Just got mine delivered three days ago after returning from Tennessee. Unboxed and in one word... absolutely stunning (ok, that's two words). I have 53 other guitars and have been a pro player since 1979 and this guitar made my jaw drop open. Wide open. Puts the "big boys" to shame.
I paid $179. Frets had 19 rocking spots. I leveled, crowned, polished and full setup. She rocks!!! "Princess is now hanging on my office wall. She gets played almost every day during my 1 hour lunch.
@@bmoneybby I read this entirely differently. I heard he got it for only $20 less and had to do hours and hours of work to level, crown, polish, and then set it up...but she is finally in stellar shape and gets played regularly. I missed all the infered bragging you seemingly picked up on? lol
I've gotten to the point that I skip over all the "I got this cheap guitar off Amazon, could it be any good?" videos. I nearly did that for this one, but I know you don't go for that crap :D Glad I watched. This is in all ways an interesting and well-built guitar. Thanks!
There is a reason why those videos come up dozens a day. No one is ever happy with these guitars for more than four weeks. But they are cheap, so let's start the cycle again. Then you have 10 guitars or more, all of them way better than expected. But none of them leaves you satisfied. So you take another ride ...
The problem is when I was a teenager that was 40 years ago and all they had for cheap guitar and there's a Sears caster or something else crappy. I keep telling myself I'm not going to buy any more fireflies. The last one I bought was a jazzmaster copy for $141. Stays in tune with a tremolo. The frets are not ball end but are extremely smooth. P90s are good enough for the girls I go out with. Fun cheap guitars. Every time I feel like I got my moneys worth. I have a spalted Maple telly and a Hollow telly for under 400 is crazy
I recently got a Tease SBH-HD Tele style guitar. It is absolutely amazing! For $249, you get locking tuners, stainless ball end frets, a bone nut, Alnico pickups with a rail humbucker on the bridge, full size 500k CTS pots, orange cap, and a quality switch and output jack. Plus, it was set up perfectly out of the box. I have one of their Strat style guitars on order because I was so impressed. The owner of the company is a great guy and their customer service is awesome. I’ve emailed a few times with questions or comments and always get an answer within 15 minutes or so. You probably won’t get that level of service with any other budget priced brand. Check them out!
Bc of your comment, I looked them up, and it looks like they’re not far from me, a little north of NYC. Guitars look beautiful. Was looking to see if the Teles have stainless steel frets but then I saw a “customization” section of the website? It appears as though the customer can request basic things like a setup and other modifications but also you can send them pickups or other hardware like bridge etc and they will install them for like $100 (including the set up) I’m gonna look more into this but that would be incredible for me like exactly what I need. Would be hard to buy from anyone else
I ordered one of these for a friend of mine. I also did the initial inspection and string change/setup. I found two micro blemishes in the finish, but no other issues. My buddy wanted it strung with 11's and tuned to standard. I was able to set it up easily and quickly. All it took was a slight truss rod and intonation adjustment due to stepping up two string sizes.
I bet that thing would sing in a drop C or C# tuning. I have an old T-60 with similar vibes to this and I never really was wowed by it in standard but as soon as I threw heavier strings on and tuned it down a little the entire body came "alive" with resonance. I wanna say maybe it was intended to be tuned to an open tuning for using a slide... Duane Allman influence?
I wanted a Squire Trouble Maker Tele $500. ( High water mark for Squire guitar). I ended up buying the Firefly clone for $179. , and it's a worthy substitute, plus with the money I saved i bought a Used Gretsch Jet Pro that also rocks, and had money left over for celebrating! Phil, your show has had a great effect on many areas of my life ( focus and commitment) , and I thank you.
I dig the FF Trouble Maker, but hopefully the release a black one because I have an FF Ghost and Pure Series (both white), and I'd jump on a black one.
@@danhedonia The Firefly came with features( belly carve, roasted maple neck, spoke wheel truss adjustment, stainless steel frets w/ ball ends),the Squier did not, and I already had a Squier Stratocaster.
I have a john5 copy and its such a well built guitar I put pickups in it that cost more than the guitar did. But thats how good the bones are on these fireflys. Very solid. I personally dont see a reason to lay out thousand or more when stuff like this is available.
I wish my Squier Vintage 50s had that much attention to detail with fit and finish. This guitar easily surpasses it. Thanks for these budget guitar reviews!
The good thing it is just a block of wood with some hardware slapped on it. You can get it set up and they can do all that it needs for you or you can learn to do it for yourself and have a pristine guitar. I personally can't see why all these customshop etc guitars are worth thousands of dollars when I can make a $200 guitar feel and sound as good and I am no genius. Most of the time you are buying the badge.
@@wealthfinder192 It actually needs the frets ripped and replaced. They don't even sit in the slots well. But I also have a Suhr Modern Custom. It plays well above any guitar I own and performs on par sticker price. That said, I do think the lower end guitars are getting VERY good for the price. IMO, the number of quality tiers is quickly shrinking. Great time to be a player!
@@wealthfinder192 the expensive custom shop stuff, you’re paying for the final 10%, and for a professional guitarist especially that 10% makes a world of difference. But I agree about doing stuff yourself. Can get Kicka** guitars for very decent price even right out the box. But sure you can upgrade it too. It’s all good
@@jaysmoreymusic Yup I remember when i was a young'n and lower tier guitar were LOWER tier. You couldn't even play them or tune them because they were that bad. I still remember the Maranucci guitar, you could bend the neck back and forth. My first half-decent guitar was a Cort because they were new on the market (I think) and Korean which was spit on back then. Was a good little guitar.
@@caprise-music6722 Yeah I do realize there are some things you can't fix, I have a Chibson and it is unplayable but it could be fixed but by the time I fix it there will be nothing left of it. May as well buy an actual; Gibson.
Man, thank you for your passion for a guitar! I was watching your channel like several years in a row and I think you're filming an important and expert videos!
I’m happy that the Firefly didn’t disappoint ! They are making them quite nice for the price. I would go for better pickups as a mod. Mine came with locking tuners too! ❤
Got mine this past February 20214, I LOVE IT!!!!!! I'm a novice "new" player...self teaching. Prince is my ALL TIME favorite artist, so when I saw this guitar that's the closest replica to the original guitar at this price in my book...I JUMPED ON IT!! I'm NOT TECHY with guitars but I'm sure I need to take it to get set up a little better but it plays REALLY well. Thanks Phil for your honest and thorough review and thank you Firefly for producing a great guitar at a great price!!!!!!!!! On another note...LET"S GET THESES DAMN AUTOMAKERS TO FOLLOW SUIT WITH QUALITY AND PRICES,,,JUS SAYIN LOL!!!!
I bought the FF338 about 4 years ago. Switched pick-ups, new locking tuners, and a roller bridge. It’s now a $200+ stunner…looks great, sounds great…all for just an initial $200 purchase with under $200 in new pieces and parts.
I bought a Firefly LP also about 4 years ago, and just bought an SG and I have to say, they're making them way better than they used to -- not that the old one was bad, but it seems like FF is constantly trying to improve. I'm tempted to buy a new LP just to see how/if it's better than the old one.
I've been playing my buddy's FF338 at rehearsals for a couple of years, and loved it. Just left my LP's at home, except every now and then I'd bring one to play because I didn't want them to feel like I had abandoned them 😆 I've been playing mostly LPs since the late 70s, but the FFs are sweet playing guitars IMO. I got my first SSA retirement check in February of this year, and the first thing I did was order me a FF338. Love it.
Bought one just like Phil's about 18 months ago, and it has been just as Phil said. My tech guy gave the neck just a touch of relief, and I changed the pickups from stock to Seymour Duncan "Cool Rail." Not as light as I'd hoped, but it plays and sounds great. No issues with fit & finish after 18 months in Minnesota. @jcnone's point is well-taken, but as a user, I'm more than "satisfied." This is a really good guitar at a bargain price. Great value!
I went and finally bought a Firefly couple of weeks ago. It was a les paul type, adam jones copy. Lemme tellya.. awesome. Swapped the pickups and put in push pull tone pots. Spot leveled couple of high frets. Wow. What a value. Mu best guitar right now.
