NGD: 1962 Guild "Black" Starfire II (or III) - wow!!

zizala

Member
Silver Supporting
Joined
May 9, 2009
Messages
439
Reaction score
248
Location
CT, USA
Hi all,
I was the LTG buyer that bought and returned this guitar to Valcotone.
I discovered the neck modification when I was setting up the guitar after receiving it.
I had tried a Guild factory original bridge with 2 1/16" string spacing and was left with both E strings over the edge.
The neck was cut down to approx 2" at the body end...from the usual approx 2 1/4" on all my other Guilds of this period.
So close to 1/8" was removed from both sides by the time the neck extension was reached....you could see at the body that the sides of the neck were angled in from the original width.
It was a player issue for me just as much as a value problem.....the string spacing at the bridge needed to be about 1 3/4" as opposed to the usual 2 1/16" just to keep the strings from running off the edge of the fretboard. ...useless for my version of playing style!
The back of the neck and the modified area were over painted to cover the work. The original binding was apparently pulled back and reattached.....or the neck was rebound afterwards.

I felt quite sure that Valcotone did not pick up on this during the very short time he had this. All overspray and other issues issues were reported to me before the sale.
It took him by surprise and he accepted my explanation of the problem and return with good grace and without a hitch.
Parting this out or leaving it intact while explaining the unusual neck mod to a future buyer were the options.
Either way seems appropriate to me on a very compromised guitar.

z
 
Last edited:

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,957
Reaction score
8,019
Location
Massachusetts
Valcotone, that was a very thoughtful answer to (I assume) my post. And you guys who followed up make some additional good points. I stand corrected on this particular "parting out". I get overly excited about guys like gibsondependable and hankeroo, but should not have taken it out on valcotome without more information.

But, I'm with drc - I did enjoy this thread as a change from the numerous "Fender/Guild" threads!

walrus
 

jcwu

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
Messages
2,958
Reaction score
37
Location
San Jose, CA
I for one am glad there are parts to be bought. I was able to get a vintage Guildsby on eBay and a set of 70s HB-1 pickups complete with wiring harness for my project, a project which saw a decent-shaped T100 modified. Is it a travesty to modify a good old guitar? I don't know.. I do know that I like it better with the changes that I made. The guitar that I bought had been listed for sale for a while, no one was buying it, so... while it would be nice to have the guitar stay whole, apparently it wasn't nice enough to be worth buying, until I came along and got it.

Guild - made to be played, however it is you like it! :)
 

K.O.M.A.

Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2012
Messages
467
Reaction score
17
Location
Gulf Breeze, Florida
Well since I also opened my mouth before knowing the facts I will offer Valcotone a humble apology. You don't owe us an explanation but I think if it were me, since there was a NGD thread here, I would have maybe posted something here about the neck issues and why you were gonna part it out. You know we watch E-Bay like hawks for Guild listings, and probably should have figured you were gonna get hammered here without an explanation. Once again, sorry.
 

valcotone

Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
227
Reaction score
4
hi folks, Thanks for the positive comments... and thanks again zizala for identifying the neck issue and being so easy to work with, thank you.

I thought you all might find these shots interesting... the side effect of stuffing my iphone into the Guild in question here.... for fun!

WD_0203.jpg


WD_0227.jpg


WD_0243.jpg


WD_0254.jpg


WD_0256.jpg


WD_0264.jpg


WD_0267.jpg
 

gilded

Senior Member
Joined
May 2, 2007
Messages
3,479
Reaction score
197
Location
texas
I want to thank a lot of the posters like drc, walrus, mavuser, zizala, K.O.M.A, jcwu, Valcotone and the like for their thoughtful posts. I always try and bring as much to the table as I can on threads like these, but after reading all of these posts I've gained a fresh appreciation for other people's points of view. There are a lot of different ways 'to be right' on issues like this thread presents. Also, it's good to know that our sometimes wildly different opinions all stem from a profound respect for musical instruments.

Everybody involved in this thread had some valid points. What I've learned is that, while we may not reach a complete consensus, by talking these things out we certainly understand each other better.

So thanks for the input. It's almost like I learned something......:)

harry
 
Last edited:
Top