10 Firefly's, 4 are Tele's, 1 a standard. All excellent guitars, no issues. The only guitar that had issues (none worth complaining to me) was the reliced Strat, and yes, it was the powder everywhere. Other than that I've had no issues. I'm a member of all the FF Facebook Groups and some people have received disasters, wrong finishes, blemishes, and in the early days, the Les Paul's had bridge issues. I've been happy. I also own 7 IYV's and they're great, though I hate the Logo. The pickups are dang good.
Not just cheap guitars... I work on fenders every once an a while and I find the same issues. Neck pocket issues, strip screws and surprisingly poor electronics. Guitars built or assembled on a production line are all going to have these similar issues. These sub 200$ budget guitars will not have good components nor electronics. That's not to say they dont work or that the have to be changed, it just depends on what your after... Most budget guitars coming out today are made with decent materials and are CNC made. So bone wise, in most cases, you'll have something decent to work with. The question is, how much time and money do you want to spend on it hahaha! Enjoy the Journey, and rock on!
Yep. That has been my thinking as well. I have really enjoyed the journey and spending the time... so I think I got time (ha!). Thanks, J. for all your encouragement and recommendations.
You’re wearing a holster t shirt, so I will tell you a thing that might be pertinent. I’m in the sixgun business a little bit, customizing, fixing, etc, in the realm of 1873 model replica clones. So the makers, Uberti and Pietta, they sell an antiqued version. IE, a relic. Thing is they are built off parts that had problems during assembly and were torn down. At the point you build a sixgun from these parts and there’s a boo boo on them, that goes under the radar with the relic-ing. I’d be shocked if it wasn’t the same thing with these relic model guitars. To say, your stripped screw holes and out of spec neck pockets.
@@TedTalksGuitars I have a better way to say it after some thinking about what I know to be true: when a company makes a relic model they have an opportunity to launder some out of spec / bad parts into finished product, and… I think they do that…
Yep, new pickup on the way. Thanks, Mike. I really appreciated your help this morning. I guess it is possible that if I get the new pup and i have noise another video will appear (imagine that). I have another video take of this one where I went into all of that... but it was super long and my big old noggin was out of the shot.
@2bikemikesguitartopics145 & @J-Man9457 - Well, in other news... the replacement pup came today. I double checked it Mike for all the ground wires, installed it, and... same deal. If I touch the pickup when in the neck position same noise. Still nothing on the bridge like it at all. Problem is at this point, it can't be a Firefly QC thing or the guitar's "fault" as I have swapped every electronic part, checked all wiring and even replaced wire with new cloth wires. This is just wild. I had the thought that maybe somehow I was getting it from the opening for the truss rod wheel. So, I built a wall out of - you guessed it more tape, but that made it worse. I even removed the ground cable from under the pick up - which did nothing. However, it does occur to me that the ground wire is the only "electronic" stock part in the guitar. Maybe I should swap it out. Well, I am at a loss. Open to any ideas... On a positive note, I did successfully bypass the tone knob. Actually, I made the tone control just applicable to the bridge pup. That was pretty cool.
Maybe I should rip out the tape in that cavity? I could use a modest amount with a tab. I know that defeats the purpose but maybe it wouldn't hurt as a test and while I am at it swap out that ground wire.
Hey, @2bikemikesguitartopics145 and @J-man9457. So, I put the same pickups in the Fojill tele and it did not react the same with as the Firefly did (that hum / buzz thing when I touched the neck pup with two different Artec pups). The only thing I did different on the Fojill was that I did not shield the pick guard as close to the pickup hole. I left about 15mm unshielded around the pickup hole on all sides. So, I uninstalled the pickguard from the Firefly and removed the shielding tape directly around the pick up hole leaving about 15-20mm of non-shielded space around the pickup hole. And... guess what? No more hum or buzz when I touch the pickup. So, there you go... I guess over shielding is a problem. Live and learn, I hope.
