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What can I say, nowadays a brand does not necesarily guarantee a quality instrument, and a not known brand does not mean cheap quality. I'd wish more people would listen with their ears than with their eyes :)
All my Firefly guitars are beautiful and flawless. I play them for a while stock. Then make a couple upgrades at a minimal cost. I can make any firefly play like the best guitars out there.
Incredible sounding !!!! You absolutely sold me on it. You play incredibly well !!! You made that guitar sound like a very expensive guitar.. your hands are magic !!!!! Great articulation, great melodic riffs, very Eric Johnson-esqe on some of the fast runs. You are incredible!!!!!
I was finding all of these Firefly guitar reviews a bit unbelievable. How is all of this possible!? So, on a whim I pushed the button on Guitar Garden. I just got the newest offering of the FF338 in Chameleon Green. Absolutely wild color changes in the light from a beautiful green to blue to purple to an almost eggplant shade. Not just the top, but the back, sides, and neck. This looks like a very high end paint job. The body and "f" hole bindings are crisp and clean. It has locking tuners, a bone nut, stainless steel frets with hemispherical ends, alnico 5 pickup magnets, a small pin ABR style bridge, and full size pots. Right out of the box the set up was great (high E: 1/16", low E: 3/32". The neck had a smidge of relief and the intonation was spot on) - just tune and play. I plugged it into my Bartel Roseland and was very impressed. I don’t have to do anything to this guitar. Wow. Well, I've seen it, so now I believe it. But for $180, I don't know how it's all possible.
I have Firefly guitars from a few years ago that are pretty good and the quality is getting better. More with actual bone nuts, locking tuners, nicely finished fretts, great action out of the box, good woods and doing away with some of the binding on their guitars that I never really liked. They had some nice ones starting at $129 on their black friday sale. Even changing to better strings and very little modifications if any these are nice.
I bought an Amazon semi hollow ES-137 type guitar for around $225. Very happy with it. For the price it is very serviceable. The quality vs price ratio of these import guitars has risen in the last few years. If you're on a budget or just want a different style guitar for fun these are an affordable option.
The Asian made guitars have improved drastically over the last several years and firefly is one brand, I mean locking tuners, belly and forearm cuts at this price wow. Thanks for sharing Rich! Oh yes and the truss rod adjuster location and stainless steel frets, amazing value! And Im thinking the same way, come on fender get with the program! Cheers!
I love your reviews of inexpensive guitars like this one. I hope you keep on making them. I don't watch reviews of expensive guitars because I can't afford them. I guess I just assume that at the end of a top end guitar review I'll just hear about how great it is. It's hard to watch a movie when you already know the end.
Makes sense. The majority of guitar players can't afford what gibson and fender etc are selling unless they really save, and even then, it's sometimes a huge sacrifice.
Do what makes you happy. I’ve got big brand names and random brandless guitars. Every instrument is it’s own thing but I tend to lean towards having more variety and quantity than blowing my gas money on one over inflated price to get the right logo on the headstock. Great demo sir
Hey Rich, I appreciate your taking the time to check out some of these “lesser expensive “ guitars; I own several IYV, Harley Benton, and a SX guitar and they are really nice instruments. I have some custom boutique stuff too. Lately I’ve bought some of these off brand guitars and been quite impressed. Your playing is as always inspiring. I recently purchased a Squire Contemporary Jaguar and was disappointed, and sold it.
Yep. I'm a fellow Budget Chinese Love-Hate guy. Mostly love em.' I've had mostly very good luck with the ones I've picked out through the years. And I've had a ton of fun with them. If they aren't great when I get them... then I turn them into mod projects, parts, etc. And I have a blast with them. Like others have said.... quality to price ratio has gone way up over the past 10 years or so. Some great stuff out there. And a cool guitar, Rich. Great riffage.
Rich great video as usual. I have several Harley Benton guitars and recently bought an incredibly SX Hawk guitar with P90’s, in sea foam green, for $185 delivered; it rocks!
I agree these guitars have gotten better and continue to get better. Quality on the most of these is off the charts good. It’s amazing to me that we can by a really nice guitar for under $400. Without the issues we find on most behemoth brands in the US. Cool guitar btw. I’m waiting on a copy LP with a FR. Like the Alex Lifson signature model. Take care, happy holidays…
On that guitar, minor mods such as changing electronics to a 920D 2v, 1tone tl plate for splitting to get more tones if the humbuckers are splitable and give more than 5 different variations of tones other than that nice TL style guitar.
It's Yer Channel Rich ))) You Do WHATEVER YOU Want! I own 3 FireFly's an Explorer, a Flying V, and a LP... They Are Stunning To Look At and Play Just Fine. :)
I've watched many of these inexpensive guitar reviews and I find that the question isn't really "how do they make them at this quality and charge so little," but rather "why do other companies charge so much?"
