"Back in 1973 my brother Alan had outgrown his short scale beginner bass. I had been studying furniture making as an elective course at college, so building an electric bass seemed a pretty simple project. Researching and planning a new instrument I became fascinated with the union of strings and wood, - the proportions, balance, look, feel  and tone. Alan and I were both happy with the bass and I never really looked back. For twenty years I have been exploring the simple project I started at school and it's just as fun and challenging as it ever was. I've built arch-tops, solid bodies, 4, 5, & 6 string basses, electric violins, cello's and harps. Trying to solve physical problems and expand the abilities of the instruments.  I've explored non-traditional materials, studied traditional techniques, sculptured surfaces, designed and made new hardware. Boats, air planes and sporting equipment provided inspiration.

    Increasingly, I saw the guitars available to modern musicians as clumsy, limiting and gimmicky. I began to envision advances in form and function. A superlative instrument must be beautiful, balanced, powerful, accurate, versatile, durable and comfortable - a great tool, which at it's best inspires musicians to greatness but at it's least does not get in their way. Clearly, the evolution of musical instruments is an evolving art form as complex and rewarding as the music itself.

    After teaming up with Larry Fishman in 1982 I knew that my guitars would also have a unique amplified voice. Since then we've worked together to develop and refine the Fly guitar into the tool you are now experiencing. Larry and I work with a dedicated group of artisans - among the worlds best instrument makers.

    Your input will to continue to guide and inspire us as we develop new instruments with new capabilities in the years to come. Meanwhile we expect you'll enjoy many years of faithful service from your Fly."

"Evolution of the Parker Fly

    For forty-five years, guitar builders and technicians have recombined the features of available instruments in countless ways, trying to serve the changing needs of guitarists. The uses and limitations of the new combinations have been fully explored by now.

    As different as they seem, solid-body and hollow-body guitars both create sound the same way. Both guitars are mechanical devices made of wood and other materials designed to respond to a strings vibration. The only real difference is the mode of amplification. One uses pickups, circuitry and speakers; the other uses a wooden membrane to move the air.
 

The character of both acoustic and electric guitars
is determined by their materials and proportions.

   Knowing this we set out to create the most versatile, responsive and dependable instrument possible. In the end, what emerged is the unique instrument that you now own. Our search has lead us down many new paths in hopes of achieving a harmonious balance between the magic soulfullness of wood - which can suffer from problems such as warping and cracking - and more stable modern materials - which typically sound cold and clinical. Think of our lightweight tonewood and exoskeleton of high-modulas carbon and glass fibre as a kind of new wood. This patented structure allows us to sculpt a beautiful, lightweight guitar, optimised for it's ability to respond to the string's vibrations.

    We have developed other innovative features as well. Our patented stainless steel no-tang frets bonded to a laminated fingerboard greatly increase fret life. There is also a new lightweight truss rod made of tool steel, and a flat spring vibrato system designed to work with the Fly's built in piezoelectric bridge pickups.

    Finally we've built a new facility and filled it with custom tooling to support the manufacture of these new components and instruments. We're using the latest computer aided manufacturing equipment combined with an especially high proportion of hand work. We're building these instruments to tolerances never before held in our industry. Isn't it great that all of our attempts to make every instrument exactly the same result in guitars that each have their own personality and character?"