My favorite Strat is a 1997 Squier Affinity that I paid $149 for brand new with the molded Fender hard case. Since Fender was selling the case for around $99, I figure I got the guitar for $50. Bought it as an entry for my son at the time, but he bailed. I then upgraded it with a set of Tex-Mex style PuPs from Guitar Fetish that I picked up for $38. I still play it today and it stands up against my 70's American made Strat.
I put GF pickups in my old Epiphone SG. I like them a lot. I got the Crunch in the neck and the JB in the bridge if I remember correctly. It's been a few years
Not bad at $100.00. I have guitars that are Custom U.S. made, and guitars that were $120.00 delivered to my door....and I honestly prefer to play the less expensive ones because they are so much more affordable to replace versus refretting, for example. I use mine as a tool for recording my Music Videos. I do have to do more set-up on the less expensive ones, but if you know what you are doing (easy to find how-to videos) it is worth the extra time in a better playing guitar.
I think it can happen if the wood dries out too much also. The wood shrinks, but the metal doesn't so the fret ends will stick out. I haven't experienced this with "name" brand guitars.
I bought 3 So Cal's this Year. About 100. each. Campare it to a MIM. Player fender. for 800. I'll take my. 3. for 300. Prob Put a Graf tec nut. , music lilly tuners and a Brass block on the trem .New Strings. .Oil and Polish the fretbiard -- Thats it. You Can't go Wrong. with these. - I 'm Trying to find a way of Covering the Stupid GEARIT. Stamp. in the head stock, so far. Gold. Tape is the idea - not a perfect solution - not sure how I can match the color of the headstock yet.
...Greetings Sir, & much-love from Southern Illinois...Amazing "Bang-for-Buck"...I ASSUME they use some really-cool CNC-program to do that "frett-work". it is "2024"...Me & Strats were "born" in 1954 so I am "impressed" by a "good,affodable" copy !...I love CNC...Wish I had one...Peace...
Interesting guitar. Good production values, too. Nice review, and pretty thorough. One thing: checking just the harmonic at the 12th fret doesn't tell you by itself if the guitar is intonated. What matters is if the 12th fret harmonic and fretting the 12th fret matches. Or just if open and the 12th fret are both in tune. And you can hear as you go up the neck, it is definitely not totally intonated. But for $100 I don't think it's fair of me to expect it, either. What I do think is fair to expect is that not using the tremolo, the guitar should stay in tune. And it definitely didn't, at least with the factory strings.
Hey thanks. I appreciate that. Yeah. I should make sure these things are tuned good and intonated before I sit down but this was literally right out of the box! Shitty strings and all. I think I’ll put some decent strings on it and give a thorough once over.
ALL notes on a guitar are by the way guitars are made are going to be out of tune and there is no way you can get them to be perfectly in tune except for at the open position and the 12th fret! You know this, right?
Not sure I understand what you’re saying. Are you saying the only notes that will be in tune when you tune a guitar are open strings and strings fretted at the 12th? Isn’t that what setting intonation solves?
Firefly started cutting corners. For example they use to make shielded cables that were high quality instead of the plastic shielding cables that less chance of cracking. I want to buy tele style guitar
I got two really good Fireflys but the last two I bought were terrible. A LP Jr clone had no sound out of the box and the strings couldn't be lowered enough to make it comfortable to play. The FFTL I just bought had the worst fretwork I've eve seen on a cheap guitar with high frets and fret outs all over the place. I'm done with Firefly. I'll stick to Amazon cheap guitars, I've never had a bad one from Amazon.
Wow, that sucks. Right, at least with Amazon you can send them back. Maybe that's why Firefly quit selling on Amazon. You used to be able to get them there. I got one of the Red 338's from Amazon a few years ago.
@@JayceAllanGuitar Yeah, it looks like Amazon sellers are the better option because they have to have high quality or they get bad reviews and many returns. Firefly has neither of those problems and I won't buy any more Fireflys because of that.
