2 YEARS LATER... The Firefly $140 Guitar... Did it last?
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
- Today we're taking a look back at my original Firefly 338 Semi-hollow body guitar that I got back in 2017. This guitar was priced at only $140... so how has it held up over the last 2 years? Does durability go with affordability? These guitars rarely stay in stock for very long, so that must mean something!
The price of these guitars has gone up slightly over the last couple of years, but still a good deal, imo, at $159.
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Rubric: -5 points for Danzig references. -5 points for not reading the description. -5 points for not watching far enough into the video to answer your own question. -5 points for misquoting me in your comment. 20 points possible. Everyone starts with an A!
i like this guy, he isn't a guitar snob like many others on youtube.
He's very down to earth, which is cool.
Heck yeah! He made a video called 'The Golden Age Of Cheap Guitars' that I refer many Gear Snobs/Cork Sniffers/Headstock Elitists to. A guitar is a tool. Even the budget ones are killer in the hands of a good guitarist! I have a black and white Frankenstrat that I bought in an antique shop for $250! Someone made it somewhere. It has a Squier body and everything else is unknown. It sounds JUST LIKE Eddie's Frankenstrat! I love it! None of the 27 electric guitars I own cost me over $700 - and many of them cost me around $150-300!
@@DustinAlford 100%, man!
He told me if I don't buy a real Gibson he'll hit me over the head with a frozen leg of lamb. He had blood dripping out of his mouth and a still beating human heart in his hand while he said it. ☹️
@@MobileDecay I wouldn't doubt if modern day Gibson actually would do that to someone now. Gibson, play authentic, lol, what a joke.
I remember the “good old days “ when you would look for a cheap and good guitar and there were none to be found. We are living in a great time of inexpensive (call them cheap if you like) and remarkably good guitars so some of you old expensive guitar sniffers should take a fresh look at what’s out there now. Great update Max!
Fretwork Band ,I'm looking forward to buying a Harley Benton CST 24 T P-90 for $200.00 since I can't afford a PRS!!
Yeah it's a nice time to buy cheaper guitars and got them and put pickups in them. Which works for me because I love trying new pickups
The CHINESE made all these possible . . . I hope the WUHAN VIRUS CRISIS won't affect these great affordable guitars
These days you can get a good instrument for less than $300. Wasn't that way when I started playing in the late 90s. Cheap crap was just that - crap. The technology and craftsmanship has really come a long way.
You must have not lived before the 80's! You had to spend a lot of money for a good guitar! With the technology today it's hard to find a bad guitar!
As a skeptic of cheap guitars, I appreciate you rolling your Firefly out after 2 years. One of the things that is generally missing in reviews about any product is its durability and I am happy that you are addressing that.
Nice model of Eric Clapton Gibson model
I know this is old, but he didnt mention how often he plays it.
@Der_Mantie Thats my point, what good is a 'how did it last video' if it's barely used?
@@Steve-qn8gn he played it once, two years ago. then took it out of the box, set it up and played it for this video. max is a fraud . he uses computer software to make every guitar sound how he wants you to hear it, even when he uses the cheapest amps he still runs them through a computer program but only once has he mentioned that
I agree about how many guitars you own and how often you play them
I have 18 ….. though only play a few of regularly
If I had practiced instead of shopped for guitars, I would sound better than I do now.
*me
I know, right? It's frustrating: every minute spent shopping is a minute not playing. I hate it too.
I just recently attempted to purchase a new FFLP from the Guitars Garden website (12.19.20), and they sent me a previously returned defective “Bat” series LP guitar. When I emailed them regarding the issue they were quick to correspond with me and try and get the guitar working. But once I provided them with the serial number and they realized they had sent me a previously returned damaged guitar from a completely different line, they refuse to answer my emails any further. So, with no way to contact them aside from the emails that they refuse to answer, I'm stuck with a previously returned defective guitar that I didn't buy and out $209.96. I DO NOT recommend Firefly at ALL.
@@mikesmith534 Now that I've lived with my 338 for a while i have to agree. Don't bother with Firefly. It's not worth it. Not even close. Firefly is hype.
Truest guitar related comment ever.
Well sh!t, watching this vid just cost me 170 bucks with shipping!
That's funny, I actually did laugh out loud reading your post.
I feel your pain , me too!
LOL
Really agree with this. I've had a "cheap" guitar for nearly 25 years (Yamaha Pacifica 112) and it still does the job really well.
I played a friend's pacifica back in the early 90's. It played great. very comfortable, easy to play. had great sustain. I didn't notice any quality problems with it at all.
So I was sort of jealous, but also sort of not...
It may sound weird, but the biggest problem with that guitar, was *not* that the guitar had problems.
The biggest problem, was that it was just "not the guitar for me".
Because *to me*, it was ugly and had the wrong hardware.
Now, keep in mind, these "criticisms" are ONLY valid *if it was MY guitar*.