I owned the Eastwood version and sent it back; it had CNC flaws they knew about in the run an shipped them out anyway. Was the last time I'll ever order from them.
I bought a Eastwood Madcat, along with the Firefly to compare. I liked the Eastwood better, but I thought is over priced! ,keeping the Fire fly and just gonna hot rod it for Half the price!!
I got a wild hair and bought a Firefly double neck (bass/six string). It is absurdly heavy, but it plays and sounds great. Paid $400 for it.Edit: it even came with a really nice hard shell case.
@@craigg7636 Oh man, the double neck that Derek Smalls played it the movie was a BC Rich with two bass necks! It was absurd, but I would love to try one with one 4 string and the other a 5 string.
What grade stainless steel? What kind of bone? You don't know what you don't know. Just my opinion, right? Is it a veneer that is micro thin? I bet it is.
Mine arrived with some stickiness on the frets that’s easily buffed off with a 2000 grit foam block. A slight back bow, easily adjusted. The string alignment from nut to bridge was slightly crooked but does not affect playability. The tuners do slip slightly on hard bends. Overall so happy. It’s not a true tele tone, but very musical to my ears.
I bought my FF as a joke and ended up loving the thing after putting a full setup on it. I gradually changed parts out for premium stuff (locking tuners, etc) and it’s been super stable over the last year or so. Plays, sounds, and looks killer.
Man-that is really tempting, I've been wanting a Tele- and that's just an insane value. That said- I have to believe at 200 bucks- buying one is rolling the dice, it may show up surprisingly good, or it may show up needing some serious work done on the frets. I have no issue crowing and polishing, but I'd be scared to set into leveling. That seems like you could really destroy a neck if you didn't know what you were doing. That said- I bet I could find a step-by-step vid on YT showing me exactly how to do it huh? And- really, if I learned that- I could start doing some setups- and this area is desperate for technicians right now. We have one guy within a 100-mile radius- so you can imagine how busy he is. We have 3 shops in that same area- he works for all of them. Which one he's at depends on what day of the week it is. But no matter where you find him, he has a wait list a mile long, he charges an arm and a leg, and from what I've seen- isn't that great at it. I've played 2 guitars he just setup- and they both needed work, one was fretting out past the twelfth fret whenever you did more than a half step bend. It was an old Strat with the 7.25" neck- which is known for this issue. You really have no choice but to sacrifice some action and raise it a tad. Using lower gauge strings helps off set that though- and remembering that it's o.k. for the action to be a bit stiff- this is a blues guitar after all, if they want to shred- a 7.25" radius really isn't the best neck for it. But the point is that apparently, he either didn't bother to check it, or didn't care- either way, I'm not paying someone like that to "fix" my guitar.
My FFTL Ghost pickups are amazing stock as well. I don’t know what they’re doing at firefly for pickups but all the high end versions have really good pickups
To me thats the big come up. SS frets are cool I don't care for roasted maple that much but the budget pickups that bring good tone are making some of these options pretty amazing. Right now $200 for a lot of things gets you what $120 did a few years ago. And most of those didn't sound good enough to gig with
@@I.am_Groot Agreed. I've got a GFS "Slick" P-style bass and the pickup in it is fantastic. Everything about it except the tuners is pretty ridiculous for a sub $300 guitar and even the fretwork was dead perfect.
@@tjzambonischwartz Very cool. My only bass is a Sawtooth with Fishman Fluence in that same price range the pickups retail cost almost that. I wish that I had learned to do fret work much sooner. So much better when they are level and smooth with no sharp ends!
In a twist of coincidence, I have been eyeing this guitar for weeks ( as well as the purple version), but am in the middle of moving and don't want it sent to the wrong address or as-yet unoccupied one. I have to sell off a few of my 14 guitars because it's just getting a little too crowded around here! Haha! I bought a SG with Iommi cross inlays a few months ago and it's incredible!
I ordered the same guitar about four months ago, and I let it sit for 2 months before I had a full setup done! It plays outstanding $200 guitars are definitely not what they were five or ten years ago!
One thing I've noticed.... the people who consistently give negative reviews to low-cost guitars always seem to act either insulted or amused that they even exist. Apparently they can't just give a straight review and point out the perceived flaws; they also have to roll their eyes and remind you it's ripping off the 'real thing' (often made in the same factory by the same people, yet still costing 3-4 times as much), and you're either stupid or immoral if you buy one. It's great finding guys like this who can do honest reviews of all kinds of equipment.
Normally I ignore when everyone ask to subscribe to their channel but I'm glad you did because I always watch your videos and didn't know that I never subscribed. I always love the look of this guitar and wish I had one because I had a Zuwei Prince Caster from Amazon that I didn't like because you had to remove the pickguard to adjust the neck. And now I want one again. Great info and great videos as always!
I purchased one of these after watching your excellent review - thanks for all your contributions to the guitar world! I too, am amazed at what you can buy in 2924. It may mostly become wall art but plays great. It came unplayable and required work that would be a fatal flaw for any beginner without repair skills. The neck was very bowed requiring a significant truss adjustment. The frets were not polished well and needed time with a Dremel. I’m not giving up my Strats, LPs and other much pricier instruments but Oh! I would have loved this guitar in the 1960s for $199. I’m hoping to buy a new Porsche for $1000 soon.
I've never been a fan of the Telecaster design but I have to admit that this guitar is a phenomenal deal. I saw a red Firefly version of a Gibson 335 once and it was gorgeous.
I paid $199 from mine in April. I totally agree with your analysis, this guitar hits way above its weight. It’s equal to anything that I’ve bought under $600….. besides all that I really like it. It’s my first telecaster.
What I love most about firefly is they are cheap enough to have as a banger or decoration but you get a beautiful guitar that can be modded to sound incredible for less than the name brand anyway. If you get a 200 dollar tele from them, slap in 2 seymour duncans for 140 & some hipshots for another 60 that's 400 bucks for a guitar that'll sound & work better than a brand new players series tele for 2x the price.
Hi Phil, I made a recent discovery. I have long believed that one reason people sing in the shower is that the hard surfaces in a bathroom provide a natural acoustic reverb. Yesterday, I thumped my heal against the floor of my fiberglass shower stall. It sounded pretty good so I did it a few more times, setting off our 125 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback. Hmmmm. This got me to thinkin' it did. So, a little later I grabbed my acoustic guitar and sat on the edge of the stall. It sounded great as a kick bass. In fact the music sounded empty without it. I have an electronic "Porch Board" , but it takes time to set up and I don't also get reverb from it. Anyway, I just thought I'd pass this along in case anyone in your audience would like to try it. Shalom/gw PS I bought two of those Mad Cats for my son and I. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Shalom/gw
Thank you for posting this. I bought the Harley Benton version... and as much as I wish I liked it, I struggled with both it's weight (seriously, weights as much as an Ash P bass due to the Maple body), and a neck that just felt kind of cheap/corny to me. We attempted a Warmoth neck upgrade though it wasn't a great fit for the pocket deepwise and trying to shave down the pocket made the strings closer to the body which wasn't great. I plan on finding an US spec tele body and just making due... though I appreciate you showing us the specs on this because if I had. bought the fire fly I would have been frustrated with that 20 radius. Thank you you for all that you do.
Thank you for all you are and all you do! I recently bought a brand newly announced Cort G250 SE for $258 free prime delivery on Amaz. I think Cort unloads blems this way. I waited a month for delivery. Had a few tiny scratches on the cellophane near the screws. Otherwise perfect. The deal seems to appear from time to time.
I bought the Buckethead Baritone copy. 27 inch scale I pulled all the guts out and just installed the Nazgul and Sentient set of pups from Duncan, D'Addario auto-trimming locking tuners, and chrome pup rings. The kill switches required rather large holes so, I'm having to improvise. Such an awesome guitar for the price.
