Firefly FFTL Relic Telecaster 2023 WATCH B4 U BUY!! Need to know FACTS!
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- Опубликовано: 11 ноя 2023
- Don't do it, don't dont don't. This one is hot goose dookie on Teflon, the Strats probably are too. Anyone from the Facebook Firefly group that sees this and believes it to be helpful is free and has my permission to post it on Facebook. Fireflies I've always felt are often surprisingly better than the marginal2awful Chenders and Chibsons now plagueing the western world, I have two which I love but this one is a hot mess.
Glad you tell it like it is . Tired of people thinking FF guitars are perfect . They are projects .
As I was considering a relic model with a floyd, I am glad to have seen this video. Though from info I have heard, that trem system is nearly impossible to intonate properly so, I would never pick that trem/vibrato. But, I was this close to ordering their strat with a floyd, & locking nut.
This one offered again just this week. For the money FF has better choices this month, the semi hollow with the Bigsby copy and Filtertrons is beguiling. Philadelphia Luthier Supply sells the correct magnets, pole screws and base plates to convert the knockoffs to truer Filtertrons.
The B3 is not hard to install on a Tele, even using a stock ashtray bridge. You need to notch the back edge for the strings to clear, easy with a Dremel and a cut off wheel, burnish your sharp edges.
The new ash body burst Tele is good looking, the Troublemaker HH copy is also back. Good choices this month.
I need a Lester or maybe the double cut, skipping Teles this round.
Great video. All the Fireflies I have purchased needed work. A few of them (FFSTs) are now really incredible instruments (after the work). The need for the shim is a bummer for sure. Fireflies are like a box of chocolates, and definitely a decent chance of getting a level 5 turd, heh.
Firefly cultists will dispute ANY issues as "your problem/imagination".
And there are many out there! I’ve owned many and have flipped them all. For the money there are a lot of better guitars out there.
I feel sorry for the GG customer service person Aron, he got an earful from me on this one, not one syllable of reply. He shot me $35 for the Sonic Blue with the misaligned bridge, told him again, tell the factory to set Tele bridges right. How hard can it be, are they in the jungle with Makita cordless drills?
Lol, one just posted, wow! Maybe he's an investor 😂
@@MrJavasan01 It seems there are inexplicably passionate apologists, one just chimed in 😂.
This is why I'm barely on RUclips and definitely not on Facebook.
Jets are great, I have 2 of their Strats, don't really want a basswood Tele tho. I'm aiming for a pine body Squier CV 50s or the rarer blonde 40th Anniversary vintage Squier for the next Tele, much more predictable instruments
My TL relic have none of those issues you pointing out. The guitar was flawless. The 9.5" to 14" compound radius neck is amazing and feels great. No sand at all, and the tuners felt great. I own 12 Teles, and mine is as ready for gigging as any of my expensive Teles. Sorry to hear yours wasn't good.
Lucky man, congrats
I agree. No issues with any of my FF's. All of these "issues" from this Author must NOT know anything about Stencil technology. The method of how the "relic'ing process for mass produced relic'd guitars does not match with the contention with this author.
@@andymoychicago Take a pill man, what is your beef? The loaded control plate, bridge with saddles, and loaded pickguard are sandblasted. They are likely laid out on a table/work surface for such before the instrument is assembled.
Look at your own bridge, you'll see bright shiny chrome "shadows" under the saddles.
I bought one of the relic "Strats" and luckily don't have all the issues with excess dust from the hardware finishing. And the "relic" finishing, although almost child like on close inspection, is actually well done. For what it is. My examples big issue is high frets. At least the 16th is high enough to cause quite a bit of string buzz. Enough to be heard through my amps. So it will need at least a fret level and an in depth set up.
The neck profile on my example is fantastic. It is most definitely a "modern" C, and on the shallow side at that. It's very fast feeling. If it didn't have a bunch of fret buzz.
The best thing about my example is that I actually bought it to use as a wall hanging piece of art if it was bad. So I don't really lose out if I can't get it in line. That's why I chose the burst model. It had an instantly recognizable classic vibe, and would look good on the wall.
I think FF just got a little too aggressive with the relic series. Too much s**t going on to get any of it right. Not at $200.00 or less. Which is too bad. The last FFLP I got is absolutely fantastic. It's the model with the belly cut and set-through neck heel. It is hands down the best $200.00 guitar I have ever seen or played.
I do think they got out over their skis with the relics. The SRV one looks okay, it's got so little paint left on it it would be a cinch to strip. And yes sir, it's a flat fast shredder neck.
I will say, on the positive, the Tele has so little finish on it, and being mahogany, it resonates like no other Tele body I've got.
I'm sorely tempted to get a Sonic Blue for these pickups and controls and make the relic into a staple P90 Esquire, I've got the great Roswell copy of the Lollar staple P90 8.6K which would absolutely rip in the bridge solo.
@oldasrocks9121 , that P90 should give you some nasty rock tone. If my FFST turns out to be a player, I am thinking about trying a set of GFS Premium series singles. They have an "overwound" alnico set that goes 9.8k/9.4k/9.2k. That should be just hot enough for singles. I have never tried GFS pups. I usually go with higher end stuff, but I think these will be "good enough" for the FFST. They seem to have a decent reputation from players who are experienced and have realistic expectations.
@@BazonBlades Look at Bootstrap and Tone Hatch. Ryan at Bootstrap has a very hot set called "Pruno". Adam at Tone Hatch leans more to "era" sounds, he's got a decent # of demo vids on YT, the "Hippie Stew" set is really great sounding. I've got his Fullertons on 2 Strats here, one flatpole in the middle of a FF shell pink I made an HSH, put a steel plate on the bottom to give it a little more go between a set of PAF-alikes, neck and middle on a late 50s voiced Jet HSS. So good!
GFS is likely almost all S. Korean Artecs, which is not bad. Bootstrap has the longer turn around time, Adam will get you your pickups within 2 weeks.
Thanks for this i was about to pull the trigger on one. I did obviously plan on it being a mod platform, but ill pass on all that work lol. Thanks!
Neck shim and neck pocket surprised me the most, that's def a fall from grace.
The paint'll come off easy!
I'm playing it everyday to keep myself from sticking it in a corner, got a 2 1/16" Barden American Standard bridge as a "get well" present...
MusicNerd reviewed the Sonic Blue one which sounded better than any w/stock pickups I've heard, especially the neck pickup. It'd look great with a red tortie pickguard. It also looks like they've got the finish tint on the maple board figured out finally. That would make the Olympic White one the choice for a plain-Jane w/a rosewood board.
Haven't seen any of the other non-compound radius neck versions reviewed yet. The blue paisley has a certain charm (black too but it's missing the silver highlights in the original wallpaper which would make me OCD nuts.) And somebody could love the blue maple top.
@oldasrocks9121 cool man! Glad youre gonna see it thru. I love the look.
I own 3 they were all flawless, only needing a little string height adjustment. Every company has turds hit the streets. It just happens.
Happy Xmas. "Flawless" seems like pushing it, Custom Shops are flawless out of the box. I do admire the optimism tho.
I guess I never understood relic guitars. If I buy a guitar, I buy it for the sound it makes. If it looks like it's used I will ask for a new one. I only have one Firefly ( the first one they came out with 338 ) I bought it to see what it was. I had to change the electronics, other than that it's ok.
Google Jeff Beck's Yardbirds Telecaster. It's a look.
Jeff Beck Yardbirds Esquire, scoozi.
Judging fit and finish very much still applies to relics. My point to Firefly was relics begin as finely finished guitars that would otherwise be sold, not assembled from half finished misfit parts out of the 2nds bin. It's generous to call this telecaster chop suey, and it's not out of line to suspect marketing cynicism on Firefly's part.
Even something as visually beat up as Beck's Esquire is at some point in the Custom Shop process a finished Olympic White maple fingerboard 50s Esquire. BTW, that CS guitar is a $16K Masterbuilt.
Some of the FF fans may have lucked out and got a decent guitar. I’ve followed these pretty close online as they definitely got me interested based on affordability. What I have found more often than not are those who love these guitars right “out of the box” are easy to please because they lack experience as a guitar player, and even more lack the ability to set one up properly. I had the misfortune of actually listening to a few happy owners post a bit of playing…im not a hater or an elitist, but it is painfully obvious we are getting opinions from novices.
Firefly is a sometimes great "assembler" of guitars but they are def not designers of realized products. This guitar is particularly unfocused.
I must admit the FF fanboy base took me by surprise, even just as an idea, lol.
I bought 2 of the relic strats, and they were fantastic out of the box. The ONLY thing I changed (my personal preference) was I changed the palm stabbing vintage saddles to stainless steel "American Standard" block style....other than that, both of mine look, feel, and play great.... my other guitars are all USA Fender's (5 total) so I feel I'm a decent perspective at least on the 2 I got.
Congrats. This is about the Tele tho.
