Is the Firefly is the new al-2000

[MichaelR]

I just watched the video review of the Firefly lp copy by Philip McKnight and was impressed with what you get for $189. Now bear in mind that this guitar was sent to him knowning he would do an in depth review on it, so I would have to bet they made sure he got a good one. I'm most likely going to get one just to see if it comes with better than normal caps and full size cf pots like he got. Im also wanting to see if its bound front and back. Philip got a one with triple binding even on the headstock but the pics on the site he posted don't look they have the same binding. I was drawn to the Agile in the beginning because they were well made for the money and these look pretty good for a starter guitar. Just like the Agile the pickups are the weak spot although some will like them. Philip does a pretty in depth review well worth watching if you have any interest in the Firefly and modding one.

What surprised me was the site he bought it from has lots of choices and most are available to buy. I know that during the frenzy a couple years ago they would sell out fast. I have to admit I have not paid much attention to buying guitars the last couple years and so have not paid attention the Firefly at all until now, so this may be old news to you guys.
https://guitarsgarden.com/collections/ffhb-guitar

[Flatline]

I had one of the hollow body models when they got popular. I returned it. I had one of the thin line teles. It was okay but not great. I had to take care of a few high frets to make it playable. I sold it after it hung on my wall as my least played guitar. Neither were near the fit and finish level the AL2000 were. Maybe by now their LP model has better fit and finish out of the box.

[honyock]

I'd say the SX Callisto STD+ is pretty close in quality save for the decision for SX to cheap out on some things.

However if I were spending around $200 plus shipping, based on my recent SG Jr. style and Explorer style Harley Bentons, I'd be more apt to try the latest SC-450 plus at $192 plus ~$60 shipping. The pickups they have been using (Roswell) are excellent, on par with AL3k's, the hardware is as nice are Agile used to use before the Cepheus stuff.

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

[BrianSkeezer]

I have a few Firefly guitars, and I like them, but pay close attention to what Phillip says in the video about the body wood. I am more apt to believe that they are all basswood with maple and mahogany veneers over the top and backs. a couple of mine began to have tuning stability issues, and when I began looking them over, I noticed the stop bar bushings pulling out of the bodies. When I took the strings off, I was able to pull the bushings right out with almost no tension. The drilled holes were sort of oval shaped and I'm guessing it's due to the softer wood. I wrapped some aluminum tape around the bushings and hammered them in, and so far tuning has been stable again, but I'm constantly checking them.

The pickups, to me, are another weak spot (microphonic), and I've changed all of mine out, but I've also wax-potted them and used some in other guitars and they're not terrible. The tuners on the FFLP seem decent enough, and I haven't needed to change them out. I have had some problems with output jacks cutting out while playing.

Even with some issues, I like mine and don't regret buying them, but I'm also a tinkerer, so take that into consideration. Like @honyock mentioned above, all of my Harley Bentons have been outstanding, and required nothing but a setup. I don't have an SC450, but my son has an SC Custom (ESP Eclipse copy) which is awesome. The only thing that Firefly has over the HBs is the better variety of colors.

[redman]

I bought their version of a LP Jr. and it was way less than a good guitar. Who knows I may have got a lemon I gave it to a kid in our family.

[uwmcscott]

I had 3 of the F335 semi hollows that all went back due to significant flaws/issues and one of the LP DC Jr models that I kept for a while. While some people did end up getting good ones, my opinion is that they are nowhere near the quality/consistency level of anything Rondo or other mainstream builders put out. Hardware was garbage on all of them, frets were gunky and oxidized, and as mentioned in the video I'm pretty sure the LP JR was basswood or something of the sort based on the weight.

The other main difference I see is the distribution model - they were sold on amazon for a while, and now basically through a rinky-dink website that rarely has stock. And the only place you can get much info is on a members-only facebook site that is pretty much a poster child for why people lament facebook.

Having said all that, my experience with them was over a year ago so things might have changed, you do see some YT videos of people who still praise the F335s as good mod platforms so YMMV.

[MichaelR]

After reading your comments my fire for the FirerFly has gone out. I'm reminded of the bridge on my f338 buzzing so bad that I had to replace it and also the pickups. I sold it at the local guitar store as I remember.

