Firefly Mad Cat Tele - Fit for a Prince?

Keith looks at Firefly's new Mad Cat Telecaster style guitar. We do a review and demo of the Firefly as well as look into the origin of the Mad Cat Tele and how an artist by the name of Prince used this Telecaster copy as his main guitar for his entire career.
Time Stamps:
Intro - 0:00
First Impressions - 1:38
Removal of Peely Stuff - 3:30
Demo -"Purplish Precipitation" - 4:25
Overview/Take Apart - 6:35
Mad Cat History - 9:27
Final Thoughts - 13:10
Links:
Where to buy: www.guitarsgarden.com
Check out Prince playing his Mad Cat along with, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynn and others performing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps": • 2021 Remaster "While M...
Keith Leedham is an independent recording artists/studio owner/tinkerer.
He owns "The Tape Farm" a recording studio that specializes in transferring "pro-sumer" analog tape formats from manufactures like Tascam and Fostex.
Website: www.thetapefarm.com
Facebook: / thetapefarm
As an independent recording artists Keith has released singles, EPs and full length albums. With styles ranging from Progressive Rock to Country to Singer/Songwriter to Hard Rock to what ever the song dictates.
Website: www.keithleedham.com
He also tinkers with various audio equipment such as tape machines, guitars and guitar amps. When he comes across something interesting he posts the progress/results on KZbin.

[@fretworkband3204]

Appreciate the backstory on the MadCat. You may be the only KZbin vlogger to go that deep so kudos to you. I wasn’t much of a Prince fan until this past year when I saw his recorded performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, at the RRHOF. Made a believer out of me.

[@TheTapeFarm]

I have that performance linked in the description. Absolutely brilliant. I wish I had mentioned it in the video.

[@htownnawfside8891]

1 man made this guitar extremely famous.

[@JoseDelgado-cw7vy]

I want to thank you for the History of the MadCat. Very helpful when looking to purchase one.

[@andrewnugent8998]

Great, honest and detailed video! I especially loved that you also got into the history of this design. Thanks!

[@3rdstone311]

Waiting for delivery of mine...can not wait!

[@kscinkc]

What a beautiful guitar! Now try to find one. Nice video!

[@floydlay9189]

Brilliant review,,thank you so much!

[@MichaelVician]

Digging into mine tomorrow morning when I get home from work. Specs and photos will be in the Firefly Guitars Fan group and the Firefly Guitars - The Mod Shop group

[@oldasrocks9121]

Prince ended up with Kinman pickups in his, performed for some time before them with Fender noiseless.

[@Joshua_Wilburn]

Wow!! So Awesome. What a great review video!!! Good job tape farm

[@TheTapeFarm]

Thanks Joshua!

[@msantos7948]

Great review 👏

[@3rdstone311]

...great review my brother from another mother.

[@TheTapeFarm]

Thanks man! She’s a looker, but you might feel she needs some help in the electronics department. Other than that very solid machine.

[@Ksantipacat]

Thanks for another great review. I'm a huge Prince fan, and went back and forth for a while on whether or not to buy one. I already have a blonde fender player telecaster, so it felt a bit redundant. Then they sold out, so I guess my decision was made through my own indecision! I remember seeing purple rain when I was in high school in MPLS with some buddies. It was the first r-rated movie I ever saw, I was amazing!

[@nspeer55]

Well, I totally love mine! I haven't looked under the hood, but she plays well right out of the box so why rock the boat. IMHO, she's worth every penny and more.

[@Anthemika]

Excellent video.

[@Icantdrive55]

I appreciate your attention to detail. Love the history lesson and back story. Looks like Firefly still has some quality control issues. Overall a nice looking guitar and once again great for modding as Firefly is known for. I only have a ff338 from 3 yeas ago but after some attention and a few parts plays great. I’m in Canada and it’s hard to get the Firefly brand up here. Amazon USA used to deliver them to Canada but not anymore. Great review 👍

[@Tonedefy]

Beautiful guitar! I would buy one if I didn't already own a tele with another one on the way!

[@jrry101]

Thanks for the informative review. I just ordered one yesterday. Their website is perhaps overloaded.

[@bobbrendel758]

Great review, Thanks! I have the Harley Benton on which I upgraded the tuners, nut, and saddles. End result is a really nice guitar.

[@PatrickGeneLeBlancHardy]

@TheTapeFarm I'm new to your channel.. Thanks For Sharing 🎸

[@StavK]

Fantastic work on the review as always. Does anyone else feel that the latest drop of Firefly models look a little aesthetically off? The finishes just look odd to me, but maybe there are people who dig them. The best ones for me are the Tele in this review and the gold finish bass.

[@LightWingStudios]

Looks and Sounds BEAUTIFUL! I should have grabbed one on the day they listed them. Instead I regrettably bought a Semi Hollow Tele with P-90s that came with different knobs than advertised, one of which was broken and had a bad pot under it. I can see a dent in the top styro cover which I think is because they placed the PUP Switch in a LP type position. Usually FF guitars have the switch tip in their accessory bag but this one was installed which made the guitar NOT fit very well in the main styro compartment and a dent in that place as well. It's not a bad guitar and I can fix it for $20 but none of this should have happened at the factory. Questionable QC.

[@woodreed52]

great video---one of the best in a line of great gear videos ...great demos too-- and informative re history ..i realy want one - i was pumped ...but on guitargarden ( ie Firefly site) none are even listed ..did they drop doing these or was there Legal door slam or something? any info would helpl..and if theyre gone can i buy yours ...;) ?

[@TheTapeFarm]

They just sold out on the day I posted the video. They historically do small batches. Hopefully they’ll bring them back soon. Thanks!

[@woodreed52]

@@TheTapeFarm hey yeah I figured but usually they have a pic and sold out on the listing .. made me wonder if it’s not gonna be back!!.. eg the acoustic experiment.. Altho there - they had poor packaging and tons of damage returns Oh well - I missed it thanks again -love the channel keep it up

[@rodrich1644]

Thanks for a good review. Are the frets SS as advertised?

[@TheTapeFarm]

Not on my version. The new versions have the SS frets.

[@jameswilliford5478]

Have to check my aerosonic 12 string tuners...some feel off a little, hopefully just need cleaning as well.

[@zuperdee]

The neck pocket issues are indeed disappointing, but seem to be par for the course with all the bolt-on Fireflys I’ve seen to date. How are the fret ends on this guitar? Are they ball ends or slant ends? Are the frets well done?

[@TheTapeFarm]

No ball ends like the explorer and V. But still pretty decent.

[@ibberman]

Does a Squier Tele neck fit, I wonder?

[@zuperdee]

@@ibberman I bet it would, since it seems Firefly is using standard Fender measurements, and most Fender and Squier necks are 100% interchangeable, as demonstrated in spades by KZbinrs like Landon Bailey. That being said, the neck pocket on mine is kind of a loose fit. I’m still debating whether to shim the sides of it, or simply replace the guitar. I kind of feel like the guitar as a whole may have too many little fit and finish issues to justify putting a whole lot of money into upgrading. The frets on mine are not as good as the one Keith has, for one thing-I had a number of high frets on mine, two of which seems to keep popping up, and my luthier told me that the frets seem to be made of unusually soft material that polish up and wear out REALLY easily.

[@TheMerc1950]

First to feed the algorithm fodder.

[@kidgloves2]

Will a fender telecaster neck fit the firefly Madcat body? I don’t know anything about specs. By the way I just ordered a firefly madcat. They are back on the site as of November 29, 2023. Let’s see how long they last lol

[@TheTapeFarm]

Squier neck would likely fit. Not sure a Fender would.

[@kidgloves2]

@@TheTapeFarm Looks like this new batch of Firefly Madcats has stainless steel ball end frets. I wonder if they fixed the neck pocket. I can’t wait until mine arrives

[@eldee9242]

I saw them up the other day and jumped quick to order one too. I'm blown away by Firefly's QA considering the price point of their guitars.

