Staffy
Junior Member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2015
- Messages
- 29
- Reaction score
- 0
Hi all,
I recently walked into a guitar shop for a couple of sets of strings and around two hours later I walked out determined to buy the Guild Starfire V that I'd just spent and hour and a half playing. I ended up selling a late 70's amp I'd had for near on 12 years to fund the purchase, something I never thought I would sell so that's saying something.
I used to own a cheaper archtop many years ago (forget the brand, might have been one of the asian built harmony's...) and always wanted to get another one at some point but after playing Yamahas, Hagstroms, Ibanez, etc I didn't find anythign quite right. I never got to try the Godin 5th Avenue guitars and if I had I may very well have bought one as I currently own two Godin solid bodies. They are great guitars.
As far as plans go I've already had it set up the way I usually like a guitar but I've noticed it's a little low as I've now lost some of the chime in the upper registers. There's some double sided tape under the bridge now too which will help but I've noticed that one or two strings seem to need a tweak already. I've never been great at adjusting guitars intonation but I reckon this guitar will make me learn.
The Bigsby is fantastic but even before I bought it I'd known I was going to look at a roller bridge in the long term. I'm having some issues getting dimensions online for string spacing for the Guild bridge though so It might take some time to figure out a suitable replacement. I've been told that Gotoh are a drop in replacement but I'm also looking at Schaller. The important thing will be finding something that bridges well but allows the strings to reset back to tune easily which I've already noticed the TOM doesn't do... and I'm not that heavy on the Bigsby.
I'm also planning on replacing the selector switch for a switchcraft item and changing out that yellow knob for a black or silver one. The switch was a little dicey from lack of use in the shop and has been fine since but you know, reliability can be bought. I switch pickups a lot so it's important this works well. I'm not in any rush though as this one is good. It's likely I'll consider having this done the next time she visits my local luthier for any other work.
I'm also considering looking into changing capacitors in the tone circuits to see if I can warm things up some more, particularly in the bridge position. I've noticed that right from the get go I've had the tone rolled back a fair bit on that pickup so it may be a benefit to put something else in that comes on "quicker" if you know what I mean. I'm open to suggestions here from anyone who's switched out different capacitors and found something which worked.
I'm not sure of the build date for this one but I'd assume it is Fender era as the card that came with it hanging off the neck has all the Fender info on there, not Cordoba. So as well as introducing myself I wanted to say a thanks for all who contribute to the forum here as it was great in helping me along with the decision to buy this guitar. It's been great to get back on an archtop but also feels much different to the Tele's and Godins I am used to playing!
I recently walked into a guitar shop for a couple of sets of strings and around two hours later I walked out determined to buy the Guild Starfire V that I'd just spent and hour and a half playing. I ended up selling a late 70's amp I'd had for near on 12 years to fund the purchase, something I never thought I would sell so that's saying something.
I used to own a cheaper archtop many years ago (forget the brand, might have been one of the asian built harmony's...) and always wanted to get another one at some point but after playing Yamahas, Hagstroms, Ibanez, etc I didn't find anythign quite right. I never got to try the Godin 5th Avenue guitars and if I had I may very well have bought one as I currently own two Godin solid bodies. They are great guitars.
As far as plans go I've already had it set up the way I usually like a guitar but I've noticed it's a little low as I've now lost some of the chime in the upper registers. There's some double sided tape under the bridge now too which will help but I've noticed that one or two strings seem to need a tweak already. I've never been great at adjusting guitars intonation but I reckon this guitar will make me learn.
The Bigsby is fantastic but even before I bought it I'd known I was going to look at a roller bridge in the long term. I'm having some issues getting dimensions online for string spacing for the Guild bridge though so It might take some time to figure out a suitable replacement. I've been told that Gotoh are a drop in replacement but I'm also looking at Schaller. The important thing will be finding something that bridges well but allows the strings to reset back to tune easily which I've already noticed the TOM doesn't do... and I'm not that heavy on the Bigsby.
I'm also planning on replacing the selector switch for a switchcraft item and changing out that yellow knob for a black or silver one. The switch was a little dicey from lack of use in the shop and has been fine since but you know, reliability can be bought. I switch pickups a lot so it's important this works well. I'm not in any rush though as this one is good. It's likely I'll consider having this done the next time she visits my local luthier for any other work.
I'm also considering looking into changing capacitors in the tone circuits to see if I can warm things up some more, particularly in the bridge position. I've noticed that right from the get go I've had the tone rolled back a fair bit on that pickup so it may be a benefit to put something else in that comes on "quicker" if you know what I mean. I'm open to suggestions here from anyone who's switched out different capacitors and found something which worked.
I'm not sure of the build date for this one but I'd assume it is Fender era as the card that came with it hanging off the neck has all the Fender info on there, not Cordoba. So as well as introducing myself I wanted to say a thanks for all who contribute to the forum here as it was great in helping me along with the decision to buy this guitar. It's been great to get back on an archtop but also feels much different to the Tele's and Godins I am used to playing!
Welcome aboard, and be patient.