[Gergo]

After reading your comments my fire for the FirerFly has gone out. I'm reminded of the bridge on my f338 buzzing so bad that I had to replace it and also the pickups. I sold it at the local guitar store as I remember.

I am chiming in here to say that you are making a good decision. I had a friend buy a LP copy for his son, and I had to swap out a lot of stuff and do a full fret level for it to be a good guitar. This particular one was sub-SX in my opinion.

[BrianSkeezer]

After reading your comments my fire for the FirerFly has gone out. I'm reminded of the bridge on my f338 buzzing so bad that I had to replace it and also the pickups. I sold it at the local guitar store as I remember.

The bridges! How could I have forgotten the absolute worst part on all of my Firefly guitars? Yes, I had to change out the bridge on every one of them.

[notme]

The only thing the fflp has in common with an al2000 is the price. Try to buy an AL instead, way better in every way. However, it seems FF do manage to sell a few good guitars once in a while.
With the hype and sell outs they have with these guitars, I would bet TJ's Rondo collection that FF will not improve their product...ever.
One of the latest in the line of "features" they offer, is selling returned guitars as new

[mighty_duck]

Another candidate is the IYV LP copy. It is usually a solid guitar.
Cons:
It will have some cosmetic imperfections. Often things like paint runs on binding, or glue/filler in inlays.
It only comes in green.

Amazon offers easy returns, so send them back if you get a bad one.

[Mossman]

I never caught the Firefly bug... When everybody was losing their minds over those guitars, I had no idea why. It seemed like a mild case of mass-delusion. They looked pretty cheap to me, just based on what I saw in YouTube videos. Some of them had pretty finishes, but they were still just cheap guitars with a pretty finish. Like the guitars you see on Ali Express... They all look fantastic, but that may be as far as it goes. You pay your money, take your chances. And I'm a little more willing to take a risk on a cheap solid-body guitar (I have purchased a couple of Cozarts in my time, after all), but not a hollow, or semi-hollow.

When I was on my quest for a semi-hollow over the last couple of years, a fair amount of people recommended the Firefly. I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but I knew there was no way in hell I was going to buy one of those things. I mean, I've owned $600-$700 Epiphone semi-hollows that I didn't like, so I didn't have much faith that I'd be satisfied with a $150 Chinese knock-off. The Thinline Teles they came out with looked more appropriate for hanging on the wall of a bar, or a jam room as a decoration, not as a musical instrument. That 60 Cycle Hum guy didn't even like that guitar, and he likes everything that's cheap and weird. He made a video where he gave it away to some random kid in a GC parking lot... which is a little weird and creepy, but oh well. He could have just found a dumpster for it and called it a day, but Instead, some lucky kid got a new guitar that's probably worse than the guitar he already had.

[nomadh]

I finally got a ff 338 in spalted and its turned out to be great. Certainly as good as my epi dot or my casino coupe. I'd say as playable as my al2500. And I like the pickups ok too.

[Longblacktie]

Nowhere near the quality of an AL2000

[MadJack]

I received my Firefly FF-338 Semi-hollow about three weeks ago. I know, it's not one of the FFLPs, it's one of the Red ES-335 copies and it was the only semi-hollow model that was available at the time I ordered it from Amazon. I didn't get all caught up in the initial rush to buy them and waited till just recently to order one.

I'm not going to say it was the best budget guitar I've ever bought, but I was quite surprised with some of it, while not surprised with other aspects. It had it's issues, but I was expecting that with a sub $200 semi-hollow guitar. As those who remember me, know I can do my own tech work, so I wasn't too worried about the potential problems experienced from what I've read about them. Overall, I like it and did a few mods to help it out to suit my taste better.

When I first opened it I was shocked at how bright red it really was! I was expecting the Gibson/Epiphone's Cherry Red, but this is much brighter. (See the Epi Les Paul Special I P90 next to it in the picture.) Even though it is quite a bright red, I like it. It's a shocking bright red, but yet it's a pretty red. I'm good with the color.