@@oldasrocks9121 - You stated in your video description: " This one is hot goose dookie on Teflon, the Strats probably are too." So you brought up strats, not the viewers. ..... All I am saying is not all the strats are. I got 2 winners. I've also gotten duds from every brand you can think of.
I'm not putting Firefly customers on notice man, if I'm critical it's of Firefly, that should be plain.
I'm happy for you and glad you like your new relic'd Strats and would be happy to know none of them are loaded with sandblasting sand and dust and are put together with parts meant for one another all screwed on in the right places.
The point here is the Tele is a dog; on that basis I think it's reasonable to raise a caveat emptor for all the relics.
I'm happy to be wrong but to overstate it: I'm not judging you for buying one, ST or TL. I'm judging Firefly for having such a low estimation of and lack of respect for their customers.
Okay, said and done.
Well i just bought one but i like that it looks like ive played for years (only weekends 😂) but its mostly gonna be my project telle
Best of luck! Report back if you find the time, I'm interested in what you discover setting up the guitar--
I bought this guitar for $216 with tax and shipping What do I expect? A cheap guitar that will become a project guitar. Relic or beat up? I'm 65 and I've beat up several guitars that look similar to this, so that's not an issue for me. My expectation are not high. I expect to be working on my $216 Firefly to make it better. I have purchased Fender Strats and an Epiphone 335 that were terrible out of the box. I bought a Fender Tele Vintera that I sent right back to the retailer. .it was the worst guitar I ever played. I have a Fender Tele Ultra I bought new for $2,400 and it had the same sand in the pick-up caviity, and it has bumps and ridges all the way up the neck along the fingerboard, bad finishing work. So, you get what you pay for and sometimes you pay a lot and still get crap workmanship and bad parts.
Thanks for the scolding. You'll always be welcome here... 😶
The video was posted for people who are considering buying one. The Mad Cat copy, which is the same price, again: THE SAME PRICE, far exceeds the relic in fit and finish. The new flame maple neck Olympic White, which is the same price, looks as tho it hopes to exceed fit and finish expectations any Firefly TL buyer might already have.
I've worked on all 4 of the Firefly's I have and also expected to. The point of the video is to show the EXTREME level of carelessness THIS model was put together with.
Hi what size frets come on it?
I'd say medium jumbo, maybe 6100?
I bought one and the neck/fretwork was abysmal. I thought it would be like my FFST Strat which was exceptional. No more fireflys for me! I do not agree with your problem with the relicing however. I think that part of the guitar was a noble attempt. Actually I think all the relicing of guitars is just stupid as hell anyway. I mean they're a fucking joke!
I've since sanded the body down. Not bad, just 2 pieces, sealed it with Garnett shellac, might do a one color burst or might just hit it with lacquer and be done for now.
Measured this neck heel compared to all the other bolt on FF necks here and it's a full 2mm thinner which explains the Fred Flintstone gouge in the neck pocket to accommodate the truss adjust wheel. Neck pocket is the same depth as the other 2 FF Teles here.
I honestly believe the relic Teles were built to sell off blemished bodies and the mismade neck.
The first two numbers of your serial number indicate what factory it was made at within the JSN Firefly group. This one is made at factory 80, which is a little surprising to me because my 338 are made at factory 80 and are pretty good. I'm sure it's a different line with different people working on Telecasters. My other normal slightly janky Telecaster was also from factory 80.
My shell pink Strat from two or three batches ago is from factory 06. Check and see if your relic Strat is from factory 06. I would have to guess it is, And it was built by a specific assembly line in that factory by workers who build strats all day everyday.
Mine is coming around. I swapped necks with my pink HH Tele, that one can be a "shredder" if it wants. This one now has a refinished maple fingerboard FF neck, original FF radius and profile.
I still want a double cut, the new burst one appears to have a much smaller revised neck heel. And I still haven't bought a Lester. The CalTrans safety green one sold out before I could pull the trigger. 😢
@@oldasrocks9121 You're pretty smart, my good relic'd Strat is an 06! I bought an LP copy and it was fine but nothing great and I sold it. I also have a SG copy that is really good and it's an 03. I bought an Explorer copy that was okay but I didn't like the body style at all and sold it. The only other FF I bought was an LP Jr double cut and it was terrible! The neck didn't fit the pocket in depth correctly and you couldn't adjust the saddles to give you comfortable action! I sent it and the Tele, the last two FF guitars I bought back for a refund.
TBH, the Monoprice. IYV, and LyxPro guitars I bought on Amazon were very consistent and as good as Firefly guitars (except for the relic'd Strat), IMO. I'm sticking with them in the future as far as cheap guitars. But they only have a few models. And that is where FF goes wrong, IMO, in trying to put too many guitar models out there too quickly.