Nice review, nice playing. I can relate to your assessments of "loving" these guitars; absolutely no reason not to; as an owner of many higher-end Gibsons, Fenders, as well as a wide assortment of Chineses-made guitars, I can discern no reasons to associate any degree of "hate" for these guitars other than the inability to have the same sense of pride in owning them vs. the expensive ones.
They are making far better guitars than what I started out on. I can remember guitars without a truss rod, and necks so bowed midgits could limbo under them.
This guitar is awesome. I got one in white. I thought the pickups were bad microphonic. But the tone pot is actually a push/pull. In default down position the pickups are tapped to be single coil. That's why it was so noisy. If you pull it'll be series Humbucker mode, and the pickups are fine then. It was not in guitar description. I didn't realize it was a push pull wired like that. I bought a new railhammer pickup and swapped it. Beware, the bridge mount slots are rounded. So I had to drill them out a bit to fit the pickups. I wish they wrote in description about the coil tap so I might not have swapped the bridge pickup.
🎉👍Thank you for doing good job don't listen those haters and paid haters. I'm playing guitar since 1960 and have US original Fenders that aren't ever set properly by factory and yet no Stainless steel frets, rounded ends and roasted necks. Yet we paid over priced 3x Fender's guitars. Not any more. Thanks to Chinese.💕🕊️🌍👌👍
Bought one of their Les Paul style guitar and I love it! At some point I will probable change out the pickups, but for now I really love playing it. I don't perform in public any more so I really don't need a more expensive guitar. I have been letting my young nieces and nephews play around with my guitars to gauge their interest in music so Firefly is great for a very young beginner. Not upset if they knock it around or drop it.
Stainless steel frets was the closer. Not having to deal with refretting in the future is a big consideration if the guitar is otherwise high quality and easily playable.
Just had my FFTL shell pink delivered with vintage 3 brass saddle bridge. Its amazing with the stainless steel frets and roasted neck. I didn't see the model you have @rich bischoff or I would have ordered the tremolo model. Thanks again for the great review!
Hey Rich, I for one enjoy your content. I'm definitely in agreement with the points you make here. I'm at a point where I'm thinking I would rather have a few great guitars, as opposed to many inexpensive imports. But that's more of a personal preference for me. I bought a Firefly SG style guitar out of curiosity. And it was very nice for the money. I ended up giving it to my son and buying a Gibson SG Standard. I also have a Harley Benton HB 35 Plus. It sounds great but arrived in dire need of a fret level and crown and treble bleeds, which I still haven't done. But like I said, these days for me at least, I would rather own fewer name brand, higher quality guitars as opposed to many Chinese knock offs. Most of my life I've only owned one or two guitars at a time and did just fine before the advent of G.A.S.
This is a great review… I think so Many things in this world are built very cheaply and trade on their name. You can buy a high-end watch and pay a lot of money for that watch or you can get what is essentially the same watch with the same movement from a lesser known manufacturer and pay significantly less ….the cost to build these things are the same, and I think the same goes for guitars… obviously fit and finish is important and components are important but Gibson and other manufacturers trade on name and yeah there’s a quality difference I think to a degree but when you’re talking about $179 versus $3000 I don’t know if there’s that much different ultimately in the product kudos to fire fly for building a quality product at a very competitive price
To your opening comments regarding views: Amen. Most guitar purchasers (I don't mean players) are beginner-to-intermediate and are not rich. They surf the web for bargains, but they also watch the RUclips trends. Chinese guitars are actually not all crap these days, and the price is right. These viewers have already made a decision that they are buying one, even if they haven't admitted it to themselves yet, and now they need validation from a pro player that it's not a bad move. And God help you if you do a negative review, honest or not, on what they have already decided they want. For the record, I own six Firefly guitars and I love them all. With minor tweaks, they can be A-team giggers.
I've been playing for sixty years. I have a room full of high-end guitars. I recently bought four Firefly guitars, just to see what they're like. I see no reason to EVER spend more money on anything else. Shalom/gw
Just looking at these and the one thing I wish that they'd regularly add to their product descriptions is the neck radius. I play a 14" radius Tele and for me, anything lower than a 12" feels weird. I've emailed them about this but never heard back. One thing I do, and it's just my own bit... I have reshaped a couple of these Tele copy headstocks to an actual Tele shape, then sand / decal, etc. Not to fool anyone but I just really like the shape. Funny, I used to HATE the Tele headstock shape years ago :)
Bought a new version of this in Olympic White with dual humbuckers. No coil split. Perfect in every way! Play beautifully out of the gate with no setup. Sounds freaking amazing!
A tele with whammy bar? Hell yea im getting one thanks for the review im not really a strat or other sizes i love teles size n feel i have both regular and humbucker now i need this one for that strat whammy style bar haha
That was so much fun I actually bought one. Take the cover off the neck pickup, see if that wakes it up. I'll find out for sure next week but I would bet they've got the "hot peppers" set in there, hot bridge around 13-14k and a normal neck around 7.5-8K. Some dirty PAF-alikes would be fun. Or you could get super goofy w/some EMGs if you can find someplace for the battery. Gotta love a Suhr disguised as a Telecaster...