I tuned it up and on my first pass to play it, all the strings fretted out on the second fret. The feet was way too high. Using my fret checker, I found it to be about the worst I ever had. You could see the gap under the edge of the fret and the fingerboard. As I normally do, I started with my soft face hammer and tapped it back down. Now the third fret was a little high and tapped it down. Then the fourth was just a smidge high, tapped it down too. The fifth fret and on were good. I didn't use any CA/Superglue, but they have stayed put since. The frets were polished very nicely, even thought the fret ends needed a little finishing work. I was able to dress the ends up with my fine grit sanding sponge and all's good.

I also found the neck was flat. No relief what so ever. I added about .010" relief and completed a quick set up check. It barely needed a tweak on the string height and the intonation was almost spot on.

Now on to playing it.

Acoustically it was the loudest, most responsive Hollow/Semi-hollow I've laid hands on. Bright and woody sounding. I plugged it in and got what I was expecting, hot bright and very microphonic pups, so no surprises there.

The dime sized pots were what I was expecting. They turn a little too easily for my taste. The switch was fine.

The nut is real bone and had decent action height, but lacked finishing work. It had square shoulders and slightly stuck out from the binding. I took my finishing files and some sandpaper and finished detailing the nut. No more clunking into the nut when playing the lower frets.

The tuning machines had a little bit of backlash, but not as much as I had seen from other reviews for these guitars. I did replace them with a set of Gotoh Sealed tuners with keystone knobs, that were a direct fit. They give the guitar a nod toward the earlier ES-335s. The '70's 335s had chromed/nickel plated keystone knobs, but were on vintage style tuners and the earlier versions had the plastic knob keystone vintage tuners.

The bridge mine came with didn't have the wire retainer, like I've received on some budget model guitars. The buzz usually didn't come through the amp with some wire retainer bridges, but can be a bit discerning when playing. I'm good with the bridge and tail piece as they are. The bridge ferrules appear to be at a little offset angles from each other, but the bridge slips on and off just fine and intonates with no issues and the ferrules stay in place when flipped over.

I got a Guitar Electronics' wiring kit (CTS A500K pots, Orange Drop Caps and Switchcraft jack and switch) and a set of Artec/Giovanni GVH-1 Humbuckers. I got it all rewired and installed and it is what I was after. The holes for the pots did need to be enlarged from the 8mm (?) to the 3/8", which I did by hand with a stepped drill bit.

I can rock it, play the blues or play worship with it. I know I'm still in the honeymoon phase, but this can be my new favorite player. I know I won't get my money back if I were to sell it, but I don't buy with the intent of selling it, but making it what I want from it. Right now it's what I wanted from it, a budget (nearly) full size semi-hollow (15.5" vs 16") and that's what I now have!

Overall, no I don't consider the FireFly brand to be anything like any Agile, but are a good project guitar.

[doc-knapp]

Overall, Harley Benton became the new Agile on the block for the last few years. And speaking of Agile, I just got an email with Kurt's recent prices. He's brought back the Harm for $600 bucks now???? They were $250 back when I purchased two. I don't think it's a $600 guitar.

[Mossman]

Overall, Harley Benton became the new Agile on the block for the last few years. And speaking of Agile, I just got an email with Kurt's recent prices. He's brought back the Harm for $600 bucks now???? They were $250 back when I purchased two. I don't think it's a $600 guitar.

I don't remember back when the Harm was priced that low. I want to say I paid $400 for my 12-string Harm back in the oughts, but it might have been $350. I remember it being more expensive than an AL 3100, anyway. I definitely wouldn't pay $600 for one today. Especially a 6-string. That's Ibanez/Epiphone money, and as much as I liked my old Harm, I don't think it would come within a country mile of my AS93, which only costs $50 more. I hate to say it, but I think Kurt is in a tough spot. I don't think he can keep manufacturing in Korea while keeping prices competitive anymore. If he's going to price his guitars at parity with name-brand imports, then there needs to be some value added. Either that, or move manufacturing to Indonesia (I'd hate to see him go to China), and lower the prices. But I'm just speculating... I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I think you're right about Harley Benton being the new Agile... They're a lot bigger, though. Harley Benton is known world-wide, while Agile remains painfully obscure in its own country. They have a broader selection and more price tiers, too. Even when Rondo had 10 or 12 pages of guitars, they could never have competed with HB. Still the same, those are the price points Kurt should trying to hit, not the name-brand market.

