Firefly guitar pickup and wiring upgrade mod - Sep 2019 

Thanks much-appreciated. Now I want to play with it more than before. Thanks for mentioning the Emporium pup's. It worked out nice for me here. Thanks for subbing.

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 I can't believe that I had forgotten to sub before today - sorry. So glad you are enjoying the sound of those pups. They are in both of my FF 338's now. I believe I will take your example and install those awesome cap & resistor combos on the pots.

It's my first time on semi-hollow. I watched many videos and decided what I liked from all of them. It did turn out to be easier than expected.

Hey, did you do anything about pickups yet? I'm loving my fly with these tone emporium pups.

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 I haven't yet. Wound up picking up a resonator with the money instead, heh. I would still like to pick up a set though. I've got the page bookmarked, so will likely do so once life returns to some measure of normalcy. Glad you're enjoying yours.

Thanks Tom. I finally can saw I really like it.

Hey John. I get it. Mine has been disturbing me 6 months. Wasn't planning to do this for at least another month or 2. I dreded doing this too but the only thing I did wrong was mount the pup rings reversed. It went very well.

Hi harness, I had to filmed a lot more of what I had done through the entire process but in order to not make the video extra long as some of mine have been on other reworking projects I cut that part out because removing pickups is not a big mystery it's a few screws in and out. Thanks for watching and getting something out of it. Thanks for commenting into me

I thought it was funny. I did come looking for the wire paths in different guitars and control layouts. The wires in a 335 should go to the double volume controls through some drilled channel, I think.

@@aharkness5657 You know subsequent to all of the stuff I did in the video I have had the volume pot for the bridge out again and I did put a push pull on it just to see how it would do and it's okay when they're split to get a different kind of single coil tone from them. I only tried it on that one as an experiment but, the input output Jack is causing me some trouble and I'm going to need to change it out to a switchcraft the next time I change the strings. Since I'm going to pull that all out again I'm going to add the push pull to the second volume control while at it. That gives me independent volumes with splits which makes the tonal opportunities that much better

It looks way worse than it is, and it will become fun and it will increase your knowledge and ability to work on guitars in the future. Thanks for watching and I appreciate your support. I learned all the things that needed to be done from watching other people and then I am malgamated the information to make my own process which overall was the easiest way to get it done because I always like easy

Yep I hear they're much better these days. But I still can't get them to ship to canada. And I no longer have my dropship across the border that I can get to anymore.

Humbucker pickups come with a two conductor center core with a braided shield around it and then another PVC jacket on the outside so it's a multi-layered conductor system and splicing that is not easy you would need to solder anyway. I suggest you practice a little bit of soldering change one pickup at a time and just replace the wires where they normally go on the pot. One goes to ground The shield goes to ground and the hot goes to either pin one or pin 2 of your volume pot whichever way your wiring them up for independent or non-independent volume controls. They normally come on Independent and the hot wire is wired to pin one opposite the log which is grounded to the back of the pot which is pin 3. So whatever your new pickup is just learn which one is the hot and the ground or common color and attach it to the back of the pot with the shield the way the original comes out. If you do one at a time you shouldn't have much of an issue. If you need some kind of a circuit drawing that can help you I can provide you a copy of what I did on mine. Thanks for contacting I appreciate it and I also appreciate your support

I've seen the spalted maple one on RU-vid here it really looks great

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 The red one was out of stock, but then I saw the red spalted maple, which I didn't even know they had. Yes, it's a beauty. I like spalted maple, but not everybody does.

@@Mr.56Goldtop If they had a had that one when I was buying it I would have maybe went for it but I was really interested in the classic red

The blue is very pretty. Where did you buy it? Haven't seen any offers on Firefly lately

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 Amazon had a stock of blue burst and black models. Blue burst sold out in 4 days. LOL

Yes in my opinion the pots are fine. I tried to see if I could put full size pots through the f-hole and I found that it was a little bit too narrow without damaging The Binding in the holes

2bikemike Thank you for your input, and great informational video!

@@patrikgibbons7560 My pleasure. Good luck with your upgrades. There seems to be a general perception in the world that the small pots are crap or no good. But that's not the case. Different size components in electronics are made for sizing reasons not for quality. There is also a general misconception that the basic Asian alpha pots are crap and you must have American CTS or Bourns. guitar pots get very little use under most circumstances and they carry very little amount of power from a magnetic pick up. in a pot it's the wear factor of the slider across the rotary resistor that is the biggest enemy. Higher quality pots are used in equipment that gets a lot of rotational turns. rewiring the pot and tone circuits in the guitar to be completely independent from each other such that blending between the both pickups is possible with the switch in the centre position makes the biggest upgrade difference after the pickups are actually changed. Let me know if you have any other questions

Yes as they are made in China

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 Thank you.

I hear you're flying in a couple of days. If you're looking on Amazon for new knobs you have to read very carefully those descriptions for whether they're for The American or the Asian pots. Sometimes they say fits 6 mm and I believe that's the Asian version

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 Yes, thanks Mike. Fortunately I have some experience with that. I put these same black bell knobs on a Harley Benton LP style guitar, which of course required metric, and they worked out fine. It says in the description that they fit MOST Asian made guitars.Thanks for the heads up Mike! 👍👍

Hi Riad, what you describe is possible on a full hollow body, but semi-hollow like these have a center block that runs from neck pocket to the base end. The pickup cavities are routed in the block and resemble a solid body. That's why we go through the lower F hole. Thanks for watching and contact. I appreciate your support.

