David Lynch may be better associated with his groundbreaking filmmaking than his music – but the Renaissance man also dabbled in sonic explorations. He was involved in several music projects, with several records under his belt, the latest of which is 2024’s Cellophane Memories.
His 2001 album, BlueBob, alongside audio engineer John Neff, was the start of Lynch being posited as an avant-garde guitarist – with a unique playing style that heavily leveraged effects.
As he himself put it in an interview with Boss Users Group, “I’m not one bit a guitar player. I’ve been called a guitar god, but that is really not one bit true. I taught myself and I play upside down and backwards, like a lap guitar. I’m interested in making the guitar talk. It’s somewhat musical, but then again, it’s not.”
His go-to guitar, the 1997 Parker Fly electric guitar, is as unique as its original owner – and is currently up for auction alongside many Lynchian paraphernalia via Julien’s Auctions. Its current bid, $10,000, already exceeds the initial $4,000 to $6,000 estimates.
Among its many off-kilter features, the 25” scale length guitar features a signature Parker tremolo bridge, two DiMarzio humbucker pickups, and a built-in piezo system with a volume control, blend, master tone, and a three-way toggle selector switch for the magnetic pickups, as well as a three-way switch for the piezo system.
An extra Lynchian touch is provided via the Roland GK-2A synthesizer pickup – which further contributed to his playing style.
“As a guitarist, David played in a highly unconventional manner,” explains seasoned guitar tech and Julien’s appraiser, Mike Adams, a.k.a. Puisheen in a recent Instagram post.
“He perched the guitar in his lap backward and swiped at the nut with his right hand to strum, manipulating the vibrato arm with his left. In videos of him in the studio, I’ve been stumped to understand how this worked. He didn’t seem to fret notes or change tunings, so how was he producing chords?”
Adams, who is currently poring over the Lynch instruments up for auction, has finally found the answer. Turns out, he changed chords using his pedals. “The answer lies within the VG-8 included with his Fly, which has a Roland GK-2 pickup mounted to it,” he elaborates.
“When powered, the unit boots up to a setting called DAV50A which has the sound of a Fender amplifier with tremolo and some reverb. The trick is that each foot pedal is programmed for a different chord in that key: A, F#m, E and D. As you scroll through the saved settings, other keys appear: E, C#, Dmi, F, G.”
In fact, Lynch can be seen manipulating the Parker Fly’s vibrato arm and changing the settings on the VG-8 in videos documenting the recording process of 2011’s Crazy Clown Time and 2013’s The Big Dream.
Following the Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks director's death on January 16, the Parker Fly – alongside more than 400 lots of personal effects, including a custom-built five-necked guitar – is currently up for auction, with the sale set to finish on June 18.
For more on Julien‘s recent sales and Mike Adams’ incredible day-job – whether he’s looking over John Lennon’s Framus or giving Prince's Cloud III a CAT scan – check out our interview with the A-list guitar auction appraiser.
