of them. I take this guitar out all the time with nothing else. Everything else sucks to play after you play this for awhile. Strings don't break on this guitar very often if ever. If your getting one put strap locks on it. Nothing more sad then a pretty instrument crashing to the ground.

Never had to deal with Parker company. I don't know how they operate. This instrument has been good to me.

Like I said, been playing 20 years. I knew what I was buying when I got this instrument. I saw a Parker at Guitar Center in 1996, picked it up and said WOW this thing is amazing. At that point in my life this very expensive guitar was way out of my league for affordability. I never stopped thinking about it and played many other guitars for the next 6 years. I played a ton and non even came close to the versatility and over all coolness of this wicked gear. If It got stolen I would have to buy another. Everything else feels strange and cumbersome to play. The only thing I really don't like about this guitar is the position of the volume knob. I know why it's there, but I hate it. Since nothing is perfect I give the whole thing a 9. But compared to a 7 for a strat and a 6 for a Les Paul and an 8 for an SG then thats pretty good. If you want some real flexibility and aren't to much of a chicken to turn some knobs and make it happen get this guitar. Looks super cool, great conversation peice, and fun to play. I think this guitar is really innovative in it's design and features in a good way, not the plastic back stupid Ovation way, or the 7 string Ibanez way, but a usefull meaningful way that really impacted the way guitars should be made. I have to say that Parkers may be the most significant change to electric guitars since their conception. Everything else is just a Strat or a Gibson. Nothing else is a Parker.

year 2000 Fly Deluxe. Great design. Plays beautifully, responsive neck, very low action, easy to play.

This one has the "better" generation 2 DiMarzio's. They sound terrible.

Some guys complain bitterly about the upper horn of the body, how it digs into their sternum. I don't find this to be the case, personally I love the way it feels when standing ... my hands just fall into place with no effort, no fatigue, especially my right hand/wrist, curiously enough.

But be aware, the tone of the Deluxe is brighter than other models. I find it brittle and not usable at all. Which bums me out totally.

Still, I'm exploring mods, because I love the feel so much.

I love the way this guitar plays and feels to hold. It is so light and comfortable to play, I think the ergonomics are perfect, i can't say enough about the engineering / design.

But the tone is not useful to me.

The Deluxe model is made of basswood and poplar, and it is too bright, in my opinion. To me, it is harsh, and sterile. Obviously, your mileage may vary.

Even with 2nd Generation Dimarzio's, this gtr has such an annoying upper high treble character that it is totally frustrating to me. I have run thru a Carr Hammerhead, a Mesa MK 4, and a Mesa Quad preamp rig. Sure you can dial down the highs, but the CHARACTER of the guitar still, to me, is very thin, brittle, weak.

Despite all this, I like the feel so much, I'm having a boutique build several pickups in attempts to get some mids out of it.

In hindsight, I think the Mojo (made of mahogany) is probably a better fit for what I want in tone. Haven't played one, but I've been reading the hell out of the Parker forum, and these reviews.

Just thought a potential buyer should know that the different models have VASTLY different tones. I'm guessing this, because mine is absolutely horrible, but other guys just RAVE about the tone of their Mojo's and Artist models, and they can't all be deaf.

Further, I even see guys here who love the sound of their Deluxe. Brings to mind the possibility that there may be large variations from one individual guitar to the next...

Despite all, I'd still tell everyone to seriously consider buying a Parker, but perhaps not a Deluxe.

The build quality is perfect. The design is highly innovative.

Haven't gigged with it, but I'm dying to get new pickups in... then I'd take to gigs without backup, without hesitation. It appears to be as solid or moreso than any other make I can think of.

This is a top quality instrument. Fit and finish perfect, design is great. I'm having tone issues with mine, but the guitar excels in so many categories, I think it's worth it for me to go WAY out of my way to improve the tone. And if it can't be done, then I'm going to sell this one and go look for a Mojo model.

This has all been hashed over by others. Remember everything is relative. What can your other guitars do relative to the Parker? Can you change strings as fast? Does it have the same upper fret access and 24 frets? The same acoustic sound? The ability to output acoustic and electric at the same time or switch between the two so quickly? This is a slam dunk for Parker to anyone who knows guitars like I do.

I became increasingly disenchanted with the electric sound and the volume variation between pickup positions and decided to change pickups. I was also picking up a lot of noise for some reason, like radio transmissions. My pickups were really beat looking with the pole screws rusted and very used looking. I noticed Musician's Friend had the newest DiMarzio Parker replacements on sale so I ordered a set and promptly removed the old ones waiting for the replacements. I discovered a completely broken pole wire while removing the bridge pickup which meant I was using just a single coil! Anyway, it's safe to say the replacements are an improvement over the originals. I keep reading about the supposed "sonic superiority" of brand SD but somebody should tell Joe Satriani. I actually believed that stuff and bought one of those pickups to try on my LesPaul thinking it would tranform it into a Metal monster for the few C tuning songs we were doing using heavy gage strings. I removed it the next day when I couldn't get a decent tone out of it and bought EMG's.(81/85) (I didn't take them back) I use a Flextone Plus with ext cabinet loaded with Vintage 30's. On the acoustic side I always use a Boss Chorus pedal with a ground break box at the PA. It sounds better to my old ears than the girl I play with's very expensive Melissa Etheridge model Ovation. The secret to the acoustic is adding just a little bit of chorus and adjusting the pot under the back cover ("Piezo volume") so you don't need to further pre-amp the signal at the PA. If you find yourself needing a little more ranch and trebly boost try pushing in the red button on the side with the selector switch on electric. I've even played whole songs with the switch on acoustic, the red button depressed and a mono cord in the guitar! Now that's a whole different electric sound. All those possibilities don't exsist on other guitars.

I had a few similar problems to some earlier posters and this is how I fixed each one. A loose output jack that I could not tighten due to the tight confines of the body where it's mounted and the impossible position of the nut that holds it on was fixed with a little PC-7 epoxy applied around the nut with a toothpick that was left a day to dry. I also had the 1st fret start to come loose on the high-E side and simply removed it, cleaned it up and reglued it with common superglue holding it on with a few clamps. My tendency to inadvertently turn down the volume control while playing was fixed with a silicone washer sandwiched between the knob and pot to tighten up the resistance to turning it (I actually used a disposable ear plug that I just cut the center out of) That's the extent of the issues I've had in the 10 years I've owned my Delux. About $10 to fix them all. I would guess you would have at least that many minor issues with any guitar over a 10 year time span. And the action? Parker owners know all about that. It was redefined when I bought this guitar.

I've never had a reliability issue other than the jack which for a few weeks drove me crazy. It sounded like a shorted cord if I moved the wrong way on the stage. That issue has been resolved. Of course you have to be vigilant with a delicate instrument like a flyweight Delux. Don't do anything with it you wouldn't do to a Stradivarius Violin and you'll be fine. It probably won't survive a Peter Townsend type helicopter smash on the floor, but his didn't either.

I've found Parker to be very helpful. They e-mailed me a schematic for my P-38 I bought completely disassembled (don't ask..) and even resolved a wiring issue I had with my hybrid "Nitefly" that has the Kirt Hammet EMG pickups installed along with a preamp for the piezo pickups. But that's a whole different story...

I've been playing for 38 years, starting when I was 13. My first serious guitar was a Univox LP copy with Gibson pickups and hardware installed. I used Ernie Ball super slinky strings and still had sore fingers every time I played. I moved on to a multitude of different guitars over the years, some Strat's, a Tele and many different Gibsons including a 1958 LP Jr. I still own most of them but they take up space in my closet. Each one had it's good points and bad points, but no guitar I've ever owned or played holds a candle to my Fly Delux. It really is indispensable. Every thing else feels clumsy to me now and hard to play. I know whatever a guitarist plays at the moment is "the best" but I challenge anyone with doubts to play a good Parker for a month and then go back to whatever they think is better. If you would choose to do that I submit you have alot to learn about how to use and play a guitar and how to adjust an amp. This guitar will do anything you want it to, and it will do it easier than any guitar on the Planet. This is coming from an open minded "Dinosaur" guy who started out playing Sabbath and Alice Cooper and now plays Drop-d songs and whatever else my band plays. I've been there and done all that and have owned them all. I turn off those that have negative opinions while remaining anonomous and will gladly share some recordings with any doubters demonstrating the sonic capability of my guitar. Tapes don't lie but some people do. But the bottom line is every guitarist that uses something else has a tougher time playing what I play, so I hope nobody else owns one but me! (haha)I'm interested in helping/talking to other Fly owners so E-mail me if ya want or have any questions. I'm a 10 year owner and have worked on about all their models over the years. I currently own a P-38 (all stock), a Nitefly H-S-S and my beloved Delux.

The parker fly deluxe features two dimarzio custom wound humbukers with coil tapping , not to mention the amaizing fishman pezio acoustic system.
My Model is one of the new deluxes. and having compared it to the older deluxe models , i can safely say that this guitar will blow all guitars out the window. everything is designed to play and sound perfect from the epoxy carbon reinforced neck to the carved multiple finger joint.Also the tuning is perfect.

