Chinese cheap or counterfeit products.

[WWLaidback]

This plays better than anything in Guitar Center right now.

I went to guitar center in Winston-Salem and I was not impressed with any of their gear -- even the gear made in the USA.
A fender is not a fender and a gibson is not a gibson anymore.
It happened because the public has been fooled.
I could say the same about a lot of other products as well.
Tacoma was a great guitar. Look what fender did to it.
Likewise for Guild.
Likewise for Hamer.
They moved it to Korea, dopped the price, and dropped the Newport Pro from the line-up
I love this guitar. I have one in Korina wood. This one is a spruce top, and it's a little more mellow for jazzy stuff:



Here is mine in korina wood with Seth Lover pups. It has a little more punch for rock:

 

[WWLaidback]

In 2015 a friend of mine was considering purchasing a Chibson guitar. He wanted my advjce.
I gave him a half dozen reasons to not buy that guitar.
He dismissed my advice by saying "Opinions are like assholes and you probably think that Donald Trump is a genius".
This thread reminded me of the time that I lost a good friend.

Here is the same guy promoting firefly guitars.
My brother bought 3 and gave them all to me.
The guitars are pretty, and sound pretty good, but I wouldn't use one for a main gig guitar.
I gave 2 away and kept the ES-335 copy.
The guitar strap is off balance, coming from the backside of the guitar and there is no way to fix it.
I have to sit down when I play that guitar.
The sound is good for the cost of it.
The fret board bleeds dye onto your fingers.
It stays in the case.
As you can see -- his guitar does not have a strap and he plays his sitting down too.
See the strap knob on the back of the guitar:

 

[TalismanRich]

WW, What do you mean by being "off balance, coming from the backside of the guitar". Just about every semi-hollow style guitar has the strap button on the back side of the guitar. I have two and both sit perfectly fine, even with the expanded girth that gets in the way! This one is 100% USA made, and plays and sounds great. Oh yeah, the other one is a Korean made DeArmond (Guild) Starfire IV and it plays great. Some of hardware isn't the greatest but it's been gigged. It just needs some TLC, like all guitars.



I find that generalizations about guitars based on where they are made are meaningless. I've played excellent USA and lousy USA guitars. I've also played excellent Chinese guitars and some real garbage.

None of these are "counterfeit" guitars, tho. I don't buy fake guitars. I don't need to. I can buy the real thing any time I want.

 

[WWLaidback]

WW, What do you mean by being "off balance, coming from the backside of the guitar".

When I play the firefly guitar with a strap on-- the body wants to lean forward at an angle -- rather than hanging vertically.
If I turn loose of the guitar then it flops over forward.
I have to clutch the guitar to hold it steady.
My pick attack is off. It also makes my hands tired.
I took it to a luthier to dress out the fretwork which was irregular and to make it hang right with a strap.
He couldn't do anything about the strap because there isn't enough material to put the strap button on the side rather than the back.

Just about every semi-hollow style guitar has the strap button on the back side of the guitar.

My Newport has it in the right place (for me).
I don't recall any solid body guitars or acoustics -- that I'd like to play -- that have the strap button on the back of the body.
The back is not in line with the center of gravity.
The side is perfect, unless somebody likes playing a leaner -- if that is what they are used to.
I'm not used to it.
I don't like heavy necks either.
It doesn't feel right to me after I play it for a while.
I got rid of a guitar like that.

Here is a strap button in the right place: