LOL....This would be the axe that you buy if (when they open up again) you play the 'seedy' clubs, and don't want to drag out the mondo $$$ 335 for your gig Lol. I always want to buy another guitar, and have lived on raman to do so Lol!
Firefly Guitar Specifications. September 21, 2020 FF 338 • Semi hollow. Laminate maple body (3-ply) with f-holes, center block and single ply binding • Quality enclosed die-cast tuning machines (Recently using Jin-Ho) • Set maple neck, scarf joint, rosewood fretboard (some "rosewood" fretboards in the past were substituted with richlite during the CITES embargo) • Most have a 43 mm bone nut • 11-degree headstock angle • 24.75" scale • 12" fretboard radius • Slim, 60s style neck profile • Some finishes have a single ply bound neck and headstock • Tune-o-Matic style bridge with a retainer spring and fixed stop tail • 2 humbucking pickups with ceramic magnets • 2 Volume knobs, 2 Tone knobs, 3-way switch • 18” body length, 1 ¾” body thickness at edge, 11 ¼” upper bout, 8 ¾” waist, 15 ½“ lower bout, 41 ½” overall length Comes with 10-46 nickel plated strings
@@peterraymond1659 The neck radius on the above guitar is 20. At least on the one I received. Fret buzz was rediculously bad. And to give the neck some relief and raise the bridge.
Thanks for the specs. It's in the middle of the night 5/22/22 Sunday here in NYC my Cobra Burst FF 338 is scheduled to arrive at some point today. Im so excited i cant go to sleep. I have a new Blackstar Fly 3 mini amp and new D'Addario locking strap waiting to be matched up with it. ...ive got my fingers crossed that it turns out to be another great guitar to add to the batch that i already have. I hope it's ready to play right out of the box because I have not gotten a new guitar- in five years and im just drooling in anticipation. ...especially since this will be my first semi- hollow body guitar!!
I own 3 Firefly Guitars, FFLP, FFDCD, and the Spalted Maple 338. None of them had any issues, and only needed a setup to my personal preferences. Thanks for a truly awesome review as always!
Do you happen to know what Guage of strings the 338 ships with? I want to get one for my brother, but definitely need 10s or higher, he plays mostly acoustic so...when he tries to play my electrics the strings are too light and he's ninja grip bending notes out of tune just fretting chords lol. Typically I replace strings immediately when getting any new guitar, but its kinda nice to see someone unbox something brand new for the first time.
It's supposed to be a Jazz guitar, but did you hear it? It definitely had a more southern plinky sound to it. I don't know if it is the raw pickups, or if Darrell had fx on it, either live in the room, or in post? I know he added reverb in post, he may have added some Nashville style poppy/plinky compression. I've asked in another comment here, we'll see what he says. I'm pretty sure, you could find some jazz appropriate pickups and slot them in, get that smoother, cleaner, jazz tone... I think! Who knows! Not me!
I was just blown away at the quality, sound, price of this Firfly. I am a BB King fan, and have always wanted a guitar just like his. Now, I can purchase one! Thank you for your honest opinion and recommendation. Thank you from a Disabled Army Veteran!
Ben, you should try it. I got mine about a month ago and I love it! There is no way that you'll find a better looking or playing guitar for the price. I'm just a hobbyist player, so I don't give a damn about a few very minor finish flaws. All of my friends who've seen my Firefly can't believe the price when I tell them, and a few even went and got their own! And thank you for your service!
Based on your review and others, I bought the Firefly FF 338. It arrived today. I’ve been in the guitar playing game for 60 years and I have several brand name expensive guitars. I am blown away by this Firefly! It looks, plays and sounds fantastic. Thanks a million for your kind and I might say, conservative assessment of this beautiful instrument.
