I got one of these a few months ago. Swapped the pickups out for Super Distortion clones, painted the pickguard, put on Elixir baritone strings and used a tension calculator to choose what tuning would feel about right, ended up in Ab Standard. It sounds massive. Great video as always, thank you!
I got the six string 335. They refunded me some cash, because it was supposed to be black with blood red binding. However they sent the white binding model. They asked me if I wanted to return it, or take a partial refund. The guitar played and sounded amazing, so I figured I better keep it. Cost in total $135! I saw Phil review the model I was supposed to get. I thought, "Huh, so thats where that went."
Very cool. I have been considering one of those but was on the fence. I also love that I always learn something new about setups or electronics in your videos.
I bought that same baritone about a year ago. The only thing I found to complain about is that standard baritone string sets aren't long enough to use the through body stringing. Stringjoy strings are a bit longer than Ernie Ball and worked great, but ultimately I swapped out to locking tuners which Ernie Ball baritone strings will just barely reach.
Which locking tuners did you choose? My EXL157s seem to span the distance just fine, but since I think better tuners would be a useful improvement anyway, they might as well be locking.
Out of curiosity, I bought a Firefly "Mad Cat" clone for about the same price. One of the pickups was VERY weak, though it worked - sort of. I put in a pair of Duncan "Cool Rail" humbuckers (thus doubling the price of the guitar), and the result is EXCELLENT. Looks great, sounds excellent, plays easily, less than 8 lbs. My Firefly experience has been a good one.
@@TheFreshmaker02 It IS a great guitar - a pleasant surprise. The Seymour Duncans cost me about $100 each, so if I add them to the original cost, it's a guitar that cost me about $400 out of pocket. That's twice what I paid for it originally.
@rayschoch5882 It's not how the market works. Not denying it's a good guitar. Upgrading a cheap guitar doesn't increase the price. Just helping ya out. I myself upgrade guitars and know from experience. Upgrading a car will lessen the value. Don't get me wrong those are amazing PUPs. I didn't say your guitar wasn't legit. I don't agree with the market, it's just how it is. Cheap guitars unless limited edition will not raise in value
Ah, now I see what you were getting at. Potential resale price is not usually part of my thinking. I just assume it's money down the drain, but not terribly important to me because I'm trying to make a guitar better.
@@TheFreshmaker02 I don't think he was saying his guitar that he loves is now worth money and he was going to flip it, he was just being honest that to get it to a great point he did have to spend a little money.
Those are pretty mild pickups for humbuckers I feel like. They might just not be the right height, but if someone wanted it to play metal, it might not scratch the itch super well. That being said $200 is a steal for a guitar of this quality, despite the hickup
I mean, the skeleton is there. You just have to replace the weak parts to get what you want. And at less than $200, it's a great mod platform. I just ordered one and will be putting some humbucker sized p90s in it with all new electronics and a freeway switch (has two rows for the the position toggle to add in series and out of phase options). Gonna go for that Loathe sound.@@zeronyne
There are very, very few bass VI style (JM body with a 30 in scale) baritones on the market, the only other affordable one I can think of is the Squier CV and it's both over double the price and not set up for metal at all (strat pickups and a JM floating trem). Previously, if you wanted something like it set up for playing heavy music you basically had to build a Warmoth, and that's a $1k+ build just for the parts.
A lot of guys who play these things don't use particularly high gain pickups because they really want clarity when tuning that low. Loathe are a band that really helped popularise these baritones after 7+ strings and fan frets being the flavour of the last decade. I follow their guitar tech on youtube and he does custom wound alnico 8 magnets with not a ton of output. They sound massive and the clarity is stunning.
Baritone are great. I just had to fix my paranormal dquier one as the neck bowed like a bridge bit after having a luthier put stainless steel frets and carbon rods it now plays like a dream with low action. The only thing left to Mod are now the pickups.
I agree, it's an E to E octave down tuning (bass VI). But, like in this review, it's referred to as B to B baritone. Why don't the reviewers do it right?
Picked up the buckethead baritone and also had an issue w my neck pickup (mounting base plate was stripped out). Messaged the company and they immediately refunded me enough to almost fund a set of upgraded pickups. Definitely ordering more from them in the future.
Wow, excellent and interesting guitar for a buck-eighty! Dovy was a cool surprise. Seems like you might need some long fingers like his to play that baritone to full potential. Thanks Phil & Dovy!
I bought this guitar. It sounds great and the set-up out of the box was pretty good. The only thing I don't like about it is how narrow the neck is on the first few fres. It makes it difficult to do basic chords in the first position. The neck is really long too but that's not so bad.
Fun fact. Instead of buying knock off guitars you guys should check out your local antique/music shops. They usually have solid deals going and the people working there are usually musicians who take pride in the appearance of their instruments. I bought a near mint condition jackson for 150$ that didnt require any setup the other day. Only has a few small dings on it but thats natural relic baby.
LOL, yeah, the TWO local music shops within a 400 mile radius of me sell all their guitars at three times what they are actually worth, regularly sell stolen instruments (I know because a large portion of me and my late dads collection was stolen many years ago and BOTH of these stores were the ones who bought the main chunk of them, luckily we caught it the day after they bought them) and have very little actual knowledge of the instruments they sell. Also most of what they sell is in HORRIBLE condition. The rose tinted idea of "The mom and pop store EXPERIENCE!" needs to die. Youre better off going to reverb/ebay and doing your own research on whatever you might buy from there. Also most "knockoffs" these days are on par with mid level brands at least. Ive bought around a dozen KOs from china, through aliexpress and ebay, and with a little modification, they are perfectly fine instruments, and on the off chance that you DO get a lemon, usually the sellers are very friendly and willing to correct the problem as soon as possible. Again, just do the research before you buy, and youll do fine.
I got one recently and modded it into a bass vi, which I had no hesitation doing because of the amazing price. And I’m glad I went for it kuz I love the thing. Fun vid! Get one of these guitars, you won’t regret it. And if you do, they resell on eBay and reverb for more than 200, you’ll make a profit. But you won’t want to sell it
Mike Mushok of Staind and many other players made a good career of playing baritone guitars. They are nice for exploring different keys and getting new inspiration. Dave Matthews used one in several of his songs on the album Everyday. Also, I think this segment with a guest guitarist playing the reviewed guitar is a nice change of pace since we will hear other people react to the guitar build, sound and feel. Thanks for doing this Phil!
My FF Mad Cat ROCKS!!! After I pressed in & glued some of the frets, then leveled, crowned, & polished them. 19 rocking spots before the work. Plus, full setup & stringing her with Reverand Willy's. ✌️
Wow 19. I know inexpensive guitars usually have a few high frets, but that's crazy. Learning how to do fretwork is a valuable skill and this is the reason why. It would cost nearly as much, possibly more, to get a fret level and crown than the cost of the guitar.
I'd really like to get one myself, but I've never played a baritone. Do you think it would be a massive adjustment going from regular scale length to a 30 inch? It seems like it could end up being a little weird going back and forth between my standard scale length guitars and this one.
@@daveyboyd784 Buy one! For $179, you can't go wrong. I have this the same guitar and it is amazing for the money. It opens up a lot more sounds too! It is a little awkward at first when you switch back to a standard scale length after playing the baritone for a bit; if you have good muscle memory you can switch between the two very easily.
Wow.....24 frets!!! Strong selling point for me. Not that I have a band and play out any longer, but I have an ingrained habit from those days of looking for 24 frets. Even though my one and only guitar does not have 24 frets at this time. This episode has me thinking that I'm going to look for a Firefly as soon as I can afford a couple hundred dollars. Thanks Phil
I've never seen anyone demo a baritone guitar. It was interesting and looks fun to play but, I'm not going to get one. At my age, my hands are not as strong as they were 10-20 years ago. Good demo. Thanks, Phil and Dovy
In a mix with another guitar or even 2 others the baritone has its uses. A southern rock band The Steel Woods uses one with a second guitar and it’s a cool sound.
Perfect timing! I am a regular viewer and bass player. I have been considering playing 6-string guitar a little more but I really cannot get accustomed to the size or the thin strings. I have been looking at baritone options for a few months now and just purchased this one because of this video. Like Phil said, it's not worth buying something too crazy expensive to start out with. I think this will be a good answer to my curiosity.
Guitar arrived today. It is in perfect condition. I cannot understand how it costs less than $200 USD. Nevertheless, it still feels like a guitar to my bass player hands.
Just did a setup and pup swap on one, only real issue I encountered was also with the pickups, as they were microphonic. But aside from that, I was just as surprised how good of an instrument it was. Bands like Loathe, Sleep Token, etc, are using instruments like these, and these style's of baritone's are gradually starting to become more known/used.
Hey Phil, do you think you could do a video about making pickups and how different things affect the final sound of them? Pretty sure there would be plenty of interest for such a video.
Way cool!! Thanks for All the Tech tips. I installed new pickups, and diagnosed an issue (using a multimeter) because of your videos. I had a ton of fun doing it!
I really really want to try one of these but it seems they don’t ship to Canada. I am a baritone guy and had to sell most of my guitars to facilitate the move here. I was hoping to replace some of them once I got here but it’s proving harder than I thought way up here in The Yukon. Thanks for paying some attention to us Baritone folks. Happy Veterans Day.
Been eyeballing this for a while.... Just pulled the trigger after watching this video. Going to be a long term project build, pickup / electronics swap and some locking tuners. should be an absolute monster!
As I age, my voice goes lower, and I wind up having to capo up the neck to be in key. This might work for me. I used to cover 4 octaves, but not any more, plus not singing as often. B to B instead of E to E. Others might try that as well. Thanks for the review.
Mine arrived at my door about a week ago. 😀 The build quality of the guitar is excellent; no complaints there on my part. However, as I checked it out I found that it was setup with standard baritone strings (B to B) and tuned 1/2 step up to C. WTF?! I ordered a set of Bass VI strings (24 - 90) and put them on without issue except that the nut needs to be filed to accommodate the thicker gauge strings. I am not going to upgrade anything. I'm good with the sound of the pickups and see no reason to replace them; I can get out of them what I need for recording. I consider my $180 to be well spent.
Very fun vid and DØVYDAS just makes it even more fun! I've been wanting to try out a baritone but don't want to spend a lot on it. This might be a decent way to do that. Just not sure if I have any more room around here!
I have 3 Firefly guitars and all three had electronics issues from bad grounds and wires that were not connected. Build quality was pretty good as far as the rest goes I have to say my confidence it not the best for FF. My SG style was the worse it made horrible sounds nothing coming out of it but a low growl sound. Not sure what it was but I redid the whole wireing over and got rid of the growl and it worked. Not sure what the issue was but I fixed it by desoldering all the connections and redoing all the solder joints. I have a similar baritone Fender tribute by Douglas (Rondo Music) I got mine preowned for $99.99 at GC. The specs are pretty much exactly the same as the Fender it's modeled after. I have to say it surprised me at how well it was made but i have always had great luck with Rondo Musics guitar brands.
Looks very similar in general to the Artist GM1BARI baritone, (perhaps comes from the same factory?). That sells for AUD$299 (`USD$195). Thanks, Phil, and Dovy.
I hate that Firefly (and also G4M) advertise these as baritones, when they are in fact just Bass VIs. They really should be strung E-e, like a normal guitar, but an octave down. Anyway...they are very tempting.
Every time I get it in my head that I want to buy one of these they are OOS. I gave up looking at the website. I’d say it been about a month since I looked. I just bought a Ibanez 7 string two days ago. Kinda wish I’d seen this before. I’ve wanted a a baritone for so long. I got a steal on the ibby though. Mom isn’t gonna let me get an another already. Blame it!
I don't say anything to my wife about all the home decor she buys so I can spend what I'd like, when I'd like! I'm the boss! (I got my last guitar shipped to my workplace so she would be none the wiser...)
The average guitar consumer doesnt realize that they love CNC guitars. “handmade” from the big brands leads to some human error which is why there are “good” and “bad” vintage guitars of the same make and model.
Fender left an absolute power vacuum when they stopped producing the Squier baritone Jazzmaster, amazing to see how many companies are coming to the rescue to keep up with the interest coming from fans of bands like Loathe etc.
I have one. I swapped in better pickups, a Free-Way six-position switch, and D'Addario EXL157s, then bought it a pro setup -- *very* pleased. This one had a *much* better setup out of the box -- but both my pickups worked, I just didn't like them.
When I saw the 30" scale length on the website, my first thought was "bass VI" scale length. So I picked one up and threw a set of La Bella Bass VI Flats on it. The low E just....barely....fit in the ferrule, but other than that, it worked great!
I think these same instruments were sold in Europe branded as SubZero Rogue VI 30 by Gear4Music and have now been rebranded G4M 638 and were meant as Bass VI at first.