Like, if it was MY guitar, I wouldn't be able to stand the color. But I wouldn't hate the color if it was somebody else's guitar.
So these "problems" would only only become *problems* IF I were to own the guitar.
So, here's the ones I recall off the top of my head.
1) I hated the color
2) I hated the head stock design. (I liked the logo design that was on it though ;P)
3) I hated the way the tremolo/bridge looked.
4) I also hated that it did not have a locking nut and a tremolo with fine tuners.
5) I think it had a rosewood fretboard? I hate rosewood fretboards.
6) I hated the pickguard, because I think pickguards are ugly.
7) I hated that it was all front-loaded/routed, so that taking off the pickguard would have made it even uglier.
8) I hated that it had a single coil pickup in the neck position, because I think single coils in that position are ugly, and the only time I like using single coils, is in the center position in an hsh config.
9) I hated that it had 3 knobs.
10) I hated that even if I were to redesign the headstock, retrofit a double locking tremolo, rout out neck pickup area and install a humbucker there, remove some of the knobs, change the fretboard (to maple or ebony) and repaint the guitar...
I would STILL hate it because it would still have all that ugly extra fender-esque front-loaded routing and would have to at least have a chunk of a pick guard for the volume pot an the pickup selector switch.
Also, I would have hated *myself* if I'd even considered trying to *fill* all the ugly routing in order to try and make it look like it wasn't a guitar that was routed for a pickguard. lol
Plus for the money I would have had to spend for guitar plus the parts/paint/pickup/etc would have made it cost more that the price of a lot of the guitars that were already available in a form i really liked, BUT wasn't buying because I didn't have that much available to spend on a guitar.
So, for me, buying a pacifica would have been sort of like me buying a car because it had the most comfortable seats I that I'd ever sat in, and then having to change out the whole car around the seats, because I hated everything else about it. lol
So yeah, I was kinda jealous of his guitar, cause it played and sounded so nice.
Buuut I also hated it ;P lol
Pacifica was one of my work horses and took a beating
imo all things considered, Yamaha has (for many decades) offered some of the most consistent quality across their entire range of music products.
my SA2200 is the Queen of the Studio among the Gibsons, G&L, and Martin I also have here.
I feel that. My first guitar was a Silvertone S type HSS. To this day it's still the best feeling guitar in my hand with the exception of a 90s Korean ibanez Artstar I had to get rid of.
Haha yup! That pacificia is a good guitar. My cousin has that same model. I think it’s from the early 90’s. I might be wrong. I know it’s an older guitar. That thing is a great playing, sounding, feeling guitar. Solid and tight. He got it free in a trade with a much more expensive guitar. The Gibson has long since been sold. But that old Yamaha is still hanging around.
3:33 True, back in 1984, for my fourth birthday I got a cheap guitar from Toys R Us and it broke after a month. I haven’t been the same since 😕
Me either!!!
I still got a washburn panther with the wonderbar close to that time..lol
Happened to me with an Epiphone Les Paul Standard which turned into a total POS.
However, I have several considerably less expensive Guitars that are grrrreat!!!
You probably cranked it too fast, man!
This is the reason Jeffery n TRU is out of work....I was looking for this, as I had many a hotwheels from them...great in 72
I had to laugh out loud with the comment on that bad experience someone probably had in 1984! Keep doing what you do, mate. Still love the content and your good tips. 👍
Funny!
It's so accurate. Bad guitar trauma lasts decades lol
I bought my first real guitar in the 80’s, a Kramer American Beretta made in Neptune NJ. it was more expensive than the Chinese models but I still have it to this day! It’s been worth every penny I paid for it.
Shoot, in 1984 I was in a better position, relatively speaking, to spend MORE on a guitar than I do nowadays (being married, and already owning a metric buttload of the fool things, doncha know :D ). And I still have both of the guitars I picked up in 84.
I had that traumatizing 1984 experience...in 1984 of course...a Korean-made Hondo Strat copy. I’d have given my eye teeth for a guitar like this at this price point. That Hondo cost me about $130 in 1984.
I have that same model, got it about 3-4 months ago. 90% impressed-I agree with your assessment of the overall build quality, and the new finished are nicer, my red is a lot more transparent than yours, the grain shows nicely thru the finish. I'm very happy with the pick-ups, surprisingly so, and see no immediate need to replace them (thanks for the DragonFire link, btw).
The 10% of not-so-impressed-the tuners... had to replace them with real Gotoh's, and the fret ends were not finished very well, had some sharp ones along the neck. But $40 in tuners and an hour with a file and emery board and no more issues.
I do own a copy of the Firefly television series on DVD, but not the guitar. I may have to get the matching guitar.
Lol
Great show
Shiny
I'll be in mah bunk.