The newest version of this model FIREFLY 338 PRO has Alnico 5 Humbuckers, full size pots, bone nut, stainless steel rounded end frets, locking tuners, new design fret inlays, headstock inlay and name plate over truss rod port.. price is $219.99 USD Sept. 2023
Seriously, he has been on a jag lately with these affordable guitars. He is killing me. I've got some money saved up for a drum machine, as I've been producing electronic music for 25 years, and never had a dedicated outboard drum machine, its a travesty, I know... but on the other side of my studio, I've got a live music setup for guitar based music, and I don't need it, but one of these cheapy guitars that he has been reviewing lately is calling my name... I'm just trying to figure out the shipping cost on this Firefly. If it were free shipping, or really reasonable, like sub $30, I'd probably of ordered this already! DAMN GAS! I NEED that drum machine, but I really WANT this Firefly or an LP style, with gnarly humbuckers, I've got two guitars with 5 single coils, I need (no wait, WANT) some high output humbucking at my fingertips!
I just received my FF338 Spalted Maple today, May 13, 2021. It was packed very well. After my inspection it is perfect and as beautiful as it is on this video. I love this guitar.
I personally own 3 of these - purple flame, gloss black and matte black. Out of the box they each required minor tweaks, but once they underwent a full set up, all sounded fantastic. I have since upgraded the pickups on all 3 and can safely say that these are a modder’s dream. Excellent built quality and incredible value for the money!
What pickups did you put in them? I want to put something a little warmer and less microphonic in mine. Boe - this IS a decent guitar, that just happens to be inexpensive. This is as good as the Epiphone ES-335 I used to have and is 1/3 the price.
@ Boe P. I have a 335, a Japanese Elitist Casino, 2 Les Pauls and a Tele so I have a lot of higher end guitars in the stable. What caught my attention on the first FF338 was the colour, a beautiful purple flame top which I found very unique. I bought it to mod it, did my upgrades and was immediately impressed. All 3 are modded differently some I have a huge tonal pallet to play with.
Just got this guitar (same model and finish) for $70 … brand new, shipped. Still in its box, hope to get it set up this week! The set up’s going to cost more than the guitar.
Been looking for a Firefly semi hollow for quite awhile now. Ordered the Spalted Maple a few weeks ago and received it quickly. Very nice axe for the money!
If I just didn't order my Squier Classic Vibe Ltd. Edition Tele in Metallic Purple with Maple Fretboard from our UK buds, I would have ordered this. That look is killer.
THANK YOU TO DARRELL. This the video that sold me on this guitar. Even the Spalted Maple. Never seen such a beautiful guitar before. Have had mine for about six months now, and I love it.
Hmmm....perhaps that's because I only feature things on my channel that I actually like 🤔🤔🤔 Why would I demo stuff I hate? Does that make any sense? Watch any of my demos (especially low cost guitars), and if there are any flaws or defects, believe me, you'll hear about them :)
Took eighteen months but I finally snagged one in the see through red! Replaced the black pickguard with a pearlized white one and am totally in awe of the deal I got for my dream guitar! It's not 100% perfect but everything wrong with it I fixed in a day! I'm the go to blues guy in my neighborhood now!
I love ya Darrel, but for the love of God, will you just plug it into a Katana and mic it? That's the type of gear people will be playing this through. $189 guitar into a $3000 amp really isn't going to tell me what this thing sounds like.
@@paulypoobrain2929 PPP models comparing ppp of country x vs y give a clearer picture. Amp simulation, recording and general consumer software technology has improved and reduced in cost y-o-y exponentially. An awesome time to be take up a guitar as a hobby.
My wife bought me this exact guitar for Christmas. I literally sent her the link as soon as I watched this video. It really is a beautiful guitar. In playing around with the pickups, while they are potted, they are still microphonic at higher inputs. Talking into them you won't hear anything, but give them a whistle and they still go. So I swapped the stock ones for some Dragonfire Screamers and oh wow I am planning to sell my Epiphone Ultra (not a III) now because this thing just destroys it. Especially in the neck pup. I also swapped the tuning machines while I was at it to some Musiclily lockers. Noticeable improvement and the weird white funk that came out with the stock tuners was...well...weird.
I see that they are now binding the headstock. It’s amazing how much they keep improving these. I bought my cherry red about a year ago, and still love it. Best $140 I’ve ever spent
I've got this axe. Got it a couple months ago. And I LOVE it. I'm not a great player, but I'm a hobbyist, and I have a blast with it. Got a bunch of guitars, and honestly.... this one is one of my favorites in the collection. I can't say enough good things about it. Plays awesome. Sounds awesome. Looks even more awesome. I can't believe what you get with this, for this kind of cash.
Spot on Jimmy Z. Incredible value for $$$ and they play as well if not better than guitars 3x the price. They avoid retail so you save a chuck of cash on the cost. These are legit fun guitars to play.
How is the neck? Fret sprout, scratchy fret wires and fret board? That's always the deal breaker for me. I have three heavy rotation guitars, Squier, Epiphone and Gibson. As long as the neck is silky smooth, I'm good.
What's your highest end guitars? Prices? I'm a terrible player too, but I wouldn't call myself a hobbiest, I'm just an outright terrible professional guitar player, lol. I've got a MiM Hss Strat, and a Supro Hampton, I wonder if this Firefly can hang with those two, or would the Firefly just stay hanging up on the wall? I wonder what would happen if you gigged with this semi hollow body? Would it just feedback to death? Probably! *QUESTION* what was your shipping Jimmy? I assume you're in the States? Please, I've got to know! haha! You know I'm close to pulling the trigger on this one!
@@jburdsinfuse I think Darrel addressed the frets in this vid. There are tooling marks on fret ends, so I think he said they're a little rough. But the frets themselves are smooth, Darrel demo'ed some string bends, and he was like, "SMOOTH".
But, imo, btw, rough fret ends are pretty easy to round off, all things considered. It's not like doing a full fret job, which is actually really labor intensive.
I had noisy/microphonic humbuckers in my first Firefly LP goldtop and after I swapped in some others, I potted the FF pickups and they really improved. So much so that I have installed one of them in a resonator and it sounds GREAT. Maybe you should try potting those to compare the improved vs the original. It might be a good hands-on video for people who are afraid to do this simple mod.
The guitar, itself, looks great, and this is coming from a guy (me) who owns 6 Gibsons (including a 2005 Memphis made, Gibson ES-335.) The only thing that scares me, is the possibility of "unseasoned" wood, which could later cause neck twists.
Affordable and good reputation are two words that are not frequently put together in one sentence. Guitar sounds great. Makes you rethink some choices you’ve made in the past
I was able to grab one today, as Guitar Garden has a few in stock and sent me an email too say, “If interested, they’re in stock.” So, even though I have over 50+ quality guitars, I had to at least give this one a try, for $209 shipped!!! Hopefully it’s a keeper! Thanks Darrell, for all your help and hard work in brining us these videos and instruments!! *** Also purchased a Wangs 2204 with the 1x12 cab too. (Based on your video too!) ☑️ Best to you and the channel! ✌🏼
I've been watching your channel for a few days now and it's got me wanting to try playing again. You've been testing some beautiful guitars and I love the semi hollow body guitars. The fact that twenty years ago I was trying to play a squire with no teaching, I lost interest. You've help pique my interest again. Thank you.
I'm playing my spalted maple Firefly 338 right now as I'm surfing RU-vid and saw you posted this. Your finish pops a lot more than mine- the red is deeper and the yellow is brighter on yours. May be due to the lighting you use for the video. I bought it largely based on your previous review of a 338. I absolutely love it, I play it more than any of my other Fenders, Squiers, Epiphones, or my Gibson Les Paul (mostly because that one lives in its case and this one is easily accessible. I don't know what wood the fretboard is made of, but it's got a great tight grain which I like. It's super smooth and feels better to bend than the fretboards on my Squiers and my Epiphone 339. The tuners are great - even for being cheap and unbranded, they're smooth and slow... no jumps or catches. Literally my only complaint is that the buckers are super microphonic as you mentioned, but it doesn't really come in to play unless I'm using my desktop amp right next to the guitar. I'm considering putting some higher quality PAFs in it. The neck is a nice slim neck with a good hard lacquer on it that doesn't get sticky like my classic vibes. I had been holding out for the green burst finish 338 and had been checking in every week or so when I saw this one was in stock and even though it's $30 or so more than the green burst, I had to have it. I don't regret it. It's a fantastic guitar. Not just fantastic for the money, but it's as good as any Epiphone semi hollow I've played. Highly recommend for less than $200 - you can't go wrong with it.