These are modder guitars. For people that mod guitars.
It is less than a kit guitar, and it's painted and assembled.
I wouldn't be a relic guitar, I mod them into a relic ,that's the fun.
But for less than a kit, you have a finished and assembled guitar.
So buy a prewired harness, any pick up up grade you want, and some up graded tuners and hard ware. You can have a better guitar .
If you by a under 500$ guitar. You will do the same up grades.
If you play guitar,it will always be a modded guitar.
I don't think any guitarist,plays a out of the box guitar.
I agree, if the bones are there. This one is super sloppy, the relic job is sub-amateur, more random than designed, and way too expensive for what it is, that's the point of the video.
did you contact firefly?
In great detail.
They paid for new tuners without a word of reply.
Since I bought it with a project in mind and since they're all made the same way, knowing there wouldn't be a "better" one, I don't mind keeping it.
That is pointless, they don't respond, or care
No guitar is perfect. They will require setup at least. The cheap one and the expensive one as well.
You don't like the "contoured heel"? The neck profile is a Modern Shallow C. It's shallow so one can utilize fast shreds at the compound radius of 15" (area of the contour). Your reasoning for the heel is NOT Correct. Nor do you seem to have an idea of how mass produced Stenciling works in a factory. The hardware is sourced in Korea, shipped to the manufacturer and assembled to the guitar. They are NOT sandblasted with the body. These guitars are NOT sandblasted, they are machined using stencil. Notice how every model looks exactly the same? if someone was sandblasting bodies and hardware, there wouldn't be an exact uniform to the models. All of the relic'd FF Models look exactly alike.
Okay lol
The hardware is sandblasted, didn't say the body was. If you had one in hand you'd see the die grinder bit chatter where they remove paint for the "scratches" which are not uniform from instrument to instrument.
Get a Nash in hand and see what a decent competent relic job looks like. Even the previous models of Vintera Road Worns, which also use a stencil for the majority of color coat removal. I stand by my decree: this is a movie prop. That or a toy.
Why so defensive? Maybe you could blow off some of that steam making a video praising yours, what do you think?
@andymoychicago I just uploaded a short visual tour of the shell pink Strat I really like if it'll help peel off some of that rancor you're schlepping around lol
And yeah, I don't like the neck profile, I said so. Make a U a U, don't sand the crown off a C "relic-ing" it.
Pointing out it's a shredder neck is right in line with my criticism of the guitar: WHY would Firefly put a shredder neck on a 50's blackguard Telecaster? It makes zero sense.
Apples & Oranges. You're 1 person who is in the minority of hundreds of satisfied Tele Relic'd Customers. Nash??? Yeah that's definitely a under $200.00 guitar!
Fyi: The hardware is not sandblasted...They are mass "dunked", and "washed"... They aren't even manufactured in the same country as the contracted factory. These parts are sourced in Korea, then sent to the manufacturer in China, where they are then assembled onto the guitar.
I don't know why cheap guitar makers don't make their guitars to the same specs as Gibson and Fender so you could swap out parts easily. Must be some legality reason.
Nah, I think it's just weird Chinese guitar factory/counterfeiting logic that doesn't translate to the real world.
@@oldasrocks9121 But how hard would it be to make their guitars to Fender specs? They're either really stupid or they worry about Fender suing them because it would make their guitars so much more popular!
It cost about 200 bucks so what do you expect.
Compared to the 2 other Firefly's I own and many reviews of the LP copies, much more.
I can name at least a half dozen guitars that are better and cost half as much or less, LOL.
@@user-ir5gk7yn6d can you list them?
@@user-ir5gk7yn6d Don't know about 1/2 as much but priced in line. Jets are great, they can produce consistently good product, their designs make sense. They don't need heroics to make them players, it seems like the ceramic pickup sets were chosen, in any case they're good pickups. The guitars are realized products. My 2 Strats were $200 shipped before tax each.
If you get a good Firefly there's more luck involved than with Jets. Their percentages are lower because they're willing to make and sell dogs mixed in with the handsome princes. They're gambling, not making realized products.
I also suspect they don't fully understand guitars, they just copy them without really knowing what they're copying.
I have 2 good Fireflies, I had every expectation they'd need work and I had particular projects in mind. A little more was sub-quality than I expected, both have 2 point Strat terms and both bridge plates came with burred knife edges, so those plates were mild steel, not chrome moly, certainly not hardened.
The bodies and necks were super solid so they're both players now.
Right? 😂