10 Firefly's, 4 are Tele's, 1 a standard. All excellent guitars, no issues. The only guitar that had issues (none worth complaining to me) was the reliced Strat, and yes, it was the powder everywhere. Other than that I've had no issues. I'm a member of all the FF Facebook Groups and some people have received disasters, wrong finishes, blemishes, and in the early days, the Les Paul's had bridge issues. I've been happy. I also own 7 IYV's and they're great, though I hate the Logo. The pickups are dang good.
Thanks for sharing part of your journey. I appreciate hearing about your experiences with FFs & IYVs. Rock on!
Not just cheap guitars... I work on fenders every once an a while and I find the same issues. Neck pocket issues, strip screws and surprisingly poor electronics. Guitars built or assembled on a production line are all going to have these similar issues. These sub 200$ budget guitars will not have good components nor electronics. That's not to say they dont work or that the have to be changed, it just depends on what your after...
Most budget guitars coming out today are made with decent materials and are CNC made. So bone wise, in most cases, you'll have something decent to work with. The question is, how much time and money do you want to spend on it hahaha!
Enjoy the Journey, and rock on!
Yep. That has been my thinking as well. I have really enjoyed the journey and spending the time... so I think I got time (ha!). Thanks, J. for all your encouragement and recommendations.
You’re wearing a holster t shirt, so I will tell you a thing that might be pertinent. I’m in the sixgun business a little bit, customizing, fixing, etc, in the realm of 1873 model replica clones. So the makers, Uberti and Pietta, they sell an antiqued version. IE, a relic. Thing is they are built off parts that had problems during assembly and were torn down. At the point you build a sixgun from these parts and there’s a boo boo on them, that goes under the radar with the relic-ing. I’d be shocked if it wasn’t the same thing with these relic model guitars. To say, your stripped screw holes and out of spec neck pockets.
Thanks, that is a perfect analogy and perhaps accurate. It sure seems the guitar was made of scraps or maybe just a bad batch.
@@TedTalksGuitars I have a better way to say it after some thinking about what I know to be true: when a company makes a relic model they have an opportunity to launder some out of spec / bad parts into finished product, and… I think they do that…
@@sackpeterson - You could be on to something.
But, what about the neck pup noise?
Yep, new pickup on the way. Thanks, Mike. I really appreciated your help this morning. I guess it is possible that if I get the new pup and i have noise another video will appear (imagine that). I have another video take of this one where I went into all of that... but it was super long and my big old noggin was out of the shot.
@2bikemikesguitartopics145 & @J-Man9457 - Well, in other news... the replacement pup came today. I double checked it Mike for all the ground wires, installed it, and... same deal. If I touch the pickup when in the neck position same noise. Still nothing on the bridge like it at all. Problem is at this point, it can't be a Firefly QC thing or the guitar's "fault" as I have swapped every electronic part, checked all wiring and even replaced wire with new cloth wires. This is just wild.
I had the thought that maybe somehow I was getting it from the opening for the truss rod wheel. So, I built a wall out of - you guessed it more tape, but that made it worse. I even removed the ground cable from under the pick up - which did nothing. However, it does occur to me that the ground wire is the only "electronic" stock part in the guitar. Maybe I should swap it out.
Well, I am at a loss. Open to any ideas...
On a positive note, I did successfully bypass the tone knob. Actually, I made the tone control just applicable to the bridge pup. That was pretty cool.
Maybe I should rip out the tape in that cavity? I could use a modest amount with a tab. I know that defeats the purpose but maybe it wouldn't hurt as a test and while I am at it swap out that ground wire.
Hey, @2bikemikesguitartopics145 and @J-man9457. So, I put the same pickups in the Fojill tele and it did not react the same with as the Firefly did (that hum / buzz thing when I touched the neck pup with two different Artec pups). The only thing I did different on the Fojill was that I did not shield the pick guard as close to the pickup hole. I left about 15mm unshielded around the pickup hole on all sides. So, I uninstalled the pickguard from the Firefly and removed the shielding tape directly around the pick up hole leaving about 15-20mm of non-shielded space around the pickup hole. And... guess what? No more hum or buzz when I touch the pickup. So, there you go...
I guess over shielding is a problem. Live and learn, I hope.
@@TedTalksGuitars
Good thinking to go back and make that change