the Fly Clone Project

Sold my original many years ago to pay for a backpack trip from NY to PNW. Ended up picking these up in a 2nd hand store for dirt cheap. They doubled and tripled in value less than a year after I bought them. I believe the red with green strings is a 98 classic and the other a P38 that needs some serious TLC.

Wish I could find a stealth or one of the sig models with the emg pickups. Thats my only complaint on the fly, I need high out put for metal.

Looks great, @Spirit-Crusher! Love the color contrast on that Classic!!

Since you mentioned pickups, I’ll add that DiMarzio can make you some hot replacements for your pickups, which are likely Gen 1 pickups. It’s a relatively easy swap if you decide that’s of interest!!

More info on pickups here.

Keep rocking!

I contacted Dimarzio a year ago and asked about getting some new pick ups wired for my Fly. They just told me it couldn't be done because of the size of the cavity. Is there like some super secret way to get them to help me? I found it strange after reading others had success.

That is strange! I believe some members here had success even just a few months ago; @mmmguitar, was that you?

Alternately, you could pickup another set of Fly pickups on eBay and have them rewound anywhere.

The Fly Stealth is pretty useful for metal as the basswood body/neck combo produces a really prominent fundamental, but you can probably ask someone to wind you a pickup that doesn’t accentuate upper-harmonic content.

Sadly, the Dimarzio policy is to refuse to rewind their own Fly pickups - Rather, they fabricate new ones to-order. Seymour Duncan and Bareknuckle used to rewind the Dimarzio bobbins but, last I’d heard, they independently increased the price to do so because it’s better business to sell you a wind built from scratch.

The most recent Fly-specific update from Steve Blucher (who functionally is Dimarzio) that I’m aware of was that he can’t wind you a Fly pickup with the same voltage rating as a humbucker with a thick ceramic magnet (e.g. an Evolution bridge) due to the dimension/cavity restraints - Rather, Dimarzio will wind a Fly version that approximates that pickup’s character.

Disclaimer: Steve is the guy who’s answered every email I’ve submitted and, in my experience, tends reply to requests with a counter-recommendation: When I asked for a Fly Air Classic bridge and he replied that a 36th Anniversary PAF would be “better” for a Fly, I replied “I’ll just modify an F-spaced Air Classic I have.” I’ve subsequently ordered Fly pickups through banjomikez with no issues (just message him on eBay or Reverb - He’s a great guy). Note that I’m unaware how well Dimarzio is doing in fulfilling dealer orders versus direct orders (which should currently arrive at your doorstep within a reasonable timeframe).

Here's the NEW Sets of Parker DiMarzio Pickups on eBay $159.98 for the Pair
https://www.ebay.com/itm/194401603795

Being as Gary linked them, I should mention that Steve Blucher designed the “Gen2” set as being efffectively the “most” winds one can fit on a Fly bobbin (within the spec’d space constraints).

That said, any tech/luthier worth their salt does in fact have enough room to route a Fly pickup cavity deep enough to accommodate EMGs mounted with a pickup ring (as on the Adam D/Vernon Reid models), should that be anyone’s ultimate preference.

Thank you for all the responses. I was so sad when the original forum went down. So glad I found this place. I've had guitar techs straight refuse to work on them before. But that was years ago. My guy now loves working on them, cause he never sees them. Should I just buy those gen 2's or go for something else? I would love EMG's in there or something comparable.

Spirit-Crusher wrote: ↑Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:31 am Should I just buy those gen 2's or go for something else? I would love EMG's in there or something comparable.

You have a few options: EMGs would entail permanently modding the guitar, installing Gen 2s or another Fly-spec’d Dimarzio is a bit of soldering, and swapping the screws and baseplate from the stock pickups to other F-spaced Dimarzios would be a few minutes’ more work.

Spirit-Crusher wrote: ↑Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:31 am So glad I found this place.

Glad you’re here!

In addition to what mmmguitar said, I wonder if you might, first, go down the “trying out new strings” path Its a lot easier to experiment and less expensive—you can radically change your tone with different strings. My personal position on the notion of pickup swapping is to change string brand first, string gauge second, picks third, and then pickup height fourth, and pickups (the least economical) fifth.

For example, I tried these D’Addario Pro Steels once and they were very “aggressive”:
https://www.daddario.com/products/guita ... prosteels/

Not my thing, but they were definitely a punchy sound; radically different from the round wounds I prefer.

Yeah its not the strings. I ordered the gen 2 pick ups. Gonna try that first before fully modding for EMGS.

This image is Gen 1 right? My eyes are struggling.

Indeed! Those are the Gen 1s, for sure.

Keep us posted on how you like the Gen 2s!

Late respone.

Gen 2's sound better for sure. Not quite what I would prefer, but an upgrade for sure. The problem is I cannot NOT pick up radio stations in every pup configuration. My luthier seems to think its the ribbon cable and not a cold solder. Those seem impossible to find. He's tried talking me into rewiring everything passively. Whats everyones pros vs cons on that option?