Swapped in Artec Giovanni PAF-alikes, GVH-1, coil split and a 4 way switch for series. Fiddling with PRS stylee ground resistors on the split which is slightly boggling with the 4 way, but the split in series is lovely. In honor of all this Firefly joy the shell pink HSS Strat I ordered shall arrive Wednesday! Already have a plan, 2nd hand Mojotone 58 Quietcoils and a 59 styled PAF-alike in the bridge, 5 way super switch splits the humbucker in pos 2, blend control in 1,2,4 & 5, Fat 50s tone circuit. And a tortie pickguard!
I have 6 firefly now and honestly have a hard time getting anything else lately because they have been so good overall. Why pay 5-10 times the price when something is not much better at all?
Firefly guitars are amazing. You can lock the trem bar by dive bombing guitar and adjust the allen screw under socket. Also pull up on tone pot toggle humbuckers/single coils. This guitar is miles better than any squier or upper squier guitar. Action is way better and it has ok locking tuners. Stays in tune. Firefly really has the most bang for your buck. Pro features for beginner, no idea how they do this, other than the really care about their customers and proving that not all guitar companies care about ripping you off, ahem ... Gibson.
I got this same guitar in white. Love the guitar. Came setup really well. The humbucker pickups aren't great. I don't know what "Alnico 5" vs whatever else means. But with distortion the pickups are very noisy. I have to dial up my noise gate a lot, which in turn messes up sustain. I want to try and replace the pickups with Railhammer Billy Corgan z-one pickups for that Smashing Pumpkins tone. The guitar is awesome in all other regards. Playability is amazing.
The same people who complain about the labor practices of china most likely complain from a smartphone made in china. I picked up the pink strat model because the price was so cheap for what seems to be a really well spec'ed instrument.
Strange how you're describing the box/packaging. I've bought 4 firefly Lp style starting 4 years ago when they first came out till recently 4 months ago. I've never seen them packaged any other way.
Heard about a lot of quality control issues with Firefly. Some are great, out of the box. Some have a plastic nut, instead of bone. They often arrive damaged in shipment, or arrive with factory flaws. But then again, according to some RUclips reviewers, they arrive perfect, flawless. It seems a very hit or miss proposition. Also something to consider. If the material quality is really that good, at that price point, you have to know it was made by slaves. Could be some bad energy in that…
The review is good. But you said the neck pickup was underwhelming. What in particular didn’t impress you about it? Because I play jazz and to me the neck pickup is everything. I’m very interested in buying this guitar.
I own a Fender Players, Series Telecaster that I bought from a friend. Every other one that I’ve tried at a store are terrible except for the one I have I wonder if that’s the case with these as well.
Great Channel, and awesome playing! now what I do not understand with experienced Guitarists if this is Guitar Snobbery, or being spoiled or maybe they are taking for granted these great affordable guitars, or is psychological...., but here is a Guitar where you say is amazing for $150 .... amazing how? because if is really amazing you should not doubt in putting even a $200 Pickup and this thing should be amazing, t hing that most Guitar Players do without a doubt in more expensive guitars.... that is my point? are this affordable guitars really good (the good ones)? when I mean good...regardless of price, as as you stated you wished Fender can do something like that, where you need to pay today at least $850.... maybe you can put some light on this thought...thanks
@@RichBischoff regardless of the price, do you feel this is a Guitar that is really good? on par with Fenders if you do all the upgrades you consider necessary? or you consider all the upgrades are not worth the guitar?
You didn’t even cover the screw in trem bar (look at the bottom of the bar. It’s like a gotoh 510), steel trem block, stainless frets and other killer specs. The trem is killer they just need better saddles. Bone nut…..beyond killer for the price. ❤❤
If you kept it do yourself a favor and replace the entire trem sooner than later. My knife edges are chewed up like a years old bridge after just a few weeks. There's a Musiclily 510T knockoff with a full steel block for less than $50 which is far more robust.
I love Firefly Guitars and now they improved the necks and electronics, while the price is the same. This is sign of something unusual going on in this Chinese factory. I am truly ambivalent about buying any more Firefly guitars until they show that nothing inhumane is happening there. We all say how do they do it? Firefly should answer this question. 🤨😑
Great sounded guitar. No need to worry about the China haters. People who want to spend high $ for the same type guitar, or with less features, that's up to them.
Man that sounds like a bunch of different guitars. You look a little underwhelmed in some of the pick up settings, I agree with you it's hard to belive but these guitars are excellent. If anyone is in disbelief there $170 it's cheap enough to run the gears. If you don't like it - sell it you can't lose!
forget about Firefly Rich I have two of them QC really Bad i have the les paul and SG Fake ABR bridge sucks on the Les Paul saddles are cut wrong not a easy set up at all china made,Firefly look good thats all.if you go the budget guitars Harley Benton direct.