[@jamesbridgman5223]

I just snagged one myself and am planning on trying a neck swap too. Got a Fender tele neck sitting here ready to try. The Fender neck has that 22nd fret which is important to me. They're nickel silver frets, but Fender uses really good fret wire so I'm ok with that. Plus I can always install stainless frets down the road if I want. That's a nice weekend project for me. If the neck doesn't work out then I'll just enjoy playing those 21 stainless steel frets until another neck happens along. Keith, really enjoy your videos. Sometimes I go back and watch them again. Keep them coming. Thank you.

[@kidgloves2]

@@jamesbridgman5223 Oh cool. Let us know if the fender neck fits. My madcat arrives Friday.

[@kevinwardrealtor4129]

Can you share which amplifier and effects/pedals you used when you were playing the guitar in your video? Thanks.

[@2dazetake]

One bad cat with a mad cat, rain on our parade any day ,hope I can get one before too many claws,scratch them off the list,that guitar is purrrrfic,looks like enough wood on the headstock for a reshape,if so desired, to make it more authentic looking,wonder if a fender neck would fit it,do you think they routed out the neck pocket too deep also, that's what happened to a P90 Tele a got from firefly a while back I had to shim the whole neck pocket and add an angle shim too, there is so little wood underneath the neck in the pocket,that it was causing tuning problems had to switch to 9s to keep it more stable,eventually I'm probably going to glue the neck in,give it more stability.

[@joeking433]

They're sold out now. Maybe later.

[@Haze763]

@@joeking433 I seen they were sold out. I'm new to FF. Do they usually make more?

[@joeking433]

@@Haze763 Yeah, they always come back sooner or later. But the Madcat is kind of unique so it may be a while.

[@BeauregardHall]

I had the harley Benton version and it weighed a TON, like 12 or 13 pounds! How heavy is this one?

[@jamesthe-doctor8981]

You can see he weighed it at 9:25.

[@BeauregardHall]

@@jamesthe-doctor8981 hey thanks for telling me. I scooted thru the whole video and somehow missed that part.

[@terrybowen9810]

Not a traditional tele. My opinion what makes a tele sound is being a simple build. The bridge kind of goes out of the boundaries. In a Tele the more mechanics you have the less the tele sounds like a tele should. Not knocking the guitar . It looks amazing and might sound amazing. Im just skeptable of putting a non ashtray bridge. Theres a line you should not cross before it doesnt sound like you bought a tele

[@TheTapeFarm]

Get that… but it’s not a tele. It’s a Mad Cat. But I get your point. Tele bridges are special thing that contributes to that “Tele tone” we all love.

[@jameswilliford5478]

Now I can't decide between the mad cat or the three pickup FFTL

[@TheTapeFarm]

I’ve had both. I like the Mad Cat better. But that’s just me.

[@rodrich1644]

I found my neck to be 16" radius not 12"

[@vancochran7344]

I got one from Firefly and I also got a copy HS Anderson from China. The HS Anderson copy has a gloss pickguard. I like it better. It cost more than the Firefly.

[@toddsmods.623]

What do you like better about it? And how much more is it than the Firefly?

[@vancochran7344]

@@toddsmods.623 The HS Anderson copy has a gloss pickguard. I like it better. It cost more than the Firefly. It was $299.00

[@jesterraj]

Fret size?

[@RobVespa]

It's all in the video?

[@joeking433]

The Madcat is sold out. Methinks it's the fault of you KZbinrs.

[@TheTapeFarm]

To be fair it was sold out before I posted my video. I wish I had that kind of power 🤣

[@RyRch]

That neck / neck joint is a mess.

[@TheTapeFarm]

A bit… yes

[@haroldallison2427]

❤️ ｐｒｏｍｏｓｍ

[@jaymichaels5187]

crappy ceramic bar magnet pickups.

[@brianruyack7632]

New ones in 24 have Alnico. Powerful and responsive.