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Hi All...
Im new to the forum and was looking for some help with regards to a Guild Starfire that I sort of inherited from my dad recently. No worries ...he is still with me...LOL! One day not too long ago I was visiting and my Dad said out of the blue "hey son take my guitar...you play and eventhough I know you want to wait until Im gone to take it you know Im never gonna play again it so why not use it and enjoy it"
The thing about my Dad is that he just loves to every so often try to give me stuff that he has that he knows I'd love and appreciate but in my heart I always would feel guilty taking from him so I always refuse and tell him "when yer gone.."
This time though he was persistent so I caved and took the guitar.
Here are some pics:
My Dad wanted his guitar to be unique so he etched his name nicely into the black finish in the pickguard and also replaced the original Starfire emblem on the headstock with a custom one featuring his initials.
The guitar has not been played for any great length for probably 20 years....I began playing when I was 16 or so and every so often Id play around with it strum a few chords but always was affraid of messing it up so Id quickly put it back in the case. Since Ive opened it up every so often when visiting to see how it looked and just admire it. Strum a lil and put it back.
I was hoping to get some help on dating the guitar..My Dad's memory is a lil fuzzy and he cannot remember when he got it...he says maybe 16. The guitar is stamped with serial # 13412 which based on some research would make this guitar probably around a 1960 model Can anyone confirm that for me? Is this a regular Starfire, or II, III, IV?
Another thing I was hoping to confirm....there seems to be a lot of discussion as to whether Starfires came with a Bigsby tremolo system featuring the Guild Name on it or simply a tremolo featuring the Bigsby emblem. Ive read several places that they came both ways but this is the only Starfire I've seen with the Bigsby Tremolo emblem on it. My Dad says it came with that tremolo system..he did not change it.
Can someone confirm if this could be original or whether it was maybe added by someone else...possibly the guitar dealer?
I know my dad did change the original tuning keys from the stock Grover tuners to a higher quality Grovers as evidenced by the extra holes left in the back of the headstock. He does not know what happened to the original tuning pegs so I cannot put them back without searching them on ebay.
As for the pick ups...Im not sure what model they are. Any info on these would be appreciated.
One major issue I have are the volume and tone knobs..They are original from what I have been able to determine. They have sort of stopped working, meaning that the pots are probably shot...when turning them up or down they barely do anything and they cause a tremendous amount of static ...when they do finally work they provide a tremendous amount of uncontrollable feedback ...it literally makes the guitar unplayable through an amp. Can anyone offer me any information on how difficult it would be to have these repaired and what an approximate cost to do so would be? Are the posts something that can be gotten at any instrument repair shop or are they special order? Would there be a need to make modifications to the guitar when doing the repair?
I hope you all enjoy the pictures and can help me with my questions on this fine guitar. I hope with the info gained especially with the volume and tone knob dilema I can get this beautiful instrument singing again as it did long ago.
Thanks!
Im new to the forum and was looking for some help with regards to a Guild Starfire that I sort of inherited from my dad recently. No worries ...he is still with me...LOL! One day not too long ago I was visiting and my Dad said out of the blue "hey son take my guitar...you play and eventhough I know you want to wait until Im gone to take it you know Im never gonna play again it so why not use it and enjoy it"
The thing about my Dad is that he just loves to every so often try to give me stuff that he has that he knows I'd love and appreciate but in my heart I always would feel guilty taking from him so I always refuse and tell him "when yer gone.."
This time though he was persistent so I caved and took the guitar.
Here are some pics:
My Dad wanted his guitar to be unique so he etched his name nicely into the black finish in the pickguard and also replaced the original Starfire emblem on the headstock with a custom one featuring his initials.
The guitar has not been played for any great length for probably 20 years....I began playing when I was 16 or so and every so often Id play around with it strum a few chords but always was affraid of messing it up so Id quickly put it back in the case. Since Ive opened it up every so often when visiting to see how it looked and just admire it. Strum a lil and put it back.
I was hoping to get some help on dating the guitar..My Dad's memory is a lil fuzzy and he cannot remember when he got it...he says maybe 16. The guitar is stamped with serial # 13412 which based on some research would make this guitar probably around a 1960 model Can anyone confirm that for me? Is this a regular Starfire, or II, III, IV?
Another thing I was hoping to confirm....there seems to be a lot of discussion as to whether Starfires came with a Bigsby tremolo system featuring the Guild Name on it or simply a tremolo featuring the Bigsby emblem. Ive read several places that they came both ways but this is the only Starfire I've seen with the Bigsby Tremolo emblem on it. My Dad says it came with that tremolo system..he did not change it.
Can someone confirm if this could be original or whether it was maybe added by someone else...possibly the guitar dealer?
I know my dad did change the original tuning keys from the stock Grover tuners to a higher quality Grovers as evidenced by the extra holes left in the back of the headstock. He does not know what happened to the original tuning pegs so I cannot put them back without searching them on ebay.
As for the pick ups...Im not sure what model they are. Any info on these would be appreciated.
One major issue I have are the volume and tone knobs..They are original from what I have been able to determine. They have sort of stopped working, meaning that the pots are probably shot...when turning them up or down they barely do anything and they cause a tremendous amount of static ...when they do finally work they provide a tremendous amount of uncontrollable feedback ...it literally makes the guitar unplayable through an amp. Can anyone offer me any information on how difficult it would be to have these repaired and what an approximate cost to do so would be? Are the posts something that can be gotten at any instrument repair shop or are they special order? Would there be a need to make modifications to the guitar when doing the repair?
I hope you all enjoy the pictures and can help me with my questions on this fine guitar. I hope with the info gained especially with the volume and tone knob dilema I can get this beautiful instrument singing again as it did long ago.
Thanks!