Could you tell us what amp settings you use for each demo-e.g. Vol/Gain/Treble/reverb and anything else which effects sound and tone. Newbie and am impressed. I don’t know why U Tube presenters, music shops/people who demonstrate guitars/luthiers in their presentations, do not state the action height at the 12th fret in mm or whatever when they are reviewing/assessing like you do. This defines neck comfort and playability. The neck is the heart of the guitar. Usually every specification but this one is recorded. It is easily the most important spec. Why? Because it is the guitar's invitation for you to pick it up, play it, keep playing it and eventually buy it. A guitar with a low fast action will sell much faster than one you can drive a train under believe me! Making an action higher is much more simpler than lowering which may involve fretwork, bridge work, nut filing, truss rod adjustment etc etc…and it can prove to be very expensive. For this reason, guitars should be factory set-up at the lowest action possible without fret rattle-but they won't do it. No:- well one or two do. I realise many like a high action-good! Hello SRV! Now the get out of jail answer will be 'People have different tastes regarding this spec and adjust it accordingly'. Raising it though is less of a problem than lowering it. I have had 2 brand new Fenders that have had to go straight to a luthier which were virtually were so unplayable when delivered.
Man, they make great instruments. I’ve got a T-style, Nashville-Raquel from firefly and the fretwork is beautiful, the build quality is excellent and it has a bone nut. Neck pickup is beautiful sounding. Only issue is that the switch is not wired in a way that allows neck-bridge configuration. I highly recommend.
Bah! I already have this Firefly tele sitting right next to me, but not in the MadCat finish. I am such a HUGE Prince fan. I mean a go-to-3-shows-back-to-back when he was in town and sit in the front row fan. I don't do that for ANY artist. I mean, sure, I went to all 3 back-to-back VH shows in Dallas before they left for their final European tour in 1984, but no one knew that was Van Halen's farewell tour w/DLR when they performed. Yes, I went to all 3 nights of NIN at Madison Square Garden back in 1994, but in the lower balcony, not the front row. I don't give a damn about having a Frankenstrat or any of Reznor's guitars, but I find myself wanting this guitar so badly I can hardly stand it. I think I've lost my mind. I mean it's not like it's a '76 Hohner Mad Cat? Those are more like $20K last I checked. I can easily say no to a guitar that absurdly expensive. Easy. I don't need this guitar, but I sat here with tears streaming down my face during this entire KYG rundown....like a damn tweenager...and that was before you ever started playing it. I sat down to have my morning tea before 8 AM and I just was NOT prepared to see this guitar. lol Apparently I have some unresolved grief issues over Prince's passing. smh No one is more surprised than me. Never ever met the man. lol
I bought a Firefly tele. It needed about 5-6 hours of fret work. Yes, grinding away at stainless takes 2-3 times longer than nickel, and trashes your crowning files. SS frets are cool and all, but only on high-end fret boards that don't need leveling out of the box.
Aside from the buzz. Body and Neck and finish look great. Probably a few adjustments and maybe upgrades would make it play better. I would definitely consider this for my next build.
Yeah, well, ok. Been considering this guitar as well as the John 5 copy. Your review put me over the top. I have been seeing good reviews for both of them. Just purchased both as I anticipate they will sell out after your review.
Great vid, Phillip. Re your comment at 8:35 re alnico magnet strength, it doesn't quite follow the numerical order, the exception is that alnico 3 is weaker than alnico 2.
That's similar in color a the Reisue model that were sold at the Mesa Boogie store. The binding was more pronounced and deeper flame. The one at the HOF performance is the Reisue.
I bought one as a guitar to practice setup and maybe modding on, found with a feeler gauge that the frets were not fully inserted on mine, quick plastic mallet help and fixed. I added an other layer of shielding paint and grounding wire to each cavity. Decided against adding shielding to the pick guard as paint as well as copper tape are visible through it. But once plugged in I found that a non issue, there's no buzz what so ever now. Also took the neck and everything else off, was a bit scary, but that's what I bought this cheap guitar for. And guess what, it's now one of my favorite guitars to play, I thought about adding a 3rd pickup (I happen to have a Gibson humbucker in a drawer) but can't see myself cutting into this pretty thing, I might just have to get an other cheap Firefly for real modding down the road.... Played great out of the box, the strings were a bit odd, kind of 'sharp' feeling, tossed them when I worked on it, now I have D'Addario on it, like on all my guitars. Love how this one sounds, didn't have a Tele and now I don't think I'll buy one, this one fills that spot for me just fine. Your video was instrumental in my decision to buy this one, thank you!
If anyone scoffs at veneers, they use veneers on most high end drums and Bentley interior trim just because fancy guitar has thick top means almost nothing... especially considering the slab mahogany guitars sound fantastic.
Mine came Friday. Had to adust the neck and saddle to remove a bad buzz on the low E. Plays great now I wish I played better. Firefly sells a sweet looking cutaway acoustic comparable to a $2,000 Taylor for under $400. Hope I find it at Christmas.
The Firefly guitars are a slightly smaller size so upgrading pickguards, bridges, and even pickups require customizations. Yes, they're nicely made guitars for the money but upgrading some parts are difficult and expensive.
I look at these as “Project Guitars”, for $199 I don’t expect it to be perfect out of the box, so if it’s “close enough” and just needs a small amount of adjustment, you have a great looking guitar as a base to upgrade. With looks like that, if it’s only small adjustments needed, then I’d replace the tuners, pickups, pots and strings and I can have a great looking and sounding guitar for a fraction of the cost of the real thing
I bought it for the Prince aesthetic. Mine is flawless out of the box with no set up and factory strings. It does have some neck dive with my Fender leopard strap though.
Being a big Prince fan, I ordered this guitar and did a video on my channel a few months back. Mine came set up exactly the same as this one, with a super straight neck and super low action. It played alright, but after swapping out the stock 9s with a set of 10s it played really well. It really is an amazing guitar for the money. I bought it thinking I’d want to change the pickups but ended up loving them. I’m really glad they stayed true to Prince’s guitar and kept them Strat pickups like his instead of Tele pickups (though I’m usually a Tele person). I’ve played mine a ton and even recorded with it. It’s a great guitar, and I would agree it is at a minimum on par with a Squier Classic Vibe or G&L Tribute Series at a fraction of the price.
I was the same way. I bought the Mad Cat thinking the pickups would probably be cheap and sound really thin. I was pleasantly surprised and here we are a year later and I have not changed a thing on this guitar expect strings.
Came back to watch again. I liked your review. I'm not happy with the strings that came with it. What strings and gauge did you restring that one with?
A very useful guitar review, as usual! Couple of questions (not specifically about this guitar, but electric guitars in general): should the screening in the pickup cavities be earthed, same as the control cavity screening? This would require a wire between the different screened cavities: no sign of that in this review! Also: knowing the pickup wire resistance, capacitance and inductance can give us some idea of how that pickup should sound, we never get any information regarding the gauss produced by the pickup magnets. It is my understanding that it is possible to increase the gauss of a magnet by passing it close to, and between two opposite poles of a pair of stronger magnets (or partially degauss a pickup if the polarity of the other magnet is swopped): surely there must be a normal variation of magnet strength due to manufacturing tolerances? We have been told that the higher the Alnico magnet type number, the higher will be the effective gauss ration, but I still thank that there must be a variation between magnet 'charge' even on magnets of the same type. This is never discussed in pickup reviews; I have always wondered why! Perhaps time for a reviewer to investigate what, if any, are the effects of differing gauss ratings?
I bought the 335 knockoff a month or so ago. I think they call it a 338. Anyway, I was blown away. I paid $189.91 for it and found a couple of extremely minor cosmetic flaws, a couple of lifted frets (that didn't affect playability whatsoever). It was up perfectly. These things are crazy good.
The aesthetic of that guitar is sick. If I could say one thing, it would be the headstock. I love the tele headstock, this one looks off to me, but I can live with it if I have to :D
Got one a week ago. Couldn’t resist based on the reviews. Pups are amazing, finished really well. Great frets. My only issue is that I can’t get the action lower. Fret s are level, tweaked the neck up and down, tried a flat neck and moved it up a bit. Not sure what’s going on but will continue to get it lower.
