FIREFLY Anyone?

MikeR

Guitar Challenged
Staff member
I looked at these tuners. are they $33 per tuner? ($198 for a set of 6???) Spending more on the tuners than the guitar cost is a hard pill to swallow , but still might be a good idea.

They're $33 a set. Because of GFS' high shipping, I buy what's essentially the same tuners (made by Jin Ho) on Ebay for around $34 shipped.
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
I looked at these tuners. are they $33 per tuner? ($198 for a set of 6???) Spending more on the tuners than the guitar cost is a hard pill to swallow , but still might be a good idea.
Geez, no, they are $33.00 for a set of 6.
https://www.guitarfetish.com/Sperzel-Style-Locking-Tuners-3x3-Chrome_p_1172.html
And here is the roller bridge for $21.00
https://www.guitarfetish.com/Roller-Bridge-Chrome-plated-fits-Les-Paul_p_661.html
Both drop right in to a Firefly.
Both are very high quality pieces. I like the GFS tuners even more than Sperzels at twice the price. And that roller bridge is downright awesome considering it's only $21.00 … same one I have on my Epi 339 Pro with the Bigsby. It fits the bridge posts very snugly, no wiggle room there whatsoever.
Since I am going to put a $320.00 set of pickups in this, these upgrades are worth it to me. Some of you might think I am downright nuts, but oh well.
 
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Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
Whew. I'm glad I got that wrong. I'm gonna order both.
What do you think of the nut on these guitars?
A nut is a nut is a nut. So long as it plays well and stays in tune I don't give a rip about the nut. And this guitar plays exceptionally well and stays in tune very well. It stayed in tune even with the el-cheapo tuners and 10's on it. I play 9's, so odds of those sticking in the nut are about zero. I don't give a rip about what nuts are made of because the only time they affect tone even a little bit is on open strings, and the way I play that means only about a tenth of one percent of the time.
 

jporzelius

Blues Junior
I guess I am the only one that got a marginal one. I did a complete setup on it yesterday and set the intonation perfectly at the fretted 12th fret. Then fretting at the first or second fret was way off. The nut does not seem right. Pretty much every string sticks in the slot. I could change out the nut, and the tuners and electronics and all of that, but I kind of got the impression none of that was necessary. No big deal. I'll probably just give it to somebody.

I'm finding this as well. With the intonation set correctly at the 12th fret, it's off at the second fret for several strings. Is this a nut issue? I plan to change the tuners and eventually the neck pickup and I'm good with that because I wanted to start doing some work on my guitars and got this as a project guitar cuz I'm afraid to mess up my better guitars. My question now is: Should I be doing something with the nut or is the intonation at the 1st and second fret a diffferent issue?

I appreciate input from those of you with more (any) knowledge.

thanks
 

jporzelius

Blues Junior
Okay, a quick google search tells me that this intonation problem occurs when the nut slot is too high. If it is off the same amount on all strings one could just sand down the base of the nut. If individual strings are off then we are dealing with individual nut slots. I was hoping to get this in shape myself, but this may require a trip to the luthier.

jahmer
 

Slofinger

Blues Junior
The nut is the only issue I have with mine now. It looks different than any other I've seen. The slots are so deep so that the top of the string is lower than the top of the nut. And the string was still too high in the slot. An alternative to $$ nut files, a cutting torch tip cleaner can produce results. If replacing the nut, it can be tricky getting the original one out depending on how it is glued in. Sometimes they break and leave parts of it that are then harder to remove. Don't ask how I know that last part.
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
Thanks for the kind words.

The trick to using these sorts of tools is to realize you don't give them too much pushing force or they bend. I lay one in the slot, then cover that with a finger pad to anchor it, then slide the wire back and forth without undue force. Works a treat.
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
For nut replacement the top of the line TUSQ XL is only US$20, and there are numerous how-to videos on removing the old one with minimal damage. I was nervous the first time but the nut replacement on the 339 went swimmingly and I couldn't be happier with the results. :Beer:
 

Slofinger

Blues Junior
After having this guitar for a few days and after doing some tweaking on it, I will have to say that this guitar makes me sound like a polished guitar player. Of which I am far from, but I guess the neck and body size just suits me. I did order a Tusq nut for it, and I'm going to order a set of the Jin-Ho locking tuners. I've purchased 5 or 6 sets of those and they work great. I have no intentions of changing out the pickups or wiring. With a little bit of tweaking on one of my presets on my Line6 Amplify FX I found a sound that really works well with this guitar. Turn down the volume knob and it is nice and clean. Turn it up and it gets nicely dirty.
 

TwoNotesSolo

Student Of The Blues
Slofinger, where do you get your Jin-Hos?
I like them for my builds but last time I ordered on eBay I got either a bad batch or counterfeits because they went to the trash.
 

Slofinger

Blues Junior
Slofinger, where do you get your Jin-Hos?
I like them for my builds but last time I ordered on eBay I got either a bad batch or counterfeits because they went to the trash.
I get mine off of eBay. So far every set I've gotten has been good. Not sure if it's the same seller each time.
 

PapaBear

Guit Fiddlier
Slofinger, where do you get your Jin-Hos?
I like them for my builds but last time I ordered on eBay I got either a bad batch or counterfeits because they went to the trash.
Yes ebay can be risky business, lot of counterfeit stuff at great prices but, little quality
 

jporzelius

Blues Junior
So I had a fun day. I cleaned off my work bench (no small task), covered a 5' x 2' board with carpet to set on my bench when I want to work on guitars, found a foam block for neck support, then went to work on my firefly. I cleaned the fingerboard with Murphys oil soap (cuz that's what reverb.com suggested and cuz I had some), then I coated it with Roche-Thomas premium fingerboard oil (cuz I had that too). My fingerboard looked really dry and the oil darkened it up and made it look much happier. I popped out the nut following directions on youtube and sanded it down so the string height at the nut was not so ridiculous (it was really high). Then I cleaned everything and put on a set of GHS boomer 10-46s cuz those are my favorites and I have a 6-pack of them. Adjusted the pickup heights and the action. Set the intonation at the 12th fret and the intonation at the 1st and 2nd frets is right on for several strings and still a bit sharp for some. Then I kicked back and jammed for a while. The strings and raising the neck pickup (which was really low initially) made a definite improvement.

So, I had fun doing work on a guitar I have always been afraid to try, and I had fun jamming on my new firefly. I will now order new tuning machines which apparently I can get for about 30 bucks and I think I will order a new nut (<$20) and a set of files (10 or 15 bucks?) to fine tune the new nut. Someday I will probably replace the pickups but I am in no hurry for that cuz it sounds quite good. So I will have less than 200 dollars in this beautiful and very playable guitar, plus I will have some new tools and some experience working on a guitar. Since this guitar thing has become my number one hobby by far, I feel better knowing how to do a few maintenance tasks.

Next question. Can anyone give me advice on how to order the right nut? They are not going to have one listed for the firefly, I will have to select things like neck radius (which I don't know) and other precise measurements (which make me nervous). Any tips? thanks,

jahmer
 
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