This cheap guitar is better than your Fender Stratocaster... 

I am sad that my Fender American standard might not be as good but after trying the fishmans and then going back to a noise cancelling rig and the hand wound pups I have just now put in a loaded pick guard with TV Jones pick ups ( and shielding tape ) and it is clean and sounds amazing. I am also waiting on my first firefly guitar. I am super sensitive to buzz because I have a cochlear implant and have to use headphones most of the time.

⁠@@montyellingsworth4982 mate, your American Standard is certainly as good, if not better!

So which pick guard was used? Does a fender loaded drop in? Thanks

Especially in my house! Makes life way easier

Thanks so much for this! Means a lot. I tell any new guitarist to get one of these. Their site has a ton of options all great prices and actually quality wiring. The absolute best buy for under $200 IMO

I don't think you will be disappointed!

I used to have a Univox Les Paul copy that was made in the 70's that played just as good as any of my Les Paul's did and even sounded better than some of my Les Paul's did, but to be fair about it I had put some first run Dimarzio Super Distortion pickups in it and it did have a bolt on neck but I let many Les Paul players try it out and EVERY ONE of them told me it played just as good and sounded just as good as their Gibson Les Paul's did, and most were amazed at how good it played and sounded. Now a Stratocaster is a horse of a different color. A Strat copy must be made damn good, as close to Fender's factory specs as possible in order for it to play well and sound good, at least that's been my experience with them anyway, and I've been playing the guitar going on 57 years now. Now I'm no expert, no luthier, nor do I claim to be, but I'm just stating this from my previous experience with them.

@julianjeffbissette7238 I put Dimarzio Super Distortion and PAF humbuckers on my Ibanez Les Paul back in the late 70s and it was great.

I cannot believe how great the Indio Strat from Amazon turned out. It's truly amazing and I have a Clapton Blackie and a Sterling Cutlass to compare it to, so I applaud your comment wholeheartedly.

@@ghostownaproach why did you put a hamburger on your guitar?

@@bluwng I'm laughing because I couldn't understand your question until I reread my post carefully and realized the obvious spell checker change. Thank you for the laugh, I'll go fix it.

Man I must have got a copy of a firefly from guitars garden because this thing is a pile of balsa wood.

The worst. My house is bad with power. Glad I made the right choiice

Hey Joe! At the very end of the video I show the noise with higher gain and its dead silent 😃 thanks brother 🤘

@SteveSterlacci Thanks Steve. I watched entire video. Thought it best to ask the Pro Himself. Thanks Brother. Happy & Healthy New Year to you and the family.

@joekaras7080 Much appreciated man! Hope to see ya soon !!! Same to you guys

How do you like the Wilkinson trem?

Was debating that one too! Thanks for letting me know it works

Thank you brother!

Everyone always knew this. It is not the guitar, it's the player.

A well loved 30 year old guitar will always win in my opinion!

Thats all good! Thanks Bobby

Thanks and to you as well! They seem to be improving quality and releasing more models. Really great stuff

There are a few rules to modding cheap guitars: - Keep the original parts. - Keep the packaging of the replacement parts. - When you sell the guitar, reinstall the original parts. - List the replacement parts separately, or install them in your new mod project. Remember, whether you choose to install a set of Fishman Fluence pickups in a Firefly, or a Fender Player, you're adding a premium product to a budget-friendly instrument - that's called overcapitalizing. I've seen many people crying that their Squier Affinity is worth $400 because they've had a Callaham bridge installed. It's not. It's worth what buyers will pay, and they won't pay $400 for an Affinity.

@@anthonystark5412 all true - however, the question is; is it a bargain? Here is an example. I sold a Charvel So Cal Pro Mod Type 2 guitar for $800 this year. It was like brand new with Gotoh floating trem, roasted maple neck, luminlay fret markers, Fishman Fluence core pickups, roasted maple neck and locking tuners. That guitar is about $1100 new and $800 was (what I thought to be) a fair used market price. Compared to my Charvel, a modded Firefly with about $650 in upgrades isnt really a bargain. The Charvel will hold resale value close to the $800 provided it is not beat up. The Firefly on the other hand - as you have pointed out in your example of the squier - is only going to bring used Firefly money pretty much regardless of the mods. Additionally, used hardware (unless its Gibson or vintage) is a loss when reselling from new. I love the comparison videos that youtubers make and especially the budget guitar mods because I buy a lot of used guitars that need work, I am just not quite sold on the "bargain" or "value" aspect of these specifically when being compared to name brand gear. The title to his vid is "This cheap guitar is better than your Fender Stratocaster...", but its not - its not even comparable until $650+ is dumped into it for premium parts/hardware - only then does "better" become debatable. I am not hating on the vid at all - I am just pointing out that we cant call budget guitars "as good or better than" if we are having to put higher level guitar money into them to make them that way. Happy New Year.