Would love to see Phil do a deep dive on the new Robin guitars! They started building again and I'm curious if they are as good as the old ones. Always wanted a machete like j from White zombie
So I purchased a FFLP Elite about four years ago. I wanted a quilted top in emerald green. It was close to tint but not on the mark. It had so many issues though. It was a big dud. The studs for the bridge and tail piece were drilled oversized. So the bridge and tail piece were very loose. I had to dowel the holes and re-drill to the proper size. The nut spacing was way off for the D and G string. The tuners would nut hold tuning either. They would slip as you played. I had to adjust the truss rod in the counter clockwise direction to get the neck to go straight. It had a huge back bow, even with the rod being loose in the zero tension position. There was finish flaws as well in the clear coat that was applied. End story, I repaired every issue, replaced the nut, all hardware and electronics. I purchased all the replacement items from Guitar Fetish. Now the guitar looks, feels, plays and sounds great. The neck stays straight thanks to the double action truss rod and the guitar stays in perfect tune as well. I would not purchase a Fire Fly ever again and do not recommend to anyone unless they know how to fix all the issues. The one thing I can say is that the fret work was good on mine. No high spots or sprouting. That was shocking since the neck was back bowed. I checked the wood in certain spots and found that mine is all maple. Body, neck and top. The fretboard is rose wood though. These guitars are great if you want to practice on your luthier skills.
Technically since the scale is 30” you can actually set this up as a Bass VI. Just get the correct strings and set the neck and action and you essentially have a Bass VI
Better suited as a "BASS VI". I've found 30" scale to be too much string tension when tuned up to B. 27" scale more practical for baritone. Anyhoo, can't beat that price!
I got one of these a few months ago. Swapped the pickups out for Super Distortion clones, painted the pickguard, put on Elixir baritone strings and used a tension calculator to choose what tuning would feel about right, ended up in Ab Standard. It sounds massive. Great video as always, thank you!
After Phil's previous Firefly review, I ordered a 12 string with a 335 style body. It was flawless, but only cost about $200. Amazing.
Amazing value for the dollar right there
I got the six string 335. They refunded me some cash, because it was supposed to be black with blood red binding. However they sent the white binding model. They asked me if I wanted to return it, or take a partial refund. The guitar played and sounded amazing, so I figured I better keep it. Cost in total $135! I saw Phil review the model I was supposed to get. I thought, "Huh, so thats where that went."
I have 7 Firefly guitars. Overall i would say they are great value overall. Love their Les Paul versions.
Overall your sentence sounds weird overall 😉
where do you get this guitar?
@@totalSLACK gutiarsgarden
Your videos are an absolute gold mine for those who have bought more than 100 stringed instruments in our lives and are likely to buy more.
That loop at the end was EPIC!
Thanks for your service and this video, Phil.
Thanks Phil and Dovy. Phil - celebrity drop-in, guest appearance in the movies is a "Cameo appearance", or "Cameo"
What a pleasant surprise! Great to see Dovy!
Very cool. I have been considering one of those but was on the fence. I also love that I always learn something new about setups or electronics in your videos.
I bought that same baritone about a year ago. The only thing I found to complain about is that standard baritone string sets aren't long enough to use the through body stringing. Stringjoy strings are a bit longer than Ernie Ball and worked great, but ultimately I swapped out to locking tuners which Ernie Ball baritone strings will just barely reach.
A couple sets of those String Joy strings costs as much as the guitar lol.
Which locking tuners did you choose? My EXL157s seem to span the distance just fine, but since I think better tuners would be a useful improvement anyway, they might as well be locking.
@@ChrisEck13 For real! Which is why I didn't want to keep buying them. $20 Amazon tuners were the perfect budget fix.
I enjoyed this guitar review, nice work Phil and Dovydas!
Thanks for your service, Phil.
Out of curiosity, I bought a Firefly "Mad Cat" clone for about the same price. One of the pickups was VERY weak, though it worked - sort of. I put in a pair of Duncan "Cool Rail" humbuckers (thus doubling the price of the guitar), and the result is EXCELLENT. Looks great, sounds excellent, plays easily, less than 8 lbs. My Firefly experience has been a good one.
Changing the stock configuration doesn't raise the price. Sounds like a great guitar regardless
@@TheFreshmaker02 It IS a great guitar - a pleasant surprise. The Seymour Duncans cost me about $100 each, so if I add them to the original cost, it's a guitar that cost me about $400 out of pocket. That's twice what I paid for it originally.
@rayschoch5882 It's not how the market works. Not denying it's a good guitar. Upgrading a cheap guitar doesn't increase the price. Just helping ya out. I myself upgrade guitars and know from experience. Upgrading a car will lessen the value. Don't get me wrong those are amazing PUPs. I didn't say your guitar wasn't legit. I don't agree with the market, it's just how it is. Cheap guitars unless limited edition will not raise in value
Ah, now I see what you were getting at. Potential resale price is not usually part of my thinking. I just assume it's money down the drain, but not terribly important to me because I'm trying to make a guitar better.
