As noticed by all who watched the ‘cast last night from Bonnaroo, there was another guest star in addition to Mrs. Donna Jean: the Parker Fly guitar. He (or someone) posted this pic from his tour bus before the show. (Bobby has a tour bus. We’ll get to that, too.)
The Parker Fly was invented, naturally, by a guy named Larry Fishman. It is an exceedingly nerdy guitar: it is to a Strat what a McLaren P1 is to a Miata; they’re both two-seater sports cars, but one’s made out of unobtainium. You see the part that looks like the body of a guitar? It’s not: that’s a carbon fiber exoskeleton with hardwood overlays. And the neck’s part-carbon fiber, too, and instead of regular pickups, the thing has piezoelectrics. (Piezoelectrics have something to do with ceramic. That is the extent of my knowledge, and that’s probably wrong.) The bridge is super-advanced and has a multitude of settings. The tuning pegs are made of mithril.
As you know, Enthusiasts, the financial metric in use at Fillmore South is the Ford Focus; the Fly is not that expensive. You could not get a new Ford Focus for its price, but you could pick up a 2006 with 100,00 miles and a clean bill of health.
What’s the point, you might ask? Weight. The Fly’s carbon fiber construction means it’s only 4.5 pounds, which is around half as light as most guitars, or one-tenth of the weight of Tiger.
So: is Bobby’s shoulder acting up, necessitating a lighter instrument? Could be. Maybe he just likes the sound and thinks it looks gnarly? (It does.)
This has been the latest installment in the series “What the fuck is that thing?”
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