Looking for two old Guitar Player reviews

I am remembering two old reviews by Guitar Player that involved Guild Guitars.

One was a comparative review of a Guild X-160 Rockabilly (I believe that it was in blueburst) with a Gretsch G6120. This would have been before Fender took over distribution of the Gretsch line, I believe.

The other involved two Starfires, a Starfire III and a Starfire II (I think). I remember one being maple and one being mahogany.

If someone could post a link to electronic versions of these, that would be ideal. Even a reference to the issues in which these were printed would be fantastic and then I could patrol eBay for back issues.

Thanks for looking.

I was looking for older reviews of various guitars a few years ago in guitar Player. At the back of the magazine there was a list of older issues and what was contained/ reviewed in them. You may be able to go on their website and look this info up. Worth a try. Good luck.

Might be this one for the Guild/Gretsch comparison:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GUITAR-PLA...472942?hash=item1ed419b32e:g:09AAAOSwsBtaFLLm

As far as the Starfires go, all I can think of is this ad:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1997-Guild...hash=item483cdb45e8:m:mI9b5JToEdPurxt1fM0thiw

or this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Guild-...hash=item5202a509d9:m:mzhMWcb0HWsJ6CR4hOGZ0qA

walrus

I believe I have the Beck issue listed.

Somewhere. :-/

[FONT=Verdana, Arial][FONT=Verdana, Arial][SIZE=-1][FONT=Verdana, Arial]Guitar Player review - July '97
SNAPSHOT
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Guild Starfire II:
Thinline archtop with dual humbuckers. Mahogany construction, carved bridge and floating "harp" tailpiece makes it a fine choice for jazz or swingier blues.


Guild Starfire III:
Thinline archtop with a maple body/mahogany neck, dual humbuckers and a Bigsby tremolo tailpiece. Sounds and plays like an old Les Paul; perfect for tough, Freddie King/early Clapton blues styles.
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Guild has often been referred to as the "poor man's Gibson," but since '52, the fine flat-top, jazz and solidbody guitars produced by this small Westbury, Rhode Island, company have rivaled those of America's better-known biggies. Duane Eddy -- who played an X500 archtop for much of his career -- and jazz greats George Barnes and Johnny Smith were well-known exponents, and Guild's ads and catalogs featured such players as Buddy Guy, Mississippi John Hurt, Charlie Byrd and George Benson. Guild faded into semi-obscurity during the last decade, but it now has a new lease on life thanks to Fender, which acquired the company and much of its original workforce in 1995.

We recently received a pair of offerings from Guild's partially revived line. The Starfire II and III ($1,599 and $1,699 respectively) resemble the humbucker-equipped Starfires introduced in '71 (the line debuted in '62). These eye-catching archtops sport 2"-deep hollow bodies, Florentine cutaways and one-piece mahogany necks with 24.75"-scale rosewood fingerboards. Each packs two Guild humbuckers, dual volume and tone controls, and a three-way pickup selector. The most notable differences between them are the III's laminated-maple body and Bigsby tremolo, versus the II's laminated-mahogany body, carved rosewood bridge and "harp"-style floating tailpiece. Our transparent-red Starfire II tipped the scales at 6.25 lbs, while the natural-finished III weighed a pound more.

Common Starfire details include pearl dot position markers, pearl-inlaid headstocks, bound fretboards, nickel-plated Grover tuners, sculpted-plastic pickguards (supported by a sturdy chromed-steel bracket) and three-layer body binding. Workmanship on both instruments is excellent: The medium-sized frets are nicely shaped and crowned (though not highly polished), neck-to-body joints are super tight, and the invitingly slim necks are smooth and free of tool marks and sanding scratches. Neck widths range from a fairly narrow 15/8" at the nut to 21/4" at the 20th fret. Trussrod access is from the headstock end, � la Gibson. The only cosmetic hiccups we found were some small mitering flaws in the binding and orange-peel dimples in the top coats. The II and III are available with either maple or mahogany bodies. Mahogany finishes include black and transparent red, while maple versions come in blond and antique burst.