Me three or twenty seven, definitely stunning in apperance, and since the real deal is well just too damn much, I frankly could only be happier if they were to put out a firebird clone, which c'mon they'd never be able to do that. Firefly, if you're listening, I dare ya, double dog dare ya! (fingers crossed) LOL I hope it's as good looking as Darrell's is!
Got the Honey burst one last year. And picked up the blue one for my niece last week. The action was a little high, But a quarter turn of the truss rod brought it to a sweet spot. Making it a real nice playable guitar for a beginner. Other then oily dirty strings that came with it a good guitar.
Hi Darrel, love what you do! Thx for keeping it real for musicians and guitar players. As a proud Canadian, I would love to see more content of Canadian products. Cheap guitars are awesome but we all know where they come from. I have several commercial Canadian products like Godin and Larrivee and Traynor, which are quite affordable new and used. I’ve had several hand made Canadian products like Purdy amps and Fury guitars. Other great Canadian guitar gear is Brown Bear guitars from ON, Reid guitars from NL, Trinity amps in ON, Vineham pickups in NL, etc etc. Know they are more expensive but I’ve learned in my half century on this great planet to “buy once, cry once “ and move away from disposable culture. After all, whether the guitar is cheap or expensive the materials have been harvested the same way. How those precious resources are utilized is our responsibility. Cheers and stay safe! Grant from Alberta.
I just received my new Firefly Spalted Maple 338. It looks great, the maple top is booked veneer, the finish is very good. The F holes are slightly rough in two areas, but not visibly a problem, the action was preset and intonation was there once I tuned the strings. Frets were polished, slight edge on the fret ends, I will smooth and polish these. The workmanship was very good overall. Thanks Darrell for your honest review. It is a fantastic guitar at this price! Bought from the website Guitars Garden, they go fast!
I have Grote's version of these clones. For the same price as yours, it's a bit nicer with the inlays, truss rod cover and torched woodgrain in see through purple but is fully a hollow body so it has a trapeze tailpiece. *The fact is, we're in the golden age of cheap guitars and though there's still a risk in quality consistency, it's common to land a $200 off-brander that's literally every bit as much as the $3000 American made Gibson, Jackson, Fender etc.* It's sad to see all the vintage American brands struggling and landing in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, but they should have taken far more steps to remain current with the market and competition.
Just FYI, I have been checking the site daily for about a week and suddenly this morning spaled maple 338 were availalbe, I ordered, they have added a bunch of colors and such
I bought one of these about a year ago (around $140 USD then). Replaced the tuners, my frets needed a little dressing, and had to re-glue one rosette that fell out of the neck. That's it. Fun guitar, full of surprises... very much worth it.
On it's way. And I got a 9 dollar savings from your link ..Thanks Darrell...I'll work on those frets when it gets here. I also grab a set of Graph tech 8341 ratio locking tuners for it cuz the stock one's look like there not up to the job. I watch all your vids so I know what to replace and with what. You should see my super strat....made from your vids also only better. Started it's life as a 20th anniversary Squire and replaced the pick guard with Seymour /Duncan classic stack loaded pickguard .Got 2 sets of fender locking tuners so I could do 2&4 config and lose the string tree's and Gotoh Traditional Tremolo with roller saddles. Did all the fret work and set up myself. Why did I put 500 dollars in a 250 dollar Guitar.....Cuz I can! It plays like a dream and stays in tune like nothing else Ive ever owned. And I learned all of it from you. If you like I would send it to you and maybe you could review it. I sent a picture of it to sweetwaters and the guys just died. It's just for fun...I have many that cost a lot more but this one is my fav. thanks again . Ron
Sounds awesome. I just picked up a Charvel, but in the future I might get one of these firefly guitars. Looks good and is great for some mods. I would love to see your superstars, that seems really cool. One day I might build one.