I stumbled back around 2017 onto the knowledge that it was Hohner who built the Telecaster associated with Prince, not Fender. Watching Purple Rain and seeing Prince & the Revolution miming "Let's Go Crazy" and "Computer Blue" at First Avenue in Minneapolis, you don't get the impression that it's a Tele copy built by Hohner. Regarding this Firefly, I would consider getting one if not for a) having too many guitars, b) not being especially drawn to the traditional Tele configuration and c) having also had my share of economy guitars.
This guitar has been pestering my addiction for over a year, and now it is a second generation with nice improvements at the original price. I'm not even a telecaster man, yet this thing just beckons me.
Very informative. I would love to see a comparison between the Firefly and the Eastwood mad cat. Being that it's $1,100 more expensive. Please try and put that on your schedule if you can. ✌🏿
I have a teacher at the school I work at. He plays a little acoustic, but he's wanting to get his first electric. I think I am going to suggest this guitar to him. I think it sounds REALLY good and the price is good enough, where he isn't shelling out a lot of in case he doesn't want to pursue it that much. I will also offer to set it up for him. Thanks Phil for another gem. On a side note. This sure beats my first electric guitar, which was a guitar and amp combo from the Spegal catalog that cost 106.00 in around 1979. The guitar is long gone, but I still have the amp🤣
Hmm, I'm thinking it would make an awesome base for a Coodercaster Telecaster. The style looks about right. If you added the Mojo Valco / Gold Foil pickups. Maybe even a Certano Bender. With a bit of work, could make for a really interesting guitar to have for around $500. By the way, I got a Harley Benton TE-62, for about £139, and that is pretty awesome too. They were good stock, but I upgraded the pickups, electronics and tuners and now it plays as well as guitars 4x the price. Only cavaet is they are relatively narrow necks. Though they are a really nice smooth aged-feeling satin finish, unlike the sticky feeling Squier Classic Vibes. And the finish on the neck and generally overall was better than Fender Player series I've played, which feel a little more slapdash (Vinteras are good though).
I was asked by a work colleague which guitar to buy for a new learner up to a budget of £500 (UK). After about 10 minutes I was still listing brands and guitars that would be suitable, there are SO many quality instruments available at a reasonable budget it is as accurate as pinning a tail on the donkey!
For the cost, Firefly makes some great Entry level guitars. I own several. Also, When I first learned about Firefly several years ago, I did find those instruments were actually made by Eastman and Private labeled to Firefly. I have the Tele style, Les Paul Jr style with P90's (Fun to play and sounds great), a 338 Copy, a Les Paul Standard Copy. I love the binding working done on the guitars. The Older Firefly guitars have terrible pickups, and require a setup, But the newer models pretty much come out of the box ready to play. I do have to admit, I wish you had not shown this, as now others know of this great instrument value.
Interesting how much they vary. I've had mine about 3 weeks, so should have been made very close to when yours was. The good - I won the weight lottery, mine is about 7.5 lb. A couple of other reviews on UA-cam from a year ago were over 8 lb. Fit and finish is excellent, just one tiny blemish under the finish. Fret ends perfect, though the nut has sharp corners. Easy to fix.. The bad - nut slots were so tight it was impossible to tune, had to widen them a bit. Some high frets, probably similar to yours. Haven't addressed that yet as it's playable as is. Intonation was quite a bit off. I have the saddle for the D string all the way out and it's still not quite there. Other notes - mine had about a 1mm back bow out of the box. Maybe humidity related? I'm in Minnesota where it's pretty humid right now. Tweaked the truss rod to give it about .5mm relief. My fretboard doesn't seem to be as flat. I measured it at bout 16. I'll have to check it again. I have cheap Amazon radius gauges. All in all a great deal for $200. The fretwork beats the heck out of my MIM Strat I bought around 2010 for $400.
I have a Firefly "Junior" LP Jr. copy and the fingerboard seems to be super flat on it as well. It plays pretty well, but it really isn't that resonant unamplified. This one seems like it has a much better unamplified sound. That said, I also have an SX Ursa 2 6-string Jazz bass from 2012 and the fingerboard on it is actually uncomfortably flat. Bad enough that if I don't give up I might have to actually take out the frets and use a radius block to give it at least a 12" radius. Does make me wonder if Firefly is using the same factory that SX was using when my bass was made.
I like the strat pickup in the neck position. I had a US Tele that I traded for a US PRS Paul's guitar, I never really bonded with the tele, but had I kept it, I would have put a Suhr V63 Strat neck pickup, the tele neck is anemic IMO, doesn't pair well with the screaming power of the tele bridge.
@PhillipMcKnight I am a huge Prince fan, and I've always wanted an accurate Prince "T-Style" guitar. I purchased one of these based on your deep dive review video. I have to say that you were 100% spot on with your analysis. This guitar is a fantastic value at its price point. My guitar arrived with only a few minor issues. There is some fret buzz, most of the way down the neck on the A string, so I want to do a professional setup on it. The action is super low, a little too low for my taste. I want to change the pickups. Any recommendations? Lastly, I want to change the 3-way toggle switch and volume and tone pots to get rid of the PC board switch. Any recommendations? Thanks for the great review video! The Firefly FFTL Mad Cat is a great guitar that only needs a few minor upgrades to make it comparable to PRS SE's, Fender Player 2's and Epiphone Inspired By Gibson guitars.
Tonight we're gonna party like it $199.9
Really funny, ha !
Smart!
Unpronounsable symbol !
LOL! I see whatchamacallit did there! During that era, I always just referred to him as "Squiggle."😊
Just got mine delivered three days ago after returning from Tennessee. Unboxed and in one word... absolutely stunning (ok, that's two words). I have 53 other guitars and have been a pro player since 1979 and this guitar made my jaw drop open. Wide open. Puts the "big boys" to shame.
I paid $179. Frets had 19 rocking spots. I leveled, crowned, polished and full setup. She rocks!!! "Princess is now hanging on my office wall. She gets played almost every day during my 1 hour lunch.
More evidence that there’s no reason what so ever to buy crazy expensive guitars anymore. In my opinion. Good work, my man.
Does your version also have a 20” radius fretboard?
Are you bragging about your guitar or your kush office lol.
@@bmoneybby I read this entirely differently. I heard he got it for only $20 less and had to do hours and hours of work to level, crown, polish, and then set it up...but she is finally in stellar shape and gets played regularly. I missed all the infered bragging you seemingly picked up on? lol
@@le_th_ I think he's bragging about his skills too. Nothing wrong with that either...
I've gotten to the point that I skip over all the "I got this cheap guitar off Amazon, could it be any good?" videos. I nearly did that for this one, but I know you don't go for that crap :D Glad I watched. This is in all ways an interesting and well-built guitar. Thanks!
There is a reason why those videos come up dozens a day. No one is ever happy with these guitars for more than four weeks. But they are cheap, so let's start the cycle again. Then you have 10 guitars or more, all of them way better than expected. But none of them leaves you satisfied. So you take another ride ...
The problem is when I was a teenager that was 40 years ago and all they had for cheap guitar and there's a Sears caster or something else crappy. I keep telling myself I'm not going to buy any more fireflies. The last one I bought was a jazzmaster copy for $141. Stays in tune with a tremolo. The frets are not ball end but are extremely smooth. P90s are good enough for the girls I go out with. Fun cheap guitars. Every time I feel like I got my moneys worth. I have a spalted Maple telly and a Hollow telly for under 400 is crazy
I recently got a Tease SBH-HD Tele style guitar. It is absolutely amazing! For $249, you get locking tuners, stainless ball end frets, a bone nut, Alnico pickups with a rail humbucker on the bridge, full size 500k CTS pots, orange cap, and a quality switch and output jack. Plus, it was set up perfectly out of the box. I have one of their Strat style guitars on order because I was so impressed. The owner of the company is a great guy and their customer service is awesome. I’ve emailed a few times with questions or comments and always get an answer within 15 minutes or so. You probably won’t get that level of service with any other budget priced brand. Check them out!
Great recommendation. I’m going to check them out.
Bc of your comment, I looked them up, and it looks like they’re not far from me, a little north of NYC.
Guitars look beautiful. Was looking to see if the Teles have stainless steel frets but then I saw a “customization” section of the website? It appears as though the customer can request basic things like a setup and other modifications but also you can send them pickups or other hardware like bridge etc and they will install them for like $100 (including the set up)
I’m gonna look more into this but that would be incredible for me like exactly what I need. Would be hard to buy from anyone else
I ordered one of these for a friend of mine. I also did the initial inspection and string change/setup. I found two micro blemishes in the finish, but no other issues.
My buddy wanted it strung with 11's and tuned to standard. I was able to set it up easily and quickly. All it took was a slight truss rod and intonation adjustment due to stepping up two string sizes.
I bet that thing would sing in a drop C or C# tuning. I have an old T-60 with similar vibes to this and I never really was wowed by it in standard but as soon as I threw heavier strings on and tuned it down a little the entire body came "alive" with resonance. I wanna say maybe it was intended to be tuned to an open tuning for using a slide... Duane Allman influence?
I wanted a Squire Trouble Maker Tele $500. ( High water mark for Squire guitar). I ended up buying the Firefly clone for $179. , and it's a worthy substitute, plus with the money I saved i bought a Used Gretsch Jet Pro that also rocks, and had money left over for celebrating! Phil, your show has had a great effect on many areas of my life ( focus and commitment) , and I thank you.
*Squier
I dig the FF Trouble Maker, but hopefully the release a black one because I have an FF Ghost and Pure Series (both white), and I'd jump on a black one.
They are very nice guitars that have an MSRP of $449. Which means you can obtain them for less.
@@danhedonia The Firefly came with features( belly carve, roasted maple neck, spoke wheel truss adjustment, stainless steel frets w/ ball ends),the Squier did not, and I already had a Squier Stratocaster.
I have seen a few reviews on these Firefly Teles and each reviewer has praised it, so much guitar at such a low cost.
I have a john5 copy and its such a well built guitar I put pickups in it that cost more than the guitar did. But thats how good the bones are on these fireflys. Very solid. I personally dont see a reason to lay out thousand or more when stuff like this is available.
My other guitarist did the same with a John5 copy, sounds killer.
I'm sorely tempted to get the John 5 copy and paint the neck and fretboard white
I’m waiting for the John 6 model ;)
I wish my Squier Vintage 50s had that much attention to detail with fit and finish. This guitar easily surpasses it. Thanks for these budget guitar reviews!
The good thing it is just a block of wood with some hardware slapped on it. You can get it set up and they can do all that it needs for you or you can learn to do it for yourself and have a pristine guitar. I personally can't see why all these customshop etc guitars are worth thousands of dollars when I can make a $200 guitar feel and sound as good and I am no genius. Most of the time you are buying the badge.
@@wealthfinder192 It actually needs the frets ripped and replaced. They don't even sit in the slots well. But I also have a Suhr Modern Custom. It plays well above any guitar I own and performs on par sticker price. That said, I do think the lower end guitars are getting VERY good for the price. IMO, the number of quality tiers is quickly shrinking. Great time to be a player!
@@wealthfinder192 the expensive custom shop stuff, you’re paying for the final 10%, and for a professional guitarist especially that 10% makes a world of difference. But I agree about doing stuff yourself. Can get Kicka** guitars for very decent price even right out the box. But sure you can upgrade it too. It’s all good
@@jaysmoreymusic Yup I remember when i was a young'n and lower tier guitar were LOWER tier. You couldn't even play them or tune them because they were that bad. I still remember the Maranucci guitar, you could bend the neck back and forth. My first half-decent guitar was a Cort because they were new on the market (I think) and Korean which was spit on back then. Was a good little guitar.
@@caprise-music6722 Yeah I do realize there are some things you can't fix, I have a Chibson and it is unplayable but it could be fixed but by the time I fix it there will be nothing left of it. May as well buy an actual; Gibson.
Man, thank you for your passion for a guitar!
I was watching your channel like several years in a row and I think you're filming an important and expert videos!
Looked great and sounded surprisingly good for a $199 guitar. Nice review/demo!
I’m happy that the Firefly didn’t disappoint ! They are making them quite nice for the price. I would go for better pickups as a mod. Mine came with locking tuners too! ❤
Got mine this past February 20214, I LOVE IT!!!!!! I'm a novice "new" player...self teaching. Prince is my ALL TIME favorite artist, so when I saw this guitar that's the closest replica to the original guitar at this price in my book...I JUMPED ON IT!! I'm NOT TECHY with guitars but I'm sure I need to take it to get set up a little better but it plays REALLY well. Thanks Phil for your honest and thorough review and thank you Firefly for producing a great guitar at a great price!!!!!!!!! On another note...LET"S GET THESES DAMN AUTOMAKERS TO FOLLOW SUIT WITH QUALITY AND PRICES,,,JUS SAYIN LOL!!!!
I bought the FF338 about 4 years ago. Switched pick-ups, new locking tuners, and a roller bridge. It’s now a $200+ stunner…looks great, sounds great…all for just an initial $200 purchase with under $200 in new pieces and parts.
I bought a Firefly LP also about 4 years ago, and just bought an SG and I have to say, they're making them way better than they used to -- not that the old one was bad, but it seems like FF is constantly trying to improve. I'm tempted to buy a new LP just to see how/if it's better than the old one.
I've been playing my buddy's FF338 at rehearsals for a couple of years, and loved it. Just left my LP's at home, except every now and then I'd bring one to play because I didn't want them to feel like I had abandoned them 😆 I've been playing mostly LPs since the late 70s, but the FFs are sweet playing guitars IMO.
I got my first SSA retirement check in February of this year, and the first thing I did was order me a FF338. Love it.
Man, I am seriously fighting the urge to order one of these.
Damn you, Phillip!
Yes, my cat photo bombed the thumb nail pic. lol
Cats are the most Metal of all pets.
@@shanewalton8888 Shauna look a dozen photos and the cat just got more in the shot. lol
Cats sell things. Its that simple.
@@shanewalton8888 Dude, Are you sure? Have you heard parrots?
Phil where did you get your inductance reader??
Bought one just like Phil's about 18 months ago, and it has been just as Phil said. My tech guy gave the neck just a touch of relief, and I changed the pickups from stock to Seymour Duncan "Cool Rail." Not as light as I'd hoped, but it plays and sounds great. No issues with fit & finish after 18 months in Minnesota. @jcnone's point is well-taken, but as a user, I'm more than "satisfied." This is a really good guitar at a bargain price. Great value!
Thanks for sharing
I went and finally bought a Firefly couple of weeks ago. It was a les paul type, adam jones copy. Lemme tellya.. awesome. Swapped the pickups and put in push pull tone pots. Spot leveled couple of high frets. Wow. What a value. Mu best guitar right now.
I owned the Eastwood version and sent it back; it had CNC flaws they knew about in the run an shipped them out anyway. Was the last time I'll ever order from them.
I bought a Eastwood Madcat, along with the Firefly to compare. I liked the Eastwood better, but I thought is over priced! ,keeping the Fire fly and just gonna hot rod it for Half the price!!
I got a wild hair and bought a Firefly double neck (bass/six string). It is absurdly heavy, but it plays and sounds great. Paid $400 for it.Edit: it even came with a really nice hard shell case.
I bought the same one.
The tuning buttons on the 6 string were completely in the way of playing the bass comfortably.
But, seriously cool guitar.
Sounds kind of Spinal Tap-ish, love it! Big Bottom!
@@craigg7636 Oh man, the double neck that Derek Smalls played it the movie was a BC Rich with two bass necks! It was absurd, but I would love to try one with one 4 string and the other a 5 string.
SS frets , bonenut, flame mapled veneer front & back..for $199?!?. What a great hardware upgradable project.
I bought a grote with stainless steel frets for $111 with plans of replacing the hardware but it's really good besides the string trees.
