What Gauge strings do you use on Starfires?

[Brooks Reid]

I now have 2 new Guilds from the Newark St Collection. A Starfire 3 and a Starfire 4. I'm enjoying both and I overjoyed to be able to afford such wonderful instruments. I grew up with Guild guitars in the 60's and I'm sure a lot of seasoned players would never by a Guild built in Korea but for those who have not tried them all I can say is you'll probably be surprised. Now to my question.

Both these guitars come from the factory with 11's. I usually play with 9's or 10's but the 11's seem to work OK on these guitars. But after playing both guitars for a while I feel like the guitar is too tight sounding and might come alive more with lighter string gauge. I'll probably change out the strings and give it a try and I was just wonder what you guys thought about the correct string gauge for Starfires. Thanks in advance!

 

[GGJaguar]

With a Bigsby, I always use .11s. I use .10s or .11s with stop tail or harp tail Guilds. It really depends on the guitar/pickups. You have to try some different gauges and alloys to see what suits you best. Some of my guitars sound best (to me) with pure nickel strings, others with nickel plated (or other alloy) strings. It's a process of trial and error, but it helps to get to know the guitar.

 

[Muckman]

Right now I have Daddario NYXL 10-46 on my IV. I feel the brightness of the NYXL compliments the warm mahogany tone, but I’m using it along with a maple bodied VI. It helps to match the IVs tone with the IV, XL 10.5-48 w/ bigsby on the VI. The IV is a harp tail, I really like the 10s over the original 11s on the IV. As Jag said tho, it’s all preference. String alloys and gauges are a cheap way to dial in your tone a bit. I find my opinion on which strings I like on any guitar changes as often as which overdrive, amp or guitar I prefer.

meow, this post starting to look like a Roman math problem for a minute lol

 

[GAD]

Every 24 3/4” scale guitar I own gets .10s and every 25 1/2” scale guitar gets .09s.

 

[Muckman]

meow, this post starting to look like a Roman math problem for a minute lol

WOW.......
you gotta love auto correct on an iphone

 

[teleharmonium]

On all of my electric Guilds I use either TI Jazz Swing .011 to .047 flats, or TI Superalloy .011 to .052 rounds, often swapping the .011 and .013 or .015 for one lower number because I tune my plain strings to c and f.

Wound Gs are a must for me, which simplifies my choices quite a bit. I love flats but hate Chromes, which simplifies them further.

 

[shihan]

Dadario pure nickel .11’s on mine. The pure nickel is worth the extra $, at least to my ears.

 

[zizala]

12-52 round wounds s on my '61 Starfire II.

 

[mavuser]

Ernie Ball power slinky, 11s

 

[GGJaguar]

TI Superalloy

I use these quite a bit on my Guilds! I think I even have a set on one of my G&L basses.

 

[Walter Broes]

I have a '61 SFIII, and I have Pyramid pure nickel polished rounds on it now.

 

[walrus]

On all of my electric Guilds I use either TI Jazz Swing .011 to .047 flats, or TI Superalloy .011 to .052 rounds, often swapping the .011 and .013 or .015 for one lower number because I tune my plain strings to c and f.

Wound Gs are a must for me, which simplifies my choices quite a bit. I love flats but hate Chromes, which simplifies them further.

Wound G for me also. On every electric guitar in my signature (and others) I have used D'Addario XL110W's, same gauge as regular 110's (10 - 46), but a wound G string.

walrus

 

[jp]

Wound G for me also. On every electric guitar in my signature (and others) I have used D'Addario XL110W's, same gauge as regular 110's (10 - 46), but a wound G string.

walrus

What walrus said. I use these on my T-100D, and I love'em.

 

[iamjethro]

I have 10s on my Starfire III Newark St.

 

[Brooks Reid]

Here is a link to my Youtube video comparison of the Newark St Starfire III and Starfire IV. It has audio samples and beautiful footage of both guitars. Please comment. I hope you enjoy!

 

[Mapleman54]

Here is a link to my Youtube video comparison of the Newark St Starfire III and Starfire IV. It has audio samples and beautiful footage of both guitars. Please comment. I hope you enjoy!

What a great comparison! Really enjoyed the demo.. I just wondered if the packing material under the bridge of the SFIII was in place during the recording?

 

[GGJaguar]

Really well done "compare and contrast" video, thanks for sharing!

 

[guitarlover]

I use 0.11 pyramid pure nickel on all my Guild guitars.

 

[Ixtlan]

Here is a link to my Youtube video comparison of the Newark St Starfire III and Starfire IV. It has audio samples and beautiful footage of both guitars. Please comment. I hope you enjoy!

IV wins! (to me at least)

 

[Shakeylee]

i use nickle round wound strings on my '60 T-100/SFI
my strings go : .016,.018,.024,.032,.044,.056

i often use these https://www.elderly.com/products/darco-d910-heavy-gauge-electric-guitar-strings

and trade the .016 into the high E spot, and buy a single .018 for the B string,

please note that i tune down to open D,G,DADGAD,etc

*** edit; i should also mention i use a melita bridge,so ,intonation is no problem