Guild Starfire IV / V

StrummyBrummie · March 2019

I've become interested in these guitars, and I'm wondering which are regarded as the best, and how the new Korean made ones fair against the old US models? Any Starfire players out there I'd love to hear your views.

StrummyBrummie · March 2019

This one from the US

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/143100013998

This one from Korea

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/163591627695

kreggs · March 2019

If you google Gads rambling. Theres a bloke that reviews guilds past and present. Might be some help

Henrytwang · March 2019

I know that they’re considerably more expensive but I’d be inclined to go for an American built Guild, they were excellent instruments. I did hear, from somebody in the trade, that Guild were in a very poor shape financially prior to the Fender takeover, so poor in fact that they were buying screws from the local hardware store in order to finish instruments. For that reason I’d rather buy an older Guild as corners may have been cut on some of the last pre Fender Guilds.

StrummyBrummie · March 2019

kreggs said:

If you google Gads rambling. Theres a bloke that reviews guilds past and present. Might be some help

Cool, I will do so. Cheers.

StrummyBrummie · March 2019

Henrytwang said:

I know that they’re considerably more expensive but I’d be inclined to go for an American built Guild, they were excellent instruments. I did hear, from somebody in the trade, that Guild were in a very poor shape financially prior to the Fender takeover, so poor in fact that they were buying screws from the local hardware store in order to finish instruments. For that reason I’d rather buy an older Guild as corners may have been cut on some of the last pre Fender Guilds.

I like the idea of a vintage one. But don't we all?

Snags · March 2019

I've got a modern Starfire V and really like it. Have a feeling it's not even Korean, but Chinese.

Build quality seems fine to my untrained eye. No obvious blemishes, nice action (for me) out of the box, intonation easy to tweak and get right, everything works and scratched a semi-hollow itch. I don't think the pickups are anything special, but they're not awful either. Stays in tune, despite what people say about Bigsby-style trems.

I can't compare it to an older USA one though, never having played one.

StrummyBrummie · March 2019

Snags said:

I've got a modern Starfire V and really like it. Have a feeling it's not even Korean, but Chinese.

Build quality seems fine to my untrained eye. No obvious blemishes, nice action (for me) out of the box, intonation easy to tweak and get right, everything works and scratched a semi-hollow itch. I don't think the pickups are anything special, but they're not awful either. Stays in tune, despite what people say about Bigsby-style trems.

I can't compare it to an older USA one though, never having played one.

A sensible fella might say that a modern one is a good place to start. I may not be that fella but I'm sure it's something he might say..

Snags · March 2019

Nah, a sensible fella would look secondhand, whereas I got impatient and ponied up for a new one, which was well on the way to a secondhand USA, it turns out.

StrummyBrummie · March 2019

Snags said:

Nah, a sensible fella would look secondhand, whereas I got impatient and ponied up for a new one, which was well on the way to a secondhand USA, it turns out.

Impatient is something I understand..

Henrytwang · March 2019

StrummyBrummie said:

Henrytwang said:

I know that they’re considerably more expensive but I’d be inclined to go for an American built Guild, they were excellent instruments. I did hear, from somebody in the trade, that Guild were in a very poor shape financially prior to the Fender takeover, so poor in fact that they were buying screws from the local hardware store in order to finish instruments. For that reason I’d rather buy an older Guild as corners may have been cut on some of the last pre Fender Guilds.

I like the idea of a vintage one. But don't we all?

You do take a bit of a hit in the bank account but when you’ve got it it’s yours. It’s only money after all, guitars are far more important.

StrummyBrummie · March 2019

Henrytwang said:

StrummyBrummie said:

Henrytwang said:

I know that they’re considerably more expensive but I’d be inclined to go for an American built Guild, they were excellent instruments. I did hear, from somebody in the trade, that Guild were in a very poor shape financially prior to the Fender takeover, so poor in fact that they were buying screws from the local hardware store in order to finish instruments. For that reason I’d rather buy an older Guild as corners may have been cut on some of the last pre Fender Guilds.

I like the idea of a vintage one. But don't we all?

You do take a bit of a hit in the bank account but when you’ve got it it’s yours. It’s only money after all, guitars are far more important.

The Gads rambling fella that @kreggs mentioned talks very favourably about the late 90s US ones. The one on ebay might not be a bad bet.

kreggs · March 2019

StrummyBrummie said:

Henrytwang said:

StrummyBrummie said:

Henrytwang said:

I know that they’re considerably more expensive but I’d be inclined to go for an American built Guild, they were excellent instruments. I did hear, from somebody in the trade, that Guild were in a very poor shape financially prior to the Fender takeover, so poor in fact that they were buying screws from the local hardware store in order to finish instruments. For that reason I’d rather buy an older Guild as corners may have been cut on some of the last pre Fender Guilds.

I like the idea of a vintage one. But don't we all?

You do take a bit of a hit in the bank account but when you’ve got it it’s yours. It’s only money after all, guitars are far more important.

The Gads rambling fella that @kreggs mentioned talks very favourably about the late 90s US ones. The one on ebay might not be a bad bet.

Aye his site is a good wealth of knowledge. Helped me pick my 2016 bluesbird

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Guild Starfire IV / V

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