What grade stainless steel? What kind of bone? You don't know what you don't know. Just my opinion, right? Is it a veneer that is micro thin? I bet it is.
@@EdDanaGuitar True. My opinion is that is would be a good project guitar. No worrying about making a mistake.
@@EdDanaGuitarI wonder the quality of bone, frets, grade of copper that fender, Gibson, Epiphone, squier, martin etc use 🤔
A wormoth neck and some better pickups and your set. Sorry for spelling of wormoth, I'm too lazy to look it up
If they make a left-handed model, I will buy one. A Telecaster with Strat pickups is a neat idea.
It doesn't appear that they make any left-handed models unfortunately...
@@leftygtrplr6184 Oh man; that sucks.
Amazing sounding guitar.
Great explanation of your readings on the pickups
Mine arrived with some stickiness on the frets that’s easily buffed off with a 2000 grit foam block. A slight back bow, easily adjusted. The string alignment from nut to bridge was slightly crooked but does not affect playability. The tuners do slip slightly on hard bends. Overall so happy. It’s not a true tele tone, but very musical to my ears.
I bought my FF as a joke and ended up loving the thing after putting a full setup on it. I gradually changed parts out for premium stuff (locking tuners, etc) and it’s been super stable over the last year or so. Plays, sounds, and looks killer.
Thank you for showing guitars for musicians who can’t afford the “name” guitars. I am subscribing.
Man-that is really tempting, I've been wanting a Tele- and that's just an insane value. That said- I have to believe at 200 bucks- buying one is rolling the dice, it may show up surprisingly good, or it may show up needing some serious work done on the frets. I have no issue crowing and polishing, but I'd be scared to set into leveling. That seems like you could really destroy a neck if you didn't know what you were doing. That said- I bet I could find a step-by-step vid on YT showing me exactly how to do it huh? And- really, if I learned that- I could start doing some setups- and this area is desperate for technicians right now.
We have one guy within a 100-mile radius- so you can imagine how busy he is. We have 3 shops in that same area- he works for all of them. Which one he's at depends on what day of the week it is. But no matter where you find him, he has a wait list a mile long, he charges an arm and a leg, and from what I've seen- isn't that great at it. I've played 2 guitars he just setup- and they both needed work, one was fretting out past the twelfth fret whenever you did more than a half step bend. It was an old Strat with the 7.25" neck- which is known for this issue. You really have no choice but to sacrifice some action and raise it a tad. Using lower gauge strings helps off set that though- and remembering that it's o.k. for the action to be a bit stiff- this is a blues guitar after all, if they want to shred- a 7.25" radius really isn't the best neck for it. But the point is that apparently, he either didn't bother to check it, or didn't care- either way, I'm not paying someone like that to "fix" my guitar.
Awesome it has the flat radius 👍 My Kiesel and Carvins are 14 inch radius..The flatter radius is easier for me to play.
I don't think I'd ever swap out those pickups. They sound great.
My FFTL Ghost pickups are amazing stock as well. I don’t know what they’re doing at firefly for pickups but all the high end versions have really good pickups
To me thats the big come up. SS frets are cool I don't care for roasted maple that much but the budget pickups that bring good tone are making some of these options pretty amazing. Right now $200 for a lot of things gets you what $120 did a few years ago. And most of those didn't sound good enough to gig with
@@I.am_Groot Agreed. I've got a GFS "Slick" P-style bass and the pickup in it is fantastic. Everything about it except the tuners is pretty ridiculous for a sub $300 guitar and even the fretwork was dead perfect.
@@tjzambonischwartz Very cool. My only bass is a Sawtooth with Fishman Fluence in that same price range the pickups retail cost almost that. I wish that I had learned to do fret work much sooner. So much better when they are level and smooth with no sharp ends!
So glad you reviewed this guitar! I’ve owned one for a year and definitely agree with your analysis. Thank you.
In a twist of coincidence, I have been eyeing this guitar for weeks ( as well as the purple version), but am in the middle of moving and don't want it sent to the wrong address or as-yet unoccupied one. I have to sell off a few of my 14 guitars because it's just getting a little too crowded around here! Haha!
I bought a SG with Iommi cross inlays a few months ago and it's incredible!
love seeing brands that deliver while being affordable, especially for casual and hobby players.
nicely said---- this company has to be taking a profit but it's reasonable. no gouging here apparently.
Hey Phil. where is funky Prince style strumming? This would of been a great chance to bring out the bass & get funky with it!
I was very impressed with this model and your review which, not surprisingly, was very thorough!
I ordered the same guitar about four months ago, and I let it sit for 2 months before I had a full setup done! It plays outstanding $200 guitars are definitely not what they were five or ten years ago!
One thing I've noticed.... the people who consistently give negative reviews to low-cost guitars always seem to act either insulted or amused that they even exist. Apparently they can't just give a straight review and point out the perceived flaws; they also have to roll their eyes and remind you it's ripping off the 'real thing' (often made in the same factory by the same people, yet still costing 3-4 times as much), and you're either stupid or immoral if you buy one. It's great finding guys like this who can do honest reviews of all kinds of equipment.
Normally I ignore when everyone ask to subscribe to their channel but I'm glad you did because I always watch your videos and didn't know that I never subscribed. I always love the look of this guitar and wish I had one because I had a Zuwei Prince Caster from Amazon that I didn't like because you had to remove the pickguard to adjust the neck. And now I want one again. Great info and great videos as always!
Great review! Keep reviewing these Firefly guitars I have a bunch and love them!
I purchased one of these after watching your excellent review - thanks for all your contributions to the guitar world! I too, am amazed at what you can buy in 2924. It may mostly become wall art but plays great. It came unplayable and required work that would be a fatal flaw for any beginner without repair skills. The neck was very bowed requiring a significant truss adjustment. The frets were not polished well and needed time with a Dremel. I’m not giving up my Strats, LPs and other much pricier instruments but Oh! I would have loved this guitar in the 1960s for $199. I’m hoping to buy a new Porsche for $1000 soon.
I've never been a fan of the Telecaster design but I have to admit that this guitar is a phenomenal deal. I saw a red Firefly version of a Gibson 335 once and it was gorgeous.
I paid $199 from mine in April. I totally agree with your analysis, this guitar hits way above its weight. It’s equal to anything that I’ve bought under $600….. besides all that I really like it. It’s my first telecaster.
I acquired a cheap second hand 2005 Squier 51 some years back. It is the only "Fender" I play now.
What I love most about firefly is they are cheap enough to have as a banger or decoration but you get a beautiful guitar that can be modded to sound incredible for less than the name brand anyway. If you get a 200 dollar tele from them, slap in 2 seymour duncans for 140 & some hipshots for another 60 that's 400 bucks for a guitar that'll sound & work better than a brand new players series tele for 2x the price.
Hi Phil, I made a recent discovery. I have long believed that one reason people sing in the shower is that the hard surfaces in a bathroom provide a natural acoustic reverb. Yesterday, I thumped my heal against the floor of my fiberglass shower stall. It sounded pretty good so I did it a few more times, setting off our 125 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback. Hmmmm. This got me to thinkin' it did. So, a little later I grabbed my acoustic guitar and sat on the edge of the stall. It sounded great as a kick bass. In fact the music sounded empty without it. I have an electronic "Porch Board" , but it takes time to set up and I don't also get reverb from it. Anyway, I just thought I'd pass this along in case anyone in your audience would like to try it. Shalom/gw PS I bought two of those Mad Cats for my son and I. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! Shalom/gw
Thank you for posting this. I bought the Harley Benton version... and as much as I wish I liked it, I struggled with both it's weight (seriously, weights as much as an Ash P bass due to the Maple body), and a neck that just felt kind of cheap/corny to me. We attempted a Warmoth neck upgrade though it wasn't a great fit for the pocket deepwise and trying to shave down the pocket made the strings closer to the body which wasn't great. I plan on finding an US spec tele body and just making due... though I appreciate you showing us the specs on this because if I had. bought the fire fly I would have been frustrated with that 20 radius. Thank you you for all that you do.