March 25: "currently unavailable"... any Firefly purchaser knows THAT tune-! Tuners - to me - must be consistent. If one's tight, they all need that same feel. If I feel one that's sloppy, that's reason enough to replace them. The 'rosewood fretboard' looked dusty and, that's usually a 3 week process of rehydrating mine AND is a great reason to replace tuners, maybe bridge and/or trem block. Put in a $12 Graftek. I don't even call these "companies" but merely labels.
Seems like the guitar was still out of tune after you started playing. Needs intonation checked out. Not bad quality for such a cheap guitar. You didn't even mention that flame on the back of the neck! Looks lovely, and I like that body colour too. Well worth the money and something you don't mind upgrading the pickups on.
I notice that straight out of the box, most of these guitars need to be setup. I haven't had a chance to get back to this one. My goal is to do a complete setup on all the budget guitars I've bought recently and do revised sound samples. So people can hear what they sound like and also against a backing track.
i don't trust the tuning stability i guess we have to play it over some time for everything to sit in? chords are definitely slightly out of tune a bit after you started playing.
I wasn’t super impressed with the tuners. They are the old vintage style butter bean tuners but they feel really cheap. I’ll probably end of keeping this guitar so maybe I’ll put locking tuners on it. Plus, I was playing it right out of the box (literally) with the crappy strings they put on them. I should do a couple videos where I get this one and my Firefly Strat properly intonated and put some decent strings on them, then do some sound tests. Might lower the action ever so slightly.
You have to intonate it! And tuning stability or lack of it is due to temperature and humidity. If you have stable humidity no guitars will go out of tune.
Its really hard to judge a guitar that costs less than a decent paintjob..the fact that there is a working guitar for that amount of money should be insane in the first place...now depending on the use, things change..if you want that guitar to be a reliable workhorse of an instrument for example that you take on stage or at recordings, it needs at the very least (like all guitars in this price range) new quality tuners that cost around the price of that guitar alone and a new bone or tusq nut.So its not amazing from the get go but the value for money is through the roof....better get something like this and mod it instead of going the fender signature route and pay thousands for something a few mods can offer for way less...
Okay, not to pick on you, but I'm curious about this now. I think I'll run down your suggestions and make some mods to this guitar and do some side by side comparisons, not to be a know-it-all but just to see.
@@JayceAllanGuitarWell people are modding solid body electrics for ages now and for a reason(cause it works)...you dont see them doing the same with inexpensive acoustics for example ..trying to make them sound like a taylor or a martin cause thats obviously not working and ll never work...but you can take any supposedly low budget solid body electric and turn it into anything you want basically....what you are saving is paying several hundreds of dollars more for wood cause it has a certain logo.....
When i first started playing guitar in the 70's cheap guitars were generally crap, nowadays everyone and their Dog has a cnc machine and its usually hardware and electronics that let cheaper guitars down, i'm not naming names but my £250 guitar is as good as my £1500 guitar, did i get a good cheaper one and a bad expensive one? maybe.
I've heard horror stories about both cheap and expensive guitars as far as quality issues and have heard great success stories about both. I think my goal is just to remove some of the stigma around "cheap" guitars.
If it came in a 2 box configuration and had air pillows why did you not say anything about the hole in the inner box, it's not a deal breaker but sticks out like a the nose on all our faces. Some axes I buy come in single box, and as long as what's supposed to be there is there and all is in one piece I'm good. I'm not trying to be a di k but if you put it in the video you probably should mention it this is how rumors about channels start. Be honest be open
I had to watch the video again to see the hole. I don’t think it went all the way through. Honestly it never occurred to me. There was also a foam sheet covering the guitar right about where that hole was. I guess maybe I would have mentioned it if it looked like it might have done some damage. Thanks for the advice though.
