New Fly Owner: help on a couple of issues! :)

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nuovonormale
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New Fly Owner: help on a couple of issues! :)

Post by nuovonormale »

Hi all,
I've joined recently (although a loyal Nitefly user of 20+ yrs) since I was "negotiatin" my first (long desired) Fly.
It had couple of "issues": a broken (and only) trem spring which had been creatively re-installed in the guitar (which has an extremely stiff tremolo now!) by some parker-ignorant (?) luthier + a full point-2-point wiring makeover due to damage of the original "flat cable" wiring. VJ was very helpful as ever :)
The first point I hope to fix thanks to Billy's springs on reverb, the second I came to appreciate as a plus :)

Yesterday I finally got the Fly in my hands: it was at least 13 years since I last "touched" a Fly.. it's indeed an icredible guitar, this is a '97 Fly Deluxe in italian plum color (much darker than I expected) in great cosmetic condition, considering the age.
I will spend no more words about how "alien" and fantastic the guitar is, since we certainly all agree in this forum :)

Upon closer inspection though, I found couple further issues:
HELP #1) the bridge seems not centered in relation to the neck and pick-ups (see attached pic). The low E-string is clearly closer to the neck edge than high e and I believe it's due to this misalignment. Question to the experts here?
Is this something that can be (easily) solved?
HELP #2) while fixing a broken solder point in the mag pot (due to the pot becoming "loose") I noticed that there's no battery LED on the PCB. I see only two small bare contacts where the LED would be supposed to be.
Maybe it was removed during the rewiring.. I can't know. Should I try to source it and add it back?
Do you have any idea of the component exact model?

apologies for the overlong post and thanks in advance for your help!
cheers
Andrea
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mmmguitar
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Re: New Fly Owner: help on a couple of issues! :)

Post by mmmguitar »

Hello, @nuovonormale.

1. Of the two bearings your Fly trem pivots on, the one on the high e side appears to not be seated all the way into the bridge post. If you remove the string and spring tension, you should be able to just shift the bridge over to where you want it.
e.g. (click to play)
fly bridge.gif
[Disclaimer: You may need to raise the bridge posts out of the body via the height adjustment hex screws in the back of the guitar before the trem base wants to move freely]

2. Someone else will need to chime in with the exact LED specs.
Summary of the Parker Guitars speculator market from 2020 onward: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory
nuovonormale
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Re: New Fly Owner: help on a couple of issues! :)

Post by nuovonormale »

thank you so much!
I'll wait for the replacement spring, remove the strings and try to fix the bridge as you suggested.
nuovonormale
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Re: New Fly Owner: help on a couple of issues! :)

Post by nuovonormale »

hi @mmmguitar ,
just saw now the updated post with the animation: thanks! it's indeed much simpler than I feared.
thanks again! i'll post the results :)
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vjmanzo
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Seating the Bridge into the Posts

Post by vjmanzo »

Very helpful animation, @mmmguitar! I’ve tagged this thread and your terrific post above for reference. 🙏 #VibratoBridge
nuovonormale wrote: Fri May 12, 2023 12:43 pm I noticed that there's no battery LED on the PCB. I see only two small bare contacts where the LED would be supposed to be.
I don’t have this replacement part in my records, but perhaps the amazing and talented @Peaches who helped get the Flex PCB out the door has some sense of a replacement part.
nuovonormale
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Re: New Fly Owner: help on a couple of issues! :)

Post by nuovonormale »

@mmmguitar
well .. I couldn't wait too long :D
Today I removed the broken spring, the strings, and after some work, the bridge (one of the two bridge "hex screws" seemed to be loose, but in the end I managed to unscrew both) and was able to shift the bridge a bit as per your animation.
It seems to me the issue is fixed (pic attached) :)
thank you so much!
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vjmanzo
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Re: New Fly Owner: help on a couple of issues! :)

Post by vjmanzo »

nuovonormale wrote: Mon May 15, 2023 10:39 am It seems to me the issue is fixed
Yes!!! 🔥
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