I'm so curious about this model. Seems that not many are around. Anyone have one? What's it like? The other dynasonic equipped Guild I'd love to try is the NS X-175 special ...
NS Starfire II dynasonic
- Thread starter mad dog
- Start date
GGJaguar
Reverential Member
I have one and I really like it. Probably one of my favorite NS models along with the X-175 Special.
letstalkguild.com
NGD - NS Starfire II ST Dyna
Like Jack going to sell a cow and coming home with magic beans, I sometimes come home with “magic beans” after selling some gear, in this case a NS Starfire II ST Dynasonic. While it shares the same body and neck shape as the NS Starfire III, the guitar has an unusual construction design...
letstalkguild.com
Oh you lucky Guild lover. I am so curious about dynasonics.
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While not a Starfire, I wrote up my X175 Special with those pickups.
Guild Newark St. X175 Manhattan Special | GAD's Ramblings
Today’s Guild is a Newark St. X175 Manhattan Special from 2020, and I gotta say that as soon as I saw this guitar announced I knew that I had to have one. From the killer blue finish to the DeArmond pickups, this guitar looks like everything I’d ever want in a guitar. Is it? Read …
www.gad.net
LesB3
Member
I've got one. As stated, the SFII is extremely lightweight and thin. By comparison, an SFI-SC I also have is a lot heavier and appears slightly thicker.
I'm not a fan of the pickups, but maybe I need to find some shims and get them closer to the strings. I much prefer the Dynasonics in my Gretsch 6120 PE...
At the moment, the switch is suffering from "epiphonitis" so will need to be replaced at some point.
I'm not a fan of the pickups, but maybe I need to find some shims and get them closer to the strings. I much prefer the Dynasonics in my Gretsch 6120 PE...
At the moment, the switch is suffering from "epiphonitis" so will need to be replaced at some point.
Walter Broes
Enlightened Member
Guild calls their current DeArmonds dynasonics, despite
-that being a Gretsch marketing term for DeArmond 2000's from the 50's
-CMG actually owning the DeArmond brand now, so you'd think they'd delve a little deeper into the history/construction/nomenclature
-their current pickups being a korean made version of a pickup Fender designed for import Gretsches from the late 90's, and that also briefly got used on one or two Guild models of the same era. They look like DeArmond 2000's, but have much smaller magnets and lack the output, bite, punch and big tone of the originals.
It's kind of like the Dunlop company owning the Echoplex and Univibe brands and not building tape echoes or photocell vibes. Lame, if you ask me.
Some self-education later (thanks to Gary's excellent blog post re: dynas and related p/us), I see exactly what you mean Walter. I have liked the 2k look alikes in Dearmond guitars, but those p/us certainly are different than the early dearmond/dynasonics. And I've heard the later 2000 p/us too. Not bad, but not all that close.
Perhaps the X175 special would be worth a try, should I ever find one. Thanks all for the helpful information here.
Walter Broes
Enlightened Member
these are like a Korean made, slightly hotter wound remake of those 90's 2000's (not the 2K's that tried to be a P90 that were in the DeArmond brand guitars). And they cheaped out on the covers - the ones one those 90's guitars were very nice, thick-ish, well plated surrounds that were as nice as originals, the new korean ones are thinner and lighter.
My curiosity is lessening by the moment ...
LesB3
Member
GGJ - Did you buy the SFIII pickguard here:I have one and I really like it. Probably one of my favorite NS models along with the X-175 Special.
NGD - NS Starfire II ST Dyna
Like Jack going to sell a cow and coming home with magic beans, I sometimes come home with “magic beans” after selling some gear, in this case a NS Starfire II ST Dynasonic. While it shares the same body and neck shape as the NS Starfire III, the guitar has an unusual construction design...
https://shop.guildguitars.com/product/pickguard-starfire-iii-nickel-mounting-hardware/?v=7516fd43adaa
...or did you scrounge one from somewhere else? Did you need to widen the cutouts any?
Also, you mention shimming the pickups... did you buy risers somewhere in particular or make your own?
Thanks!
GGJaguar
Reverential Member
Yes, that's the pickguard. No cutting needed. I did have to scrounge up the gold hardware from my stash, though. So, you'd need to do some interwebs searching for that if you don't want the nickel. I got the DeArmond shims from TV Jones. Just stack as many as you need (usually 1, sometimes 2): https://tvjones.com/dearmond-mount-shims/