I am a semi pro guitarist whom has done session work for loads of bands and the sound from my parker is very versatile. i find if u mix some peizo with the mag pickups , you will get a sound untouchable by any other guitar. The sustain is excellent. I understand the dimarzio humbuckers on the old deluxe where useless. Exactly the opposite on the new models. they are flawless. i can get any sound i want.

I always have my action set up for me. however the factory set-up was
fine, as my guitar tech handed me the guitar back right away and said "what do u want me to do" it was already done. the only niggle i have was the instruction book. it was for the old deluxe model, so it was out of date. So i got onto parker and they where happy to send me a new manual.

I ALWAYS use a backup, however i will soon be ensuring that my backup is another parker fly deluxe as i love playing it. Ifind this guitar is very durable, and ofcourse all guitars last longer with a little bit of care. I was unsure because it was so light. but these guitars are built to last. THE STAINLESS STEEL FRETS ALSO HELP TO MAKE SURE OF THAT. AS THEY WONT WEAR OUT.

I have a warranty for 1 year . i had to contact parker for an up to date manual. i got a reply the next day through email with a manual attatched. and they even posted one out aswell.

I use my Parker through my pod xt live and the sound is incredable.
I would defo buy this guitar again, im actualy looking to purchase some more quite soon. i actualy bought this guitar to replace my rare stolen prs mccarty model and im so glad i did. as the prs cant touch my parker. If u are unsure about this guitar , go and try one out and you will see for you're self.

All the features have been gone over before. I'll just say this guitar has the most comprehensive and ingenius features of any guitar I've ever played. That's why I bought two of these.

Amazing! Perfect! Extremely versatile! Essentially I use this with everything from death metal to classical and everything in between. The sound can be brutal, heavy, crunchy, biting, growly, sizzling...or it ca n be smooth, warm, articulate... either way it sounds HUGE! Sustain is incredible too.

Honestly it would take forever to go into this in more detail. I've owned 30-40 USA/Custom made guitars from various companys and this is by far my favorite guitar ever.

Perfect on all accounts. The neck will never warp, completely invulnerable to temperature or humidity changes. Perfect fretwork. Best playing neck in existence today.

As I said I own two of these, one is a beautiful and sleek Gold finish, while the other is a custom one of a kind finish. The paintjobs on both are flawless.

Sperzel locking tuners never deviate, guitar is invulnerable to environment hobgoblins, frets incapable of ever wearing out... as I said, FLAWLESS!

Class act.

I own/have owned dozens upon dozens of high-end USA or Custom guitars. Everything from BC Riches, Jacksons, ESPs, Ibanez, Gibsons, Washburns, Deans, Fenders, Schecter (Custom Shop), etc... and simply put NOTHING COMPARES TO A PARKER. I own 2 Deluxes and I couldn't be happier. I've also played Niteflys, Classics, and their import PM20 model - all are superb as well.

You won't find anything better I promise. Be a man, lose the $%^&*@ Gibson and step up to the big leagues.

tons of features... dual humbuckers, if you want a tight aggressive high gain sound, switch it to the bridge pu. for a sterile/prestine clean sound switch the selector in the middle(both pickups). for a fat bold lead tone, switch to the neck pu.

in addition to those basic options, you have the fishman peizo(acoustic) stuff. you can actually blend it with the magnetic pu's. you can also use a stereo cable to send it between two different amps.(for example, peizos to the PA, mag's to the jcm 800.)

really versitle guitar.

24 frets, thin neck, trem, sperzle locking tuners, custom wound dimarzios with a fishman piezo setup. made in like 96, usa.

poplar body, basswood neck(carbon fiber reinforced)

i have a splawn promod 100 and an engl powerball. an isp decimator, rsp/rocktron intelliverb, ernie ball volume, and an origional crybaby.

i play everything from death metal, grind core, metalcore, to blues and jazz. so i need the flexibility.

honestly, the guy below me needs to change his battery or something. this guitar sounds awesome.

for modern high gain tones those stock dimarzios eat emg's for lunch(i have another guitar with an 81/85 set). the bridge pickup is tighter, higher output, more clarity... the neck is alot less muddy, and the clean tones acheived with the pu selector in the middle is ridiculously better.

the peizo's, not exactly like an acoustic. but damn close. you really need a full battery and a real acoustic amp setup for this to really shine through. though i must say, it's impressive even running into my clean channels on the splawn and engl.

the fact you can blend the acoustic and regular pickups together really makes for some interesting tones. if you dig the ambient tones alot.

very well rounded guitar.

