Is it worth Modding your Firefly guitar? 

This is probably the most scientific guitar breakdown I've ever seen. Proud of you, bruddermane guitars.

so it's worth modding if you can/want to do it, if you agree to spend more money to do it, or if you're willing to pay someone else to do it all. Doesn't really seem like such a great plan for someone who just wants an inexpensive guitar. It just seems like more work and expense. Most people aren't interested in fixing & spending more money on something they just bought and want to use

You did a nice job on that guitar. i enjoy your vids bud, cheers! Len , South Carolina

modded has a much better resonance, it doesnt fade into a bad distortion sound as the note rings out. Much more solid, clean, and warmer sound that doesnt have that dirty fried distortion sound the original pick ups had. Nice job!

I vote yes on the pickguard. Thx for the vid. You are very talented.

Your replacement bridge has tiny set screws front and back both ends (Tiny hex screws). These will allow you to adjust the bridge forwards or backwards on bridge posts.

Excellent results! I just purchased the Strat version of the FF, fully updated the electronic, addressed a minor issue with 4 -5 frets, and just ordered a replacement bridge. RE: buying a more expensive guitar, no... with the minimum amount of work to improve the guitar it's worth it. If you can do the basic repairs i.e. setup/mod the service charges saved versus paying for the work pretty much covers the parts. The result is that you have an axe that plays as good as most $1200 guitars with better electronics in most cases. Great video!

Awesome video! Well done! Just subscribed to your channel

Beautiful guitar and playing man! Wish I had your luthier skills too. I cannot believe what you get for $200 with these! This should just not be possible. Has anyone seen the Firefly Adam Jones LP that was available for all of 24 hrs or so? I was lucky enough to snag one and have a video on my channel if interested. It definitely needed some work and a set up but all I can say now is holy crap!!!

great job bro

I'll be honest, and maybe because I'm hearing it through phone speakers, but to me the sound of the new pickups didn't sound significantly different enough for me personally to justify spending the extra money on swapping them. Just my opinion, though. I think modding guitars to your own specs is always worthwhile. It makes it more personal and fun to play knowing you put your own ideas into it. Great vid!

The mod sounded better (I think!) You should of added locking tuners and a String Butler! They work wonders for tuning stability on a 3+3 head! Hope you get your intonation down!

I just did my first string change and mods to my example. I added Hipshot open gear locking tuners. Which are sexy af. I also hydrated the fretboard, and it is so dark it looks like ebony from across the room. I am super happy about that. I have also decided to change out all the electronics as well. I will be going old school with mine. EMG 81/85 reversed combo. I absolutely love the 85 in the bridge position. Beyond that I think the guitar is about perfect as is.

What a fantastic video have a wonderful day also stay safe ❤😊

Having done autopsies on all the Firefly humbuckers I've pulled out of my guitars I can say factoring in the cost of an upgrade set of pickups to the base FF guitar price should be in everyone's calculations when considering buying a Firefly. I say their humbuckers are junk but if I were more generous about it I'd say they're exceptionally janky. (They're junk.) Also, for LPs and 338s, add in the cost of a good bridge that comes with posts and steel bushings, like Tonepros come. It's not worth sidegrading, you'll end up where you started. I'd maybe make an exception in high gain cases like yours but clean to mid gain players shouldn't scrimp. That's $60-$80 for a bridge, pickups can run $50ish+ for a 2nd hand set of post 2013 Epi Probuckers or Alnico Classic Pros, ($8-24 for 1 to 3 sets of different magnets to swap in) or $120 for new Toneriders, various for specific 2nd hand sets, and up to one's personal limit new Lightweight tailpiece, locking steel studs and steel bushings is another $60 but you'd have the same expense on an Epi or similar so I dont calculate "same" upgrades in the FF final price. Let's say a thrifty $130 to start, bridge and pickups That's almost $350 for a full price FF to be enjoyably playable. If the sight of the headstock doesnt crush your street cred with your bandmates, and you're sufficientlY brave, do it. And like you said there's less hesitation learning tech and looth skills on a FF. Of the Epiphones that are playable out of the box, so to speak, that you wouldn't immediately think to change up you'd spend $750-1000 new, often with good bargains used. Part of that price is sidestepping the Firefly "lottery," because FF shamelessly sells dogs right along with the ones that turn out okay, just like every other budget brand but Jet does. There's a risk in not knowing what defects and deficiencies to look for so a good tech that's also a friend, who would do an assessment and make a to-do list, would be a good asset.

You can move the rollers to where they're halfway off of the screw. I have mine tuned to drop B. My intonation from harmonic and fretted at the 12th fret is right on the money. I'm using a Wilkinson roller bridge.

Gorgeous guitar. I find the Neck Seymour sounds better but I like the stock bridge instead.

Grate work! Try adding some copper shielding in the pick up cavity and loop the string over the bridge!

I modded my leo jaymz w the skull n bones graphic,new knobs strap locks and had it professionally setup,i run elixir optiweb 10 46 strings,the nut was replaced w a bone nut,what a difference in tone

That's a nice damn guitar.

