"Also most SF basses in sunburst are maple."
I would even venture to bet on "all". You almost need the blonder, more uniformly-toned wood for the yellow part of the 'burst. Otherwise you wind up with more of a "brownburst", which is fine, but it's kind of a different thing from traditional sunburst. A lot of mahogany is kind of "stripey" looking as well (in line with the grain, as opposed to across the grain as with flame maple). I know that's the case with my trans-red, NS SF-I.
All the ' burst DeArmond Starfire Basses I've seen also look to have maple bodies, but I've never examined one up close, so that's a guess. Don't know about the opaque, black ones. Are the red DeArmonds opaque or transluscent? Maple or mahogany?
Have never played a maple Starfire. Would be interesting to A/B one with my NS SF-I to hear the nuance, but not interesting enough to shell out for a single-pup, CH SF. I also agree with lungimsam about other peoples names decorating instruments (not that I don't respect Mr. Hillman and love a lot of his music). Autographed instruments just come off as a bit too "fan boy" for my personal taste. Les Pauls get a special exemption ;-).
But if Guild ever puts out a maple-bodied, 'burst, production version of the NS SF-II, my wallet will be in jeopardy. That would be different enough from what I already have to inspire my lust.