FIREFLY Anyone?

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
Hey Rancid, why did you go with a B5 Bigsby and not a B7 for you Firefly?

thanks,

jahmer
Several reasons.
1. I didn't want to drill holes in my guitar.
2. With a B7 you have to remove the tail piece, and the B7 does not cover those holes or studs so you have to either leave them uncovered or get a plate that goes over them, both of which are butt-ugly in my opinion.
3. The B5 with a Vibramate adapter mounts directly to the old tail piece studs so those studs are covered, and the guitar can be put back to stock in about 20 minutes with absolutely no alterations to the guitar.
4. The Vibramate raises the whole B5 by about a quarter inch, which translates to much less severe string angle where the strings pass over the bridge, which greatly aids in tuning stability.
5. I just like the look of a B5 way more than that of a B7.
 

jporzelius

Blues Junior
Several reasons.
1. I didn't want to drill holes in my guitar.
2. With a B7 you have to remove the tail piece, and the B7 does not cover those holes or studs so you have to either leave them uncovered or get a plate that goes over them, both of which are butt-ugly in my opinion.
3. The B5 with a Vibramate adapter mounts directly to the old tail piece studs so those studs are covered, and the guitar can be put back to stock in about 20 minutes with absolutely no alterations to the guitar.
4. The Vibramate raises the whole B5 by about a quarter inch, which translates to much less severe string angle where the strings pass over the bridge, which greatly aids in tuning stability.
5. I just like the look of a B5 way more than that of a B7.
They make a vibramate for the B7 as well, but I agree that the B5 looks better and it's a bit less expensive. Glad to know it works on the Firefly in case Santa decides to bring me a B5.

jahmer
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
They make a vibramate for the B7 as well, but I agree that the B5 looks better and it's a bit less expensive. Glad to know it works on the Firefly in case Santa decides to bring me a B5.

jahmer
Yes, they do. http://www.vibramate.com/vibramate-v7-335-install.php
But it isn't as clean and still requires a cover plate to cover the two tail piece studs (which is an integral part of the B7 Vibramate) ... it is a black plate that says "CUSTOM MADE" on it. The B7 also positions the vibrato bar farther back towards the tail of the guitar than with a B5.

Vibramate-V7-335-Kit-800-01.jpg
 

steve o

Student Of The Blues
Have used this case a couple times so far. I just can't believe how perfectly it fits the Firefly. Just goes to show that the Firefly was indeed modeled after an Ibanez AM50. On the left is a pic of an Ibanez AM50 in its case from Reverb.com ... incidentally, it is for sale for $1,200.00. On the right my Firefly in its new case. Shoot, the lining even matches the guitar. :) I only have about $500.00 into this including the Bigsby, locking tuners, roller bridge and case. Less than half the price of the Ibanez and actually a nicer guitar (trapezoidal inlays, binding in the f-holes)
View attachment 6176 View attachment 6177

So Jim,
I’ve got a birthday coming up and am thinking of asking my lovely bride for a case for my new Firefly. Just wanted to make sure the case you got would still hold the guitar nice and snug without the Bigsby installed.

Been going back and forth on if I should or shouldn’t get a case. Spending $100.00 on a case for a $130.00 guitar seems kind of crazy to me in my situation (I don’t play out or go to jams, it may never leave the house). I just like keeping my guitars in cases, especially my Yamaha acoustic. My office/music room is in the basement and it is definitely cooler and drier, especially in the winter. Even though the Firefly isn’t a true acoustic, I’m not sure that keeping it on a stand all winter in a very low humidity environment would be the best for it.
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
They make a vibramate for the B7 as well, but I agree that the B5 looks better and it's a bit less expensive. Glad to know it works on the Firefly in case Santa decides to bring me a B5.

jahmer

The problem I've run into with the B7, especially with a Vibramate, is there's a lot less flexibility because the length of the bottom half has to be really close so it mates up at the bottom of the body. On the 339 it was simply impossible to use a Vibramate, it was too short and required custom drilling or no go (I know there are two sizes, I tried both). On the 335 it was too long and needed some shims at the strap button. The B5 doesn't have to be an exact match length-wise.
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
So Jim,
I’ve got a birthday coming up and am thinking of asking my lovely bride for a case for my new Firefly. Just wanted to make sure the case you got would still hold the guitar nice and snug without the Bigsby installed.