I ordered the white one. I returned it for a full refund. The wiring was bad and the push pull pot didn’t function. Masking tape and not electrical tape was used and soldering was really sloppy. I was disappointed. I was really hoping for a winner.
I think cheap gear reviews do much more well, because most musicians are broke sadly, so it stands out to them more to click on videos of cheap stuff they hope will sound as good as high dollar stuff. Its a form of denial but thats ok lol. My review for an epiphone far outdid any high dollar guitar review I tried. My Squire also beat my Fender USA reviews. Is everyone broke or are most watchers newbies?
What you SHOULD BE WONDERING, is why has Fender been charging RIDICULOUS PRICES for BOLT ON NECK INSTRUMENTS, THAT A FKNG MONKEY COULD PUT TOGETHER.... YEAH, THE PICK-UPS ARE BETTER, BUT THAT EXTRA $1850.00 ...I can sure as hell use that somewhere else. The fretwork on this $159 guitar is better, the body is a wood that I've actually heard of, the necks roasted maple, with a REAL ROSEWOOD FRETBOARD... YO KNOW, LIKE THE FRETBOARD ON THE STRATOCASTER...THE STRAT MODEL THAT'LL SET YOU BACK AN EXTRA $1500 OR MORE... WHEN YOU GET RIGHT DOWN TO THE BONE, LIKE THE BONE THIS GUITAR USES FOR THE NUT, IT KINDA' LOOKS LIKE YOUR PAYING FOR THE LITTLE "FENDER" ON THE HEADSTOCK. I love how you say, "for people who can't AFFORD a Fender...". Dude, you should be saying, "for people who have realized there's better shit out there"... If I have to spend $200, or $300 on better pickups, I'd STILL have a Tele KILLER, FOR LESS THAN $500 .... MAKES ME WANNA SELL SOME THINGS... 🎩⚜️🎩
In my opinion, the ugliest part of a Fender Tele is the headstock. That was the reason for years, not to buy one. Now I have one, but still don‘t like the optic of the headstock.
![Tee Grizzley - Detroit (Feat. 42 Dugg) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/aeKfTtt0x14/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for watching! Please remember to like and subscribe, and stop by Spotify to listen to some music. open.spotify.com/artist/3GoaK66hG2Al2gf6ync58b?si=L7XJVS7aTCWMPUMLTpFD3Q&dl_branch=1
What can I say, nowadays a brand does not necesarily guarantee a quality instrument, and a not known brand does not mean cheap quality. I'd wish more people would listen with their ears than with their eyes :)
All my Firefly guitars are beautiful and flawless. I play them for a while stock. Then make a couple upgrades at a minimal cost. I can make any firefly play like the best guitars out there.
Incredible sounding !!!! You absolutely sold me on it. You play incredibly well !!! You made that guitar sound like a very expensive guitar.. your hands are magic !!!!! Great articulation, great melodic riffs, very Eric Johnson-esqe on some of the fast runs. You are incredible!!!!!
I was finding all of these Firefly guitar reviews a bit unbelievable.
How is all of this possible!?
So, on a whim I pushed the button on Guitar Garden.
I just got the newest offering of the FF338 in Chameleon Green. Absolutely wild color changes in the light from a beautiful green to blue to purple to an almost eggplant shade. Not just the top, but the back, sides, and neck. This looks like a very high end paint job. The body and "f" hole bindings are crisp and clean. It has locking tuners, a bone nut, stainless steel frets with hemispherical ends, alnico 5 pickup magnets, a small pin ABR style bridge, and full size pots. Right out of the box the set up was great (high E: 1/16", low E: 3/32". The neck had a smidge of relief and the intonation was spot on) - just tune and play.
I plugged it into my Bartel Roseland and was very impressed.
I don’t have to do anything to this guitar. Wow.
Well, I've seen it, so now I believe it.
But for $180, I don't know how it's all possible.
Thinking of buying one, would you recommend?
@shayh.3556 judging by his comment he already did😂. Like come on guy he is raving how good it is. Yes get one there good instruments.
I have Firefly guitars from a few years ago that are pretty good and the quality is getting better. More with actual bone nuts, locking tuners, nicely finished fretts, great action out of the box, good woods and doing away with some of the binding on their guitars that I never really liked. They had some nice ones starting at $129 on their black friday sale. Even changing to better strings and very little modifications if any these are nice.
I bought an Amazon semi hollow ES-137 type guitar for around $225. Very happy with it. For the price it is very serviceable. The quality vs price ratio of these import guitars has risen in the last few years. If you're on a budget or just want a different style guitar for fun these are an affordable option.
The Asian made guitars have improved drastically over the last several years and firefly is one brand, I mean locking tuners, belly and forearm cuts at this price wow. Thanks for sharing Rich! Oh yes and the truss rod adjuster location and stainless steel frets, amazing value! And Im thinking the same way, come on fender get with the program! Cheers!