bought this guitar about a year ago...
it was bought the first year it came out. barely played, lived most of it's life in it's gig bag, it belonged to a buddy i was in a band with and when i found out he had it, i offered him like $600 for it. sold.

first play... extremely well set up and clean. in tune. i must say it was impossible to get a dirty tone out of at first. but all it took was one 9v battery and a new set of strings, and it turned into the best guitar i've ever played.

light as heck.

most comfortable guitar ever, for sitting and standing. well thought out. and the build quality is superb.

it's seen some gigs and alot of practicing now.

definately built to last.

i alway carry a backup... not worried the guitar is going to stop working. but strings break at shows alot it seems(though i've only broke one string on it so far.)

asked a few questions, my questions were answered... what more could you want?

i have a relic ibanez rg 570 with an emg 81/85 set a washburn acoustic... and i've owned others(gibson/ibanez/esp).

definately a guitar worth buying again. i have plans for more parkers soon.

the only thing i hate about it is now i'm not satisfied with most other guitars, except other parkers.

could always use a cup holder.

This is a 1996 deluxe that I bought second hand. The specs are as standard except for 2 additions, a "d-thing" tuning key for drop-D (Duh) playing and a set of Seymour Duncan pups fitted at Ed Roman's in Las Vegas. I was given a hard case with the guitar and have also bought one of the Parker gig bags (very impressed with that).

The Fly is famous for being a "blank canvas" that every budding play can mould to his own desires. The specs are very impressive on paper but in practise I can only give this thing a 5. See the "SOUND" section for why.

I should start by saying thankyou to everyone who has posted so far about this instrument, you have been very informative. However I have come to the fly as an Acoustic guitarist looking for a hybrid instrument.

My main Acoustic guitar is loaded with a fishman rare-earth blend and an emg piezo. I imagined that the combination of mags/piezo coupled with a 24 fret neck and infinite sustain would lead to sonic satori.
Not so.

As many before me have pointed out the stock Dimarzio pups that come with the fly are nothing short of shameful. I have a pet theory that the piezo system was installed not to throw open our musical horizons but to get some sound out of this poor instrument. Sadly having put in the Seymour Duncans the story is not much better. The neck pup is now warmer but not a lot. The bridge more like an sg. In between is weak 80's disco. The tone is still annoyingly plastic. What gets me is the inconsistency of this instrument. It seems to have mood swings where it just won't play well. The piezo is hideous. Imagine playing an acoustic guitar made entirely of tin with a tin nut and saddle. stick it through a cheap chinese microphone and cut all the bass off. That's the fly.

action good. Finish sadly relic'd by however had it before me.

won't play it live. too horrible

awful

1998 black fly deluxe. omg this guitars is amazing. by far the best tremlo system availabe: super easy to tune and keep in tune. the piezo is an awsome feature. the sprezel locking tuners make a big difference. the actions is super low and the neck is faster than my dads corvette z06!! the guitar is very light quite possibly the lightest guitar that i have ever felt. looks are pretty cool too maybe too flashy for some people. there is a switch for everything on this guitar. almost more features than i need but i am not going to complain.

the sound is mediocre due to the shitty ass dizmarzio humbuckers...so i had ed roman guitars drop in a seymour duncan jb in the bridge and a 59 in the neck... this upgrade was $280 plus tax... but worth every penny. i love the sounds that i can create with the jb/59 and the acoustic piezo combanation. i play heavy metal and 80s hair metal and although that is not this guitars intended use, sounds great coming out of my Bogner Uberschall halfstack. but due to the fact that the dizmarzio pickups suck i cant give the sound a perfect review. but with the seymour duncans i would definately give it a 10

set up is perfect, the neck plays like butter. the finish isnt that great i can see litte numbs under the paint especially on the headstock but it actually looks pretty cool.

this guitar looks like it came out of the factory yesterday but in fact it is pushing 8 years old. it is really light weight and feels like it wouldnt be very durable, but i have played many live gigs with it and nothing has broken yet. i always bring a couple guitars to my gigs because i use diferent tuning on different songs.

never dealt with them

i have been playing since i was 13 years old and now i am 21 and have been in a couple successful rock n roll bands. I have 19 guitars: 3 u.s.a. les pauls. a 1984 gibson explorer, a jackson RR1, 3 korean schecters, a u.s.a. e.s.p. eclipse, and so on. My parkers are problably my favorites (i have a deluxe and a Mojo) with the exception of one of my L.P.s I actually like this one better than my Mojo. problably just cause i have had the deluxe longer and it has grown on me more. Overall i would definately recomend this guitar, but only if you have enough money to also buy the seymour duncans.

