Parker Fly deluxe vs. classic

[Mikael Jurman]

Hello there!

Lately I've taken an unhealthy interest in these guitars. Since they don't exactly crowd the Swedish market, I'm kinda curious about your experiences with them. All i know is that they differ in the woods department.

The question is simply: have you A/B tested the Deluxe and the Classic and if so, what did you think of them?

Thanks,
Mikael

[blunote]

Hi,
Before I got my JEM7V, a fly deluxe was may main guitar.
Great neck...a little more radius than a Jem. I prefer the jem neck since it suites my style better.

Guitar weighs 4.5 pounds!!! (don't know the metric equivalent)
After a less paul that is an amazing difference!!

The deluxe is made of balsa wood baked in a graphite epoxy bag.

The fingerboard is graphite also, and the stainless steel frets look like they have never been played after 4 years of steady giging.

It has a great clean sound, (i think better than the JEM's) but lacks the definition of the Jem in a high gain setting.
I always thought that it sounded great, but I like the jem's distorted tone better.

The classic is the same shape, but made out of mahogany.
It has a warmer more "classic" tone with less snap than the deluxe.

The pickups are special propritetary Dimarzios that have a shorter bobbin than a traditional humbucker.
You cannot replace them with any other type of pickup.
This could very well be a key to it's sound, good or bad

I have the original pickup series...the newer ones claim to have corrrected some of the problems

All in all, the parkers are an amazing piece of guitar engineering, I still love mine..... but some aspects of it's experimental design function better than they sound.

Bryon

[JESTER700]

Originally Posted by blunote

Hi,
Before I got my JEM7V, a fly deluxe was may main guitar.
Great neck...a little more radius than a Jem. I prefer the jem neck since it suites my style better. <snip>

The deluxe is made of balsa wood baked in a graphite epoxy bag.
Bryon

One minor correction. The Deluxe has a poplar body and basswood neck (which many say is the next thing to balsa, but that's another subject... ;-)

[somata]

having played a fly classic for about two years now, i can attest to its sonic versatility-there are a ton of tones in that 4.5lb body!!! the first poster was pretty much right on the money with the sonic differences. i haven't a/b'd them, but i've been in a lot of these discussions with other fly owners, and the concensus seems to be that the classic is a bit of a "heavier"/darker sounding guitar than the deluxe, owing to its mahogony body. i've been incredibly happy with my classic--it is an unhealthy obsession though, it will pretty much ruin you for other guitars...lol!!! i use mine for everything from ambient/ soundtrack experimental improv. to over-the-top technical death/grindcore, and it does beautifully! the bridge pup is very similiar to the tone zones. and i believe that the neck is based on the air norton (or maybe the fred) you can get custom wound fly replacements from dimarzio, but there are only a few of their other models specs that you can get, on account of their thinner size. if you're thinking of getting one new, i'd wait to get my hands on the new fly mojo, which is all mahogony and i think standard sized (seymour duncan) pups...parkers are absolutely awesome!!!

[darren wilson]

That's the first i've heard of the Fly Mojo! Sweet... comes standard with my favourite pickup combo! (Lame name, though, but i suppose they've exhausted all the superlatives.

The NiteFly M is also very cool... rear-routed oil-finished Mahogany body with front-mounted standard pickups and a bolt-on mahogany neck. A fair bit heavier than a Fly, but still has all the cool Parker features and THAT NECK!

If i hadn't started playing 7-strings, my Fly Classic would still be my main guitar. If Parker every comes out with a 7-string Fly, i'm saving up for it, and will likely sell off half of my other guitars to get it.

[Gresh]

I used to have a Fly Deluxe. I found it a bit sterile sounding and I was using Rivera amps at the time so it wasn't an amp issue. The Classic might have that cured with the mahogany body. The sterile tone was easy to ignore however once you started jamming on that neck. Holy Bejeeeesus what a great neck....I've never felt its equal, seriously. The Jem and UV necks are great, but that parker was something special, maybe it was the stainless frets.

A little freaky to look at and the horn point poked me in the chest incessantly causing uncomfortable bruising...but wonderful playing guitars. Only real gripe was the control layout which I found impossible to navigate smoothly and the trem would go clunk when I would bend and release notes.

[disassociative1]

i had a fly deluxe but it went to fund a js10th. (glad i did it 100%)

very nice axe but the neck was way to wide at the high regesters and the fact u cant change the pups was a costant niggel coz they are slighty harsh and somewhat brittle to my ears.

i never had a prob with the horn pokeing me (probly coz im chubby)

they are great guitars and i will get one again at some point but i do feel i will get a clasic as to me it has better tone, the harshness of the pups is melowed by the mahog body.