Jayce. Your review of the GearIt Strat is the first video I have seen of yours. I have to say I am in total agreement with you about so called 'cheap' guitars. I am of the belief that cheap is always thought of as a derogatory term but my experience in buying guitars that sell for less than 200.00 is that some are garbage cheap and some are ok and upgradeable so not cheap but inexpensive, and finally some are so good that they need very little and mostly the hardware like tuning keys or ceramic vs alnico magnet pups. I just bought a Monoprice Tele off of Amazon for $115.00. All I did was add some Fleuor Alnico 5 pups and some adjustments to the intonation, a bit of polishing of the frets, they were green, lol, and crown filing 3 of them to get the clack out of them and the thing sounds so good I would put it up against any Mexican produced Fender Player Series Tele and stand in separate rooms and I bet 5 out of 10 people would choose the sound of the Monoprice Indeo Deluxe Tele. I am in the process of upgrading a 89.00 guitar I got off of eBay that once I am done spending about 70.00 on will go up against any Chinese Jackson model for model. So you are right. If they play good and sound good it doesn't really matter about the name on the headstock. Money is money and I have 2000.00 Gibsons and 1700.00 Strats and some Epiphones that have cost me upwards of 1000.00 bucks and my 2 so called 'cheap' guitars are great for what they are. Neither of them did I pick it up and try to play it and turn around and throw it in the garbage can. I play them regularly. So I do agree with you. I will post you some picks of my 2 cheapies when I get a chance. Laurence W.
Yeah, my experience with Monoprice guitars is very favorable! Much better experience than I've had with Firefly! They're very good guitars and easily modded!
I bought a Firefly FFST. Great guitar for the money! Bought a LP Jr clone. Didn't work out of the box and the neck was too low to be able to adjust it. Sent it back. Thought I'd try one more time and bought a FFTL. Got it yesterday. Worst cheap guitar I've ever bought. Neck was like a la roller coaster. Sending it back. Don't count on Firefly! I've had much better luck with Monoprice, IYV, and Lyxpro. You can count on those guitar brands.
That’s too bad. Mine was great. I do like the Lyx LP’s but their Tele’s are kind of cheap. The necks aren’t finished and the body is basswood. I haven’t tried an Ivy yet.
@@JayceAllanGuitar The LyxPro Tele's are actually Paulownia wood which is almost like Balsa wood but if you like a light guitar it's a great wood choice! I thought the neck of the Lyx, IYV, and Monoprice guitars were fine, about equal to a Squier Affinity neck. I've given up in Firefly. Two duds in a row. I think they're QC is suffering due to putting out so many new models all the time. The Relic'd FFST I bought from them was superb but counting on getting another guitar from them of the same quality just doesn't see probable.
The LyxPro Tele was definitely some sort of light wood. Their LP style are maple over mahogany and the one I had was like a boat anchor it was so heavy.
I know right. Some of it is the way I play. I’m so used to playing acoustic that I mash the strings down hard and they go out of tune. Plus the strings were fresh.
That’s my other channel, Rock N Replay. It’s a long story but I started as The Guitar Dungeon, then Jayce Allan Music. Last November hit 1000 and got monetized then made the mistake of starting to post music trivia type shorts. The shorts audience took over the channel basically and my long form guitar gear content wasn’t getting any views so I spun off on to this channel. That channel now has almost 10k subs. It’s bonkers but I have to post content to it every day.
What I meant was the possibility some of those trolling commenters are getting paid. I mean, nobody really cares that much about tonewood except the manufacturers who are making a bundle off the concept. I mean, seriously, have you ever played any guitar, electric or acoustic, and said to yourself, "Wow, listen to that there tonewood?" Same thing with the whole price of guitars thing. I have guitars ranging from $57 to $2500 and never once have I picked one up and played it and thought about whether it sounded expensive or cheap. I recently bought a Davidson guitar from Amazon, $79 with a 20% coupon. It is a fine guitar and sounds good, too. Red, looks fantastic. Another guitar with an unfinished neck, the fret ends are great.
