Guild Pickups - What Magnet?

[Canadian Steve]

Hi, does anyone know what type of magnet was used in the Guild humbucker p'ups in the late 90s?

 

[Default]

Hi, does anyone know what type of magnet was used in the Guild humbucker p'ups in the late 90s?

They were Seymour Duncans. Whatever he used...

 

[SFIV1967]

Hi, does anyone know what type of magnet was used in the Guild humbucker p'ups in the late 90s?

They were Seymour Duncans. Whatever he used...

Well, the big question here is what humbuckers do we talk about? If you talk about the Fender HB-1, they would be not SD but Fender made, right? So first question would be what guitar do we talk about, what exact year was she made, and a picture of the humbucker bottom and soldering terminals would help.
Ralf

 

[Canadian Steve]

They are not Duncans, they are the Guild HB-1 pickups:

http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/ ... wsm_so.jpg

 

[SFIV1967]

They are not Duncans, they are the Guild HB-1 pickups:
http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/ ... wsm_so.jpg

Steve, is that a picture of the Starfire 4 you have? I am confused. Because your picture shows a Corona made SF 4 from after year 2000. In the late 90ties no Guild HB-1s did exist anymore. Corona used the Fender made pickups. But the picture indeed seems to show original Guild HB-1s (visible on spacing of height and tilt adjustment screws), but if that is your guitar, somebody put them in aftermarket. Hans Moust is the only one who could confirm what you have based on the serial number of your guitar. Also it would help to see a picture of the bottom of the Pups.
Ralf

 

[hansmoust]

They are not Duncans, they are the Guild HB-1 pickups:
http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/ ... wsm_so.jpg

Steve, is that a picture of the Starfire 4 you have? I am confused. Because your picture shows a Corona made SF 4 from after year 2000. In the late 90ties no Guild HB-1s did exist anymore. Corona used the Fender made pickups. But the picture indeed seems to show original Guild HB-1s (visible on spacing of height and tilt adjustment screws), but if that is your guitar, somebody put them in aftermarket. Hans Moust is the only one who could confirm what you have based on the serial number of your guitar. Also it would help to see a picture of the bottom of the Pups.

Hello folks,

It's not always possible to tell whether or not something was changed on a guitar when looking at a photo but it seems to me that the Starfire IV in the photo that Steve posted has the Fender-designed humbuckers, which should be on there during that particular period. For a very short time some of the Corona-made Starfires left the factory with a different style mounting ring, which might give you the impression that they are HB-1s, because of the spacing of the two height adjustment screws.
However, when you look at the pickups from the back-side you will see that they added a little metal tab, similar to the one that was used during the '80s to mount 'Gibson' style humbuckers in a Guild HB-1 mounting ring. In the case of the Corona-made Starfires the function of the metal tab was to make the spacing of the height adjustment of the Fender designed humbucker a little wider, to make them fit in a different style mounting ring.
At this point I believe that this may have been a temporary solution during a shortage of the correct mounting rings.
I'm not sure if that was also the case with Steve's Starfire, but if he could make a photo of the backside of the pickups, we should be able to tell what the story is. The ones that I've seen so far had serial numbers in the CW000100-150 range.


Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[Canadian Steve]

Thank you, this is not my guitar. I want to buy a late 90s Starfire and wanted to know more about the pickups, as the pickup covers are very like the Guild HB-1s.

 

[SFIV1967]

Thank you, this is not my guitar. I want to buy a late 90s Starfire and wanted to know more about the pickups, as the pickup covers are very like the Guild HB-1s.

Hi Steve, the pickup covers alone don't tell you if they are made by Guild, SD, or Fender. They look almost the same. You need to look at the mounting screws and need to check the bottom of the pickups. (means the wires). You can read a bit about some major differences on our member GAD's page, but as Hans said, things are not so simple sometimes. A late 90ties has definitely no Guild HB-1. They are most probably Fender made copies.
Ralf

 

[Default]

Spend my money, please.

Alrighty then!
<rubs hands together gleefully>

 

[Canadian Steve]

Sorry to sound a bit confusing!

What magnet (Alnico II/Alnico V) was used in the Guild HB-1?

 

[Default]

I don't personally know. IIRC, Franzes used Alnico 2 magnets, but they were older single coils.