the Fly Clone Project

I bought a '96 Deluxe a while back and it didn't come with a trem arm. After experimenting with machining a new bushing for the round arm and not being really happy with it, I bought 6' of hex stock and made one that worked with the original bushing. I have enough rod stock to make 6 more arms and will be bending them up today and am selling them for $20 + shipping.

Some important notes: I do not have foam tips for them and won't be making or providing them. These are 1018 steel and not stainless. I had trouble sourcing stainless locally. 1018 was chosen for its workability, availability and relative rust resistance. 1018 is what I make the majority of tooling fixture out of in my shop and I've had many of them for a decade or more with no rust issues...I do occasionally wipe them down with Boeshield. That said, it is entirely possible for these to get spotty and over a long enough timeline, it'll likely happen.

Someone on the Parker FB group pointed out that the original trem bars had a little curve to the inserted portion. I wasn't aware of that, but made a little tool that does the curve. These will sit snugly in the hex bushing but are repositionable and obviously removeable.

F073B172-14A4-40E3-B7C2-2CA99F1052E6_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

If you need one and don't want to DIY it, get in touch.

Also, after a year of looking for an 11 spring and noodling a little with the 9's that are on my Deluxe, I've decided that the guitar is not for me and I'll be putting it up for sale soon.

Glad to hear about the hex bar, and sorry to hear you couldn’t bond with the Deluxe without your preferred string gauges. Would you reconsider keeping the guitar if a spring turned up?

mmmguitar wrote: ↑Mon Sep 27, 2021 12:08 pm Glad to hear about the hex bar, and sorry to hear you couldn’t bond with the Deluxe without your preferred string gauges. Would you reconsider keeping the guitar if a spring turned up?

I don't think I would keep it, actually. I generally REALLY like heavily integrated design when it's done well. In fact, that was a big part of what I did for the first ten years I was in business building custom bikes. "Design by subtraction" by basically hiding as much as possible and providing a level of integration that made it look fast and mean. The Parker is definitely that. It's light, the action is impossibly low and the setup in general is just amazing. For me, the neck is a little thinner than I prefer, I feel like I'm stuck with the pickups that are in there unless I want to do a lot of work to change them out and it doesn't seem to reward heavy picking in the way that my other guitars do. My impression of it is that it's better suited to a player who isn't as ham handed as I am. It's a Ferrari and I've learned that I prefer the versatility of a van.

Well said, @vertigocycles. Hopefully the Fly goes to a good home.

Very cool if you to offer these for sale, @vertigocycles! Nice!

Sorry to hear the Fly isn’t doing it for you. This is a great conclusion though:

vertigocycles wrote: ↑Mon Sep 27, 2021 12:21 pm It's a Ferrari and I've learned that I prefer the versatility of a van.

I agree with Marc: well said!

@vertigocycles I sent you a PM - I would be interested in one of your arms. Thank you.

I used up the rest of my hex stock and got seven bars out of it.

For those in the US, the total price would be $28.50 including USPS priority mail tracked shipping

AA53EEA9-83FE-4461-9CEE-994DF2291A35_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

Hi, just wondering if you have 1 more available. Please let me know. Thanks.

Hi @vertigocycles, I would like to purchase a trem arm from you. My recently having joined this forum prevents me from PMing you. I hope it’s not too much imposition in asking you to PM me, and that’ll work, and that you have another trem arm to sell!

Thanks in advance,
- Lester

I’m afraid he hasn’t logged in since Jan 11th.

Hadn't logged on in a while. Sold my Deluxe...I just couldn't get along with it. I think I have a couple of trem arms left though. Apologies for anyone who asked about them and didn't get a response. I just changed my notification settings so I get an email if someone sends a PM.

Are these still available? Thanks!

Dratch wrote: ↑Sat Jul 23, 2022 9:36 pm Are these still available? Thanks!

Did you PM @Vertigocycles, as he mentioned in the previous post?

Looking to buy one, are they available? Where do i send the $$$ ? Thanks

I have a few extra arms that I just purchased, let me know if you’re interested.

I am looking to purchase one of these hex arms if they are still available

FWIW—I ordered some hex stock and we're going to try to make some of these as close as possible to the originals. It seemed like, for a time, others were making these to support their livelihood, but that appears to no longer be the case, so since these vibrato arms are going extinct, I have one of my Lab RATs working on it as we speak!

We have a good bender in one of our machine shops, so I'll try to grab some photos!

Recently lost my hex trem arm - looking to buy replacement and a second spare if available