ANY guitar $100 or less are usually garbage, even today! What we in the industry call a 'GSO':Guitar Shaped Object! If you spend $200-250, you will GET a decent instrument! The cheap shells on those hum buckers just make them more muddy! I recommend to remove them!
I took it apart today. I can't say anything bad about the body or the neck. Ash body. Maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Fretboard is level. Neck is straight. Trem block is small as expected. Dime sized pots, single magnet pickups. Putting new strings on it helped immensely. Pickups are just "meh". Tuners actually hold tune even with lots of tremolo.
@@JayceAllanGuitar Ok well that's GOOD to hear. It's made to a 'budget', but there is only so LOW you can go before it stops being a playable & serviceable instrument! Electrics, we know will be bottom barrel, as long as they make a sound! The biggest thing is as long as the NECK is ok & adjustable, you're in with a shot! I have spent 8 years in music retail here, and have seen some cheap gems along with many cheap horror shows! Saw some absolute junk that should have only been marketed as a wall ORNAMENT!
I started on RUclips a little over two years ago, at the time I was buying used gear off Goodwill auctions, I managed some great deals on Fender USA Strats and MIM Strats, but also Harley Benton, Donner, Squier, etc. I had a couple unbranded Chinese Strats that we suitable for a kid starting out. Necks had no finish on them, bodies almost made from balsa they were so light. Most with electronics that were just okay. Had a Harmony Strat that had a warped neck, that was interesting. But out of all the guitars I’ve owned in the past two years, the Firefly Strat I got this past December and the GearIt Strat I got a few weeks ago are by far the best for the money. After setting the intonation and new strings on the GearIt, it sounds better, but the pickups are clearly cheap. Now the Firefly on the other hand sounds incredible. I’m going to pull that one apart next and check it out. Their early guitars were just okay, but these new generation guitars (just in the past year) and nothing short of amazing at any price.
@@DougHinVA Seriously? Yes I was! 8 years music retail/ed, from 2011 to 2020! I quit when the virus started spreading here to protect my then vulnerable 83 y/o, lung compromised father! I lost him a year later! (To his OWN lung condition, NOT Covid!) So yeah, I KNOW what I am talking about from the INSIDE!
@@JayceAllanGuitar Well, personally, I've always called 'em 'tremel-O's,, BUT... ... Jayce..., I actually like your "Trem-O-lo", it sounds kinda 'old-timey' and strangely comforting, so, I'm converted and "Trem-O-lo", it is. Plus, I'm not sure there's any laid down rules in English about the way to say, "-o-lo ". 🤣🤣
I appreciate that. I notice improper pronunciation for a lot of words now creeping into the mainstream. Even on news programs you hear journalists saying things incorrectly. I guess that's how languages evolve.
My favorite Strat is a 1997 Squier Affinity that I paid $149 for brand new with the molded Fender hard case. Since Fender was selling the case for around $99, I figure I got the guitar for $50. Bought it as an entry for my son at the time, but he bailed. I then upgraded it with a set of Tex-Mex style PuPs from Guitar Fetish that I picked up for $38. I still play it today and it stands up against my 70's American made Strat.
Guitar Fetish actually makes some really decent stuff, had a strat with a Guitar Fetish pickup in it and it sounded great.
I bought a second hand Squier infinity..beautiful ..I love it ..
I put GF pickups in my old Epiphone SG. I like them a lot. I got the Crunch in the neck and the JB in the bridge if I remember correctly. It's been a few years
you're honest, much appreciated.
Thanks!
Not bad at $100.00. I have guitars that are Custom U.S. made, and guitars that were $120.00 delivered to my door....and I honestly prefer to play the less expensive ones because they are so much more affordable to replace versus refretting, for example. I use mine as a tool for recording my Music Videos. I do have to do more set-up on the less expensive ones, but if you know what you are doing (easy to find how-to videos) it is worth the extra time in a better playing guitar.
Geez, a lot of Fenders have fret sprout, sharp fret ends , uneven frets, etc and those cost multiple times more than that guitar.
