$200 Firefly FFLPS - It's a Les Paul for less - but how good could it actually be? 

ive watch your channel about 4 or 5 times the reason ive never subscribed is because in my opinion you come off very condescending, like your whole reason for your channel is to make fun of stuff or even the people that can only afford that price range, just my honest opinion.

Next week Ryan will be offering up 268 Firefly guitars that have a 5-10% defective rate. GET YOUR POSTCARDS AND LETTERS IN NOW!

I bought a few FF338's and was disappointed. I sent them back. For some reason I decided to give the Firefly LP's a shot. At the time it was because the Cobra Burst was calling to me. Right after I bought it they were out of stock. This guitar is simply amazing. The pickups on that one was a bit bright, too bright for me, but when I cranked the treble down to 1 1/2 on the amp with all knobs on the guitar on 10, the neck pickup was totally incredible, the jazz sound I have been forever looking for. Oddly enough I usually don't go back and buy a second guitar with just a different color but I bought the FFLP Spalted Maple as well. Another incredible guitar. The real point I wanted to get to was that there was one fret on the neck that was a little proud. I simply loosened the strings, took a short 3/4" block of wood and a hammer, laid the guitar down on a bed with the headstock leaning out beyond the edge of the bed, so only the round neck was touching the mattress, and gave the wood block a very medium to light whack. BINGO no more buzz on the surrounding frets. Now the neck plays perfect with no buzz anywhere. Another two notes worth mentioning is that the Cobra Burst pickups were very bright, and the Spalted Maple LP was not the same, it was middle of the road in terms of treble. Both of them are the Elite models. On the headstock instead of saying Classic it says, Elite. It has the edge banding on the headstock all the way around, and down the edge of the neck. Both of them are mint flawless with their finish work. They both have quickly become my go to guitar and I have a 23 guitar collection. They play like magic. I can't recommend them high enough.

The jam at the end was just epic, super inspiring. Now I need a microphonic pickup in my life!!!!

Firefly owner here and a member of the Facebook group, and a fan of yours, Gary (that stuff with the other group was nutty in real time). Reading the comments as the video played, I’m like “yeah, let’s see with the outdo”. EVERYBODY WAS RIGHT ABOUT IT. Nicely done, my friend.

This has become one of my favorite guitar sites to check out different models. I really like your skill as a player, and knowledge, but also your personality comes through very well, and is enjoyable to listen to your commentary. Keep up the good work.

I’ll just echo what everyone else is saying……..that outro was absolutely killer 🤘 good stuff!

I love your play-out at the end of this video. You even made good use of the microphonic pickups!

When you get an inexpensive guitar, you're a lot more likely to learn how to dial in a guitar to your liking. I used to be afraid to make any adjustments to my only expensive (to me) guitar. When I ended up with a little beater, I was willing to adjust the truss rod, file high frets, etc. Once I realized that it's not that complicated or difficult, I started setting up my guitars and noticed how much better they sound when you get them right. You can pay a lot more for a kit guitar. So if you go into it with the understanding that you will possibly need to do some work, you can have a great looking, fun and usable guitar for not much money.

Good stuff. I love the use of the microphonic pickup on the outro jam

Thanks for the review, really enjoyed it, and it was FUN

I got a firefly dc as part of a trade with Dimarzio p90's and locking grovers. It is a beast , I have 30 guitars and too many of them rarely get played but that firefly is always in the rotation. Good review and demo 🎸🤟🍻

Really like your channel. Wanted to mention that if you have a high fret, it may be not fully seated in that area. I've experienced that with some Firefly's and Harley Bentons. The trick is to identify the offending fret, and like you did determine which part of that fret is high, like in this video it is only so over 3 of the string areas. Take the strings off and lay the neck on a bed with the headstock over the edge (You know how sensitive bent back headstock are at having them break off) and take a piece of hardwood, for example a 3/4" piece with a smooth end, and use a light duty hammer and give the block of wood positioned on the offending fret area and give it a light whack. Check to see if it is still high. Repeat if necessary. You can do this with the strings still on the guitar just loosened a bit. That way you can tune it back up right away for a final check. Leveling a fret that is not fully seated gives you a level fret that is still proud on it's base to the fretboard. So always check the seating first. Then if you need to a fret leveling, by all means.

That jam at the end was killer! Talking into the guitar has a really cool lo-fi microphone effect.