Thank you for all you are and all you do!
I recently bought a brand newly announced Cort G250 SE for $258 free prime delivery on Amaz. I think Cort unloads blems this way. I waited a month for delivery. Had a few tiny scratches on the cellophane near the screws. Otherwise perfect. The deal seems to appear from time to time.
I bought the Buckethead Baritone copy.
27 inch scale
I pulled all the guts out and just installed the Nazgul and Sentient set of pups from Duncan, D'Addario auto-trimming locking tuners, and chrome pup rings.
The kill switches required rather large holes so, I'm having to improvise.
Such an awesome guitar for the price.
Could you tell us what amp settings you use for each demo-e.g. Vol/Gain/Treble/reverb and anything else which effects sound and tone. Newbie and am impressed. I don’t know why U Tube presenters, music shops/people who demonstrate guitars/luthiers in their presentations, do not state the action height at the 12th fret in mm or whatever when they are reviewing/assessing like you do. This defines neck comfort and playability. The neck is the heart of the guitar. Usually every specification but this one is recorded. It is easily the most important spec. Why? Because it is the guitar's invitation for you to pick it up, play it, keep playing it and eventually buy it. A guitar with a low fast action will sell much faster than one you can drive a train under believe me! Making an action higher is much more simpler than lowering which may involve fretwork, bridge work, nut filing, truss rod adjustment etc etc…and it can prove to be very expensive. For this reason, guitars should be factory set-up at the lowest action possible without fret rattle-but they won't do it. No:- well one or two do. I realise many like a high action-good! Hello SRV! Now the get out of jail answer will be 'People have different tastes regarding this spec and adjust it accordingly'. Raising it though is less of a problem than lowering it. I have had 2 brand new Fenders that have had to go straight to a luthier which were virtually were so unplayable when delivered.
Man, they make great instruments. I’ve got a T-style, Nashville-Raquel from firefly and the fretwork is beautiful, the build quality is excellent and it has a bone nut. Neck pickup is beautiful sounding. Only issue is that the switch is not wired in a way that allows neck-bridge configuration. I highly recommend.
I really like your tips and explanations during the progress of this video. Great tele for the money.
I learn so much watching this channel. You're great buddy
Bah! I already have this Firefly tele sitting right next to me, but not in the MadCat finish. I am such a HUGE Prince fan. I mean a go-to-3-shows-back-to-back when he was in town and sit in the front row fan. I don't do that for ANY artist. I mean, sure, I went to all 3 back-to-back VH shows in Dallas before they left for their final European tour in 1984, but no one knew that was Van Halen's farewell tour w/DLR when they performed. Yes, I went to all 3 nights of NIN at Madison Square Garden back in 1994, but in the lower balcony, not the front row. I don't give a damn about having a Frankenstrat or any of Reznor's guitars, but I find myself wanting this guitar so badly I can hardly stand it.
I think I've lost my mind. I mean it's not like it's a '76 Hohner Mad Cat? Those are more like $20K last I checked. I can easily say no to a guitar that absurdly expensive. Easy.
I don't need this guitar, but I sat here with tears streaming down my face during this entire KYG rundown....like a damn tweenager...and that was before you ever started playing it.
I sat down to have my morning tea before 8 AM and I just was NOT prepared to see this guitar. lol Apparently I have some unresolved grief issues over Prince's passing. smh No one is more surprised than me. Never ever met the man. lol
Just buy it and stick it up on your wall. I think I might do the same but in the off chance it's a good guitar too? It's an easy choice! : )
Thanks. Very informative. Couldn't have said it better. Learn something new every day. Cheers.
Fantastic review. What a great time for guitars!
Are you kitten me? Come on, you had such a great opportunity.
Great guitar review videos like this are what I wish other UA-cam music instrument review videos could aspire to reach.
Damn impressive! At one tenth the price of my SG?? Wow.
New to guitar but I wanna thank you for this channel Philip!
I bought a Firefly tele. It needed about 5-6 hours of fret work. Yes, grinding away at stainless takes 2-3 times longer than nickel, and trashes your crowning files. SS frets are cool and all, but only on high-end fret boards that don't need leveling out of the box.
Aside from the buzz. Body and Neck and finish look great. Probably a few adjustments and maybe upgrades would make it play better. I would definitely consider this for my next build.
Yeah, well, ok. Been considering this guitar as well as the John 5 copy. Your review put me over the top. I have been seeing good reviews for both of them. Just purchased both as I anticipate they will sell out after your review.
The bass strings in some moments sound like a piano… it sounds incredible, especially for the money!!!
Great vid, Phillip. Re your comment at 8:35 re alnico magnet strength, it doesn't quite follow the numerical order, the exception is that alnico 3 is weaker than alnico 2.
That’s a big wow from me ! Very impressed by that guitar .. and your comprehensive review.
That's similar in color a the Reisue model that were sold at the Mesa Boogie store.
The binding was more pronounced and deeper flame.
The one at the HOF performance is the Reisue.
Great review! I really liked how it sounded.
I bought one as a guitar to practice setup and maybe modding on, found with a feeler gauge that the frets were not fully inserted on mine, quick plastic mallet help and fixed. I added an other layer of shielding paint and grounding wire to each cavity. Decided against adding shielding to the pick guard as paint as well as copper tape are visible through it. But once plugged in I found that a non issue, there's no buzz what so ever now. Also took the neck and everything else off, was a bit scary, but that's what I bought this cheap guitar for. And guess what, it's now one of my favorite guitars to play, I thought about adding a 3rd pickup (I happen to have a Gibson humbucker in a drawer) but can't see myself cutting into this pretty thing, I might just have to get an other cheap Firefly for real modding down the road....
Played great out of the box, the strings were a bit odd, kind of 'sharp' feeling, tossed them when I worked on it, now I have D'Addario on it, like on all my guitars. Love how this one sounds, didn't have a Tele and now I don't think I'll buy one, this one fills that spot for me just fine.
Your video was instrumental in my decision to buy this one, thank you!
Nice review! I have been looking at this guitar for a while and I am happy it passes your expert inspection!
If anyone scoffs at veneers, they use veneers on most high end drums and Bentley interior trim
just because fancy guitar has thick top means almost nothing... especially considering the slab mahogany guitars sound fantastic.
Mine came Friday. Had to adust the neck and saddle to remove a bad buzz on the low E. Plays great now I wish I played better. Firefly sells a sweet looking cutaway acoustic comparable to a $2,000 Taylor for under $400. Hope I find it at Christmas.
The Firefly guitars are a slightly smaller size so upgrading pickguards, bridges, and even pickups require customizations. Yes, they're nicely made guitars for the money but upgrading some parts are difficult and expensive.
I look at these as “Project Guitars”, for $199 I don’t expect it to be perfect out of the box, so if it’s “close enough” and just needs a small amount of adjustment, you have a great looking guitar as a base to upgrade.
With looks like that, if it’s only small adjustments needed, then I’d replace the tuners, pickups, pots and strings and I can have a great looking and sounding guitar for a fraction of the cost of the real thing
I bought it for the Prince aesthetic. Mine is flawless out of the box with no set up and factory strings. It does have some neck dive with my Fender leopard strap though.
Dang, I wish there weren't 10 other guitars I want first. Great videos Phil. Love we your channel.
Being a big Prince fan, I ordered this guitar and did a video on my channel a few months back. Mine came set up exactly the same as this one, with a super straight neck and super low action. It played alright, but after swapping out the stock 9s with a set of 10s it played really well. It really is an amazing guitar for the money. I bought it thinking I’d want to change the pickups but ended up loving them. I’m really glad they stayed true to Prince’s guitar and kept them Strat pickups like his instead of Tele pickups (though I’m usually a Tele person).
I’ve played mine a ton and even recorded with it. It’s a great guitar, and I would agree it is at a minimum on par with a Squier Classic Vibe or G&L Tribute Series at a fraction of the price.
I was the same way. I bought the Mad Cat thinking the pickups would probably be cheap and sound really thin. I was pleasantly surprised and here we are a year later and I have not changed a thing on this guitar expect strings.