I think it can happen if the wood dries out too much also. The wood shrinks, but the metal doesn't so the fret ends will stick out. I haven't experienced this with "name" brand guitars.
I bought 3 So Cal's this Year. About 100. each. Campare it to a MIM. Player fender. for 800. I'll take my. 3. for 300. Prob Put a Graf tec nut. , music lilly tuners and a Brass block on the trem .New Strings. .Oil and Polish the fretbiard -- Thats it. You Can't go Wrong. with these. - I 'm Trying to find a way of Covering the Stupid GEARIT. Stamp. in the head stock, so far. Gold. Tape is the idea - not a perfect solution - not sure how I can match the color of the headstock yet.
...Greetings Sir, & much-love from Southern Illinois...Amazing "Bang-for-Buck"...I ASSUME they use some really-cool CNC-program to do that "frett-work". it is "2024"...Me & Strats were "born" in 1954 so I am "impressed" by a "good,affodable" copy !...I love CNC...Wish I had one...Peace...
Howdy neighbor! I’m in Michigan. Thanks for watching.
Interesting guitar. Good production values, too. Nice review, and pretty thorough.
One thing: checking just the harmonic at the 12th fret doesn't tell you by itself if the guitar is intonated. What matters is if the 12th fret harmonic and fretting the 12th fret matches. Or just if open and the 12th fret are both in tune. And you can hear as you go up the neck, it is definitely not totally intonated. But for $100 I don't think it's fair of me to expect it, either.
What I do think is fair to expect is that not using the tremolo, the guitar should stay in tune. And it definitely didn't, at least with the factory strings.
Hey thanks. I appreciate that. Yeah. I should make sure these things are tuned good and intonated before I sit down but this was literally right out of the box! Shitty strings and all. I think I’ll put some decent strings on it and give a thorough once over.
ALL notes on a guitar are by the way guitars are made are going to be out of tune and there is no way you can get them to be perfectly in tune except for at the open position and the 12th fret! You know this, right?
Not sure I understand what you’re saying. Are you saying the only notes that will be in tune when you tune a guitar are open strings and strings fretted at the 12th? Isn’t that what setting intonation solves?
Firefly started cutting corners. For example they use to make shielded cables that were high quality instead of the plastic shielding cables that less chance of cracking. I want to buy tele style guitar
I got two really good Fireflys but the last two I bought were terrible. A LP Jr clone had no sound out of the box and the strings couldn't be lowered enough to make it comfortable to play. The FFTL I just bought had the worst fretwork I've eve seen on a cheap guitar with high frets and fret outs all over the place. I'm done with Firefly. I'll stick to Amazon cheap guitars, I've never had a bad one from Amazon.
Wow, that sucks. Right, at least with Amazon you can send them back. Maybe that's why Firefly quit selling on Amazon. You used to be able to get them there. I got one of the Red 338's from Amazon a few years ago.
@@JayceAllanGuitar Yeah, it looks like Amazon sellers are the better option because they have to have high quality or they get bad reviews and many returns. Firefly has neither of those problems and I won't buy any more Fireflys because of that.
How does it hold tune? It sounds like it went out pretty quickly. Can it be made to hold tune?
Problem was it was fresh out of the box with brand new strings. It holds tune pretty well although I wouldn’t say the tuners on it are the best.
March 25: "currently unavailable"... any Firefly purchaser knows THAT tune-! Tuners - to me - must be consistent. If one's tight, they all need that same feel. If I feel one that's sloppy, that's reason enough to replace them. The 'rosewood fretboard' looked dusty and, that's usually a 3 week process of rehydrating mine AND is a great reason to replace tuners, maybe bridge and/or trem block. Put in a $12 Graftek. I don't even call these "companies" but merely labels.
The first tuner I ever bought cost more than that. Add on inflation... Astonishing value for money. 👍
Looks nice.
