Kitchen Sink Guitar Design-Parker Adrian Belew Signature Fly

I've always thought Parker guitars were slightly goofy. But like other slightly unusual instruments, I also assumed they were perfect for somebody, just not me. The Parker Adrian Belew Signature Fly Deluxe [1][2] goes way beyond goofy. This is do-it-all guitar design above and beyond anything I've seen before.


The picture above appears to be from NAMM 2006, so the guitar may not be news to some of you. For those who don't know, this beast, although it looks deceptively like other Parker Flys, goes for $10,000 to $12,000. Because of Belew's signature? No. At least not just because of that.

Besides Parker's usual composite body and neck materials, steel frets, piezo and coil pickups and flat-spring vibrato, this Fly also has a Sustainiac brand infinite sustain pickup, MIDI out and a complete Variax modeling system.

Ya, on top of those other things, I guess they just decided to throw a complete guitar modeling system in. WTF, right?

Have you ever bought a Swiss Army Knife? The problem with picking one out is not just that some of the coolest ones are expensive and have stuff you don't need. It is also that sometimes you don't want a cork screw in the same pocket as your spoon and fork. This may be because of size or because of the way you use them. It doesn't matter. The point is that sometimes it is best to let a knife be a knife, a cork screw be a cork screw and a fork be a fork.

For $10,000 you can buy a standard Parker Fly, a Line 6 Variax and outfit another Fly with an infinite sustainer and MIDI. Want it all to share the same six strings? Buy the Belew. Me? I think it's goofy.