Ron, I'm honestly very surprised (pleasantly) at the tuners. They're smooth and they don't jump or catch. They're definitely cheap tuners, but they're the best cheap tuners I've had.
@@BuckFlicks I sure they are... but the advantages that come with ratio locking tuners are huge and I put them on most of my guitars that I play a lot because I don't enjoy stringing and once you use them your hooked for life.
I have the same one. It was my first foray into Firefly. I now own three. For the money they are amazing. Apart from the same small cosmetic blemishes pointed out here, the only minor issues I’ve had with this guitar are the pickups being microphonic and the jack being kinda wonky. However after swapping out the tuning machines for locking and a roller bridge for good measure, (both reasonably priced from eBay) this is easily my most played guitar. Great review as always Darrell!
Hey Darrel, thank you! You're the one who inspired me to to finally buy a FF-338! *BUT* unsurprisingly, they were sold out everywhere I looked with expected wait tine at 2 months or worse. However, as luck would have it, I found a 338 on sale on the local Craigslist. It turns out to have the exact same blue burst finish as the one you had in the other video! Needless to say, I jumped on it even tho the seller priced it at nearly 300$. However, the massive markup is justified in that the seller installed a set of 2009 Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro humbuckers (Burstbucker 3/57 Classic) and had a complete set-up done on it including a complete fret job. He even threw in the original pups which are microphonic but they do sound ok (tested them in a purpose built pup test guitar I have). It had quickly became one of my top fave guitars, one of my top dozen in my herd! ...and the only hollow body type I have! I feel no need to get another HB/SHB now. Again, thank you, Darrell! PS: Ooookay, now yer tempting me to try out a new Firefly. I love the flame maple look on that LP!!! Hmmm...sold out already. :( *LOL* Oh well...
OK 2/28/21 I clicked the link. It is for Guitar Gardens. I got it 3/9/21. Tuned it a bit. Plugged it in to a PRS MT-15. Absolutely the best $209 including shipping I have ever spent. Had to back off the tone knobs a bit to keep from feed back with high gain. I bought fret tools while waiting, but they definitely addressed that issue. Frets are flawless. DO NOT hesitate to buy one of these. It shipped out of California. My main guitar is a 10 top PRS custom 24. So I know what quality is. Not saying this is THAT quality, but am VERY happy I bought one of these and have NO complaints. Hopefully the Harley Benton I bought out of Germany is as good of guitar! We will see. P.S. One complaint, my fingers got filthy the first time playing a bit. But I was bening a crap load and probably breaking in the frets. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
Hi from Spain, I really enjoy your reviews, very professional and honest. Guitarists in the US are very fortunate because "Firefly" guitars, if you can even buy one in Europe are far more expensive. This $189 Firefly 338 is €285 (about $300) in Spain and availability is indicated sometime in April 2024, kind regards,John.
I snagged one of these a few weeks ago and was very interested in your review when I saw the thumbnail. Mine is pretty much exact to yours with the little overspray blemishes, etc but is altogether very nice. The fret ends on mine seem to be slightly better, some tooling marks but an attempt appears to have been made. The oddity with mine is with the nut. Checking the string height at the nut using the first fret test for a gap, mine is tight on the fret and appears that the nut may be cut a little deep. However, I get no string buzz and am pretty happy with the action, so I'm rolling with it. I've been watching for Firefly availability for about a year and finally scored one that "looked" upper class for low cost!
Pop over the the Firefly Guitar fan page on FB. They will have a number of members willing to offer helpful and value adding suggestions to solve that issue.
Just got mine today and all the positive commentary I have heard about these guitars is absolutely true. It plays more easily than my $1,100 Lag! Having heard so much about cosmetic flaws I inspected it much more closely than I normally would and found the only flaws were a couple of inlays that were a little crooked and one inlay was a little too small for the space routed out for it and filled with epoxy. The frets are a little gritty but I can polish them, it's not rocket science. Mine is a matte green and gorgeous. All of the hype about Firefly is well earned.