Seems like the guitar was still out of tune after you started playing. Needs intonation checked out. Not bad quality for such a cheap guitar. You didn't even mention that flame on the back of the neck! Looks lovely, and I like that body colour too. Well worth the money and something you don't mind upgrading the pickups on.
I notice that straight out of the box, most of these guitars need to be setup. I haven't had a chance to get back to this one. My goal is to do a complete setup on all the budget guitars I've bought recently and do revised sound samples. So people can hear what they sound like and also against a backing track.
i don't trust the tuning stability i guess we have to play it over some time for everything to sit in? chords are definitely slightly out of tune a bit after you started playing.
I wasn’t super impressed with the tuners. They are the old vintage style butter bean tuners but they feel really cheap. I’ll probably end of keeping this guitar so maybe I’ll put locking tuners on it. Plus, I was playing it right out of the box (literally) with the crappy strings they put on them. I should do a couple videos where I get this one and my Firefly Strat properly intonated and put some decent strings on them, then do some sound tests. Might lower the action ever so slightly.
You have to intonate it! And tuning stability or lack of it is due to temperature and humidity. If you have stable humidity no guitars will go out of tune.
@@joeking433 yes. probably have to do a proper setup and play it for a while before deciding if the tuners need to be ditched.
The Low E tuning key is definitely loose. They aren’t the best tuners.
Its really hard to judge a guitar that costs less than a decent paintjob..the fact that there is a working guitar for that amount of money should be insane in the first place...now depending on the use, things change..if you want that guitar to be a reliable workhorse of an instrument for example that you take on stage or at recordings, it needs at the very least (like all guitars in this price range) new quality tuners that cost around the price of that guitar alone and a new bone or tusq nut.So its not amazing from the get go but the value for money is through the roof....better get something like this and mod it instead of going the fender signature route and pay thousands for something a few mods can offer for way less...
I could probably find acceptable tuners for half the price of the guitar! Hahahaha.
@@JayceAllanGuitar Yes but they would be "acceptable" not reliable for serious use...
Okay, not to pick on you, but I'm curious about this now. I think I'll run down your suggestions and make some mods to this guitar and do some side by side comparisons, not to be a know-it-all but just to see.
@@JayceAllanGuitarWell people are modding solid body electrics for ages now and for a reason(cause it works)...you dont see them doing the same with inexpensive acoustics for example ..trying to make them sound like a taylor or a martin cause thats obviously not working and ll never work...but you can take any supposedly low budget solid body electric and turn it into anything you want basically....what you are saving is paying several hundreds of dollars more for wood cause it has a certain logo.....
@@Dreamdancer11 I agree.
When i first started playing guitar in the 70's cheap guitars were generally crap, nowadays everyone and their Dog has a cnc machine and its usually hardware and electronics that let cheaper guitars down, i'm not naming names but my £250 guitar is as good as my £1500 guitar, did i get a good cheaper one and a bad expensive one? maybe.
I've heard horror stories about both cheap and expensive guitars as far as quality issues and have heard great success stories about both. I think my goal is just to remove some of the stigma around "cheap" guitars.
If it came in a 2 box configuration and had air pillows why did you not say anything about the hole in the inner box, it's not a deal breaker but sticks out like a the nose on all our faces.
Some axes I buy come in single box, and as long as what's supposed to be there is there and all is in one piece I'm good. I'm not trying to be a di k but if you put it in the video you probably should mention it this is how rumors about channels start.
Be honest be open
I had to watch the video again to see the hole. I don’t think it went all the way through. Honestly it never occurred to me. There was also a foam sheet covering the guitar right about where that hole was. I guess maybe I would have mentioned it if it looked like it might have done some damage. Thanks for the advice though.