I call mine Vera.😆
I took a shot and bought a Firefly 338 to play gigs in my area and keep my 1968 Gibson 345 safe from harm. I am truly amazed at the quality and sound of my Firefly. Thinking I might want a Firefly Les Paul model next. Thanks to all the guys doing reviews on RUclips. I would never have known.
My 338 is 6 months old, never had a problem. Totally stock except the strings. Great guitar.
In the 70s, I had a couple bad experiences with good, expensive guitars.
I'm not surprised that they've improved. Back in the 60s and 70s it was a different story until Japan got their act together. I'm a retired luthier and I had worked for a while at one of Canada's largest musical instrument distributors who offered a number of different brands. We had lines like Washburn, Parker, as well as numerous "cheapies". The Chinese made stuff back in 2003 was steadily improving and is much better now. But, in those days we often had to do some further work on the guitars before they were shipped off to retailers. Later on Chinese factories were contacting me regularly to try and get me to mass produce some of my models. I declined but did get sample necks and bodies from time time and I have to admit they were darn good and I put together some guitars for friends and families using them with excellent results. Had I not retired in 2013, I might well have agreed to have some guitars made in Asia. However, the countries that impressed me the most were Korea and Indonesia initially, as well as Mexico on this side of the planet. While a true luthier custom built guitar will still surpass these instruments--they are tough to beat at the prices they are sold at. The disturbing aspect is the low wages paid to the workers who make them and the huge profit margins made on them over here. They have earned the right to boast about their products today and won't get any arguments from me. In fact, I have a Strat copy I put together with Chinese made parts that plays like a dream and sounds terrific. I used single coil sized HB blade pickups in it (yes, they are wax potted too) made in China that are excellent.
I appreciate the 2 year follow up! I've been looking at these guitars for awhile now and for some this is a budget guitar but to me being disabled its quit a few bucks. I dig the red, it reminds me of the one Clapton played when in Cream and of course Freddie King..Anyways now that I know they actually last I think I'll pull the trigger on one, again thank you!
I got one of these guitars last year. It’s a great guitar. I couldn’t be happier with it.
Over a year later and my gloss black Firefly Semi-Hollow Body 338 is STILL going strong! It sounds and plays excellent!
I had this one but in gold, I threw some locking tuners in there and it made it play so much better. Sold it on reverb in less than a day after listing. High demand guitar.
Your initial review was one of the primary drivers for me getting my 338 in 2018. Still a fabulous guitar, no problems at all to date. Had a friend do a quick setup on it when I got it, nothing else. Love mine.
I have had the 338 for over a year now & bought the thin line tele 2 months ago.
It is you who inspired me to buy them. (Thank you !)
I am extremely pleased with both of them.
I have restrung them, but no other alterations.
Great buy !!
You’re legit when you can solo totally clean. Most people’s clean solo tone is overdrive.
I bought a red 338 about 5 months ago, love it. Overall an excellent guitar, and I play it live regularly. I do get a few comments from people, but the quality is there - easily worth more than I paid for it, IMHO. The only thing I have had to do was work on the fret ends, I had some sprout at the bottom due to a dry house (winter heating), and the fretboard/neck shrinking a bit. It took me about 20 minutes, after I taped it off, and it is smooth as butter.
I'd like to thank you for your opinion on this guitar. You've convinced me! 55 years of playing and I think I'll get one!
Updated - I've owned my Firefly for well over 2 years, now. Other than having it set up by a luthier buddy (he's set up *every* guitar I own, regardless of price) all it's needed is string changes. Everything else is stock. Is it a $3,500 ES-335? No. Is it a very nice guitar? Yes. Would I recommend it to someone looking for a 'budget 335'? Absolutely.
Own one, love it. I wanted an affordable semi hallow that I could practice upgrading with out worrying about doing any damage. New pick ups, tuners, pots. It sounds great.
Just wondering how much new, good quality pickups, tuners and pots would cost?
I’d like to echo everyone’s comments thus far, this is not a “cheap” guitar, rather it is inexpensive and affordable for the masses. These are every bit the equivalent of the $450 Epiphone 335’s. I have not been disappointed at all with this.
And it appears that just as fast as they went up for sale again (4 days ago) they have all sold out. (Except for the burst, but I don’t expect it to last much longer)
Great review 2 years later. Your first video was the reason I picked one up. Thanks!
Support slave labor, buy chineese products, its cheaper.
Very glad you did this video, Max! Was wondering how well it would hold up. Upon your recommendation, I bought this guitar. It's the nice blue finish. We've had it for about a year and a half. My son plays it. It's a really good guitar and is holding up fine. It's all stock and still plays as good as when I first un-boxed it! If I were looking for a good, versatile, and inexpensive semi-hollow body electric guitar, I would buy this guitar again without reservation!
I love my FF338, I've had mine for a little under a year and have had no problems whatsoever. I tightened up the tuning machines when I got it, changed the strings and haven't had a problem since. I've even gotten two friends to purchase their own, and they love it just as much as I do. I have the blueburst, my friend has the greenburst, and my other bud has the spalted maple top. All 3 look and play fantastic.