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 interesting, I've asked a few RU-vid influences the same question and the answers have varied. Perhaps they make them differently over the last few years

@@riadmiah3342 I don't know how epiphone's have being made. I've never had one to work on. All I know is that since I started my guitar Hobby in 2013 all of the stuff I've seen on RU-vid about semi Hollows have a full centre block down the middle and so does my Firefly

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 essentially I want to replace the harness with large size pots with a varitone which would also include drilling a new hole on the face of the guitar for the switch. I'm hoping that all the new electronics will fit through the f hole if there is no access by the bridge pickup.

@@riadmiah3342 are you talkin about doing that on a firefly like mine? If so I found the f-hole very narrow and I was barely able to get the push-pull pots in only because they are dime-sized pots on the top and the switch portion is no wider than the pot. I tried to get a full size pot in there and it was possible at the widest part of the f-hole without any harness attached to it. There is no major benefit to having full size pots in the guitar. The varitone may present a whole new issue with size

Here ya go. www.toneemporium.com/product-page/te-20-custom-59-pro-paf-humbucker-set-zebra-4wire B stock www.toneemporium.com/product-page/te-20-custom-59-pro-paf-humbucker-set-blem-b-stock-zebra-4wire

Yes, I have the cone bit that can be used gently to avoid chipping the poly around the hole. Cts pots only need a tiny enlarging. They are also more difficult to get in and out of the f hole.

Yes, the small ones. Work good. Very smooth. I don't use them much normally but I rewired to independent volume control so I can blend. Worked great on every breath you take video. Full bridge and 40% neck. Thanks for watching snf contacting. I thought about changing to full size but the f holes are narrow and getting them inside with wires soldered was going to prove frustrating so I left them. I have subsequently put in a push/pull on the bridge to try the split. I didn't gain much from that with these emporium pups but it does thin it a bit offering some advantage while blending.

Thank you!

One more question if you don’t mind- were the original pickups wax potted? Thanks!

Riff I'm in St. Thomas south of London.

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 alas, too far for a hang. Stellar video. 5 star video, the prep, the commentary while tweaking and holding the camera. Really benefited, learned and motivated to get involved with guitar handling and crafting. Thx again!

Thanks. I started recording some of my work to show that anybody who has the will to do their own work could really manage it

Sounds like you went through it as detailed as I did. I really love playing mine now. With my pickup change I can do just about anything with it. Good luck finding the pickups you want

I've seen guys use tubing but I don't prefer it because sometimes it pulls off and also tubing is way more expensive than a string

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 Very true. Would be worth it if was doing lots of them. Then again could all be solved by a simple backplate lol.

@@koDaffi I saw a video recently of somebody cutting a hole in the back of the guitar because of frustrations. can't remember who it was but it just doesn't look right on the back of that guitar to have a backplate, but yup would solve it

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 Ahh I wouldnt go hacking my own into it lol. On the 333 model It doesn't look bad but that's part of the design.

@@2bikemikesguitartopics145 I am debating 1 of these firefly's though. I just don't know if it's worth it after getting and doing upgrades or just getting something similarly priced like a Rondo/Xaviere/Monoprice/Grote. I think it's crazy Firefly blew up so fast. I remember when they were $100 and they sent RU-vidrs free guitars and prices skyrocketed. Now people buy them and resell them for 300-400 on reverb.

Ya, I didn't change the nut because when I was working on it I realized it was bone and better than plastic. The low e string was cut a little bit too deep so I had to build it up with baking soda-crazy glue and recut it.

I'm happy I had in there what you needed. I crammed a lot of work into the video

Sounds like you didn't get anything out of this video. Some other people may have gleaned some information

Your comment got put in an approve menu which I didn't find until now. You know I thought the same thing before I got this one as an experiment and I changed my mind I like my semi hollow 335 copy very much

All for changing pu's and wiring harness, just too fiddly for me. I think I'd end up taking it to my local shop to sort it lol. I'm just a bit clumsy...

You know that's exactly the same reason I avoided that style guitar for a long time. But I watched some guys on RU-vid fiddling with them and I thought if they can do it I can learn it. I watched one guy show using the string method and it worked very well and I adopted that

Yes, the pickup wires are tiny 26gage or so. Gentleness and finesse is required. To help, I zip tie the harness in the shape it will be installed and I put one close to the pots and switch to provide some support and rigidity there to lessen the chance of breakage. Thanks for checking the video and contact.

Hey there. When i got this I didn't know about HB. It was 2 months later I was given the cst-24t which I love. The electrical in it is not better quality parts but the pups Roswell are great. I knew I'd likely replace everything but the tailpiece on the FF going into it and I almost did. Surprised to find shielded wiring that I kept and all the pots and switch. The pups had to go, saddle and tuners. All in all, the work is something I can do to get it done how I want it. Custom to my taste. Even on my benton I had to level frets so far. With my money invested in the FF to date, comes in less than getting the HB 335. Guitar plus the $70 shipping to Canada, which is more than any other country I've seen, it costs more up front and I'd likely still need to do work on it. My FF is custom now and likely the only one like it. That's why I built my 3 custom teles. Only 3 like them and I know everything about them. Thanks for commenting. I enjoy reasonable interaction with viewers. All guitars need work on them. These videos that I and a few other folks show, it can be done by you at a big savings over a shop and you know it's done right and you're happy with the way you did it.

2bikemike oh, if you were only close to Brockville, Kingston or Ottawa Ontario. I just received my red 338 a few months ago in excellent condition. I had it shipped to the UPS Store in Ogdensburg, NY and drove it across the border. Saddles, tuners and pups I am ordering. Canada’s a huge country. You could be anywhere, LOL. I live in Brockville and if only you were geographically nearby!

The Harley Benton is an excellent guitar. I have both the 338 and HB but will sell the HB because it weighs a ton and the neck is fatter. I'll probably spend more on the Firefly than the HB cost but enjoy modding these and I don't want to lug the HB around. I'm getting lazy!!

Oooo What part do you need to see? I have a lot of parts of work on this guitar over the different videos