After that demo these should be flying off the shelves. They sent one to the right guy.
They've flown... Can't find one, except the two "girly" pink models. Sorry ladies.
I love your reviews of inexpensive guitars like this one. I hope you keep on making them. I don't watch reviews of expensive guitars because I can't afford them. I guess I just assume that at the end of a top end guitar review I'll just hear about how great it is. It's hard to watch a movie when you already know the end.
Makes sense. The majority of guitar players can't afford what gibson and fender etc are selling unless they really save, and even then, it's sometimes a huge sacrifice.
Really straight forward review and thanks for helping me decide on this beauty 😍
Great job
Do what makes you happy. I’ve got big brand names and random brandless guitars. Every instrument is it’s own thing but I tend to lean towards having more variety and quantity than blowing my gas money on one over inflated price to get the right logo on the headstock.
Great demo sir
Thanks!
I’m a sucker for pink guitars. I’m with you on the love/hate thing. I’m on a Chinese gear hiatus currently. 🤓
Hey Rich, I appreciate your taking the time to check out some of these “lesser expensive “ guitars; I own several IYV, Harley Benton, and a SX guitar and they are really nice instruments. I have some custom boutique stuff too. Lately I’ve bought some of these off brand guitars and been quite impressed. Your playing is as always inspiring. I recently purchased a Squire Contemporary Jaguar and was disappointed, and sold it.
Yep. I'm a fellow Budget Chinese Love-Hate guy. Mostly love em.' I've had mostly very good luck with the ones I've picked out through the years. And I've had a ton of fun with them. If they aren't great when I get them... then I turn them into mod projects, parts, etc. And I have a blast with them. Like others have said.... quality to price ratio has gone way up over the past 10 years or so. Some great stuff out there. And a cool guitar, Rich. Great riffage.
That actually looks like a super cool guitar. Love the color and the idea of having a trem on a tele.
It is very cool. Firefly know how to get guitarist to add to cart. I was skeptical about the trem, but it's awesome.
Rich great video as usual. I have several Harley Benton guitars and recently bought an incredibly SX Hawk guitar with P90’s, in sea foam green, for $185 delivered; it rocks!
I agree these guitars have gotten better and continue to get better. Quality on the most of these is off the charts good. It’s amazing to me that we can by a really nice guitar for under $400. Without the issues we find on most behemoth brands in the US. Cool guitar btw. I’m waiting on a copy LP with a FR. Like the Alex Lifson signature model. Take care, happy holidays…
On that guitar, minor mods such as changing electronics to a 920D 2v, 1tone tl plate for splitting to get more tones if the humbuckers are splitable and give more than 5 different variations of tones other than that nice TL style guitar.
It already had a push pull coil split. Didn't realize until after I filmed the vid.
Holy smokes I’ve been dreaming about a simple clean tele with humbuckers. I think this is it. I love the colour too.
Stainless frets. Bone nut push in trem bar, heavy block and locking tuners and so on. I think they are a steal of a guitar
It's Yer Channel Rich ))) You Do WHATEVER YOU Want! I own 3 FireFly's an Explorer, a Flying V, and a LP... They Are Stunning To Look At and Play Just Fine. :)
I've watched many of these inexpensive guitar reviews and I find that the question isn't really "how do they make them at this quality and charge so little," but rather "why do other companies charge so much?"
Sounds great never had a chance to play a firefly guitar this looks a real bargain.. 🙂👍🎸
Nice review, nice playing. I can relate to your assessments of "loving" these guitars; absolutely no reason not to; as an owner of many higher-end Gibsons, Fenders, as well as a wide assortment of Chineses-made guitars, I can discern no reasons to associate any degree of "hate" for these guitars other than the inability to have the same sense of pride in owning them vs. the expensive ones.
Insane! The headstock is actually pretty cool my opinion.
They are making far better guitars than what I started out on. I can remember guitars without a truss rod, and necks so bowed midgits could limbo under them.
Ha!
Really nice guitar! I was checking out their Prince Mad Cat tele which also looks like a great guitar for the price!
That’s a Tone Monster great video and awesome playing Sir
This guitar is awesome. I got one in white. I thought the pickups were bad microphonic. But the tone pot is actually a push/pull. In default down position the pickups are tapped to be single coil. That's why it was so noisy. If you pull it'll be series Humbucker mode, and the pickups are fine then. It was not in guitar description. I didn't realize it was a push pull wired like that. I bought a new railhammer pickup and swapped it. Beware, the bridge mount slots are rounded. So I had to drill them out a bit to fit the pickups. I wish they wrote in description about the coil tap so I might not have swapped the bridge pickup.