I’ve had mine for about a year and a half and while it’s not the first guitar I grab everyday when I do pick it up it still plays and looks great. I haven’t really done anything to it other than a set up, new strings and conditioned the neck with lemon oil. The pups are a little muddy but what do ya want for $140 . I’ve even leant it to a couple guitar snob friends and they were solidly impressed with it. You could do a lot worse for the money. I first heard of this guitar through you Max so thanks for review.
I sought this after your 1st 338, I’ve got the exact same as yours. I love it, constantly stays in tune!!! Same with the SG you had on along with the Les Paul, you had on there from Guitar Gardens, it too is a great Guitar!!! Thanks for the great tips Max!!!
I've had mind also for two years and the same as you're model, I have seen no problems with! Very satisfied!
Likewise, my own in black has held up well, despite being banged around in two cross country moves, including major changes in climate (hi/lo heat, humidity, etc.).
Proud owner to two Fireflies, the FF338 and a FFLP. You original review help push me to the first purchase and almost two years later, I’m still pleased with my FF338. The guitar was ready to play right out of the box and has held up well. Thanks for championing these guitars Max.
Max, your blues playing is really good. It is showing that you’ve been making it a priority in 2020.
Just got this Firefly using Max’s Amazon link; perfect and gorgeous! All I did was replace the tuners with Guyker non locking tuners. Love this guitar!
I love the fact that you find and review these great budget guitars. When I was a kid, I had several Fenders and Gibsons when they were affordable. I also agree that some of the modern budget guitars are as good or better than the name brands from my childhood(1980s)
Love your channel Max! I had a student bring one of these in and the guitar jack just wouldn't work right. It was shorting out anytime you tried to plug it in all the way. The only fix was to replace the very cheap input jack. That kind of thing is not a problem for a guitar guy like me who has been around the block a few times, but for a beginner who knows very little about guitars it can be a nightmare. They don't need a very expensive guitar, just something that works right and plays well from day one. Thanks for what you do!
I bought my son a Tanglewood Nevada (Stratocaster) about 10 years ago and although he never learned to play it I play it all the time. I love that guitar and can’t see me ever spending more on another Strat. New it was 90 pounds or about 120 dollars, on eBay you can grab one second hand for about 60 dollars which is great value for money. Peter Green of Fleetwod MAC fame has several Tanglewoods in his collection.
They won’t be £90 Tanglewoods though :)
No the two I seen were electric hollow bodies like 335s. Maybe a Memphis and Chicago.
I LOVE reviews like this. On a "reverse note" I have a Japanese made 94' Jackson Concert Professional bass. My wife bought it new for me back in the day for $1200. I still have that bass - it is by the far the most versatile, high quality bass I have ever owned. I have had hundreds since then and it is always my go-to. Except now - I can get a similar quality bass from Jackson for half that. Similar in sound (Japanese quality of build is hard to beat). Quality has definitely gotten so much better.
Got my 338 last week, same color. I have to say it’s a great deal. I own Fenders, Gibson’s and even an old Univox. All the 338 needed was a fret dressing and descent strings. Everything else was spot on. I was so impressed I ordered the double cutaway Les Paul version. Hopefully that model will be just as good.
I have the same experience. Gigs, recording, noodling. My 338 is perfect. Sounds great (stock), neck is dead straight, zero issues. Playing since '58. Too much gear to mention. This guitar commands the most time ny far! Thanks!
well! I never heard about firefly guitars until I watched your FFTH video some time ago...now I have 6 firefly guitars. I just love them I had to do some minor adjustments on a couple of them, but, let's be honest even the higher end guitars need some adjustments.
Thanks for your videos and greetings from Costa Rica.
Just checked Amazon in stock and qualifies for Prime shipping. They have gone up to $159.91 but still a steal.. And they raised the price only $20 in 2 years. I say that is unbelievable. And no I don’t work for the company. But I have watched other guitar reviews where they jack up the price quite a bit after a positive review.
Terry O'Donnell yeah the price increase is quite reasonable. Fender seems to raise their prices $50 a year.
$179.91 as of April 17, 2022.
I've got an ff338 sunburst thatI purchased in late 2019..
this guitar is fantastic.. absolutely nothing wrong with it..! I'm not a bigtime guitar slinger but I have plenty of friends who are. I've had some over and I had the headstock taped up dramatically so you couldn't see the logo or headstock shape. they played it and were blown away.. very nice guitar..
I just bought a newer 338 model, the green with the racing stripe. The only problem I had was with the tuners not being stable. I replaced them with a $30 set of GOTOH tuners. Totally worth it. Good to know this guitar will still be solid in 2 plus years. Thank you.
2 year update, GREAT idea!. The real test of any product is "the test of time"!