Jayce. Your review of the GearIt Strat is the first video I have seen of yours. I have to say I am in total agreement with you about so called 'cheap' guitars. I am of the belief that cheap is always thought of as a derogatory term but my experience in buying guitars that sell for less than 200.00 is that some are garbage cheap and some are ok and upgradeable so not cheap but inexpensive, and finally some are so good that they need very little and mostly the hardware like tuning keys or ceramic vs alnico magnet pups. I just bought a Monoprice Tele off of Amazon for $115.00. All I did was add some Fleuor Alnico 5 pups and some adjustments to the intonation, a bit of polishing of the frets, they were green, lol, and crown filing 3 of them to get the clack out of them and the thing sounds so good I would put it up against any Mexican produced Fender Player Series Tele and stand in separate rooms and I bet 5 out of 10 people would choose the sound of the Monoprice Indeo Deluxe Tele. I am in the process of upgrading a 89.00 guitar I got off of eBay that once I am done spending about 70.00 on will go up against any Chinese Jackson model for model. So you are right. If they play good and sound good it doesn't really matter about the name on the headstock. Money is money and I have 2000.00 Gibsons and 1700.00 Strats and some Epiphones that have cost me upwards of 1000.00 bucks and my 2 so called 'cheap' guitars are great for what they are. Neither of them did I pick it up and try to play it and turn around and throw it in the garbage can. I play them regularly. So I do agree with you. I will post you some picks of my 2 cheapies when I get a chance. Laurence W.
Excellent. Thanks for the info. Glad you found the video useful and glad you’re finding inexpensive guitars!
Yeah, my experience with Monoprice guitars is very favorable! Much better experience than I've had with Firefly! They're very good guitars and easily modded!
I bought a Firefly FFST. Great guitar for the money! Bought a LP Jr clone. Didn't work out of the box and the neck was too low to be able to adjust it. Sent it back. Thought I'd try one more time and bought a FFTL. Got it yesterday. Worst cheap guitar I've ever bought. Neck was like a la roller coaster. Sending it back. Don't count on Firefly! I've had much better luck with Monoprice, IYV, and Lyxpro. You can count on those guitar brands.
That’s too bad. Mine was great. I do like the Lyx LP’s but their Tele’s are kind of cheap. The necks aren’t finished and the body is basswood. I haven’t tried an Ivy yet.
@@JayceAllanGuitar The LyxPro Tele's are actually Paulownia wood which is almost like Balsa wood but if you like a light guitar it's a great wood choice! I thought the neck of the Lyx, IYV, and Monoprice guitars were fine, about equal to a Squier Affinity neck.
I've given up in Firefly. Two duds in a row. I think they're QC is suffering due to putting out so many new models all the time. The Relic'd FFST I bought from them was superb but counting on getting another guitar from them of the same quality just doesn't see probable.
The LyxPro Tele was definitely some sort of light wood. Their LP style are maple over mahogany and the one I had was like a boat anchor it was so heavy.
Good Lord…tune the guitar.
I know right. Some of it is the way I play. I’m so used to playing acoustic that I mash the strings down hard and they go out of tune. Plus the strings were fresh.
6000 subscribers? It says 123!
That’s my other channel, Rock N Replay. It’s a long story but I started as The Guitar Dungeon, then Jayce Allan Music. Last November hit 1000 and got monetized then made the mistake of starting to post music trivia type shorts. The shorts audience took over the channel basically and my long form guitar gear content wasn’t getting any views so I spun off on to this channel. That channel now has almost 10k subs. It’s bonkers but I have to post content to it every day.
it may be an affordable low end guitar, or even reasonably priced for what it is, but it's definitely not amazing
Strings are trash.This looks like a fun modder, I am on it!
Yeah. The strings are awful. I’m thinking of modding this too.
Maybe some of these UTube trolls are getting kickbacks.
Maybe. I’m not getting any. 😢
What I meant was the possibility some of those trolling commenters are getting paid. I mean, nobody really cares that much about tonewood except the manufacturers who are making a bundle off the concept. I mean, seriously, have you ever played any guitar, electric or acoustic, and said to yourself, "Wow, listen to that there tonewood?" Same thing with the whole price of guitars thing. I have guitars ranging from $57 to $2500 and never once have I picked one up and played it and thought about whether it sounded expensive or cheap. I recently bought a Davidson guitar from Amazon, $79 with a 20% coupon. It is a fine guitar and sounds good, too. Red, looks fantastic. Another guitar with an unfinished neck, the fret ends are great.