@@TheFreshmaker02 I don't think he was saying his guitar that he loves is now worth money and he was going to flip it, he was just being honest that to get it to a great point he did have to spend a little money.
Those are pretty mild pickups for humbuckers I feel like. They might just not be the right height, but if someone wanted it to play metal, it might not scratch the itch super well. That being said $200 is a steal for a guitar of this quality, despite the hickup
Yeah, I'm not sure this screams Djent or even "Cure" LOL.
I mean, the skeleton is there. You just have to replace the weak parts to get what you want. And at less than $200, it's a great mod platform. I just ordered one and will be putting some humbucker sized p90s in it with all new electronics and a freeway switch (has two rows for the the position toggle to add in series and out of phase options). Gonna go for that Loathe sound.@@zeronyne
There are very, very few bass VI style (JM body with a 30 in scale) baritones on the market, the only other affordable one I can think of is the Squier CV and it's both over double the price and not set up for metal at all (strat pickups and a JM floating trem).
Previously, if you wanted something like it set up for playing heavy music you basically had to build a Warmoth, and that's a $1k+ build just for the parts.
A lot of guys who play these things don't use particularly high gain pickups because they really want clarity when tuning that low. Loathe are a band that really helped popularise these baritones after 7+ strings and fan frets being the flavour of the last decade. I follow their guitar tech on youtube and he does custom wound alnico 8 magnets with not a ton of output. They sound massive and the clarity is stunning.
@@KyussTheWalkingWormif you can't set up your own guitar for metal you shouldn't be playing
Baritone are great. I just had to fix my paranormal dquier one as the neck bowed like a bridge bit after having a luthier put stainless steel frets and carbon rods it now plays like a dream with low action. The only thing left to Mod are now the pickups.
Awesome, my very first time at this channel and I get the celebrity drop by. Dovy is so funny, I really like that guy.
This is a double drop E beat stick and im here for it.
I agree, it's an E to E octave down tuning (bass VI). But, like in this review, it's referred to as B to B baritone. Why don't the reviewers do it right?
@ I don’t think Phil is a djent head 🤣
@@AyoJesse 😂 probably not.
Humbuckers on a bass VI tuned to B, truly blurring the lines between baritone and bass. Very cool.
Picked up the buckethead baritone and also had an issue w my neck pickup (mounting base plate was stripped out). Messaged the company and they immediately refunded me enough to almost fund a set of upgraded pickups. Definitely ordering more from them in the future.
Dovy has a full grasp of music and the instrument. What a master musician.
Love Dovydas, got the shirt, and donate to the cause. Excellent.
Wow, excellent and interesting guitar for a buck-eighty! Dovy was a cool surprise. Seems like you might need some long fingers like his to play that baritone to full potential. Thanks Phil & Dovy!
I was going to build a baritone, but Warmoth necks cost only a little less than this complete guitar. I'm definitely going to try one of these.
What a great looksee at this Baritone and the wonderful 'Celeb Drop-in'! Thank you both for putting a smile on my face this Tuesday morning.
I bought this guitar. It sounds great and the set-up out of the box was pretty good. The only thing I don't like about it is how narrow the neck is on the first few fres. It makes it difficult to do basic chords in the first position. The neck is really long too but that's not so bad.
Expect the unexpected! Classic Phil, totally caught off guard expecting YOU to be playing. FUN!
FUN!
Thank you for introducing Mr. Dovydas!
Fun fact. Instead of buying knock off guitars you guys should check out your local antique/music shops. They usually have solid deals going and the people working there are usually musicians who take pride in the appearance of their instruments. I bought a near mint condition jackson for 150$ that didnt require any setup the other day. Only has a few small dings on it but thats natural relic baby.
LOL, yeah, the TWO local music shops within a 400 mile radius of me sell all their guitars at three times what they are actually worth, regularly sell stolen instruments (I know because a large portion of me and my late dads collection was stolen many years ago and BOTH of these stores were the ones who bought the main chunk of them, luckily we caught it the day after they bought them) and have very little actual knowledge of the instruments they sell. Also most of what they sell is in HORRIBLE condition. The rose tinted idea of "The mom and pop store EXPERIENCE!" needs to die. Youre better off going to reverb/ebay and doing your own research on whatever you might buy from there. Also most "knockoffs" these days are on par with mid level brands at least. Ive bought around a dozen KOs from china, through aliexpress and ebay, and with a little modification, they are perfectly fine instruments, and on the off chance that you DO get a lemon, usually the sellers are very friendly and willing to correct the problem as soon as possible. Again, just do the research before you buy, and youll do fine.