🎉👍Thank you for doing good job don't listen those haters and paid haters. I'm playing guitar since 1960 and have US original Fenders that aren't ever set properly by factory and yet no Stainless steel frets, rounded ends and roasted necks. Yet we paid over priced 3x Fender's guitars. Not any more. Thanks to Chinese.💕🕊️🌍👌👍
This thing sounds killer! I may have to get myself one.
That video just looks fantastic
Bought one of their Les Paul style guitar and I love it! At some point I will probable change out the pickups, but for now I really love playing it. I don't perform in public any more so I really don't need a more expensive guitar. I have been letting my young nieces and nephews play around with my guitars to gauge their interest in music so Firefly is great for a very young beginner. Not upset if they knock it around or drop it.
Stainless steel frets was the closer. Not having to deal with refretting in the future is a big consideration if the guitar is otherwise high quality and easily playable.
@Rich Bischoff - I just had to order the Chameleon Blue FFTL after watching. Tele 22 SS Frets + Trem + Price. Looking forward to playing it!
Cool guitar! I always enjoy your posts. Thanks RB!
Thanks CL!
Pretty cool. Adding this to my list of cheap teles I've been considering.
Loved this video. What a bargain on that guitar.
Just had my FFTL shell pink delivered with vintage 3 brass saddle bridge. Its amazing with the stainless steel frets and roasted neck. I didn't see the model you have @rich bischoff or I would have ordered the tremolo model. Thanks again for the great review!
Cool thanks!
I can dig these firefly series man. Like you said. They are mostly good and or bones for incredible value.
I just got a firefly and it is my favorite guitar of my bunch. $200 vs $1000… I can’t believe it
Hey Rich,
I for one enjoy your content. I'm definitely in agreement with the points you make here. I'm at a point where I'm thinking I would rather have a few great guitars, as opposed to many inexpensive imports. But that's more of a personal preference for me. I bought a Firefly SG style guitar out of curiosity. And it was very nice for the money. I ended up giving it to my son and buying a Gibson SG Standard. I also have a Harley Benton HB 35 Plus. It sounds great but arrived in dire need of a fret level and crown and treble bleeds, which I still haven't done. But like I said, these days for me at least, I would rather own fewer name brand, higher quality guitars as opposed to many Chinese knock offs. Most of my life I've only owned one or two guitars at a time and did just fine before the advent of G.A.S.
This is a great review… I think so Many things in this world are built very cheaply and trade on their name. You can buy a high-end watch and pay a lot of money for that watch or you can get what is essentially the same watch with the same movement from a lesser known manufacturer and pay significantly less ….the cost to build these things are the same, and I think the same goes for guitars… obviously fit and finish is important and components are important but Gibson and other manufacturers trade on name and yeah there’s a quality difference I think to a degree but when you’re talking about $179 versus $3000 I don’t know if there’s that much different ultimately in the product kudos to fire fly for building a quality product at a very competitive price
To your opening comments regarding views: Amen. Most guitar purchasers (I don't mean players) are beginner-to-intermediate and are not rich. They surf the web for bargains, but they also watch the RUclips trends. Chinese guitars are actually not all crap these days, and the price is right. These viewers have already made a decision that they are buying one, even if they haven't admitted it to themselves yet, and now they need validation from a pro player that it's not a bad move. And God help you if you do a negative review, honest or not, on what they have already decided they want. For the record, I own six Firefly guitars and I love them all. With minor tweaks, they can be A-team giggers.
@Rich Bischoff - I just had to order the Chameleon Blue FFTL after watching. Tele 22 SS Frets + Trem + Price. Looking forward to playing it!
I've been playing for sixty years. I have a room full of high-end guitars. I recently bought four Firefly guitars, just to see what they're like. I see no reason to EVER spend more money on anything else. Shalom/gw
In the future could you please turn your sound up. Thanks!
Just looking at these and the one thing I wish that they'd regularly add to their product descriptions is the neck radius. I play a 14" radius Tele and for me, anything lower than a 12" feels weird. I've emailed them about this but never heard back.
One thing I do, and it's just my own bit... I have reshaped a couple of these Tele copy headstocks to an actual Tele shape, then sand / decal, etc. Not to fool anyone but I just really like the shape. Funny, I used to HATE the Tele headstock shape years ago :)
I hear you 100%. Have A GREAT Memorial Day 23 ! Don't think you get anything near that cost to learn on + Quality. . . .something is happening here. !
Great job Rich!
It has a much nicer headstock than the original telecaster. That thing has always been an eyesore for me.
Bought a new version of this in Olympic White with dual humbuckers. No coil split. Perfect in every way! Play beautifully out of the gate with no setup. Sounds freaking amazing!
A tele with whammy bar? Hell yea im getting one thanks for the review im not really a strat or other sizes i love teles size n feel i have both regular and humbucker now i need this one for that strat whammy style bar haha
Thanks
I will admit the color isn't my thing, but I really like the headstock shape. All of the other features appear to be top notch and it sounds great.
That was so much fun I actually bought one.