As a Firefly fan and happy owner of their 338 (with no deal-breaker flaws for my purposes, which are running it into an ampless setup, so no issues with microphonic pickups), I‘d say your review is very well-balanced and fair. With Fireflies, there is always a bit of luck involved in getting a near-flawless guitar, though some models are less prone to flaws than others, and Firefly has been cracking down on some of the issues. They are definitely a huge value for the money, and in many cases are prettier than Harley Bentons (though there are exceptions). I love my 338 a lot, in brown Spalted Maple. No fretwork needed, decent tuners, only one small cosmetic flaw (probably due to transport), and just a wee bit of work needed on the intonation. About your positive appraisal: I wonder if the folks at FF sent you a pre-checked guitar…. The real proof of how good (or not) this particular model is would be in buying one from a shop.

Microphonic pickups are good for noise rock, no doubt (I actually like the sound of the pickup feedback!)

Nice to see a fun review!

I've got an FFLP, and I love it. $200-$300 guitars are now as good as $500 guitars were 20 years ago. Yeah, it's still budget gear, but it's totally useable and enjoyable.

Great review and great playing!!

Very nice review! I own 3 Fireflys and just bought another 338 to give to a friend. Wish I could have bought this kind of quality for $200 30 years ago! Keep up the great reviews, and yes, I enjoy your playing too :)

Great Video Ryan.

Props where they are due, that play out was the best thing I've seen you do sir o7

That bit at the end was frickin cool man.

I was looking at adding this to my growing collection, but the little lady said not right now, so I ended up just buying some pedals for the Indio Strat in Cali Blue that I bought after seeing your video for it, and I am quite happy with it. I ended with a Looper pedal that works with my drums and guitars, along with a new Fuzz pedal. In the spirit of giving, I gave my niece a new sets of keyboards that I bought 6 months or so ago as she plays them, and I don’t, but was going to learn. I’m putting more time in my guitars skills now, so I just let her have the keyboard. You should have seen her face light up. I love those little things in life. Nice review, and nice jam, makes me want this thing even more. Speaking of wanting things, where is my free reverb pedal huh? Just kidding dude, I see that you got more responses than you imagined including mine. I’ll settle for anything from the diaper boxes as well. I’m not greedy or picky. Just give me my free stuff man, and everything will be cool…ROFL

Just wanted to say that I absolutely loved the outro jam

Nice playing you managed to coax some sweet sounds from that guitar

My friend has one of these and it’s one of my favorite guitars I’ve ever played, and I personally think it holds up to some guitars I’ve played like my epiphone sg that are easily twice the price

Old, worn, Revlon fingernail file fixes fret issues and fret ends just fine. Tape for protection if you need it. Credit card works as a fret rocker...👍 Good review! 👌 That ending jam made me feel like back in the 60's! 🎶😁

sweet video thanks for the info

I ordered a Firefly LP Elite and received it today . I paid a total of $250 that included shipping . I’ve only spent about 25 minutes with it and here is my feedback . Overall a nice looking guitar . I was under the impression from the place I bought it from the one I was getting was the exact one that was pictured as everyday when I looked at the site they would mark different ones as sold and then new ones were put up . The one in the picture had a 5 star maple top veneer and the one I received is about a 2 star . Still nice looking but not as figured . The fret work is very good no high or low spots and the action was set up nicely . The binding and finish are very good I don’t detect any issues and it’s a nice clean job . The inlays on fret board are good . There is some glue on the fret board which I will remove at some point . The diamond inlay on the head stock is slightly tilted . Not noticeable unless you look closely . Tuners are not bad . I’ve seen much much worse on guitars that cost twice as much . The pickups aren’t bad however running them through my Marshall JCM 900 the feedback a lot when you start to raise volume up . I have an extra set of Gibsons hanging around which I will put in . All in all I’m satisfied . It plays much better than a $200 guitar should and I suspect over the next couple years prices will rise as more people see what they are getting for such a low price .

You can wax pot or remove the pickup covers. They actually sound pretty good without the covers.

Appreciate the review. I liked the 338 Spalted Maple so much, I picked up one of these LPs. I really like it. Very fun to play. Nut was cut well. Just a tweak to the truss rod and it was good to go. Holds tune amazingly well. The body on mine is flame Maple (book-cased on mine) transparent lemon to orange. A really good looking, great playing guitar. About 200 bucks delivered. I'll pick up one of their tele models if they build a run of them for sure. As you noted, I believe the pickups on the LP and 338 are the same. The sound difference between the hollow body and solid body is striking.

Love my FFLP!!! Cool review. I have an Epiphone as well. Love them both!💞

I absolutely ADORE that outro dude! So relaxing and inspiring! You under-rate your playing. You are very good.

That outro bit you played was inspiring. Those pickups should be removed from that guitar put in the housing and used as a microphone, that was awesome

Nailed the intro Ryan 🤟

I agree,this axe sounds great,a "keeper" and I love your gold 338. Nice job!

Finally got a real 1968 Princeton reverb all original components except power trans and 12" speaker, sounds amazing, now I have three princes, 2 65 non reverbs and the 68 reverb

This is a beautiful guitar. I'd like to get a Firefly. Their site should keep a guitar archive for all the models they've sold (and more information on all of them). Why they don't is baffling.

I just watched your show for the first time and I really liked your take on things. Very down to earth, and honest. I’ve been playing for many, many years, and I have and have had many guitars over the years. And a lot of them were cheap guitars that played and sounded as good and if not some ways better than the name brand types. I’m always looking . Just like any true guitar player out there. Even if you’re satisfied with the gear you have, you can’t help being curious if nothing else. Faubus

Nice review sir👍🏼! May I ask where that guitar made in(what country)? Thank you! 🙏🏼

Love the shirt!

The dead fret.... I would try to tap it down before I messed with leveling it, sometimes they just dont get seated in the "budget line" instruments.... overall, it seems like a very nice guitar for the money. Great vid as always Ryan.

I love buying these inexpensive awsome guitars and enjoy doing the work to make them the best they can be, gives me something to do.

I received my fflp smokey burst about 4 weeks ago. And man I tell you I almost believed someone had it done some work and sent it back but I know that isn't the case. The frets were absolutely perfect even the edges were great. It plays wonderful and the pick ups sound great to me. It honestly has a PAFish style tone to it. And I haven't seen hardly any blemishes on finish so I think they have really stepped up their game. I'm positive they were listening to consumers. Most everything that was a con are now fixed.

I have both the FFLPS and the 338. both had a few issues, some cosmetic, some high frets that just needed to be seated with a tap of the screwdriver handle, i had to dress 3 frets on fflps and 1 on 338. the new 338 has much better pickups and bridge. the fflps has a grounding issues but ill figger that out (it also weighs almost 10lbs) This new batch of 338s has a higher cost than the last run but i really love my natural spalted maple 338.

You're great man! Nice video. How are the pickups? The problem is that the pickups are too low output. Would you upgrade the pickups, the pots to 500K, and the Caps. Do they sound like PAF Guitars?

Thank u love it. If u can give me the affects pedal set up your using id appreciate my man

Finally! A BoobToob guitar vid when the instrument is actually in tune! Great vid Ryan, I'm not really a LP fan but now I want one of these guitars!

I just received mine today the goldtop. Sparkle gold top actually. I was very surprised at the quality. Emblem is straight, no high frets, smooth edges surprisingly. Only issue that I can find are that the knobs are tight and cheaper feeling than the rest of the guitar . And of course I will change out the strings. But over all more like $500 guitar than $218 that included tax and shipping.

Killer outro jam!!!

Wow, I thought you could only play surf guitar. Great improvement. To be honest I love your surf playing.

I love this channel and my Firefly fflp.

You’re getting better at guitar! I’m afraid your brand is going to take a hit. Your opening jam was great!