@CommissariatGames truth lol
Ridiculous assumptions
@davidcollin1436 no assumptions when I actually chat with the guy that owns the shop lol he's a friendly dude that knows his guitars.
cheap instruments are off the charts these days
Electronic instruments 😊
Thanks for the bonus noodle of just the two of us.
May get one of these and string it up for bass 6 tuning 😅
I got one recently and modded it into a bass vi, which I had no hesitation doing because of the amazing price. And I’m glad I went for it kuz I love the thing. Fun vid! Get one of these guitars, you won’t regret it. And if you do, they resell on eBay and reverb for more than 200, you’ll make a profit. But you won’t want to sell it
Mike Mushok of Staind and many other players made a good career of playing baritone guitars. They are nice for exploring different keys and getting new inspiration. Dave Matthews used one in several of his songs on the album Everyday.
Also, I think this segment with a guest guitarist playing the reviewed guitar is a nice change of pace since we will hear other people react to the guitar build, sound and feel. Thanks for doing this Phil!
My FF Mad Cat ROCKS!!!
After I pressed in & glued some of the frets, then leveled, crowned, & polished them. 19 rocking spots before the work. Plus, full setup & stringing her with Reverand Willy's. ✌️
Wow 19. I know inexpensive guitars usually have a few high frets, but that's crazy. Learning how to do fretwork is a valuable skill and this is the reason why. It would cost nearly as much, possibly more, to get a fret level and crown than the cost of the guitar.
@ChrisEck13 With the one I got it would be worth it for someone to fork out a couple C notes. It is awesome!
Bought one 2 months ago, great guitar! Would buy again.
Thanks for the recommendation
I'd really like to get one myself, but I've never played a baritone. Do you think it would be a massive adjustment going from regular scale length to a 30 inch? It seems like it could end up being a little weird going back and forth between my standard scale length guitars and this one.
@@daveyboyd784 Buy one! For $179, you can't go wrong. I have this the same guitar and it is amazing for the money. It opens up a lot more sounds too! It is a little awkward at first when you switch back to a standard scale length after playing the baritone for a bit; if you have good muscle memory you can switch between the two very easily.
Tremendous video. This is the type of video I love on this channel. Informative and entertaining. Know Your Gear is awesome ❤
Wow.....24 frets!!!
Strong selling point for me. Not that I have a band and play out any longer, but I have an ingrained habit from those days of looking for 24 frets. Even though my one and only guitar does not have 24 frets at this time.
This episode has me thinking that I'm going to look for a Firefly as soon as I can afford a couple hundred dollars.
Thanks Phil
I've never seen anyone demo a baritone guitar. It was interesting and looks fun to play but, I'm not going to get one. At my age, my hands are not as strong as they were 10-20 years ago. Good demo. Thanks, Phil and Dovy
Great content Phil
Great review and playing demo. Neat to see a guest player!
Great video! Great seeing Dovi do his thing too! Totally unexpected and always a treat. Thanks
In a mix with another guitar or even 2 others the baritone has its uses. A southern rock band The Steel Woods uses one with a second guitar and it’s a cool sound.
Perfect timing! I am a regular viewer and bass player. I have been considering playing 6-string guitar a little more but I really cannot get accustomed to the size or the thin strings. I have been looking at baritone options for a few months now and just purchased this one because of this video. Like Phil said, it's not worth buying something too crazy expensive to start out with. I think this will be a good answer to my curiosity.
Guitar arrived today. It is in perfect condition. I cannot understand how it costs less than $200 USD. Nevertheless, it still feels like a guitar to my bass player hands.
Good diagnose and repair you know what your doing soo many tybers are completely wrong
Just did a setup and pup swap on one, only real issue I encountered was also with the pickups, as they were microphonic. But aside from that, I was just as surprised how good of an instrument it was. Bands like Loathe, Sleep Token, etc, are using instruments like these, and these style's of baritone's are gradually starting to become more known/used.
Wax pot the pickups
I put Ernie Ball bass vi strings on mine. One barely fits but overall it's pretty sick
Hey Phil, do you think you could do a video about making pickups and how different things affect the final sound of them? Pretty sure there would be plenty of interest for such a video.
I have Jericho fusion 6 baritone 27.5 inch scale. Love the baritone sound
Very fun and informative! Thanks, as always!
