the Fly Clone Project

I have an 02 NFV-M and it seems the output "smartswitch" jack has failed. I didn't see a replacement at the Stewmac link. Can someone please point me to a resource to buy a replacement for the jack alone. Fishman doesn't sell direct to consumers. Thanks in advance.

vjmanzo wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 10:40 pm @writewheel, the smart-switching occurs in the preamp, so the Switchcraft jack linked from the Anatomy of a Fly post is most likely the one you need.

As a follow up, could it be that the jack is fine and it's my preamp that's sick? The symptom is that DGB strings are not sounding. In another thread I saw something about oxidation...could this be a culprit and if so, where would I look to clean it?
Thanks for your speedy follow up and again thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Hi @writewheel,

I moved your posts to a new thread in the NiteFly Tech Talk section--hopefully you'll get some more visibility here.

In principle, yes: spray the saddles with compressed air first and check the obvious things: new battery, new strings with appropriate tensions, a good 1/4" jack. It could be oxidation in which case Caig De-oxit seems to work wonders.

Thanks for helping with visibility. Now I need a different kind of help. It turns out I was careless when I restrung my guitar. I am missing the twin ball bearing inserts on my DGB strings thanks to my 69 year-old eyeballs and the fact that I never saw that happen with my first Parker which was a magnificent Spruce Fly Artist I sold 20 years ago. I was thrilled when this Nitefly that came to me about 2 years ago. I restrung last week, and didn't notice the parts on the floor and now they're gone. To say that I am very disappointed in myself is an understatement.

Soooooooo. Where can I get replacements? I did a search using a variety of keywords and found nothing. I would be so grateful for any pointers to a source.

Those particular saddles seem to be rare. Given that and the smart-switching issue, you may be better off replacing the saddles and powerchip, then recouping some costs by selling the remaining saddles to others in your predicament.

If you’re not much of a piezo user, Mike has non-element saddles for sale at $16 for a set.

If you use the piezo primarily in blend or A/B’d with the magnetic pickups, Graphtech is the only “official” Fly saddle/preamp manufacturer still producing them.

If you personally love the Parker piezo sound and consider it the main selling point, Richard at RMC makes what some consider the “best”-sounding Fly elements and preamp.

That all said, hopefully someone will chime in with a proven method of buying some generic bearings and gluing them to the saddle. As I personally haven’t owned a Parker with the bearing saddles to troubleshoot this, I’m afraid I’m not much help.

writewheel wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 3:05 am I am missing the twin ball bearing inserts on my DGB strings

These will do the trick replacing the missing saddle parts:

Team Associated 6581 14 Carbide Diff Balls 3/32"

vjmanzo wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 9:11 am

writewheel wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 3:05 am I am missing the twin ball bearing inserts on my DGB strings

These will do the trick replacing the missing saddle parts:

Team Associated 6581 14 Carbide Diff Balls 3/32"

Ha! I was just looking for that link! Beat me to it VJ (again!)

Thanks all. The journey begins. I will post with my progress.

Hello all,
I just received the ball bearings. Do I just drop them in place, or should they be glued in somehow?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Obviously the carbide balls work. I wonder, if the original balls were stainless steel, does anybody know? Recently I lost two balls on the G-String saddle of my Fly mojo 2004.

Mojostetic wrote: ↑Sun Apr 30, 2023 7:16 am I wonder, if the original balls were stainless steel…

They were, in fact, stainless steel.

Thank you vjmanzo