New Corona Starfire III

[B Arbogast]

After too many years of being Guild-less (but not guiltless), I finally have a Starfire again.

What a wonderful guitar! It's Corona-made, one of the first ones, I think (S/N CP000002). The Guild humbuckers sound terrific -- and I'm not ordinarily a humbucker fan.

My only disappointment is all the treble loss when rolling down the volume controls. I guess I'll have to pull the harness and make the change to 50s wiring. But not yet. First, there's a gig tomorrow night!

 

[twocorgis]

Congrats! I have its Westerly sibling, a '97 SFII, and it's so pretty that photos don't do it justice. The SD-1s sound great too.

 

[GGJaguar]

A ruby red beauty, congrats!!

 

[HeyMikey]

Beautiful B Arbogast! I wonder what pickups are in that? The wide screw positions would lead me to say SD1’s instead of Fender HB1’s, but I don’t think that would have been stock for Corona.

 

[GGJaguar]

The wide screw positions would lead me to say SD1’s instead of Fender HB1’s, but I don’t think that would have been stock for Corona.

Some of the Fender HB-1s used on early Corona models had wide screw spacing like SD-1s. The only way to know for sure is pull the pickup and look at the back of it. Or ask Hans.

 

[Harp Tail]

After too many years of being Guild-less

Welcome back into Guild-dom, then, and congratulations on your recent catch.

 

[shihan]

Congratulations on getting that beauty. The red finish is my favourite; and yours is spectacular. Enjoy it in good health!

 

[B Arbogast]

Some of the Fender HB-1s used on early Corona models had wide screw spacing like SD-1s. The only way to know for sure is pull the pickup and look at the back of it. Or ask Hans.

The pickups baseplates are stamped "Guild." The mounting ears have three holes. On the low-E side, a small strip of metal is screwed to the center ear-hole. The strip has two additional holes, spaced farther apart than the other holes on the ear itself.

The pickup coils have connection lugs to extend through clearance holes in the baseplate. Red and green wires are used to connect the coils in series.

Both neck and bridge are nominally 7.65k (in circuit).

 

[B Arbogast]

Congrats! I have it's Westerly sibling, a '97 SFII, and it's so pretty that photos don't do it justice. The SD-1s sound great too.

Beautiful guitar. It looks mahogany, yes? Mine is maple with some flame on every side.

 

[B Arbogast]

Congratulations on getting that beauty. The red finish is my favourite; and yours is spectacular. Enjoy it in good health!

One of the things I like best is that this guitar appears to have a nitrocellulose lacquer finish. It has a number of scars by the bridge and also has many cracks/crazing lines on the guitar top and on the face and rear of the headstock.

But with all this, the frets don't betray any wear. Perhaps they've been dressed, but I'm not sure. They measure .103" wide and range from .040-.045" in height. They have nicely rounded and polished ends.

The neck is .875" thick from fret 1 to fret 10. The nut measures 1.75" wide.

 

[B Arbogast]

The headstock on the guitar is also quite thick, and noticeably thicker at the E and e tuners -- too thick perhaps.

 

[twocorgis]

Beautiful guitar. It looks mahogany, yes? Mine is maple with some flame on every side.

Yes, it's mahogany. The finish is flawless too. Some or even most of these were poly, but I think this one is nitro.

 

[GGJaguar]

The pickups baseplates are stamped "Guild." The mounting ears have three holes. On the low-E side, a small strip of metal is screwed to the center ear-hole. The strip has two additional holes, spaced farther apart than the other holes on the ear itself.

The pickup coils have connection lugs to extend through clearance holes in the baseplate. Red and green wires are used to connect the coils in series.

Sounds like it's a Fender HB-1. Here's a photo of one from the GAD.net HB-1 pickup review:

 

[GAD]

I believe all of the electrics in that era were nitro except for the Bluesbirds. At least according to the 2002 catalog, and catalogs are a terrible source of truth.

 

[B Arbogast]

Sounds like it's a Fender HB-1. Here's a photo of one from the GAD.net HB-1 pickup review:

Yes, that's it!

 

[twocorgis]

Yes, that's it!

BTW, love the GSD on the pillow. They're like big corgis!

 

[swiveltung]

After too many years of being Guild-less (but not guiltless), I finally have a Starfire again.

What a wonderful guitar! It's Corona-made, one of the first ones, I think (S/N CP000002). The Guild humbuckers sound terrific -- and I'm not ordinarily a humbucker fan.

My only disappointment is all the treble loss when rolling down the volume controls. I guess I'll have to pull the harness and make the change to 50s wiring. But not yet. First, there's a gig tomorrow night!

You could just add a Treble Bleed to the volume pots I suppose.

 

[B Arbogast]

Never content to leave well-enough alone, I redid the control circuit in the SFIII: Mojotone 500k vintage taper volume pots; DiMarzio custom taper 500k tone pots; .02uF mylar tone caps: 50s wiring. I also replaced the Grover Rotomatic tuners, with a set of white-button Gibson Deluxe tuners (Kluson visuals, but threaded bushings).

I am loving this guitar, especially as I make it more and more mine.

 

[Walter Broes]

Cool - I like 50's wiring a lot more than treble-bleeds.

 

[GGJaguar]

I am loving this guitar, especially as I make it more and more mine.

They're made to be played.