While the Starfires share many construction details, they are sonically quite different. Thanks to its mahogany body (one-piece top and back), wood bridge and floating tailpiece, the II is the jazzier sounding. Its wound-G medium-gauge strings further enhance its smoky, Burrell-esque vibe. We experimented with finger-friendlier .010-.046 strings, but the resulting thinner tone wasn't worth the lighter feel. An .011-.048 set would be a better compromise. If you play swing or jump blues in a small combo, you'll appreciate this guitar's burnished midrange, sweet top end and singing sustain. With the tone controls rolled down, the II's moodier archtop vibe emerges -- you could easily cut a wine-and-cheese gig with this ax.

The Starfire's action was right on the button, and the only playability problem we encountered was some bass-string buzz caused by high frets at the 15th and 16th positions. This would be an easy fret-mill fix for a qualified repairman, but Guild should have caught this at the factory. Oddly, the bridge also had a slight forward tilt, which seemed to be a result of incorrect beveling of the bridge base and not-perfectly-straight stud holes. The base's arc matches the curvature of the top quite nicely, however.

If a meaner, pompadour-era Freddie King or Bluesbreaker-Clapton snarl is your thing, the Bigsby-equipped Starfire III delivers that sound with style. This guitar is a real looker with its figured-maple body (one-piece top and back) and contrasting dark-mahogany neck, and we'd be hard pressed to think of a better alternative to pricier Gibson or Gretsch archtops for blues or rootsy rock. The III's woods combined with its aluminum bridge and tailpiece give it ballsy midrange and zingy top end. This ax sounds like a great Les Paul; it cuts amazingly well, yet its tone remains round and focused, even at high volume. Crank this blond baby into a 4x10 Fender Bassman or Super Reverb and you'll know the meaning of killer blues tone.

The tremolo's feel is soft yet responsive, and we found the .010-.046 strings stayed in tune surprisingly well under vigorous bending and trem action. A couple of items warrant attention: The III's aluminum bridge base doesn't precisely match the top's curvature (we could slip a business card between it and the wood in places), and -- as San Francisco luthier Gary Brawer pointed out -- the bridge was not precisely aligned with the neck. This caused the strings to scoot slightly toward the treble side after extended playing.

Nonetheless, the Starfire II and III are very satisfying instruments. All of our testers were charmed by their tone, playability and vibe. The fact that you can still buy a brand-new American-made archtop for under $1,700 is pretty mind-blowing too. Guild has a long history of making great guitars at prices musicians can afford -- it's comforting to know that tradition is continuing.
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I've got the GP issue with their Nightbird review (c. 1986) somewhere in my house. I think so anyway…last time I saw it I still had hair! :afro:

-Dave-

[FONT=Verdana, Arial][FONT=Verdana, Arial]Guild Nightbird -- Rick Turner (Guitar Player Product Profile, May 1986)

Before we take a look at the Nightbird, let's take a brief look at Guild's history, because this instrument is almost as interesting for the story behind the scenes as for what it actually is: a very fine electric guitar. Designed by George Gruhn, the Nightbird is representative of the "new" Guild company's return to its roots as a privately owned organization commited to excellence. The large corporations that bought into the American music industry have returned the likes of Gibson, Fender, and Guild to private owners, and the result is that these companies are getting leaner and more responsive to the musician's needs.

In the late '60s, the Dronge family, owners of Guild for many years, sold out to the Avnet Corporation. Eleven years later, Mark Dronge bought back his family's former company. The new Guild is a reflection of family pride and tradition, as well as a guitar factory for the '80s. The association with designers and musicians such as George Gruhn, Brian May, and Harvey Citron is both a good business move and a good artistic decision. Gruhn, for example, is practically a national treasury of guitar lore, and this experience should do a lot for re-establishing the Guild reputation.