Take the cover off the neck pickup, see if that wakes it up. I'll find out for sure next week but I would bet they've got the "hot peppers" set in there, hot bridge around 13-14k and a normal neck around 7.5-8K. Some dirty PAF-alikes would be fun. Or you could get super goofy w/some EMGs if you can find someplace for the battery.
Gotta love a Suhr disguised as a Telecaster...
I'm gonna replace the pickups on mine as well.
Swapped in Artec Giovanni PAF-alikes, GVH-1, coil split and a 4 way switch for series. Fiddling with PRS stylee ground resistors on the split which is slightly boggling with the 4 way, but the split in series is lovely.
In honor of all this Firefly joy the shell pink HSS Strat I ordered shall arrive Wednesday! Already have a plan, 2nd hand Mojotone 58 Quietcoils and a 59 styled PAF-alike in the bridge, 5 way super switch splits the humbucker in pos 2, blend control in 1,2,4 & 5, Fat 50s tone circuit. And a tortie pickguard!
I have 6 firefly now and honestly have a hard time getting anything else lately because they have been so good overall. Why pay 5-10 times the price when something is not much better at all?
Firefly guitars are amazing. You can lock the trem bar by dive bombing guitar and adjust the allen screw under socket. Also pull up on tone pot toggle humbuckers/single coils. This guitar is miles better than any squier or upper squier guitar. Action is way better and it has ok locking tuners. Stays in tune. Firefly really has the most bang for your buck. Pro features for beginner, no idea how they do this, other than the really care about their customers and proving that not all guitar companies care about ripping you off, ahem ... Gibson.
I got this same guitar in white. Love the guitar. Came setup really well. The humbucker pickups aren't great. I don't know what "Alnico 5" vs whatever else means. But with distortion the pickups are very noisy. I have to dial up my noise gate a lot, which in turn messes up sustain. I want to try and replace the pickups with Railhammer Billy Corgan z-one pickups for that Smashing Pumpkins tone. The guitar is awesome in all other regards. Playability is amazing.
Agreed
Some good guitar playing there.
Have you ever thought about raising the pole pieces on the pickups you're not happy with? Might be surprised!❤
Can you please demonstrate the coil split ?
The same people who complain about the labor practices of china most likely complain from a smartphone made in china. I picked up the pink strat model because the price was so cheap for what seems to be a really well spec'ed instrument.
Mannnn..! Amazing demo. Not I’ll go and purchase one.
Strange how you're describing the box/packaging. I've bought 4 firefly Lp style starting 4 years ago when they first came out till recently 4 months ago. I've never seen them packaged any other way.
Hey brother excellent playing I was just wondering does that have push pulls to spit the buckers lmk plz thank u agian peace out bro
Yes
Hello Rich, what effects are you using in this demo? It’s the sound I’ve been chasing quite a while. Awesome video👍 Thanks!
I was plugged directly into the Blackstar Amped 2 and using the effects in that. I think I put a link in the description of the video.
Quite the conundrum.
After spending $500 on a made in China Epiphone Les Paul Classic, I can say I prefer my $219 Firefly 338 semi-hollow. Also made in China.
Heard about a lot of quality control issues with Firefly. Some are great, out of the box. Some have a plastic nut, instead of bone. They often arrive damaged in shipment, or arrive with factory flaws.
But then again, according to some RUclips reviewers, they arrive perfect, flawless. It seems a very hit or miss proposition. Also something to consider.
If the material quality is really that good, at that price point, you have to know it was made by slaves. Could be some bad energy in that…
The review is good. But you said the neck pickup was underwhelming. What in particular didn’t impress you about it? Because I play jazz and to me the neck pickup is everything. I’m very interested in buying this guitar.
Yeah, I live on the neck. The pickup just seemed a little muddy and maybe to dark for what I do. Might work well for jazzers though.
@@RichBischoff Thanks for the reply, Mr. Bischoff. It may actually get some clarity with some amp adjustments. I didn't think of that unti now.
I own a Fender Players, Series Telecaster that I bought from a friend. Every other one that I’ve tried at a store are terrible except for the one I have I wonder if that’s the case with these as well.
Great vid. At that price Pu's are already paid for compared to Fender and others.\
Great Channel, and awesome playing! now what I do not understand with experienced Guitarists if this is Guitar Snobbery, or being spoiled or maybe they are taking for granted these great affordable guitars, or is psychological...., but here is a Guitar where you say is amazing for $150 .... amazing how? because if is really amazing you should not doubt in putting even a $200 Pickup and this thing should be amazing, t hing that most Guitar Players do without a doubt in more expensive guitars.... that is my point? are this affordable guitars really good (the good ones)? when I mean good...regardless of price, as as you stated you wished Fender can do something like that, where you need to pay today at least $850.... maybe you can put some light on this thought...thanks
I'm not sure what your question was?...