So right about budget guitar quality today. I'm an old git who's been playing guitar since Pontius was a pilot. I can tell you that a budget banjo now will have more of a guaretee of quality than mucho dinar would buy back in the dim and distant.
Ta.
Funny Biblical reference!
Chuckled out loud.
Right about bargain banjo's. I picked up a Morgan Monroe 5 string, and man, it was better than my grandpa's pre war Gibson. Too bad they were both lost when some scumbag broke in and stoke all the instruments while I was at work .
I'm in love with my " Gold FFDC " with one P-90, Tunomatic bridge,
Instead of the old style warp around bridge. I had to change the tuners, To German Shaller s And, Change the input Jack, And.'... Man does that Git Rock!... I'm good to go !!!!
I have a gold one. Awesome.
I don't own fireflies but I do own a hollowbody CST-24 Harley Benton and I can say the same what Max did about the red hollowbody of his. Everything is intact - even the electronics inside are immaculate. We truly are living in an era of good-grade low cost guitars
edit: I've owned my guitar since the spring of 2017 - making it 3 years next month
I have the Harley Benton hb-35 which is their version of this guitar and I love it! Best 150 bucks I’ve spent. The first one came damaged and Thomann made it right and sent a second guitar for free. I gave the damaged one away to a friend.
I bought a fire fly about 3 weeks ago and was blown away by the finish and the sound. I was not expecting this quality for $150.
I LOVE my Blue Burst FF338. I got it because of MAXX. I think Maxx is responsible for 99% of the FF SALES! I havent had one issue with my FF. Best $140 I've spent. It is exactly as good as Maxx said it would be in the original review.
HAHA...got mine for the same reason!
We've had great luck with ours too! It's a good guitar right out of the box.
I've had the blue burst about a year now. I had bought it figuring on changing pickups, electronics and maybe hardware, but i haven't done a single thing to it. It impresses all my friends who see it.
I don't own one yet, but my trusted guitar tech says they are fantastic guitars for the money. He does plenty of set ups on these and always impressed with the quality.
I bought a 2019 Goldtop..the pickups are fine(not microphonic). Changed out the tuners & bridge. I properly slotted the nut, added Elixer 11-49 Nanoweb nickel/steel electric strings. After completing intonation setup the Guitar plays & sounds great.
The base structure of the guitar(body, neck, and electronics are holding up just fine..no issues.
I was willing to do some modding work to it, so for $168, including tax & shipping, I'm very pleased with it.
How is the gold finish holding up?
I have had my two 338's, one red, one blue for about two years and they are just great. I did have to do some set up and I took the plunge and filed the frets, because they were quite sharp and actually scratched my left finger. Which adds another great feature of the Firefly - you can tinker with it and not worry about destroying "value".
My wife and I used to work for a school district and are now retired. While at one of the high schools, we actually gave away a few Fireflys to the kids who could actually play, but did not have the bucks to buy even a cheap guitar. What joy to have a really decent guitar that you can actually give as a gift to that kid who wants to carry the tradition for us "Boomers". This is a guitar that stays in tune and has good intonation. I remember so well being a guitar teacher back in the late '70's and early '80' and many of the student model guitars were useless toys. The Firefly is a real instrument. I've taken it to gigs as a backup. I've traveled with it worry free because if anything happens to it, just buy another one.
Thank you so much for your reviews MAX.
Did u have problems with the stock pickups? Mine make a horrible screeching noise when used with high gain anyway to fix this?
@@EnvyOw I removed the pickup covers from mine which reduced the feedback to a non-issue.
I clicked on the video and wasn't paying attention to it. After a minute I thought "well, when he's going to show the guitar?? That background music is great but come on!", and then I realized that he was actually playing that "background music" live with this Firefly guitar. Very much cool indeed! 🙂
Let the haters hate. I took your advice and I am over the moon pleased. You are correct, it looks great and the action is great.
The only haters I see are the ones buying the inexpensive stuff...The very same as the libtards and CNN,MSNBC screaming haters..Yes Projection at its finest is all the rage these days...lololol
I did buy the inexpensive stuff, not because of any politics, because I wanted that style and could afford it this way. Works for me
@@jackhisey3477 My comment obviously went right over your ignorant head.I never implied politics had anything to do with what you purchase.I made a comparison of that Hate shit you're spewing..
@@runnningonempty . Damn, don't make a dick out of yourself on Max's page. If you hate the Firefly, then don't get one.
@Runningonempty - I do not know you. You probably do not know me. If my comment read to you that I was spewing hate, believe you took it wrong. My comment was meant to mean people in the mood not to like something, will not like something. I am not a rocket scientist. And I am ignorant on some things. But something in your response lets me know that you are probably really brave when you are at your keyboard. You should probably stay there, in your safe space studmuffin.
Hey man thanks for your videos. I had cancer and when I was on chemo and could barely be active, watching your videos kept me motivated to play guitar and kept my mind distracted. Thank you.