@@sandraspears6389 I am still amazed how it came compete with guitars several times the price.
Good guitar! I put some locking tuners and some elixers and, boom! Amazing at this price!
Very nice guitar. I think it would sound even better with the action raised some.
Came back to watch again. I liked your review. I'm not happy with the strings that came with it. What strings and gauge did you restring that one with?
A very useful guitar review, as usual! Couple of questions (not specifically about this guitar, but electric guitars in general): should the screening in the pickup cavities be earthed, same as the control cavity screening? This would require a wire between the different screened cavities: no sign of that in this review! Also: knowing the pickup wire resistance, capacitance and inductance can give us some idea of how that pickup should sound, we never get any information regarding the gauss produced by the pickup magnets. It is my understanding that it is possible to increase the gauss of a magnet by passing it close to, and between two opposite poles of a pair of stronger magnets (or partially degauss a pickup if the polarity of the other magnet is swopped): surely there must be a normal variation of magnet strength due to manufacturing tolerances? We have been told that the higher the Alnico magnet type number, the higher will be the effective gauss ration, but I still thank that there must be a variation between magnet 'charge' even on magnets of the same type. This is never discussed in pickup reviews; I have always wondered why! Perhaps time for a reviewer to investigate what, if any, are the effects of differing gauss ratings?
Sounded Great as was. Phil do you think a Plek job right out of the box would enhance that guitar I know? a $250 Plek on a $199 ride!
For $199 sounds like the perfect guitar to learn how to do a setup yourself
I bought the 335 knockoff a month or so ago. I think they call it a 338. Anyway, I was blown away. I paid $189.91 for it and found a couple of extremely minor cosmetic flaws, a couple of lifted frets (that didn't affect playability whatsoever). It was up perfectly. These things are crazy good.
Great review. I am going church this guitar out.
Phil, please tell these guys they should consider a left-handed version of their guitars!! Please? 🙏🙏
The aesthetic of that guitar is sick. If I could say one thing, it would be the headstock. I love the tele headstock, this one looks off to me, but I can live with it if I have to :D
Got one a week ago. Couldn’t resist based on the reviews.
Pups are amazing, finished really well. Great frets.
My only issue is that I can’t get the action lower. Fret s are level, tweaked the neck up and down, tried a flat neck and moved it up a bit. Not sure what’s going on but will continue to get it lower.
a shim, 0,5 mm. will help.
@@christianboddum8783 Titled up of down?
I stumbled back around 2017 onto the knowledge that it was Hohner who built the Telecaster associated with Prince, not Fender. Watching Purple Rain and seeing Prince & the Revolution miming "Let's Go Crazy" and "Computer Blue" at First Avenue in Minneapolis, you don't get the impression that it's a Tele copy built by Hohner.
Regarding this Firefly, I would consider getting one if not for a) having too many guitars, b) not being especially drawn to the traditional Tele configuration and c) having also had my share of economy guitars.
This guitar has been pestering my addiction for over a year, and now it is a second generation with nice improvements at the original price.
I'm not even a telecaster man, yet this thing just beckons me.
Very informative. I would love to see a comparison between the Firefly and the Eastwood mad cat. Being that it's $1,100 more expensive.
Please try and put that on your schedule if you can. ✌🏿
Will a fender telecaster neck fit on that body?
I have a teacher at the school I work at. He plays a little acoustic, but he's wanting to get his first electric. I think I am going to suggest this guitar to him. I think it sounds REALLY good and the price is good enough, where he isn't shelling out a lot of in case he doesn't want to pursue it that much. I will also offer to set it up for him. Thanks Phil for another gem.
On a side note. This sure beats my first electric guitar, which was a guitar and amp combo from the Spegal catalog that cost 106.00 in around 1979. The guitar is long gone, but I still have the amp🤣
lol...OMG I totally forgot about the old Spiegel Catalogs.
Hmm, I'm thinking it would make an awesome base for a Coodercaster Telecaster. The style looks about right. If you added the Mojo Valco / Gold Foil pickups. Maybe even a Certano Bender. With a bit of work, could make for a really interesting guitar to have for around $500. By the way, I got a Harley Benton TE-62, for about £139, and that is pretty awesome too. They were good stock, but I upgraded the pickups, electronics and tuners and now it plays as well as guitars 4x the price. Only cavaet is they are relatively narrow necks. Though they are a really nice smooth aged-feeling satin finish, unlike the sticky feeling Squier Classic Vibes. And the finish on the neck and generally overall was better than Fender Player series I've played, which feel a little more slapdash (Vinteras are good though).
I was asked by a work colleague which guitar to buy for a new learner up to a budget of £500 (UK). After about 10 minutes I was still listing brands and guitars that would be suitable, there are SO many quality instruments available at a reasonable budget it is as accurate as pinning a tail on the donkey!
For the cost, Firefly makes some great Entry level guitars.
I own several.
Also, When I first learned about Firefly several years ago, I did find those instruments were actually made by Eastman and Private labeled to Firefly.
I have the Tele style, Les Paul Jr style with P90's (Fun to play and sounds great), a 338 Copy, a Les Paul Standard Copy. I love the binding working done on the guitars.
The Older Firefly guitars have terrible pickups, and require a setup, But the newer models pretty much come out of the box ready to play.
I do have to admit, I wish you had not shown this, as now others know of this great instrument value.
You sound exactly like Bob Odenkirk.... close my eyes and I'd swear it was him speaking. Awesome video, great guitar.
Interesting how much they vary. I've had mine about 3 weeks, so should have been made very close to when yours was. The good - I won the weight lottery, mine is about 7.5 lb. A couple of other reviews on UA-cam from a year ago were over 8 lb. Fit and finish is excellent, just one tiny blemish under the finish. Fret ends perfect, though the nut has sharp corners. Easy to fix.. The bad - nut slots were so tight it was impossible to tune, had to widen them a bit. Some high frets, probably similar to yours. Haven't addressed that yet as it's playable as is. Intonation was quite a bit off. I have the saddle for the D string all the way out and it's still not quite there. Other notes - mine had about a 1mm back bow out of the box. Maybe humidity related? I'm in Minnesota where it's pretty humid right now. Tweaked the truss rod to give it about .5mm relief. My fretboard doesn't seem to be as flat. I measured it at bout 16. I'll have to check it again. I have cheap Amazon radius gauges.
All in all a great deal for $200. The fretwork beats the heck out of my MIM Strat I bought around 2010 for $400.
I have a Firefly "Junior" LP Jr. copy and the fingerboard seems to be super flat on it as well. It plays pretty well, but it really isn't that resonant unamplified. This one seems like it has a much better unamplified sound. That said, I also have an SX Ursa 2 6-string Jazz bass from 2012 and the fingerboard on it is actually uncomfortably flat. Bad enough that if I don't give up I might have to actually take out the frets and use a radius block to give it at least a 12" radius. Does make me wonder if Firefly is using the same factory that SX was using when my bass was made.
I like the strat pickup in the neck position. I had a US Tele that I traded for a US PRS Paul's guitar, I never really bonded with the tele, but had I kept it, I would have put a Suhr V63 Strat neck pickup, the tele neck is anemic IMO, doesn't pair well with the screaming power of the tele bridge.
@PhillipMcKnight I am a huge Prince fan, and I've always wanted an accurate Prince "T-Style" guitar. I purchased one of these based on your deep dive review video. I have to say that you were 100% spot on with your analysis. This guitar is a fantastic value at its price point. My guitar arrived with only a few minor issues. There is some fret buzz, most of the way down the neck on the A string, so I want to do a professional setup on it. The action is super low, a little too low for my taste. I want to change the pickups. Any recommendations? Lastly, I want to change the 3-way toggle switch and volume and tone pots to get rid of the PC board switch. Any recommendations? Thanks for the great review video! The Firefly FFTL Mad Cat is a great guitar that only needs a few minor upgrades to make it comparable to PRS SE's, Fender Player 2's and Epiphone Inspired By Gibson guitars.