@@RichBischoff regardless of the price, do you feel this is a Guitar that is really good? on par with Fenders if you do all the upgrades you consider necessary? or you consider all the upgrades are not worth the guitar?
@bluematrix5001 yes, and I'm not sure how they do it. I've played some Fenders not as good as this.
@@RichBischoff awesome thanks… really great channel
You didn’t even cover the screw in trem bar (look at the bottom of the bar. It’s like a gotoh 510), steel trem block, stainless frets and other killer specs. The trem is killer they just need better saddles.
Bone nut…..beyond killer for the price. ❤❤
If you kept it do yourself a favor and replace the entire trem sooner than later. My knife edges are chewed up like a years old bridge after just a few weeks.
There's a Musiclily 510T knockoff with a full steel block for less than $50 which is far more robust.
I love Firefly Guitars and now they improved the necks and electronics, while the price is the same. This is sign of something unusual going on in this Chinese factory. I am truly ambivalent about buying any more Firefly guitars until they show that nothing inhumane is happening there. We all say how do they do it? Firefly should answer this question. 🤨😑
Great sounded guitar. No need to worry about the China haters. People who want to spend high $ for the same type guitar, or with less features, that's up to them.
Are these typically pretty heavy?
I agree with you but all most guitars are done by CNC machines
Rich, what’s the Neck Radius? Thanks Sir.
I'm not sure, it's really flat though.
Man that sounds like a bunch of different guitars. You look a little underwhelmed in some of the pick up settings,
I agree with you it's hard to belive but these guitars are excellent.
If anyone is in disbelief there $170 it's cheap enough to run the gears. If you don't like it - sell it you can't lose!
Is there any room under the strings to raise that neck pickup?
Yes
As this comes out of the box, does it have a push pull to allow us to split the humbuckers?
Yes it does
@@RichBischoff Thank you. Great review and better playing, btw.
forget about Firefly Rich I have two of them QC really Bad i have the les paul and SG Fake ABR bridge sucks on the Les Paul saddles are cut wrong not a easy set up at all china made,Firefly look good thats all.if you go the budget guitars Harley Benton direct.
I ordered the white one. I returned it for a full refund. The wiring was bad and the push pull pot didn’t function. Masking tape and not electrical tape was used and soldering was really sloppy. I was disappointed. I was really hoping for a winner.
Sorry man.
What’s the neck like on that guitar ?
Nice. Pretty flat for playing fast.
Would you gig with it?
I think cheap gear reviews do much more well, because most musicians are broke sadly, so it stands out to them more to click on videos of cheap stuff they hope will sound as good as high dollar stuff. Its a form of denial but thats ok lol. My review for an epiphone far outdid any high dollar guitar review I tried. My Squire also beat my Fender USA reviews. Is everyone broke or are most watchers newbies?
Are the pickups cool tapped?
Yes, and I didn't even realize till you asked. Had to go pick it up and check. Ha!
@@RichBischoff how's the feet work?
For 175 bucks............ they are going to sell quite a few of these worldwide.
The problem is I CAN'T get it
Are the frets small or medium?
Medium
Medium jumbo?
@@RichBischoff
@@jesterraj Not sure if they are jumbo, but they aren't small.
Guy sounds like Frank Zappa a little.
A screwdriver is the easiest way to upgrade a pickup.
What you SHOULD BE WONDERING, is why has Fender been charging RIDICULOUS PRICES for BOLT ON NECK INSTRUMENTS, THAT A FKNG MONKEY COULD PUT TOGETHER....
YEAH, THE PICK-UPS ARE BETTER, BUT THAT EXTRA $1850.00 ...I can sure as hell use that somewhere else.
The fretwork on this $159 guitar is better, the body is a wood that I've actually heard of, the necks roasted maple, with a REAL ROSEWOOD FRETBOARD...
YO KNOW, LIKE THE FRETBOARD ON THE STRATOCASTER...THE STRAT MODEL THAT'LL SET YOU BACK AN EXTRA $1500 OR MORE...
WHEN YOU GET RIGHT DOWN TO THE BONE, LIKE THE BONE THIS GUITAR USES FOR THE NUT, IT KINDA' LOOKS LIKE YOUR PAYING FOR THE LITTLE "FENDER" ON THE HEADSTOCK.
I love how you say, "for people who can't AFFORD a Fender...". Dude, you should be saying, "for people who have realized there's better shit out there"...
If I have to spend $200, or $300 on better pickups, I'd STILL have a Tele KILLER, FOR LESS THAN $500 ....
MAKES ME WANNA SELL SOME THINGS...
🎩⚜️🎩
You need to buy a clip on mic
In my opinion, the ugliest part of a Fender Tele is the headstock. That was the reason for years, not to buy one. Now I have one, but still don‘t like the optic of the headstock.
Would you sell me this guitar? I’m serious.
That headstock is an insult to beauty. Firefly if you are watching I will be happy to design a killer headstock for you.