Considering Selling My Dragonfly

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kurrykid
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Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2023 2:50 pm

Considering Selling My Dragonfly

Post by kurrykid »

I have a pretty unique Parker Dragonfly I am looking to sell / trade-in. The story goes it was one of only 2 guitars made out of birch wood that they pulled up from the bottom of Lake Superior. So the wood is thought to be hundreds of years old. In the right light, you can see the streaks of the white birch wood. It plays beautifully and is in perfect condition. I have the original hard shell case, all the allen wrenches, the tremolo bar, the original splitter cable, and it has locking tuners.

My question is: Does anyone know what the value of it would be? I looked on eBay and couldn't really find anything I could use for a comps. I just want to know what to expect if I take it to a store and they make me an offer. Or if I were to sell it outright, what a fair price would be.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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mmmguitar
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Re: Considering Selling My Dragonfly

Post by mmmguitar »

@kurrykid, without seeing the rear of the guitar or headstock (I assume it has a serial number and "made in USA" etching), your guitar appears to be a DF524 which was specifically ordered with a birch body. In the last five years or so of Parker Guitars being based out of the Washburn USA Custom Shop, the brand switched to a built-to-order-through-dealer business model; with various exotic body woods used upon customer request (alder was standard). Everyone please correct any mistakes I've made below:

DF= DragonFly body shape (renamed MaxxFly because Fernandes had a line of DragonFly guitars)
RF= Fly body shape

Of the bolt-on models, the 524 was a satin finished body, 624 was gloss, and 724 was gloss with a flame veneer. There was also a x22 designation for versions ordered with two humbuckers, and you could order any of them with a Floyd Rose trem ("FR" after three number designation). All had the "radial" bolt-on neck joint (round pocket), and the x24 guitars had an HSS set of Duncan pickups (TB-14 in the bridge, with a pair of SSL6As), with your era of guitar appearing to have Fishman saddles running into a PowerChip preamp (The Fishman saddles were nickel-colored, with the later Graphtech ones being black). Despite it being omitted from the below spec list, your guitar should have a push/pull tone knob to split the bridge humbucker.

Reverb's "sold" search option isn't bringing up as much as Google; with resale prices for the 524 ranging from $900-2,500. Being as you're explicitly hoping to sell the guitar, I've moved your thread to the Classifieds section.

Here were the specs from the Parker Guitars site:

FEATURES

Carved Alder body

Bolt-on maple neck

Exclusive radial neck joint

Ebony fingerboard

Stainless steel frets

Parker custom-cast aluminum vibrato bridge and stainless steel saddles

HSS Pickup configuration: Seymour Duncan SSL6 single-coil neck and middle, TB14 humbucker bridge

Reverse-wound/reverse-polarity middle pickup for hum-free 2nd and 4th switch positions

5-way mag pickup selector

Custom Fishman piezos and stereo voltage-doubled pre-amp

Custom Parker vibrato system

Sperzel Trim-Lok tuners

Matte finish
Summary of the Parker Guitars speculator market from 2020 onward: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory
kurrykid
New Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2023 2:50 pm

Re: Considering Selling My Dragonfly

Post by kurrykid »

Great information. Yes, it is stamped Made in USA with a serial number and the word Dragonfly with a picture of a dragonfly on the back of the headstock. It has a bolt-on neck. I couldn't remember if I put the locking tuners on there or if it came with them. Sounds like they came with the guitar.

I appreciate all the information...thanks!
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