Lotta guitar for 180 bucks. Was nice for D to drop in, also. Looked like a fun segment.
Way cool!!
Thanks for All the Tech tips. I installed new pickups, and diagnosed an issue (using a multimeter) because of your videos. I had a ton of fun doing it!
I really really want to try one of these but it seems they don’t ship to Canada. I am a baritone guy and had to sell most of my guitars to facilitate the move here. I was hoping to replace some of them once I got here but it’s proving harder than I thought way up here in The Yukon. Thanks for paying some attention to us Baritone folks. Happy Veterans Day.
Been eyeballing this for a while.... Just pulled the trigger after watching this video. Going to be a long term project build, pickup / electronics swap and some locking tuners. should be an absolute monster!
Fantastic video , demo and guitar playing. Thank you both
Amazing instrument for the price. Thanks for sharing thoughts on this baritone guitar. This temps me to try the Firefly PJ bass.
As I age, my voice goes lower, and I wind up having to capo up the neck to be in key. This might work for me. I used to cover 4 octaves, but not any more, plus not singing as often. B to B instead of E to E. Others might try that as well. Thanks for the review.
I think I will give this a try for my guitar ensemble.
I feel bad for anyone that doesn't stay till the end.
I recently bought one of these and love it
Mine arrived at my door about a week ago. 😀 The build quality of the guitar is excellent; no complaints there on my part. However, as I checked it out I found that it was setup with standard baritone strings (B to B) and tuned 1/2 step up to C. WTF?! I ordered a set of Bass VI strings (24 - 90) and put them on without issue except that the nut needs to be filed to accommodate the thicker gauge strings. I am not going to upgrade anything. I'm good with the sound of the pickups and see no reason to replace them; I can get out of them what I need for recording. I consider my $180 to be well spent.
Good review, I have one myself - 30" scale E to e is Bass VI.
Very fun vid and DØVYDAS just makes it even more fun! I've been wanting to try out a baritone but don't want to spend a lot on it. This might be a decent way to do that. Just not sure if I have any more room around here!
Thanks Dude.
Agree....That's a perfect gateway electric baritone guitar.
Very cool video, thanks Phillip!!
Awesome video I really dug the sound of that guitar I'm sure that's something to do with the awesome player
nice of them to leave the neck coil split open so you can add a coil switch somewhere if that's what youre into.
I have 3 Firefly guitars and all three had electronics issues from bad grounds and wires that were not connected. Build quality was pretty good as far as the rest goes I have to say my confidence it not the best for FF. My SG style was the worse it made horrible sounds nothing coming out of it but a low growl sound. Not sure what it was but I redid the whole wireing over and got rid of the growl and it worked. Not sure what the issue was but I fixed it by desoldering all the connections and redoing all the solder joints. I have a similar baritone Fender tribute by Douglas (Rondo Music) I got mine preowned for $99.99 at GC. The specs are pretty much exactly the same as the Fender it's modeled after. I have to say it surprised me at how well it was made but i have always had great luck with Rondo Musics guitar brands.
Wow! Very nice entry level Baritone.
Looks very similar in general to the Artist GM1BARI baritone, (perhaps comes from the same factory?). That sells for AUD$299 (`USD$195). Thanks, Phil, and Dovy.
Dovy kept his shirt on.
Awesome price to satisfy that curiosity. I might have to break my fast and buy one. I think I would find that very fun.
Loved seeing Dovy make a celebrity appearance on KYG. How cool!
I hate that Firefly (and also G4M) advertise these as baritones, when they are in fact just Bass VIs. They really should be strung E-e, like a normal guitar, but an octave down. Anyway...they are very tempting.
A Bass VI is even better! Would this accommodate the thicker Bass VI strings?👍😁
This is great! What an amazing value instrument and Love Dovy....Who was the other "drop in celebrity" and which video?
I saw him at the schecter factory and he met zakk wylde in a meeting room,that was very cool
Really enjoyed this! Thanks @Phillip McKnight
Every time I get it in my head that I want to buy one of these they are OOS. I gave up looking at the website. I’d say it been about a month since I looked. I just bought a Ibanez 7 string two days ago. Kinda wish I’d seen this before. I’ve wanted a a baritone for so long. I got a steal on the ibby though. Mom isn’t gonna let me get an another already. Blame it!
I don't say anything to my wife about all the home decor she buys so I can spend what I'd like, when I'd like! I'm the boss!
(I got my last guitar shipped to my workplace so she would be none the wiser...)
The average guitar consumer doesnt realize that they love CNC guitars. “handmade” from the big brands leads to some human error which is why there are “good” and “bad” vintage guitars of the same make and model.
thx, as always, for the comprehensive review, phil .. .
Love a good baritone
Fender left an absolute power vacuum when they stopped producing the Squier baritone Jazzmaster, amazing to see how many companies are coming to the rescue to keep up with the interest coming from fans of bands like Loathe etc.
It wasn't a "Jazzmaster" the tremolo was similar to a Jaguar as well totally different pickup concept.
My god no shipping outside USA I was about to give it a go!!! amazing product amazing video thank you so much
Just snagged one to try out!
I have one. I swapped in better pickups, a Free-Way six-position switch, and D'Addario EXL157s, then bought it a pro setup -- *very* pleased. This one had a *much* better setup out of the box -- but both my pickups worked, I just didn't like them.
Addendum: The pickups in mine were different, they looked pretty much the same except there were no coil splitting leads on either one.
Would be interested to see a direct comparison between this and the Harley Benton 30-incher at the same price!
Sadly I would never buy a Harley Benton, want to know why? Ask Harley Benton why they sent defective guitars and didn’t care
@@PhillipMcKnighti remember when they sent defective guitars and didn’t replace them, thank you again for fixing them and donating them. Sad
Does Firefly make bass guitars? If they do, I'd love to see you review one of theirs. Thanks.
You got Dovydas! Now he will truly know I’m the one person who watches all the videos.
When I saw the 30" scale length on the website, my first thought was "bass VI" scale length. So I picked one up and threw a set of La Bella Bass VI Flats on it. The low E just....barely....fit in the ferrule, but other than that, it worked great!
Give it some bass pickups and you have your dirt cheap Bass VI.
@@Traumglanz neck pickup with tone dialed back should be about as good
I think these same instruments were sold in Europe branded as SubZero Rogue VI 30 by Gear4Music and have now been rebranded G4M 638 and were meant as Bass VI at first.
@@user-rs7tv5lq5v the pickup voicings seem fine as is, to be honest. All I had to do was file the nut to accomodate the thicker strings.
Would love to see Phil do a deep dive on the new Robin guitars! They started building again and I'm curious if they are as good as the old ones. Always wanted a machete like j from White zombie
Nice to see you "D" Sarasota is still cleaning up a bit.
So I purchased a FFLP Elite about four years ago. I wanted a quilted top in emerald green. It was close to tint but not on the mark. It had so many issues though. It was a big dud. The studs for the bridge and tail piece were drilled oversized. So the bridge and tail piece were very loose. I had to dowel the holes and re-drill to the proper size. The nut spacing was way off for the D and G string. The tuners would nut hold tuning either. They would slip as you played. I had to adjust the truss rod in the counter clockwise direction to get the neck to go straight. It had a huge back bow, even with the rod being loose in the zero tension position. There was finish flaws as well in the clear coat that was applied. End story, I repaired every issue, replaced the nut, all hardware and electronics. I purchased all the replacement items from Guitar Fetish. Now the guitar looks, feels, plays and sounds great. The neck stays straight thanks to the double action truss rod and the guitar stays in perfect tune as well. I would not purchase a Fire Fly ever again and do not recommend to anyone unless they know how to fix all the issues. The one thing I can say is that the fret work was good on mine. No high spots or sprouting. That was shocking since the neck was back bowed. I checked the wood in certain spots and found that mine is all maple. Body, neck and top. The fretboard is rose wood though. These guitars are great if you want to practice on your luthier skills.
Man, I love this channel!
This is a fascinating type of guitar.🤔 If I owned one, I would certainly not let it rot away in a case somewhere. 🎸🎸🎸
this guitar is so great, i bought two a while back
Lower registers don't sound great, but higher up on the treble strings gives a really nice tone.
Please algorithm stop feeding me firefly guitar videos. I live in uk and cant get a hold of them.
That sucks. Is there some sort of govt ban or does Firefly simply refuse to ship to the UK?
13:35 " it's like in between" yup! it's called a Bass VI !
Technically since the scale is 30” you can actually set this up as a Bass VI. Just get the correct strings and set the neck and action and you essentially have a Bass VI
Better suited as a "BASS VI". I've found 30" scale to be too much string tension when tuned up to B. 27" scale more practical for baritone. Anyhoo, can't beat that price!
I really wish they would ship to Australia, I need a baritone JM. In particular the white one, just to match the rest of my white JMs