Thanks for updating us. When I've had the disposable cash, they're always out of stock - at THEIR site, as well ... of course, now that I don't have the extra cash, they're in stock (albeit $159 ...).
I think a lot of people forget where they started. I had a cheap Peavey Bass I started out on but it rocked and got the job done. I, like many, started in a garage band and we played what we had and it was fun. Once I became an adult I was able to afford more expensive guitars and basses. I would have killed for something of this quality back in the mid 90's.
Max, YOU were the whole reason I ever gave the Firefly guitars a chance. In fact, I am the reason the very first Firefly Fans Facebook page exists. It would not exist had it not been for me. That will come as a surprise to some people who read this. I ended up buying literally 4 Firefly guitars, and had to send 3 of them back due to poor craftsmanship (Crooked bridge, fingerboard separating from neck, horrible scratched finish under clear coat, unevenly drilled string-through ferrule holes in the body, patches of binding not attached to the body in random spots, frets popping out of finger board, you name it, I've seen it with my Firefly purchases). I did keep 1 of the 4 (best of the 4), and have done a good amount of work on it to make it playable. I am NOT a guitar snob. I love inexpensive guitars, and it does not matter where they are made for the most part. But I do have to ask, wasn't your hand broke for a good portion of that 2 years? Also, I must ask, how many times have you actually used the Firefly guitar in those 2 years? Every day? Every week? Every couple of months? Not saying you are wrong. I love your channel. I'm just being honest and telling you my experiences, since you are the reason I purchased 4 of them. Hence, you are ultimately the reason that very first Firefly Facebook page was created almost 2 years ago. Through me. Not once have I asked for any credit for that. In fact, this is the first time I've ever even mentioned it. I don't like to complain, but, I do feel that I should be honest here since you did make this video, and you did ask for input. A whole lot of people have had bad experiences with the Firefly guitars, yet, you don't hear from them, as they have given up for the most part. You only hear from the ones who have received acceptable guitars, as they are still in it. Yet, I have gotten private messages from people on those Facebook pages telling me their horror stories, and I asked "why don't you say that on the group?" and they said "because I know I will be told I'm just complaining for nothing like everybody else has who complained". Nobody wants to be the bad guy. I surely do not. But I'm not going to lie about my experiences either. Have a great day Max!
I own 2 Firefly guitars.
So far, I own a 338 and a thinline.
I love them. Waiting to see the new body styles I have seen in some teaser posts on Facebook.
Affordable guitars are so good these days. My favorite guitar right now is a Harley Benton SC550 Les Paul style axe, more than my American Paul Reed Smith. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the PRS, I do. But I’m a Les Paul guy through and through. And I love the thin neck profile on the HB. The stock pickups are really good. I love how easy you can get pinch harmonics.
Last year, I picked up the Harley Benton SC-450plus Les Paul copy in Cherry Burst. It's an awesome guitar and every bit a Les Paul! The Roswell pickups are really, really, decent!
@Sunflower Seeds VERY cool!
Same here. I got 2 Harley Benton SC-450 Les Pauls to practice fret leveling and modifications. I gave one, stock, to my nephew and started playing around with my lemon drop beauty. The only thing I changed was the tuners. That’s it. The rest is way too good for the price. I like saying I paid $150 for a sweet looking les Paul with coil splits and great tones. I’m now modifying my 94 Korean Hamer Slammer Series instead.
I have an sc550 and its one of my favorite guitars that i own. Really well done. I just got a Firefly FFLP 3 pickup black beauty style, havent had a chance to mess with it much yet.
Which American PRS do you own? I've never met anyone who buys 3-7k dollar guitars and also buys $250 guitars for personal use. Not in my 35 years of playing and traveling.
Just got mine this week. Very playable. Not fretting out anywhere and the intonation is spot on. Controls work nicely and the guitar is very quiet & is not microphonic. The guitar looks terrific and has no surface flaws to speak of and the frets are polished and free of tool marks. Appears to have a bone nut. Bought a Chibson LP a few years ago and it was awful. This guitar blows that one away in all categories. Long time subscriber, love your work...
I bought my Firefly 338 a little over 2 years ago, and have literally played the living daylights out of it. I mean, hours and hours! I am a professional, so this guitar has really seen some action! I bought the left-hand model. Affordable left-hand guitars of this type are really hard to find, and I was overjoyed to find this one. This has been one of the best guitars I have ever had, and I have been playing for about 60 years. I would recommend this guitar to anyone. It is well worth the price!
Pls help me purchasing fireflyguitar providing shopping address thanking u
Mine is literally showing up today, excited!!!
thanks max keep up the good videos nice to see a good looking affordable guitar keep its attraction.
I've been using Firefly pickups here lately and I really like them
Mine is coming tomorrow. Thanks for your reviews.
Mine is also from the first run. It is still just as amazing as the day I pulled it out of the box. My comments mirror yours. My loving wife has a left handed 338 now, and she finds it amazing. Mine will turn two and a half on 01 April. I have made zero changes.