I've owned many Firefly models and they are excellent mod platforms. Very high bang for the buck and they continue to offer lots of variety among models as well as configurations for each model type. All things considered they have amazing features & finishes and put a high-quality instrument within nearly anyone's financial reach. I've used the same roller saddle bridge a few times and just like you mentioned, its finicky to intonate & doesn't offer as much range as I was hoping for... at least not without painstakingly adjusting the bridge as a whole using the set screws as well as the saddles. If only they didn't lock the saddles with those vertical allen screws, which is hugely limiting factor. If the saddles were made them compress against each other or have individual walled channels like some Hipshot bass bridges, then you'd have maximum flexibility of placement as well as max range. Then I stop dreaming and realize that its an inexpensive aftermarket bridge from China, so I'm not inclined to hold my breath counting on improvements being made. I'll just continue to work with & around the limitations as it pairs well with a Duesenberg Les Trem II (cool HG Wells or Steam Punk looking trem that retrofits onto stop-tail mounts). The ability to lock it onto the posts plus the brass rollers make it as close to perfect as you're likely to get for that usage case. Especially for less than $20!

Nice video. The mods and new pickups sound really "tight".

Dying to know what you used for clean and hydrate the neck. Could you put what you used in the description please

Dude, i got my bourbon burst. Sounded great. The neck pup was muddy. Put a treble bleed kinman mod. And I lowered the neck pickup and brought the poles pieces up about 1 turn ½ each and bingo clear tone. I'll probably get some mojotone 59 clones later but its fine.

I bought graphtech ratio tuners, Seymour Duncan jb/jazz set pickups, tonepro bridge and tail piece, new jack ,cts pots, switchcraft switch and sence its the buckethead ripoff i put tesi kill switches . Probably spent more than double for parts than the guitar lol. It plays great though and it was fun doing it. I have more expensive guitars already . I had a good time working on it, though, and play it more than my other guitars. If i ever get rid of it I'll take all my parts off and put back all the crap. Nothing wrong with having a good set of tuners and pickups laying around.

If you backed up the treble strings part of the brige from the post, you might get a few mm, or 64ths on the intonation or the bass side, not be much.. but might just be enougth to get intonated.

To answer the question in the title... Hell yes it is.

Strike 2 on the intonation! Don’t settle ! Fix it !

The only place I’ve found to buy these are at Guitar Garden, but I don’t see any like this one. Anywhere else?

Great video...btw..."Clean" means NO DISTORTION at all. :) I have one of these with a Floyd Rose. Decent out of the box BUT I notice the Matte Black finish is a fingerprint magnet.

Why didn’t you ever do the sound off Between them?

You should shield the pickup areas

I keep seeing these videos asking of its worth modding cheap guitars. If you like the guitar, and you're confident that modding them to your taste will make them play/sound the way you want then it is absolutely worth modding it. The price of the guitar doesn't matter. Not all cheap guitars are junk, and not all expensive guitars are good.

Considering that an equivalent Gibson would be at minimum 2 to 3 k, I'd say," YES" it is worth it!!!!!

We all know that the grounding issue with HB guitars is the plating on the hardware where the ground wire contacts the tailpiece or plug. Easy fix. But they shipped thousands of guitars like this. Makes you wonder who's in control of quality control or final checks. Obviously never plugged in or listened to. But they shipped thousands with grounding issues.

Yes. Ut's worth it.

Do you think a bigsby would fit in one of these?

What's the name of the bridge you put on there? I have a project guitar I'd love to try that on. Great video. Cheers!

The new Pickups sounds better

I'm not a fan of that style of roller bridge,besides if it's not trem, I have no use for one on an LP so much easier to intonate an abr or tuneomatic bridge, I have an elite champagne pink metallic firefly with Seymore Duncans too,nice guitars once you mod them.

Suggestion: get nickel steel humbucker covers, brass is not your tonal friend. Mojotone, Philadelphia Luthier Supply, others. Tie your system ground to your control cavity shielding, solder a lead to a pot back and screw it into the side of the cavity with a small panhead and a washer. That will diminish the ground hum if not eliminate it. The Duncans are 111% better. You might get a margin of improvement on the originals pulling the brass covers and changing the brass backplates for nickel, def a cheaper option and worth exploring.

Any uneven frets or buzzin??

"Worth it" and guitars should be tenuously employed together. Once you get over the initial Value Proposition (may take weeks, years) and the guitar won a position on the team, juice it up with no expectation of getting your money back.

Your mic volume relative to your project background music is very low. I'd say the music is too loud in the mix but maybe your mic levels are low due to placement or your cold. It forces me to increase volume to hear what you're saying and the get blasted with the music. The viewer experience would benefit from mic auto-gain or level matching mic to music in the mix.

Flip your bridge around. It’s backwards

Can you send me the serial number for that guitar for that I could send it to the to the company for them for they could send me the same one

you should fix the intonation.... that is a big issue

Full size pots does not equal quality pots.

Sweet. Yeah, there are much better beginner guitars out there. The problem with "beginner" guitars is that people cheap out. One of the worst things you can do is try to learn on a problematic guitar.

You can get a better sounding guitar cheaper than firefly

No ! None of you are good enough to max out that guitar ! Stop lying to yourself.

You messed up, you didn't put shielding in your pickup cavities. You probably also missed the three way switch cavity. You can not intonate a guitar until it is strung and tuned. This is done by checking the tuning open, then at one octave. And.... your first guitar tone needs to be a clean one, not a distorted one. PERIOD. Distortion will negate anything you did, you can have the cheapest hardware and it not make a bit of difference with high gain distortion. The only thing that will be the type of magnets in the pickup, which effects how the signal compresses.