One thing is for sure that we at Doom Squad Music loves to review those musical instruments which set up a healthy ratio between :
- Functionalities
- Affordability
- Quality
And the Guitars we bought you today have successfully established a strong benchmark in all 3 of our criteria.
And it is none other than one of the most Hyped Guitar we ever came across and its Firefly 338 Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar.
We have already reviewed the other model Firefly ES 335 style Guitar earlier and it just feels like we are getting started with these Budget Friendly Firefly Guitars.
Reminding everyone (newbies) again, If you are newly introduced to these firefly guitars and want to try them, then its almost a 99% chance that you won't be going to get it.
To get one you need to set up the notification on your e-commerce platform for availability.
Once, when you got notified then you must need to BUY it asap without wasting the next moment.
Trust me if somehow you miss the notification or won't able to reach out at its earliest, then probably you going to see this friendly screen.
The HYPE is real.
With that said, Lets take a closer look at the Features / Quality of the one I was able to get my hands on, the FF338 Spalted Maple Full Size Semi Hollow body Electric Guitar.
FF 338 Electric Guitar Detailed Analysis
Design :
Like any regular semi-hollow electric guitar ES 338 has everything (pickups, bridge, tailpiece) attached to the center of the solid wood body of the guitar, Followed by hollow wings on both sides.
Near the wings it has two F holes, two pickups at the center, a 3-way toggle switch (to select the pickups) , two tones and volumes knobs.
However bindings around the F-Holes does feel relatively uneven near the spots.
But what makes the overall look of the guitar so much appreciable is the Spalted Maple finish which is quite rare in electric guitars segment.
The double bound body around the corners and the perfectly angled arched back and a little on the top makes the overall body structure strong.
The arched back adds some extra sound wave harmony on an acoustic pieces but I am not much sure about its effects on electric versions.
Specs :
All right so let's quickly hit up some specs now, this is going to be pretty short because there's only two official specs listed for this guitar.
1) Spalted Maple top,
2) It's got a Bone Nut, which is actually fantastic for a guitar in this price range and will really help with tuning stability and that's it for the official specs so i'll go into some detail and look at this guitar but that's all they give you on the site.
Headstocks :
There's not much to go through the headstock part, apart from the eye-catching (flame) logo, which I really don't like that much, hopefully we can see a customization facility soon.
The tuning machine on the back side is also straightforward and the overall finish seems quite cosmetic upon closure look.
The most impressive add-on the firefly brand provides is the bone-nut, (which I also appreciated a lot on my last walkthrough.)
Having a bone nut installed in a budget guitar is a huge step for the brand.
As you know the base material bone nut is a minor but quite effective addon which are not even available on guitars of many renowned brands like Gibson.
Getting in this price range and will really help with tuning stability
The bone nut provide a nice dark, rich tone to your music along with providing tuning stability.
It also easily stands off the test of time, and its hard to beat when comparing with any other material for the guitar nut.
The Strings slot cut on the bone nut are very smooth and precise and aligned flawlessly with the shoulder.
A minute scratch can be noticed between the bone nut and fingerboard, but literally I am just nitpicking things here for the sake of review, And I am damn sure it will not be on the one you buy.
The Tilt angle of the headstock is also a little less flat then regular, and the neck looks very smooth and feels like the headstock and neck are made up of a single piece block. Which isn't the case.
The scarf joint is really hard to spot on the body.
The overall laminated splated maple finish throughout the instrument looks very lustrous but are prone to minor scratches, the body feels pretty solid with wonderful hollow body resonance.
However the look of the fingerboard material looks like its made of rosewood.
But upon closure inspection you will find it lacks some of the base property of rosewood like grain textures and sturdiness is different too.
But, That's not an issue at all, I am just diving in the details so you don't need to.
Tones :
Its hard to explain the beauty of the tones and can only be judged upon hearing and playing, So have a look at the video above for general idea.
The tone of FF 338 is quite amazing and you need a minor stretching on the string if your are playing for the very first time and feels a bit out of tune.
If you have a little experience with playing guitar you will agree with me that the sound and tone balance is pretty great even in the neck pickup areas of the guitar.
1 thing I stretched upon a lot in the earlier review was - the finishing and a little grittiness on of the frets and front faces.
However the front faces of the frets this FF 338 is very smooth and does not encounter grittiness' which is quite obvious on low end guitars.
So, overall its too hard to point any issues with tones and sound so far.
Further I tested mid-heavy distortions, even checked them on to the bridge, tested with and without dialing the treble and pickup.
The FF 338 offers a variety of tones with some crunchy overdrive,
I know the the regular setup does not prefer high gain in semi hollow guitars but its was worth trying to find the catchy spots.
And upon testing I felt that it catches up lots of noise in high gains.
So if you are into clean overdrive, rich and dark crunchy tones, you going to have a tons of fun.
Build Quality of Firefly 338 Electric Guitar :
Coming to the overall construction part, And what to expect from a guitar at this price range.
Without a doubt the construction quality of firefly guitars are way ahead of the price tag it comes in.
On my previous review the only thing that I complained about was the finishing of the frets.
But on this FF-338 electric version this issue is almost 60% resolved, upon closure look you may notice some tool and file markings on the fret ends, but they are not that sharp to cause scratch and cuts.
But still there's some room for improvement.
Bindings
The curvy bindings on the front face (edges) of the guitar are beautiful and flawless.
There's no uneven edges and marks of tools which are applied on the final stage of guitar construction.
Hardware
The hardware attached on the face of the guitar looks great.
There's just extremely minute exposed wood and lining around the tailpiece and posts (which are caused because of the drilling process).
Apart from that everything feels and looks quite fantastic, whether its pots or jack or the 3 way switch, or the clean F-holes there's hardly any construction quality issue on a guitar at this price range.
What Can Be Improved ?
The Universal Quote - "You will get what you pay for." never miss the opportunity to strike back.
Not everything with an affordable price tag known for quality.
But the rule of thumb with affordable tags instruments are that the numbers of pros should be more than the cons to be called "Cheap and Best".
In this case with FF 338 the Pros seriously outweighs the Cons.
The only Cons the guitar has is few cosmetic issues.
You may notice some dis-colorations around the neck joints and bottom back part of the guitar.
These discolorations spots looks like they are formed from adhesive. And that's it.
My Experience with Firefly 338 Electric Guitar Spalted Maple
Summing up the review I can very confidently say that the FF 338 electric guitar is simply astonishing.
Apart from minute cosmetic defects, There's literally nothing contravene the FF338.
Keep in mind that it is not a $500 guitar , it just costs under $190 and is simply revolutionary in budget guitar segment.
However, the affordable price with great reputation among guitarists make Firefly one of the most hyped guitar and this cause a disruption in overall supply and demand of the instrument.
So to get one you also need a lots of luck, or if this is your first time you are trying to get one, I doubt that you hardly going to get one.
This is one beautiful guitar even at x2 the price
with beautiful sound too.