the Fly Clone Project

I noticed the little hole in the end cap so was planning on using an Allen Key or something to stabilise it but haven’t seen the correct tool. Have you seen/got a picture of the wrench? I imagine it should be easy enough to improvise something.

Can anyone tell me the secret of how to remove the jack socket on a Deluxe? At the moment I am leaning towards "brute force and ignorance" but think there must be a better method. I assume the little hole in the end cover is to hold or turn it with but it seems pretty tight and I don't want to force it.

Hi @Wheresthedug; if I recall correctly, there is a washer on the inside of the guitar that holds the jack in place and, additionally, the black part of the jack you’re referring to actual screws apart from the rest of the jack structure.

Thanks VJ. I figured that out. And fortunately the replacement jack strap button also screws off so it looks like it is going to work as a direct replacement. However, the issue is how to actually get the black part off. There is a little hole in it which looks like it is used with a tool. I don't had a tool so I tried a 1.5mm allen wrench but it is hard to get significant purchase on it and I don't want to damage anything in the process.

Gotcha--I moved this conversation to a new thread. I'll take a look at my spare parts and see if I can figure this out, but most of my materials are in our lab, which is still on pandemic lockdown.

Perhaps others have some sense of what's going on here.

So, I ended up going for brute force after all Fortunately it worked.

With a 1.5mm allen key in the hole and a bit of pressure it finally moved enough to get started. Once moving it was easy enough to unscrew by hand.

The old jack came out no problem and the new one works perfectly in its place.

So, I ended up going for brute force after all Fortunately it worked.

With a 1.5mm allen key in the hole and a bit of pressure it finally moved enough to get started. Once moving it was easy enough to unscrew by hand.

The old jack came out no problem and the new one works perfectly in its place. However, there are a few things you need to know if using the AllParts 4 conductor jack.

Firstly, when you unscrew the strap button the remaining threaded section is too long. If you leave it full length then the barrel of the jack extends a long way into the control cavity. I noticed that the Fishman jack that actual comes standard has been cut down for the same reason. After taking around 5mm off with a hacksaw and cleaning up with a file if fits perfectly.


Secondly, the pin layout is in a different order from the Fishman socket than was in the Fly originally. It took a little while to figure out exactly what was going on but it is just a matter of connecting the wires in a slightly different order.

I did notice that the black cover that screws onto the jack seems to be slightly curved to sit flush with the body. However, I didn't get the jack in the right position for tightening this and my battery wire was too short to rotate the socket further. I could loosen everything off again and realign but it is so minor that I'll leave if for another day.

Everything is now working properly and my guitar lead no longer slips part way out of the socket unless held tight by my strap.

However, the clicking/static type noises that started the whole exercise are back with a vengeance. I am going to have to keep trouble shooting this one and may end up resorting to point to point wiring in place of the ribbons at some stage.

This is great news! Thanks for describing the process.

I’ve uploaded a few photos of the jack after sawing the end off it:

Looks good, @Wheresthedug! Thanks for sharing these!

So this was an all-parts item? Can you send the item number?

Here is what the tool looks like. This came with my Supreme, but nothing like it was included with the Deluxe. I'm not sure whether it was standard, or something obtained separately.

Thanks. It should be fairly easy to make something similar. If I ever need to do it again I'll give it a shot.

rsdio wrote: ↑Sun Jun 14, 2020 6:36 pm This came with my Supreme, but nothing like it was included with the Deluxe. I'm not sure whether it was standard, or something obtained separately.

I’ve personally neither encountered nor heard of one being an included case accessory (unless ordered as such by a dealer). Off the top of my head, the cases for my Wilmington and Buffalo Grove-era Parkers included a manual, bullwinkle, stereo cable, 10 spring, bar, and truss/action/intonation/trem collar wrenches (The refined Flys came with rods for adjusting the step stop and spring tension wheel).

Me either; to my knowledge, that is not something that came standard with any Fly.