Friday, February 28, 2025
AcousticGuitar

Best acoustic guitar under $200? Orangewood vs Firefly


Hey everyone welcome to the channel I hope you’re all having an awesome day today. In today’s vifeo we are doing a highly requested showdown between 2 of the kings of budget guitars; Firefly vs Oragewood? Who will reign supreme?

Tune in and find out!

Link for Firefly guitar in video: https://guitarsgarden.com/collections/acoustic-guitar/products/firefly-da02-acoustic-guitar-aaa-solid-top-spruce-rosewood-back-and-side

Link for Orangewood guitar in video: https://orangewoodguitars.com/products/olivermahogany?variant=3677845454888&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=Cj0KCQiAzMGNBhCyARIsANpUkzMCY_qU2ZwwSzZiyoRWIpHHPQNmtl4aXUl2wc8g6GnrUrnxAJJFM5caAjuIEALw_wcB

#acoustic #guitar #Orangewood #Firefly

Originally posted by UC5k58EKzXlReyw3H3fiWn6g at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC8Y-WAo0HE

30 thoughts on “Best acoustic guitar under $200? Orangewood vs Firefly

  • Grading on Spruce tops relates to the straightness and consistency of the grain. Not sure the firefly is really AAA top, but its nice.

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  • seems like the orangewood has awful fret buzz when you played high on the neck. i think it has a bad vibration as well, maybe improper glueing on the bracing or the bridge. To me the firefly seems better.

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  • Hey Raf,
    I saw this $260 guitar on Amazon. It's 41" solid walnut acoustic electric with a mahogany neck, arm cut, & gig bag at Harmonia. It's made by Alston and in the photos the frets & tuning keys look like the EART stuff ????

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  • Hey cuzin, isn't that firefly 's top solid? I thought I was told they aren't laminated but maybe I misheard that.
    Also if you don't mind me asking what Guage and brand strings are riding on

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  • I've worked in and owned a recording studio for over 25 yrs now so I'm prob paying attention to things I'm personally more familiar with noticing. The firefly is clearly a louder guitar but the other one has a way broader sonic range. Its not as loud but volume shouldn't be mistaken for any Instruments range capabilities. Bottom line none the less is all of them are pretty great for the cost .. I don't think anyone could really pick the "wrong" one. Even the Yamaha series suits.. for that price range I'd fork the extra 100 for an Alvarez personally but none are the wrong choice…
    Good show man.
    Real good show

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  • FF= brighter more "open". The Orangewood sounds better overall with a more even, listenable tone. Great playing BTW.

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  • Thanks Raf! I don't have a FF acoustic. I do have an Orangewood (Florence), a Recording King Dirty 30's parlor, and a Jim Dandy parlor. I actually like the RK sound best. The JD is a knock about, and the Orangewood is very quality, but with a mellower sound.

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  • You cannot, or I should say, should not try comparing. Mahogany topped guitar to a spruce topped guitar. The spruce top will most always win. Not a fair comparison. Then you compare an OM body style to a dreadnaught. Again, not a fair comparison in two ways now.

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  • Most commercial wood is graded. I think some guitar companies exaggerate about the grading of the wood they use. It's hard to believe they use top grade wood considering what they sell their guitars for. Maybe they have their own people doing the grading.????
    I do like the tone of the Firefly more but it's a bigger guitar using brighter sounding tone wood. They are both beautiful instruments and seem to be really good considering their cost.
    Great review! ????

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  • The most inexpensive one sounds brighter, and at the same time deeper. You helped me to decide, and I thank you for that. Blessings… ❤️

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  • I really enjoyed your video. Your playing was great and you seemed pretty fair to both. I actually had an Oliver and sold it after a while because the sound was a bit dull and I found it didn't project well for a solid top. I've owned other auditorium sized guitars which were much louder. The one positive was that it was built like a tank and the tuners were great. I'd like to try the Firefly but I'm a bit reluctant as the two Firefly electrics I've owned both had horrible tuners.

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  • Sorry for the late question, do you know the nut width on the Firefly? Interesting guitar and great demo/comparison, too!

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  • The back and sides are indeed laminate on the FF acoustics. I think you pretty much hit the differences in overall sound…obviously the FF is going to project more due to body size, and characteristics of a spruce top vs mahogany along with top bracing, etc…I think I read in another comment that you restrung both guitars using same strings, as that of course will affect overall sound, tone, brightness and bottom end. The FF should open up a bit as it ages as well. Mine required a good cleaning and setup, but so did just about every guitar I have bought. Thanks for the comparison…????

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  • In response to concerns over the firefly arriving damaged, I ordered the firefly lp style that got beat up in the mail. I emailed them and sent pictures of how the neck was cracked. Customer service at firefly was helpful and shipped me one that arrived whole. I am not sure what experience others have had with firefly but mine was very good. I have ordered two guitars from firefly and really like them both.

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  • Great review. One thing to take in to account is that a spruce top and a mahogany top will have a different tone. I have a Firefly DA02-S1 and I am very impressed with how it sounds. They are both a good choice in guitars but I'm a Firefly fan. Thx for putting this out you play great.

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  • Out of curiosity, were they each strung with fresh new strings of the same Guage and/or brand?

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  • You made no mention of how the Firefly was packaged for shipping to you. The packaging to everyone else has been a 1 ply box with no protection. Many firefly acoustics arrive damaged. very risky purchase.

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  • Nice vid! I was actually in between these 2 acoustics and a Yamaha FG800. What do you think of the Yamaha and how does it compare to these 2?

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  • Great review. I have an Orangewood and it's fantastic. The Firefly looks really interesting though, I'll have to check it out.

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  • Your acoustic playing is excellent man. I think out of the 2 I liked how the Firefly sounded better but I like the satin Mahogany finish on the Orangewood. Honestly it's tough to pick one so I think the best solution is to get both ????

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  • Super quick note: The 'blemish' I mentioned on the Firefly was actually a smudge that I was able to polish away.

    Also. My acoustic pickup wasn't working so I just did 2 lead sections instead with both guitars ????

    Thanks for watching!

    Reply

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