Thanks for the update on this "cheap" guitar. As a former GC employee, I know cheap guitars, and I know inexpensive guitars. For the uninitiated, a cheap guitar lacks quality; while, an inexpensive guitar has a low cost. The item in Max's video is not cheap; it is inexpensive (Max, you may want to take heed of the words you use).
If you want another example of cheap vs. inexpensive, back in the 80's, my brother bought a Kramer Aerostar ZX10 for $200. Two years later, I bought an Ibanez RG440, for $200. The difference between the two is that his had 1 humbucker, a non-locking trem, and a plywood body (it started to separate at the jack, and to keep it from falling out, I wrapped the plastic cup in electrical tape and jammed it back in); whereas, mine (which I still play today) has an S-S-H pickup configuration, a locking trem (stock), and a solid body.
So, here we are now, and I still play my "cheap" Ibanez, while my brother's Kramer is w/o a neck, sitting in my niece's closet with a few autographs on it (I think Kerry King signed it). That is the difference between cheap and inexpensive.
I had an $89 Global hollow body that 'Coff Coff' looked like that one. I learned to play on it. I learned how to set intonation. I learned that the pick-ups were unpotted single coils. They had that PAF look and sounded quite good. Heck, I used it on my first Christmas party talent show when I was 15.
The earlier demonstration of this guitar, ironically, is what nudged me into purchasing another Epiphone Sheraton. Not that there's anything wrong with this model, just that it made me desire another Epiphone.
I'll take and Epi over a Gibson any day!
On his recommendation, I got an ff338 (as a Xmas gift, on request) - I love it, but I *have* been casting greedy eyes on an Epiphone Casino...
I can tell you are a good guy, and I like the reviews you do. I appreciate the attention you give to affordable equipment
I bought one a few months ago. By far not a perfect guitar but it's a fantastic project starter (you can't buy a 335 Kit + paint for this price). Tuners and nut need an upgrade (too much play in the tuners) and you'll need to work on the fret shape and "grit" a bit (no sprouting, just flat from a fret level from the factory). Fretboard is dry out of the box so be prepared to work on that, too! The great thing about all of the hardware is that it's pretty standardized and swappable with a lot of 3rd party options 🙂 I purchased a roller bridge and a Bigsby B7 clone and they were perfect drop-ins. the wiring is solid but the pickups were a tad microphonic... Really not a big deal for any bedroom rockers and, if you're performing, you'll likely have your own pickup brands you like!
Sounds great. The pups are on fire with the distortion. Good lord!
This is the time of the affordable guitar!
If you know how to set them up to your liking I agree. There's not to many bad budget guitars these days.
I’m in love with the hollow body guitars this is so affordable ❤️
Agree-Epiphone, Gretsch Streamliner series, and Squier are just God Tier right now!
@@JedrekVRoscoe Don't forget Harley Benton!!
@@mike5177 I hear great things, but I don’t have any experience with them. None to speak of where I live-I’ve never seen one in real life.
Thanks for the heads up!!! Just pulled trigger on the black one before they went out of stock again. Been waiting a long time (couple years) to catch them available!
Very interesting. I've seen the brand advertised but, at that price, kind of assumed they were poorly made and hardly playable junk like, yes, back in the 80's. Heck, at those prices you can buy an instant guitar collection for the cost of one big name guitar.
This opening set of licks is the tastiest mini composition iv heard you perform in the years I have been hanging out with u!!!!...... Max!!!!........that was BADASS!!!!!!!!!!......it made me plug in my Parker NiteFly and queue up some blues backing tones and get at it!!!!........thanx for the inspiration today brother!!!!....... my own Firefly has held up nicely itself for the past 16 months I have had her .......they are good quality tools to get the job done right !!!........b safe n healthy to all!!!.....
Your Firefly sounds great and this whole debate about 'cheap guitars' is totally redundant.
I've got the cheapest (£120) Harley Benton SC 450 CB classic series and it is epic. It's a few months old and still impresses me.
The quality today is far superior to what we had 20-30 years ago even on the branded guitars.
I'd rather risk a few bucks on a cheap guitar than risk thousands on a Friday afternoon Gibson!
Good luck trying to get after sales help from the big brands.
I'll check out the firefly telecaster you mentioned.
I'm up for another cheap guitar. 👍🎸😋
It's mostly about the player, not the guitar to be honest.
i purchased a Glarry electric guitar and its suprisingly really good. needed little set up and plays very nice. cheap guitars arent always cheap in quality. people need to just take chances, i think they would be suprised. glad to hear you enjoy your harley benton i was thinkin of picking one up.
@@vipakat3498 Totally agree.
Still enjoying my FF-338 and zero issues with this guitar since purchase in 2019. Appreciate your assessment and follow up.