[BatUtilityBelt]

My Harm was $299.99 new in 2014. It was a shockingly great value. I agree that chapter is probably over. Having said so, I won't be joining the Harley Benton crowd, because my first attempt at one was a horrendously bad experience over an unfixable guitar and Thomann's customer service was the reason the deal went so sour. I'd say with the right agreements, there is no reason a US company can't compete there.

[mickey]

Two Firefly's showed up on my local CL a day or two ago. Looks like the same guy has both:

Firefly Tele

Firefly 335

[andrewsrea]

Two Firefly's showed up on my local CL a day or two ago. Looks like the same guy has both:

Firefly Tele

Firefly 335

Looks like he has them at a fair price. I saw some folks trying to sell them for a few hundred more than they went for new.

[MadJack]

FYI, Guitarsgarden.com posted up some new FFLPS (LP copies). May not be up to the quality of an AL-2K, but for the DIYer they can be pretty good. some cool colors too.

[tobijohn]

... They looked pretty cheap to me, just based on what I saw in YouTube videos. Some of them had pretty finishes, but they were still just cheap guitars with a pretty finish. Like the guitars you see on Ali Express... They all look fantastic, but that may be as far as it goes. You pay your money, take your chances.

IMHO, that pretty much sums it up. I've got three of them: the 338, the LP and recently, the SG. All were flawed to varying degrees in some way or another and only the SG was playable with a setup out of the box. I'd agree with @honyock on the level of quality (sub SX). Sure, some have gotten ones that were very good but there are no free lunches and at this price point and with this brand, that corner that gets cut is quality control.

Based on my experience, when it comes to budget guitars, Harley Benton is the way to go these days. I've been shocked by how amazingly good the build quality has been on the last several that I've purchased...

[Mossman]

... They looked pretty cheap to me, just based on what I saw in YouTube videos. Some of them had pretty finishes, but they were still just cheap guitars with a pretty finish. Like the guitars you see on Ali Express... They all look fantastic, but that may be as far as it goes. You pay your money, take your chances.

IMHO, that pretty much sums it up. I've got three of them: the 338, the LP and recently, the SG. All were flawed to varying degrees in some way or another and only the SG was playable with a setup out of the box. I'd agree with @honyock on the level of quality (sub SX). Sure, some have gotten ones that were very good but there are no free lunches and at this price point and with this brand, that corner that gets cut is quality control.

Based on my experience, when it comes to budget guitars, Harley Benton is the way to go these days. I've been shocked by how amazingly good the build quality has been on the last several that I've purchased...

Something else that nobody talks about when it comes to these Fireflies and Grotes is: durability. I'm more inclined to take a chance on a cheap solid-body guitar than a semi-hollow. The worst structural problems you have to worry about with a solid-body are wonky routs, or a badly positioned bridge, which are very fixable, and I don't think the body is going to self-destruct in 10 years or less. I can't say I have the same faith in a semi-hollow that's built to the lowest possible price-point. We've had cheap, Chinese bodies and necks flooding into the west for long enough now to see thinline Teles that have warpage, shrinkage, and splitting seams, and necks that are starting to twist because they use undried wood. I really don't want to throw water on anyone's good time, but there's no way these guitars are built to last. It's easy to say: "Meh... they're cheap enough not to care". But you're not going to see these guitars on the used market, or in people's homes 10 years from now... You're going to see them (and every guitar like them) piled up in landfills.

From a marketing standpoint, I think coming out with a cut-rate 335-style guitar is pretty clever, though. On paper, hollow and semi-hollow guitars represent a smaller percentage of the guitar market, and may not seem like a good place to start, but just about everybody would "like to have" a 335. They just don't want one bad enough to spend Gibson, or even Epiphone money on a guitar that they're not sure they're going to like, or have much use for. But offer something that's three times cheaper than the cheapest Epiphone, and that considerably lowers the risk of entry, and represents a golden opportunity for a whole untapped market.

Regarding HB; I was thoroughly impressed with the $155 Jazz bass I bought... And that's their second cheapest bass. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one of their more expensive instruments... as long as it's not made of Ash. The only real down-side to this bass is that it's heavy AF (like 13 lbs!). It's in pieces right now, but it will return in a future episode with some weight relief and a new finish.