I bought my guitar from a friend for 600 US a few weeks ago. It was made prior to the parker buyout so it doesn't have the new features. Dual humbuckers, volume, tone control, piezo the usual, mahogany body. Anyway, if you want the details go to the parker site, it's all there.

Well, I guess I'm in the minority but I find that the DiMarzio pups are good. With no piezo blended in it's got good bass response but not as much as other guitar so it doesn't have the same amount of chug to it. In the upper register the lead tone is very sweet. It is focused and even. I agree with the site that dead spots are a non issue. The sound is uniform across the whole fretboard. Addind the piezo tone makes the guitar more compressed and it loses bass response so don't do it for tight rhythm playing with moderate to high amounts of gain. The clean is very good. It can be bright and funky or mellow and smooth. Very versatile. I think the guitar sounds just fine the way it is. I'm using the fly with a mesa boogie studio preamp into a single rectifier.

I got this guitar set up by the previous owner who did a great job so I can't comment on the factory setup but the action is low. 1/16th inch at the 12 fret, maybe a bit lower even. I can not see any flaws in the construction at all.

I haven't had it very long so no comment but it seems solid.

I've been at this guitar thing for 12 years and have been an ibanez guy for 11 of them. Not anymore. The composite neck and fretboard are a dream come true. It is easy to play is just so smooth with the stainless steel frets. SS frets are way better in my books because bending is frictionless, the string just goes where you want it without any trouble. Compared to my ibanez guitars it feels a bit like you are moing the string over very fine grit sand paper. I like this guitar so much I am thinking of getting another parker although I am waiting to see what the new ownership does to this fantastic guitar line. I hope they don't lose any of the carbon glass construction to cut costs or some junk like that. They've already got a guitar that takes the body design a step towards a les paul and another that could be a cousin to the telecaster. Nice guitars, but the selling point for parkers is typically that they are unique in design and construction. I guess we'll see in time what happens.

bought after 2000 cant really remember.
what more could you want from a guitar?
well...
D-tuner
automatic tuning
world peace

IF YOU WANT TO REPLACE THE PICKUPS READ THIS:

DIMARZIO MAKES DROP IN REPLACEMENTS FOR THE PARKER!!! JUST SEND THEM A MAIL AND GET THE ORDER NUMBERS (START WITH PH).

so if you want to replace the pick ups there is no need to go chopping up the guitar or pickups!!! what happend to asking people?

I have the newer model with the improved pickups and i am pretty pleased with them overall. but it does still seem to lack caractor so i cant give a 9 or a 10

the pizo is a really cool , and now i don't like playing guitars that dont have them, as it is an essential part of my sound now. splitting the signal a part of my secret. I really only wrote this to clear up the myths about replaceing the pickups, but adjusting the hight of the pickups will make a diffrence so try this first, and spend some time tweaking maxing out the vol and tone isn't a good sound for me.

but still the sound is a little sterile for most, but it is a very versitile guitar. the pizo allows you to go from electric to acustic without swapping guitars, or blend the 2 and really alter the sound, (for the dumass who couldn't see the use for it!).
and finally a good parker stays in tune and rarly needs tuneing (even when i come back from holidays), if it is going out of tune, then there is something wrong with it. i advise checking the tuners, or your strings are crap.

mine is ok, 6 string busses, action is just slightly higher then i would like (can't lower it any lower or it frets out, and really buzzes)
paintwork chips pretty easy, but i also own ibanez's so it is nothing compared to them.
vol know is a bit loose for my likeing, no probs with situation as i am a carefull player.
I don't like the trem bar, and the way it fits in. i would prefer a screw in one,
to be honest a little dissapointing when you take into acount the price tag, but not bad, but at this price i expect perfect.

used it live on many occasions (one guitar to cover electric and acustic and super light too, handy) only got one chip on the neck due to some chump who played it with out asking, as i never let any one play it and i sugest you do the same ('durrr what does this weel doo?') as this guitar is not idiot proof, allways bring spare batries, as the sound starts to go when they start to go flat and you get a really annoying ringing sound.

don't know, guys at dimarzio were helpfull though (i know they have nothing to do with parker, but see my earlier comment about changeing the pickups)

been playing since the tender age of 8, i also have a parker p38 as a backup and i really like it too (though they don'T make it any more). this is my main guitar, indespenable for me. I dreamed of owning this guitar from a young age, then i realized it would be some time. after i played it in a shop a good few years later i had to own one. now i have it (and have had for a good few years now) I have stoped buying guitars.

stolen? I have a colection of testicles in formaldehyde ,adorning my amplifiers, from the fools who dared to touch the Precious, as for the guy who chiped it.........