Tremowlow
I’ve said it that way my whole life.
ANY guitar $100 or less are usually garbage, even today! What we in the industry call a 'GSO':Guitar Shaped Object!
If you spend $200-250, you will GET a decent instrument!
The cheap shells on those hum buckers just make them more muddy! I recommend to remove them!
I took it apart today. I can't say anything bad about the body or the neck. Ash body. Maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Fretboard is level. Neck is straight. Trem block is small as expected. Dime sized pots, single magnet pickups. Putting new strings on it helped immensely. Pickups are just "meh". Tuners actually hold tune even with lots of tremolo.
@@JayceAllanGuitar Ok well that's GOOD to hear. It's made to a 'budget', but there is only so LOW you can go before it stops being a playable & serviceable instrument!
Electrics, we know will be bottom barrel, as long as they make a sound!
The biggest thing is as long as the NECK is ok & adjustable, you're in with a shot!
I have spent 8 years in music retail here, and have seen some cheap gems along with many cheap horror shows!
Saw some absolute junk that should have only been marketed as a wall ORNAMENT!
I started on RUclips a little over two years ago, at the time I was buying used gear off Goodwill auctions, I managed some great deals on Fender USA Strats and MIM Strats, but also Harley Benton, Donner, Squier, etc. I had a couple unbranded Chinese Strats that we suitable for a kid starting out. Necks had no finish on them, bodies almost made from balsa they were so light. Most with electronics that were just okay. Had a Harmony Strat that had a warped neck, that was interesting. But out of all the guitars I’ve owned in the past two years, the Firefly Strat I got this past December and the GearIt Strat I got a few weeks ago are by far the best for the money. After setting the intonation and new strings on the GearIt, it sounds better, but the pickups are clearly cheap. Now the Firefly on the other hand sounds incredible. I’m going to pull that one apart next and check it out. Their early guitars were just okay, but these new generation guitars (just in the past year) and nothing short of amazing at any price.
@@JayceAllanGuitar Yes, I'd heard some good things about some of the FFs & also some horror stories, so I'd say their QC is pretty spotty!
@@DougHinVA Seriously?
Yes I was! 8 years music retail/ed, from 2011 to 2020! I quit when the virus started spreading here to protect my then vulnerable 83 y/o, lung compromised father!
I lost him a year later! (To his OWN lung condition, NOT Covid!)
So yeah, I KNOW what I am talking about from the INSIDE!
Trem O lo? LOL NO! It's 'tremel-O'. But neither are right! It is a VIBRATO!
I find it interesting how worked up people get over something so trivial.
@@JayceAllanGuitar ;o) for the SAKE of accuracy! \m/
I’ve always said trem-o-lo.
@@JayceAllanGuitar Well, personally, I've always called 'em 'tremel-O's,, BUT...
... Jayce..., I actually like your "Trem-O-lo", it sounds kinda 'old-timey' and strangely comforting, so, I'm converted and "Trem-O-lo", it is.
Plus, I'm not sure there's any laid down rules in English about the way to say, "-o-lo ". 🤣🤣
I appreciate that. I notice improper pronunciation for a lot of words now creeping into the mainstream. Even on news programs you hear journalists saying things incorrectly. I guess that's how languages evolve.
my ears are bleeding :/
Jesus...my playing ain't THAT bad...
I never comment on anyone's playing.@@JayceAllanGuitar
I was just joking anyway. If you can’t laugh at yourself you should be running a RUclips channel. 😜😎
yeah, nevermind...@@JayceAllanGuitar
😂 jeez @@groover5863
Horrible distorted tone, and I'd get the tuner checked out if I were you, obviously not very accurate.