The Nightbird has a strong heritage in the Guild line. The company has always been known for its carved arch-top guitars and for several years made a model known as the Bluesbird, which was sort of a hollow Les Paul-style spruce ply top, which often had feedback problems.

Gruhn's design features a carved spruce top on a mahogany body. As with the Gibson Chet Atkins solidbody classical model, parts of the interior are hollowed out to alter the sonic qualities and to give the instrument more acoustic warmth. This has been done without sacrificing too much sustain, and feedback has been brought very much under the musician's control. Among guitar designers, there seems to be a growing awareness of the importance of creating with sonic details in mind, rather than just visual impact. Solidbody instruments need to sound good acoustically, too, in order to sound good amplified. That principle does not meant that they should all sound the same or have the same sustain characteristics, but you can't really bring life to a dead instrument. The Nightbird is a very live instrument. You can feel the responsiveness through the body. Tone and sustain remain constant throughout its range. This guitar would be nice to record with, using only a piezoelectric pickup on the top near the bridge.

I examined Gruhn's handmade prototype, plus the example sent to me and several others at the recent NAMM show. Guild is doing a great job of faithfully reproducing exactly what Gruhn had in mind. Theses are very well made instruments; craftsmanship and materials are top-notch. My sample had fairly wide-grained spruce, while others had tighter grain. I suspect there are some subtle sonic differences, but I certainly could find nothing to complain about with the test guitar.

I like the aesthetic details of the Nightbird. In a world of stripes and day-glo finishes, it's nice to know that there are still people who like ivoroid and tortoisoid, and who can do beautiful binding. The Gruhn design looks like a solidbody might have looked in the 1920s or '30s: The top is lightly shaded in an amber hue applied as a subtle sunburst. The black ebony fingerboard is inlaid with notched diamonds of mother-of-pearl and bound with grained ivoroid. The headstock echoes the traditional Guild design, although narrower. Headstock binding is also ivoroid with black-and-white purfling.

The mahogany neck is slim and fast, joining the body at the 16th fret. The dropped cutaway allows easy access to the 22nd fret. This is not a guitar for playing way up in ultrasonic territory but it plays beautifully within its range. The set-up, action, and fret dressing are excellent. This is one of the few guitars I haven't wanted to adjust to make it more playable.

Nightbird hardware is simple and functional. The tuning machines on the test sample are Gotoh versions of 1950s-vintage Kluson gears, but they feature Allen-wrench tension adjustments. They are very smooth and are actually quite superior to the originals. (The Nightbird is also available with Grover or Schaller tuners.) The bridge is in the style of the Gibson Tune-O-Matic and sits on posts mounted on the spruce top for optimum coupling to the body. The stop tailpiece is height-adjustable to change the pressure of the strings on the bridge. All hardware is gold-plated.

The electronics are likewise simple and effective. You have a choice of Kent Armstrong humbuckers or EMG humbuckers. The coil-splitter switch (push/pull in the tone control) splits both pickups at once. As the company's brochure for the guitar points out, there is plenty of room inside the guitar for customizing the electronics. This is another example of the design influence of someone who deals with real musicians on a day-to-day basis. The only problem I found with the instrument was that the shielding on the back plate didn't connect to the ground at the output jack. I called Gruhn, and he assured me that the problem would be immediately taken care of.

The sound of the Nightbird is rich and warm, with the pickups faithfully passing on the real sound of the instrument. There's plenty of tonal variation, from dark humbucking textures to biting single-coil scratching. This should prove to be a guitar that appeals to a wide range of players.

At a list price of $1,200.00, I would consider this to be an excellent value. It looks good, plays well, and sounds fine. I wouldn't be surprised to see quite a few of them showing up everywhere -- from the stage to the studio and MTV.[/FONT][/FONT]

Yep, that's the one. I suppose the N'bird didn't stand much of a chance during the SuperStrat era.

-Dave-

Thank you all for your help on this!!

When you were able to identify the issues, I dug deeper and located the issue with the Starfire reviews. I ordered the one with the Guild/Gretsch comparison from eBay.

Merry Christmas.