Been going back and forth on if I should or shouldn’t get a case. Spending $100.00 on a case for a $130.00 guitar seems kind of crazy to me in my situation (I don’t play out or go to jams, it may never leave the house). I just like keeping my guitars in cases, especially my Yamaha acoustic. My office/music room is in the basement and it is definitely cooler and drier, especially in the winter. Even though the Firefly isn’t a true acoustic, I’m not sure that keeping it on a stand all winter in a very low humidity environment would be the best for it.
Yes, that case will hold a Firefly quite snugly without a Bigsby on it. It has a nice thick pad right over that area. The Firefly fits in it QUITE snugly around the edges of the guitar also amply padded. But my Firefly is no longer a $130.00 guitar, it is a $700.00 guitar with the Bigsby and the $300.00 set of Bare Knuckle Mule pickups I put in it.
 

jporzelius

Blues Junior
The problem I've run into with the B7, especially with a Vibramate, is there's a lot less flexibility because the length of the bottom half has to be really close so it mates up at the bottom of the body. On the 339 it was simply impossible to use a Vibramate, it was too short and required custom drilling or no go (I know there are two sizes, I tried both). On the 335 it was too long and needed some shims at the strap button. The B5 doesn't have to be an exact match length-wise.
Good to know. Sounds like B5 is the way to go.

jahmer
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
There are two upgrades for any Bigsby that are worth the money.
A Callaham upgraded main string shaft
https://www.callahamguitars.com/bigsby_bridge_mainstringshaft_catalog.htm

mainstringshaft(3).jpg
A front roller with sealed ball bearings instead of the stock brass bushing.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112669524737

s-l1600.jpg
Yes, yes, I know the Callaham shaft says not for licensed Bigsbys, but that is just a line of crap if you can run a fine flat file or dremel tool. I have three of these installed in licensed Bigsbys. Two of them fit perfectly. One of them required me to file a VERY small amount of metal from the inside of the trem arm mount so it wouldn't come up hard against the trem frame when the conical set screw in the arm mount was tightened into its indent in the string shaft.
 
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Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
Well, I love my blue Firefly, and pink strap on it would be enough to knock a buzzard off a garbage scow at 100 paces. Pink and green would have similar results. Even a pink strap on a pink guitar would be about as appealing for me to look at as Rosie O'Donnel in a string bikini.
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TwoNotesSolo

Student Of The Blues
Well, I'm part of the club now :) got a red one
Finish is great, action was great out of the box, the tuning machine are better than expected
It's a lot lighter than my Epiphone dot, not sure the size alone explains it.
It's brighter than my dot, maybe due to the strings, and the pickups are not as hot, but so far i think it's a very good buy for the price.

I have a busy weekend so I didn't get to get acquainted so much, but so far my biggest complaint is it has much more 60Hz hum than my other humbucker guitars. it's better in the center position (both pickup) but not fully gone, almost as if the pickups are single coils, which those are not supposed to be. Any of you guys ran into that? Usually I'd make sure the cavity is shielded but there are no control cavities in 335 style guitars.
 
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steve o

Student Of The Blues
Well, I'm part of the club now :) got a red one
Finish is great, action was great out of the box, the tuning machine are better than expected
It's a lot lighter than my Epiphone dot, not sure the size alone explains it.
It's brighter than my dot, maybe due to the strings, and the pickups are not as hot, but so far i think it's a very good buy for the price.

I have a busy weekend so I didn't get to get acquainted so much, but so far my biggest complaint is it has much more 60Hz hum than my other humbucker guitars. it's better in the center position (both pickup) but not fully gone, almost as if the pickups are single coils, which those are not supposed to be. Any of you guys ran into that? Usually I'd make sure the cavity is shielded but there are no control cavities in 335 style guitars.
Congrats on the purchase! No 60 hz. hum on mine. The only issue I have had was it arrived with rusted strings and the fretboard was very dry. I took the strings off, oiled up the fretboard, put some new EB 10 strings on it and it has been great ever since. It has become my main player of my small herd of guitars.
 

TwoNotesSolo

Student Of The Blues
what is the fretboard made out of? Amazon says "wood". It looks like artificial rosewood to me, i.e. some kind of "engineered" wood.
when I first played it is seemed to leave a slight black residue on my fingers, but may have been dust or even come from the strings.

after playing again today, the hum is only bad when I stack distortions and boost so I guess not too surprising.

I do like what some of you guys have done with adding a B5 with vibramate but probably too expensive unless I find a used one
 
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