My first priority is to end up with a fully functioning, exceptional guitar, which is what my Fly has always been. This is a great perspective, tusker9 , and I don’t take arriving at this lightly. We all have the potential to embrace a reverence for any musical instrument to the point where a kind ...

Some of the rarest Parkers are the non-production one-offs that Ken had his hand in during the early years: you can review the ParkerPrototypes for more examples, but my favorites include the painted fingerboard Fly , the Douglas fir Fly , and the Potato Chip : 15EB12E6-143B-4054-AE67-86248DECD2C9.j...

Ken also made at least one Fly with a one-piece nickel fingerboard...no photo (he knows where the guitar is!),but here's the mold he used to make that:
Ken had all sorts of experiments in mind and others, like this, that he tried out!

#ParkerPrototypes

Wow! I agree—looks killer! 😮 The composite fingerboards could have been dyed other colors than black, and I know that Ken wanted to explore this very thing further 🫤 One of the many things that got sidelined… Here’s the Fly he built for Fender during the brief pre-Korg time when they were interested...

It’s telling that a mad scientist who eats cantaloupe every day is one of the only people willing to keep the innovations alive, via this site and its mission. :lol: I think that’s a reference to me, so I’d better chime in! 🤣 I think mmmguitar is right on (as usual!), DanMumm —Ken still is very muc...

Nothin’ to see here—just a bunch of early Fly bridge prototypes Ken Parker keeps in a box 🙂 D5AA5BAD-C086-4112-80DA-3394ABF04E43.jpeg 10D08611-A691-4102-A772-35E9406B7BFB.jpeg C4CC5D6E-89A2-4566-8CA9-35EF93B9F2EF.jpeg A67ADE1E-BF74-4BA6-84D8-1075B6C6913F.jpeg 9FF50C34-20F7-426C-9EF2-A0CBE92CFBCB.jpe...

Well—this was a new one: Ken's associate Cameron's Fly with a Douglas fir body! Of note: Cam worked with Ken in Wilmington from 1993 until the USM transition in 2004, helped Ken in 2004 during the formative years of Ken Parker Archtops , and is working alongside Ken fulltime at present at KPA. Durin...

Hey everyone—we've made some improvements to the way searches happen on the site by also improving the way posts are indexed. In addition to the Search function, we've implemented hashtag search functionality (below) that the moderators have been adding to some posts. This provides a curated type of...

Is there any indication into what Ken really wanted to tweak on the original Fly design that wasn’t related to cost cutting? Ken Parker did not want to change the design and he felt/feels that the “refined” design removed important functionality. Regarding some of the changes you mentioned, Ken has...

From a Parker Guitars press release: NEW YORK, NY—June 5, 2003—Aerosmith bass guitarist, Tom Hamilton, kicked off the 2003 Save the Music Auction with a donation of one of his most collectible guitars, a prototype of the Parker Fly Bass. The donation was announced on-air during an interview yesterda...

From the early handiwork of @Ken Parker and @marvin:
Ken Trivia: besides the obvious color difference, can you identify the two major design differences between this bridge and the production Fly hardtail bridge?

#ParkerPrototypes

Hey everyone--here's a little bit of Parker Fly history related to the saddles :D So....when it came producing the first production Fly saddles, Ken Parker carved one out of wood at a 10:1 scale! IMG_1983.jpg IMG_1984.jpg IMG_1985.jpg IMG_1986.jpg He then used a pantograph to retain all of that wond...

Welcome to the Fly Clone Project, a site dedicated to preserving information about the Parker Fly and other Parker Guitars. For more info on the Fly Clone Project, click here ; we are a research effort of the Electric Guitar Innovation Lab at WPI. Start Here Nearly everything you need to know about ...