FIREFLY Anyone?

Slofinger

Blues Junior
Well I got mine today. Pretty much what I expected. An excellent deal for the price. The price being the key word here. Pretty much every fret end needs to be smoothed. The intonation is way off, but for each string that was off, there is room left on the saddle to move it the direction it needs to go. The neck relief is pretty close, but I can tell it needs adjusting. The finish is spotless although for my preferences just a touch to much red. The pickups do sound good though. So pretty much everything can be made good.image.jpeg
 

Slofinger

Blues Junior
I replaced the 490 and 498 pickups that came in my Les Paul with a '57 Classic and '57 Classic Plus. Did the 50's wiring as well. It's my go-to for blues jams now. Really sweet sounding PAFs to my ear.
This morning I changed from an .047 capacitor to a .022 paper in oil cap and though I haven't played it yet, jst plugged it in and strummed it a bit I think it sounds a lot better.
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
What’s sorely tempting me is viewing these as like buying a kit but at a better price and (unless you buy Warmoth) quality. If I weren’t still in tweak mode for the two guitars I play daily, a well as gearing up to do some work on my PRS acoustic (long story short, gifted luthier at guitar camp gave her a physical and told me some ways to make her better) I’d be jonesing for one (or even two) of these to kit bash. :confused:

Following the thread with a smile! :Beer:
 

MikeR

Guitar Challenged
Staff member
Looks like the Fireflys are officially sold out now! My work here is done! Maybe we'll revive this thread again in 3-4 months. :D
 
Last edited:

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
Looks like the Fireflys are officially sold out now! My work here is done! Maybe we'll revive this thread again in 3-4 months. :D
Yep, currently unavailable and they don't know when they will be in stock again. Sorry to hear that Slofinger's sunburst one wasn't up to par with the ones Jmin and I got. But as he said, even so, there is nothing wrong with it that can't easily be made right, so still a good deal. All I know is that I am just dumbfounded with how nice mine is! I can't wait to hear it with my set of Bare Knuckle Mule pickups in it! But that will have to wait until I get moved to Nampa, Ideeho and have an experienced tech do a proper job of it. Just too busy / distracted right now to mess with it trying to get all retired, all my stuff out of this house, getting it professionally cleaned, turning it over to a realtor to sell, etc. etc. etc. and yadda yadda yadda.

The locking tuners are here, the roller bridge should be here Friday, have some great finger board oil. So Saturday will remove the strings, clean the fret board with Isopropyl alcohol, let that dry/evaporate thoroughly, oil the fret board, install the locking tuners, put a new set of burnished nickel 9's on it with the roller bridge, tune it up and adjust the action to where I want it. It plays very well as it is right out of the box, but will play much better after. And that's how it will stay until I'm all moved and settled into my new home in Ideeho.
 
Last edited:

Slofinger

Blues Junior
I was in my guitar room closing the blinds and I picked the guitar up and played it unplugged for a bit. It really does sound nice. I will fix all the little things and it will be fine. This one is considerably lighter than my SX335, making the Firefly just a tad neck heavy. I've got a wide strap for it so it is not unmanageable.
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
I couldn't stand it any more, and lowered the bridge to put the action where I like it. Haven't done it until now because I half expected to find a little fret buzz. But guess what … NONE! It plays like a champ! All over the neck including way up high. It went through my non-military mind to maybe put a Bigsby B5 on it like I did with my 339 Pro, but nixed that idea … the selector switch is a little farther back than on my 339 Pro … almost in line with the stop tail piece and that would put that switch right under the Bigsby arm making it hard to get to.
 

jporzelius

Blues Junior
Okay, I think I'm the fourth BGUer to claim this deal. I got the black one delivered today. UPS guy drove up as I walked in from work.

Looks beautiful. There was a little glue on the f-holes that wiped right off. There is some stain from the fingerboard on the binding that looks like it will clean off easily. I don't see a flaw anywhere. When I first peeled the plastic cover off the pick guard there was a speck I tried to wipe off and it turned into a scratch. After fooling with it for a bit, I realized there was another plastic coat that peeled off leaving a spotless pick guard.

Tuned it up. Intonation is close on most strings, accurate on others. I don't know a whole lot about necks and frets. This seems like a straight neck with a little too much relief at the head that should adjust out easily enough (I will do my research before fooling with that (after all, I'm risking 140 bucks)). The frets seem fine to me, but again, not much experience. I think the action is too high at the bridge and I will investigate and adjust.

Sounds good. I like the bridge pickup cuz it has a similar twang to my tele (not full tele bell-ringing tone, but nice), The neck pickup sounds nice and full and clear (like a 335 should), my son was playing some jazz chords on it and I was fully digging it, then I handed him my Les Paul with the classic 57 in the neck and it was soooo much nicer. Then again, to my ears, that Les Paul has perfect tone and that pickup alone is worth more than the firefly so it should sound better. The Les Paul also weighs approximately 247 pounds and I'm hurting by the end of a 3 hour gig. I'm guessing the firefly clocks in at about 28 ounces (it is light).

So, I have a beautiful firefly that needs some minor setup. plays great and sounds very good. I will play it for a while and then consider upgrading the pickups if I continue to really like it.

jahmer
 

Wildwood

Playin' Blues
Well...here's mine! After reading the review by jporzelius above...I really don't have much else to add. Right down to his comment on the pick guard cover. I actually did the same thing...noticed a few scratches and dirt, tried to wipe them off then realized it had a protective cover on it. Took it off. Then realized it had another protective cover and removed that one. The pick ups had the same thing.

Will be taking it to my guitar guy this weekend for new strings and set up but everything else is good! Knobs are good. Frets are good. Nut seems fine. Probably could use a good neck polish. Tone is good. But overall I'm pretty stoked :thumbup::cool:.

upload_2018-8-24_8-8-40.png
 

Wildwood

Playin' Blues
I have mentioned this before but I'm a big fan of (all due respect to Gibson, Fender, etc.) "non big name" guitars. I have two Michael Kelly guitars, an older Schecter, an ESP LTD (all in the pic above), a Monoprice LP and now this Firefly. My PRS is probably the biggest name that I play on a regular basis.
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
I have mentioned this before but I'm a big fan of (all due respect to Gibson, Fender, etc.) "non big name" guitars. I have two Michael Kelly guitars, an older Schecter, a Monoprice LP, a ESP LTD and now this Firefly. My PRS is probably the biggest name that I play on a regular basis.

You're such a rebel! ;) :Beer:
 
Top