I agree with your general sentiment. I purchased my first Firefly and am very impressed with the wood quality, the neck quality, and the stainless steel frets. The hardware is "OK" but not as bad as other Chinese guitars I've seen. The cavities are properly shielded, the pickups aren't great but I'd put them up against budget Fender and Ibanez guitars. I absolutely think they're worth modding for personal enjoyment, I'd just keep the original parts and if I wanted to resell it later I'd restore it to its original state and put the upgrades into another guitar.@@joecoach7268

Honestly, its perfect medium. Not thick or thin

Same here. They are vintage voiced despite being active. An interesting exploration! Guess I will see over time. Thanks for checking it out

The website removes items when they're out of stock. They re stock and re appear on the site. It's a very bizarre site

Its roasted maple. it will never shrink or expand =) It is probably to save costs on a person to actually shape the fret edges

Its compound and im not sure but I would guess medium jumbo. Not tall and not thin

@@SteveSterlacci I suspected that or a flatter radius which I like. You are getting a really nice sound out of it.

The Compound Radius is 9.5" to 14".

Any day you give me a positive comment is a good one Ben. I will tell jess you said hello

@@SteveSterlacci Ah man, I feel bad. It's never you personally, just some of the companies you work with. And the fact that you stole Jess' Helix toppers. But other than those things (lol) you are my favorite gear guy. I really enjoy the Firefly videos where you upgrade value based guitars. My new years resolution will be to offer "constructive" criticism to any company you work with. And the Band Geek gig was very cool. You nailed it. Happy Holidays!!!

@@benburnett8109 i do actually look forward to the comments! 🤣🤣🤣 i know you mean no harm and just want justice for Jessica's button toppers.

@@benburnett8109 also, thanks for the kind words on bandgeek! Richie is the best

@@SteveSterlacci When the video popped up and I saw you I was like, "OMG I know that guy............" Then you played and knocked it out of the park. I spent a day watching Band Geeks and was blown away by all the talent. I've never seen a "cover" band do such a wide range of material. I'd love to see You and Jess do Boston's "Dont look Back" with them.

Yeah i wanted to make sure to demo it before the mods bc it really didn't need it. Sweetwater wanted to do a collab for pickups, so I used this one!

Yeah man its killer with a strat!

@@SteveSterlacci Tone Master

They were ahead of their time! Thanks for adding this

I say it in the first 10 seconds 😅🤣 firefly st

@@SteveSterlacci Soz mate! 🙈 I need to work on my attention span 😜 But definitely need to slow down on the whiskey 😂 #2024Lifegoals Soz again 😬🙏

2 different things! Lol the smooth part was talking about the frets themselves (the metal). On cheap guitars, they will stick out and snag your hand. The fretboard edge is the actual wood on the fingerboard. Its not actually "sharp" but its not rounded. Rounded will feel way nicer

Ah I see! I'm with you now 😁👍

its a great guitar!

It was great as is to be honest. I had the collab opportunity with Sweetwater so I took it. I was very impressed, as was my tech, with the electronics removed

The humbucker sells for $150. Three single coils (set) is another $250. The battery pack rear cover is another $100. So $500 total in parts plus another $100 (est) in labor. So I would guess a normal person would have $750 - $800 into the guitar. That puts it head to head price wise against unmodded Fender Player Strats and PRS SE Silver Skies.

@garrysimmons111 thats only if you choose this set up. Stock pickups didn't sound bad at all IMO.

@@garrysimmons111 A Tonerider HSS set is 95 bucks, Mojotone prewired pot assembly 92 bucks ( or just wire it yourself for about half that), i would maybe throw in some Highwood saddles 41 bucks and some roller stringtrees 7 bucks. I have done this with a Jet JS-300 ( plus completely shielded all cavities) and it slays my Fender Deluxe Roadhouse MIM Strat! I am still 200 bucks under what i payed for the Fender second hand.....in fact i might sell the Fender or tear out those noiseless pups and the useless S1 switch and put in some toneriders and regular pots. Just need to find out how use the battery for a seperate preboost through a mini toggle....👍🏼🎸🤘🏼🎸

Are you familiar with former Allman Brothers guitarist, Jack Pearson? For the past 10 years or so, he's been buying pawn shop Squire Strats. He prefers Indonesian made ones. He finds one that resonates acoustically and pays on average $100 for it. He does no modifications to them. Same pickups as factory. He's played them live with his band, with the Gregg Allman band and with Les Brers. Plus, on stage with other artists like Joe Bonamassa. He's truly a master.

Hopefully they add them soon

They had them before...probably eventually restock them at some point this year

They were ahead of their time

Yes, they had many original designs and experimented with several things, like the electronic system that made organ sounds out of a guitar. Also the Typhoon was one of the Vox models that was equipped with what I believe was one of the very first stacked humbucker designs ever, an EKO propietary design. Back then, italian EKO made all Vox’s guitars and other equipment, included the notoriuos wha-wah…

I did it myself! 🤣😅

@SteveSterlacci 👍

Thats why I did a full demo of it before I did any modifications. But thanks for the summary

And here I was thinking that the smiley will make it obvious the comment is not 100% serious (though, to be fair, still technically true - you did in the end triple the value of the guitar with the pickup upgrade). I didn't even say the guitar was bad before the pickup upgrade. Oh well. You're welcome for "the summary", anyway.

@Case_ i give it as a get it! I'm always down for ball breaking. Too many people actually mean to be richards in the comments section, so I usually assume the worst. My apologies for missing the intent, and I appreciate the humor 😃

Thanks Dan

But a $100 Indonesian Squire Strat in the hands of Jack Pearson can.

Okay!

Its a theme on the channel combatting elitism. I have many videos of the theme because as a professional, I am "supposed" to hate cheap gear. Thanks for noticing😃