Guitars Garden is selling the (non-spalted top) 338 on Ebay for $140 plus shipping. Which is twenty bucks less than they sell them for on their own site.
So as per previous comments I ordered a spalted right away , out of stock a week later on Git Garden. I have replaced the tuners with wilk ez lock , wilk roller bridge and pups to a 57 special from guitar madness. this is now my fav guitar , sounds and plays amazing.
I usually play a gib LP studio and a fender strat deluxe, I love them both. Im really happy with the difference in the semi hollow. I played an epi sheriton for years and I like the 338 better after a few mods Im so glad i bought the ticket and took the ride , thanks Darrell, you put a nice light on this guitar. I have also recently purchased a HB Fusion as voted as the best cheap brand
Got mine a few weeks ago. It’s such a great value. Worth the hype. Around the quality of MiM fender or Epiphone. The pickups are a bit microphonic but I think they sound good. Considering swapping the tuners and tune-o-matic.
Darrell, you are now my go to guy when I need a guitar review. I have looked at many reviews and this guitar is the one I am going to order. I am a beginner on the guitar. But the way I look at it. A good guitar player can make just about anything sound good.
Got a blue burst last year. Replaced bridge and tuners. Tinkered here and there. In the running for the first one I pick up, but not the choice when in a high gain mood until I do something about the pickups.
Woah! I love my roasted maple neck but that spalted maple neck is like a beautiful Siena burst PS: I cannot believe how many guitars you’ve acquired lol.
Great vid, I ordered one before finishing the vid. I've ordered a new bridge and tuners and will access pickups when it arrives. I had never before heard of FF but sold me right away, as some one in a diff vid said , I've bought lamps for more than 180 $ :)
I got mine today. Played it for awhile. My fingers started turning black from the fret board or the strings. I also need have repairs on it. The pickup switcher has humming when i switch it. The nobs on the ends don't do anything. I hear no difference in tones. The strings are too low and it buzzes on certain frets and it goes out of tune alot. and the low string buzzes.
I was able to get one of the LP series. I was so excited i almost bought two and max out my credit card! The pickupsare very microphonic and I love it for at home playing
I got one of these by using the link below the video. The maple top of mine isn't as nearly as finely figured as the one shown here, but it is still nice. I can't find any defects in craftsmanship in the one I got. It appears perfect. It plays fine. I don't know if all semi-hollow bodies are like this, as this is my only non-solid body electric guitar, but it is severely microphonic. I tried playing it through my 5150, and so long as I'm playing it's fine. As soon as I stop the feedback is non-stop until I turn the guitar's volume down. Speaking of volume, since there are no access plates, how does one work on the electronics if one needs to? Through the f-holes? By taking off a pickup? It is an unbeatable guitar for the price. I am amazed at how good and how cheap guitars are nowadays. Please stop me before I buy again!
It's a very nice looking guitar, nicer looking than any Gibson or Epiphone 335-style. You could very easily fix what little is wrong with it: scrape the discoloured spots off the binding with a razor blade; swap out the pickups for something inexpensive but less microphonic; and, if you really need to, dress the fret ends with a cheap small-file set. It's a shame I can't find Firefly guitars in Malaysia.
I just got mine a couple of days ago and I am just blown away with it. The cosmetic flaws that you had on your particular guitar were not present on mine. Maybe I got lucky on that, but it’s unbelievable the quality for the price. I’ve spent $1000 and more on guitars that this guitar would easily stack up against.
I just bought an FFTC from Guitars Garden and after oiling the dried out fretboard and polishing the frets and making some adjustments it is an excellent guitar for less than $170.00 and thinking about buying a 338 next.
I bought over twenty inexpensive guitars the past year, so i would be able to keep my 72 Goldtop Gibson in the case in a corner. I put a secret little mark on all the new cheap guitars in case someone stole them while i was away. Well, someone came in and did not take any of those... They took my Gibson! I was afraid to put a mark on it. Nowadays i just sit in my room strumming on my firefly. I only play sad songs now. Thanks for cheering me up! Great reviews!
