Starfire III what to expect tone and playability, weight, etc vs other models, vintage only.

Guildedagain

Guildedagain

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I'm jonesing for a SF III, I tried just this week, but offer rejected, bummer, it was a really nice one but sanity has to prevail.

So now I have more time to think about it and learn.

I'm attracted to the III because a buddy of mine had a red one, always out in the living room.

And then that Kinks thing...

I like the Guildsby over the harp, but the weight?

And more importantly tuning stability issues?

What are these like as a player vs non Guilsdby guitars?
 
GAD

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What are you used to? SFIIIs are crazy lightweight. SFIIs are impossibly lightweight. :)

Here are the weights of all the SFIIIs I've owned:
  • 1966: 6 lbs 5 oz (2.86 kilos)
  • 1997: 7 lbs 0 oz (3.18 kilos)
  • 2002: 6 lbs 14 oz (3.12 kilos)
  • 2016: 6 lbs 2.6 oz (2.82 kilos)
 
DThomasC

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Bigsbies are surprisingly light and add very little weight over a harp tailpiece. Personally, I've never had a single issue with a Bigsby, but I tend to prefer a shallow break angle over the bridge. A SF3 usually use a B3 rather then the B7 with the extra bar for added break angle, so the break angle is pretty shallow. You can use a rocker type bridge that moves with the strings (roller bridges are useless IMO) but a wood or TOM bridge usually works fine.

Ask Walter!
 
GGJaguar

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My 1997 SF II (maple body) weighs 6.6 lb. My SF IIIs (1961 to 2016) ranged in weight from 6.2 to 7.0 lb and that includes maple and mahogany bodies. I think there is more of a tonal difference between maple and mahogany than there is between harp tail and Guildsby.
 
parker_knoll

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Guildedagain said:
I had a Bigsby years ago, shoulda never got rid o that guitar... Are they always going out of tune?
Click to expand...

No!

Make sure your nut is well filed. An American SFIII should come with a rocking bridge which helps tuning; a Korean one doesn't. If it's going out of tune, take it for a basic set up and it should be fine.

A 1966 SFIII was my first Guild. I currently have a 2002 and wouldn't mind another one.
 
Guildedagain

Guildedagain

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A 66 SFIII is for some reason exactly what I want, red. Maybe it was for the best I didn't get the one the other day, the tuners were really not my favorite, strange multifaceted button Japan jobs with these horrendous diagonally screwed die cast covers, still it was calling it out to me. I should have tried a little harder I suppose, the investment factor was pretty strong.

Other SFIII's I've seen had open back Grovers original, and I'd much prefer those.

The reason I want a III is I'm not as big fan of trapeze tailpieces, which is why I have a 335. And because I have a 335, I don't want a SF with double cutaways. Also, I"m really partial to the 335 "Mickey Mouse" ears shape, not too crazy about other 335 shapes.

Once I have the SF, I'll part with the 335, or try anyway.
 
Guildedagain

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Here's the one guitar I had that had a Bigsby. A decade later, I'm a fool for getting rid of this guitar, poor man's Trini Lopez I suppose, sounded way better than a Harmony should, but I really wanted a 335 dot in red.

One of my odd quirks between getting better at campfire songs is wanting to play the heaviest metal if the mood strikes. And a guitar like this just won't really do it. A 335 will easily.

I'm sort of suspecting that a '66 SF III can't do metal, but could be all wrong about this.



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jp

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I had a '65 Starfire III with open back Grovers, and I was surprised how well it kept tune. My T-100D with a Guildsby is a refin with fancy cream button Waverlies, and it keeps tune really well too.
 
parker_knoll

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Guildedagain said:
I'm sort of suspecting that a '66 SF III can't do metal, but could be all wrong about this.
Click to expand...

if you're wanting to replace a 335, why not look at an SFIV or V which are much more similar guitars?

Remember also if you go 1970s or later you'll get full size buckers. The little buckers do well with distortion in my view, but i don't play metal, although I like to make a lot of noise and make some pretty abstract sounds. However, a fully hollow guitar (SF II and III) is in theory more prone to feedback than a semi-hollow (SF IV, V and VI).

Are you devoted to going vintage? you can score a more recent one pretty cheap sometimes. A 1972 SF II went for a grand here just recently and that is very cheap for the UK. Check the links in the craigslist forum. There's a nice black '90s SF II in there.
 
Guildedagain

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Pretty much stuck on that year with original case and think I found one, but not hearing back. It has the open back Grovers so it's just as well I waited. Now I just have to bite the bullet and do it, or stop thinking about it, and I can't do that.

This all started back in 1990 something, I did some guitar trades with a local guy who had a Red single cut Starfire with Bigsby. I wanted a flametop he had in the worst way and I got it, but every time I saw that Starfire I wanted it, but he'd had this one since his high school bands in California, wasn't even cool to ask or press it any further at that point.

This is the guy who tried to push a Trini Lopez on me multiples times and there was no way I was buying one. When he started selling off his collection, he had an attached 2 car garage full of vintage guitars in original cases, three tiers of shelving against the walls, stuffed, guitars spilling out all over the house and basement.

Nowadays, he's the kind of guy who parts them out on eBay.

Anyway, I've been wanting that guitar for 30 years now, it's totally wormed it's way into my brain, and that tone on Set Me Free just slays me.

I like the idea of the smaller humbuckers.

I find full sized humbuckers to be real muddy.

I don't need a Starfire to be able to deliver metal tones, I have other guitars that can do it. Strat, Tele, LP Special w/P90's, even a Japan RG-7 come to think of it.
 
parker_knoll

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Guildedagain said:
Pretty much stuck on that year with original case and think I found one, but not hearing back. It has the open back Grovers so it's just as well I waited. Now I just have to bite the bullet and do it, or stop thinking about it, and I can't do that.

This all started back in 1990 something, I did some guitar trades with a local guy who had a Red single cut Starfire with Bigsby. I wanted a flametop he had in the worst way and I got it, but every time I saw that Starfire I wanted it, but he'd had this one since his high school bands in California, wasn't even cool to ask or press it any further at that point.

This is the guy who tried to push a Trini Lopez on me multiples times and there was no way I was buying one. When he started selling off his collection, he had an attached 2 car garage full of vintage guitars in original cases, three tiers of shelving against the walls, stuffed, guitars spilling out all over the house and basement.

Nowadays, he's the kind of guy who parts them out on eBay.

Anyway, I've been wanting that guitar for 30 years now, it's totally wormed it's way into my brain, and that tone on Set Me Free just slays me.

I like the idea of the smaller humbuckers.

I find full sized humbuckers to be real muddy.

I don't need a Starfire to be able to deliver metal tones, I have other guitars that can do it. Strat, Tele, LP Special w/P90's.
Click to expand...

Go for it. There's a Casino-ish quality to them as well so you can Beatles to your heart's content. BTW, I thought the same as you about humbuckers but a recent acquisition has convinced me that Guild HB1s are different and very clear. Expect a skinny neck, of course, but you probably knew that.
 
Guildedagain

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I'd had read it before, but not with this much interest. I just finished it. Quite a review, want one more than ever. Glad the one with the very same tuners slipped through my fingers. The one I'm looking at now has the open back Grovers, it's a '65. There's something about the vintage Bigsby that really attracts me, it's like a motorcycle inside a guitar case. Bigsby was a high speed motorcycle nut who made anything he wanted from scratch in his shop.
 
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