I got one similar to that a few weeks ago. The Dings: a slight cosmetic flaw on the fretboard, which does not affect playability. The back had some micro scratches/buff marks and a very slight wavy edge on the lower bout curve next to the neck, on the back side. The top was advertised as flamed/spalted and turned out to be mostly flamed with just slight spalting-like artifacts. Not "spalted" as the term shows up in more expensive guitars. On the plus side, the top was EXTREMELY flamed and flat out drop dead gorgeous. A veneer of course, but nevertheless! That top has a flame depth equal to my MIJ Gretsch. The back also had beautiful flame but is a little harder to see because of the darker stain used on back surfaces. The action, neck, frets, and overall setup were acceptable but certainly improvable. It's a keeper. I'm quite happy with the guitar. It's functional, the flaws are not be noticeable, but the flame top definitely IS. The flaws are very slight and I don't mind them. I mean, if you spend thousands on a Murphy Lab Les Paul, do you mind the "aged" flaws on your brand new Gibson? BUT - I cannot emphasize enough: When you buy cheap guitars you are taking a chance and MUST be prepared to deal with that as part of the process. A couple of years ago, I got a gold top LP from Firefly that was fairly good in all respects EXCEPT it looked like it had had a broken neck repaired. It should have gone back but since the playability was fine, and I could not feel any difference at the site of the possible repair, and I otherwise enjoyed playing it, I kept it. The neck is still functionally good and takes adjustments well. Overall, my own best results have been with Harley Benton and Xavier/Guitar Fetish guitars - they are consistently better than average cheap guitar purchases. Occasionally, you get a stunningly good guitar, but you will ALWAYS run some risk. Also know that parts replacements and upgrades - PARTICULARLY BRIDGES ON CHINESE GUITARS - can be problematic, ranging from mildly annoying to extremely frustrating. You'll get knowledge/skills in return albeit the hard way.

I giggled much more than any grown man should at the PUSA lyrics dropped into that outro jam.

Wow, sounds killer. 🤘

the Bridge Pickup sounds sick! Did you mod the guitar?

Great intro, reminded me a little of all them witches. BTW great name for a band, or an album: Only getting slowed down by my own ability.

Hi Ryan, I've watched your channel enough to know that that your are a "... But does it surf" type of musician, But man that outro you did The sound was out of this world and using the pickup as a microphone just sent it over the top. The best video you have done so far, for my taste. Firefly say they have upgraded the pickups and hardware with the Elite series in 2023, was that what they sent you?

Welp, looks like I went and bought myself a guitar for the office... Thanks alot, Ryan! For the price, I'm betting this will be perfect for downtime.

As a player who does their own set up, I can tell you from the chords you've played on the first position that the set up was perfect ( except for that buzzing fret you've mentioned). The wood sounds good and i guess the pickups are ok, but you are probably right about possibly replacing them. I don't have too much experience with getting them replaced. Also it's very important that the tuning pegs are quality. I have a similar Mitchell guitar and I've paid almost twice the amount. Btw , the curve on the top is crooked but a couple of luthiers have told me it's not an issue.

They upgraded their pick ups, Tuners and hardware a bit. Stainless steel frets also. The price went up but it's still a very good deal for what you get.

I really like my blue burst 338, but I will probably change the pickups out for humbucker sized P90s. I'm looking at the FFLPS and if I get one, I'm going with the Lizard Burst. It's the coolest green I've ever seen.

I own the Firefly Matte Black from 2018 (Fantastic) and it still has incredible tuning stability. Actually better than my 2019 Gibson LP Custom.

Is it a solid chunk of carved “Mahogany” with the pretty veneer on top, or is there a real maple carved cap with the veneer on top?

I got my firefly Les Paul I must of got a really good one I’m very happy with it and the price was great it was a great deal .. It plays just as good as my real Les Paul 👍😎🎸🙏

Great guidelines! Being a newbie i can see where being less experienced might make one self conscious regarding your style. BUT we are here for info about guitar, not your job to give "confidence" to a newbie to buy, altho you said 150x its only a $200 guitar! To person whom is offended, take what info is useful and compare with other reviews. It is a comprehensive review and viewpoint. Thanks for that from this newbie....

Great review! I would be inclined to buy this guitar - but bad service, as mentioned in your comments, is a reason to doubt. And I love your last take! what effects did you use? This sounds awesome! 👍👍👍

Hello Ryan, I'm watching your review of the $200 Firefly LP style guitar. A good review! I will add my Firefly experience with the FF338, Spalted Maple top. It also had one high fret in the upper neck region. I'm a guitar tech so I fixed that myself. The other issue was also very microphonic pickups. Unusable for my playing style. I removed them ( fun...) and potted them myself. I've potted several pups before with good success. But these FF pups did not improve with potting. I'm not sure if that issue is just with the 2 pups I had or if it's a problem across the board with FF pups. I wound up replacing the pups and made some other personal but unnecessary customizations and the guitar is now a nice "player" grade instrument. Generally, my 3 Harley Bentons are better instruments right out of the box, but the FF can be made into a good solid guitar with some work. I enjoy your Surf Rock guitar style!

The jam at the end ❤❤❤❤❤❤

This is the kind of guitar that I might buy as a project but I must say that apart from fixing any high frets probably the first thing I would do is switch out the electronics and install some proper shielding while I am at it. To be honest apart from those things these guitars are probably good to go barring mods like installing a Bigsby style trem and roller saddles if you are into that.

Thank you

Review the sun burst V . Great new frets , joy to play .

Guitar tech 22 years your at least honest and I just set up the Red Bat fire fly Les Paul 3 high frets crap bridge pickups as expected at the $225 price. I will buy one as a play out guitar with some Tone Pro upgrades and pickups 👍

I’ve got the 338, which is a pretty decent guitar. I’ve got the gold top w p90s coming today… any minute now actually so I checked this out to hold me over ! I agree with you on the firefly pups… they sound pretty damn good but the microphonics of them just drive me up the wall , so with a pickup swap I’d agree that you are getting a lot of guitar for 200$. If a person can’t wire their own pots and pups then they should learn, it’s super fun and a handy skill to have! I can promise it’s harder learning to play than it is to do some light luthier work !! 😂 oh and I seen the dude commenting about you being condescending which I thought was freakin hilarious, you’re a funny dude ! People need to lighten up !! Geezuz 😝

Do you know where we can get these outside the US?

This dude shreds Wowzers!

I just ordered my first FF out of curiosity.

I might have my wife get me one for Xmas. I had the 338 but sold it cause the pups sucked, super microphonic, but it was put together very well. I have the double cut P90 that is EXCELLENT. Playing through my original BC 60 and it just sounds perfect at least to me. But just ordered a Fender Tele and am stoked about it. Years ago I had a Gibson LP, studio model and it sucked a fat one. It was so staticky when strumming when my hand hit the body of the guitar it drove me nuts. Had the Gibson folks look at it at my expense and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. I get it back and the same thing, you'd touch the body or just rub a finger on it and it was pure static. This was a P90 style. P90's were pretty quiet too. So anything can happen even with top of the line guitars. stay safe

The body shape reminds me very strongly of the Xaviere Pro-500. I wouldn't be surprised if they were made at the same factory.

I'm considering one. How if the build? I'm obviously gonna swap out the pickups and hardware, bridge and tuners. Would you recommend it?

What is that guitar over your left sholder? The odd shape gold guitar with white pick guard and Gigsby, that looks interesting.

I have no problem with your reviews. I think you give an honest opinion and I don't find you to be arrogant or condescending. Just my 2 cents.

Like your 17th fret, I have a similar high fret sound on my FF338. Mine's at the 2nd fret though... 😔 One of these days I'll get around to fiddling with it. It hasn't bothered me enough to worry about it yet. I've been working on getting some tools together though.

Do a review on the new firefly FlyingV with rounded fret ends the model is FFFV. THANKS !!

between iyv, firefly, leo jaymz, grote, redid guitars do you think they have better quality in the Les Paul type style?

Sorry for the many questions, but what color is that? I don't see it on the website.

Do they still do a tele style guitar? I almost pulled the trigger on one a couple years ago, said 'nah, maybe later', and I never see them in stock any more.

you play very well

Ovation, last I saw, has a bowl - bodied guitar in its logo! 😮

I picked up the DC LPjr with the TOM style bridge. LEAGUES above the wraparound

omg...I'm gonna have that damn riff(20:20) stuck in my head all day now lol

Curious how you feel about the crimson guitars logo

I really wish they'd bring back those DCJRs. I hope they're modding them a bit, based on user feedback, so they can re-release.

Speaking of big companies that have guitars in the logo... Charvel came to mind immediately. And they make of course wonderful instruments, so...

I have that same exact guitar. It’s a doomer through a tube screamer > rat > bass amp

I bought the FireFly LPS guitar after watching this video. I had hopes. So much for that. A word of warning... I'm on the east coast and had to pay $66 to ship it back due a buzzing bridge. It appears the tail piece isn't seated right. They indicated via email if it was defective they'd refund the cost of the guitar (after it is carefully checked), but no mention of the shipping to me or the $66 to ship it back via Fedex ground. That would be a $90 loss for a defective product. I'll update this post if I get a refund.

When I go to the Firefly web site they don’t offer that red flame maple guitar you received from them. I don’t like the ones they show on the web site enough to get one but that one you have I would like to get. Have you tried one of the GFS Xavier LP modals or any of the others yet? Curious about those cause they have decent prices and lots of other stuff too.

that ending tho... inspired.