My upgraded 2001 Parker MIDI Fly with FTP.

Started by Piplodocus, January 09, 2016, 03:43:11 PM

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Piplodocus

Hmmm.. General Discussion, Fishman TriplePlay, Projects, Videos? I dunno, but I did it myself, so I'll put it in the DIY section!...  ;D

A general overview of my Parker MIDI Fly: updated from the MIDI-Axe that was high-tech at the end of the 90s, to a fishman triple play of the 2010s. Fantastic guitar, plays and sounds great, just refined some parts up to my ideal spec, and took the MIDI tech forward about 15 years while retaining it's original look...

...And I can rock the hell out of it in heavy parts and nothing will fall off!!!

! No longer available
(still processing currently, but should be there imminently!)

sixeight


MCK

Great work! I have a sweet spot for those MIDI Flys. True treasure.

Piplodocus

I've been a Parker fan for years. Wanted a strat a few years back. Looked about at new US strats and figured I could get a 2nd hand Nitefly which all have frets like they're new because they're hardened SS. This popped up for about £950. Thought I love all sorts of electronic music as well as rock so it could give me some scope to get some use of all my synth stuff into some of my other stuff if I got the midi fly. Got it. Love it. Changed the pickups so it'll do more hard rock stuff too. Not as "meaty" as some of my other guitars, but can still really do proper heavy stuff, while funk/blues the next minute.

The old midi bit was a bit of a PITA since I'm not a huge midi guitar user with all its wires etc. and phantom power boxes. So I loved the guitar but wasn't using that side so much. I have enough pedals and other stuff to play with usually so more wires and things to carry aren't at the top of my list. Discovered the FTP and figured if I could have the simplicity and elegance of the original midi fly (I love it's kinda retro old school sparkly pickguard and strat look, while being a chameleon of sound and so playable and kinda partly futuristic), but no stick on boxes, no extra pickups that get in the way of my palm mutes or need careful height adjustment, just plug a dongle in my MacBook and everything be super easy, that'd be the best. Try to do what the original midi fly would be if it had been made in 2015 instead of '99. I think it worked great, but it wasn't easy. But just a damn great guitar that if I've got my laptop and a dongle a huge pain-free world of sonic possibilities opens up!

As I noted in the vid tracking was still a little wonky, but with the new graphtech saddles it's made all the difference so I think I'm gonna really start using it a lot more for midi now. I'm gonna try using the midi side at home mostly, cuz if I start using midi guitar with the band that's a load of extra crap to take with me. I took my iPhone, USB dongle and adapter to practice the other day and connected it to the switchable loop of my Diezel. That was pretty cool, as with hardly anything I don't normally have I could switch to a piano or organ. Not so many of the better synths work with iPhones (a lot are iPad only) but I may explore that side too where I have minimal stuff and send the synths through my guitar amp. It's surely gonna get me sooner or later as the idea of playing some fat riffs, then flipping to a big dirty synth will no doubt be irresistible! :)