1997 Parker Nitefly Electric Guitar

Parker Fly models were all the rage in the '90s and for good reason -- they're ergonomic, wild-looking, lightweight, and piezo-equipped in addition to their magnetic pickups. This lets you fake a pretty decent "acoustic" vibe on the... fly! ...while gigging. I remember seeing The Prodigals in the early 2000s and their guitarist made good use of one to do just that -- digging-in the electric side when needed but using the strumming abilities of the piezos to anchor the band the rest of the time.

This "Nitefly" is a slightly more traditional Fly, with an ash body and bolt-on, carbon fiber neck. In feel, the neck is actually "cut" a lot like an old Strat, with a steeper-radius board, round-C profile, and 1 5/8" nut width. It's strangely home for my hands! Because of the way the neck and headstock is shaped up at the nut, you can play almost "behind" the nut and so all sorts of chords in the first few frets feel a lot more effortless than on other guitars. It's pretty interesting -- the few times I've picked a Fly up when they've been in the shop for setups and adjustments I've always felt that "unrestricted" thing and I think that's a big part of the appeal.

Anyhow, this one is in good working order save some wear and tear from a generous amount of use (check out those pickup covers!) but overall it's happy. My video demo only shows the magnetic pickups but the piezos work fine. I didn't have a stereo cable to stick into my A/B box to show-off the piezo sound but the "jack half-out" let me test it and hear that it was in good order.

Repairs included: mild cleaning and setup.

Body wood: swamp ash

Bridge: piezo-equipped adjustable Strat-style

Fretboard: carbon fiber

Neck wood: carbon fiber

Pickups: 2x single coil Strat-style, 1x humbucker

Action height at 12th fret: 1/16" overall (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 46w-10 or similar

Neck shape: slim-medium C

Board radius: 9 1/2"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight with hair of relief on treble side at pitch

Fret style: medium/taller

Scale length: 25 1/2"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 12 3/4"

Body depth: 1 5/8"

Weight: 7 lbs 7 oz

Condition notes: there's some pickwear and usewear especially at the pickguard and neck/middle pickup covers. There's minor scratching/usewear in the body. The truss rod has almost no more adjustment room left (it's cranked pretty tight). The treble side of the neck deflects a hair over 1/64" under full tension and that can't be adjusted out. However, the setup is quick and fast and it plays as-normal.

It comes with: an original gigbag.