It looks like a great guitar for the price. I’d rather pay low for a great guitar than pay high for a mediocre guitar, but people do it all the time (I was once like that too) 🙂
Absolutely right about that FireFly costing $800 back in the day. Back then low priced guitars were fire wood. I picked up a 338 in Tobacco Sunburst, love the thing! All it needed was a tweak of the saddle to set it to a nice low action. As of today, Feb 24, 2020, the 338 is back on Amazon, but I did not see the Blue Burst, it may have already sold out. Looking forward to when the FireFly Les Paul's turn back up, Amazon and Guitar Garden have zero Les Paul's. Today the cost is $159 for a 338. Thanks Max.
I appreciate your work Max. Question: Have you thought of doing more pickup swap demos using better pickups in some of these cheaper guitars?
Got one for my son last Christmas based largely on your original Firefly review. He loves it, and I am super impressed what he got for the money. Your review videos are some of the best out there. Keep rocking man!
Digging the Gilmouresque demos on it!
I think I need to pull the trigger on something from Firefly.
Just got one today from a friend. It is very nice and highly playable!
Tbh guitars around $150-$250 can be awesome, just sometimes theres a few QC issues, but most of them are easily fixed. And pickups are easy to replace
I have purchased 5 of these and gave them away as gifts. Just to surprise my player friends.
All like them. All are still being played.
The follow up was a great video idea, even if the TL;DR is simply: We're good! I doubt it will change the minds of any guitar snobs out there, but hey, more guitars for the rest of us! :D
I bought a Tradition B-100 bass guitar for $220 back in 2005. You can tell it's based on an Ibanez model. It's still going strong after all these years. Nothing has been replaced on it other than the strings of course.
Firefly is also the title of an album by the great Emily Remler. And her guitar looks a lot like this model. So I'm hoping it was actually named after her
I’m seriously considering purchasing one of these. Thank you for your informative videos and sense of humor!
I have three Fireflys. The 335/338, the thin-line telly style, and the double-cut, double-pickup P-90 old school
I’ve had minor issues with all three. One of the pots has come loose on the 335 and makes a vibration but it doesn’t pick up thru the amp. The thin line had some weird bridge issues with saddled so I wouldn’t gig with it. The double-cut had a very bad cut in the nut which caused it to go sharp in the first two frets. The double cut also needed a trust rod adjustment. No big deal.All of issues were repaired by me very easily. Would not hesitate to buy another guitar from Firefly.
I've had most of those issues with both Fender and Gibbo guitars. Admittedly it was through my job, and I saw a lot of guitars. Bottom line, if you spend big bucks on a high end Gibbo, you should reasonably expect that it's not a plank. No reflection on your comment, which is totally valid.
Ta.
Yes, I'm going to do the same and re-review my Harley Benton SG after a year of pretty steady gigging. Keep an eye on my RUclips channel for the update. Thanks for all you do Max!
Tell us about fret wear. That's one interesting question.
@@Leo_ofRedKeep none at this point.....it's becoming one of favorite axes.
“I would love to hear from other firefly guitar owners”
*Nathan Fillion has entered the chat*
Good one
I have one, no issues 🤘
Just bought one like this one. I played it and have to admit, it is one heckuva nice guitar. I love it!
i have one like this except its relicd. its a decent guitar but i just cant bond with it. ive tried & tried. just dont like it.
My father has played guitar for 50+ years now. He has classics 335’s, a few gibsons, a few fenders, then some budget tier stuff. 18 guitars in total and he loved his FireFly LP so much he bought another FFLP. Aside his Gibson SG he says he prefers them to all of his other guitars. I bought a FFLP and I’ve loved it so much, I just ordered a FF Explorer because of how awesome the brand has been. Every company has some lemons but overall like Max says here, these are $600-$700 quality for $150-$210. I’d make my whole collection FF honestly.
As an owner of the 2019 version of this guitar, I say that your experience with the pickups is different than my experience and most of what I've read. Our 338 pickups are pretty microphonic and I get terrible feedback even at fairly low volumes. Easily remedied via a pickup swap though. The LP style Fireflies do not seem to have this issue.
My FFLP also exhibits the same issue though not as bad as the 338. When I crank up the volume and face the amp, the squeal can be quite disturbing. Yes, the FFLP's pickups are microphonic (easily checked with the yell test).
To be clear though, my FFLP is certainly the best guitar among LP-style copies under $200. It plays great, feels great and looks absolutely gorgeous.
That is the problem with this brand they are not producing to a quality level. They just buy parts from where ever and build guitars. Some might get good parts and some might not. They are built to price not a quality level. Now that they are raising prices Better quality brands are a no brainer. They are also contracting builds and not running their own factory.
i think doing a follow up review like this is great, burying the Les Paul in the desert was fantastic... there's only so different a guitar channel can be from the rest of the guitar channels, but you always find a way to cut through the mix... been enjoying your channel for a little over a year now, take it easy, bro', catch ya' next time...