NGD x 2: 1960 Starfire II and 1967 Starfire XII

Joined
Aug 31, 2018
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Hi all! First post here, but I've been lurking and benefiting from your knowledge for many years! Indeed, that knowledge (along with Hans's book) was instrumental (pun intended) to my picking up these two beauties.

dsc01099.jpg


I've been meaning to try out some Guilds for a long time, but three things finally got me going in the last few months. First, I sold off a lot of guitars I wasn't playing... which cleared out space for some more! Second, I started playing around a bit with rockabilly, and realized I needed a nice hollowbody with single-coil pickups. Third, I finally decided to get rid of my Squier Venus electric 12-string, which had a warped neck and never played right.

After lots of research, I decided that for rockabilly, I'd like an X-175, T-100, or Starfire II or III. I tried out a bunch (there were several for sale in the Toronto area, mostly from the 90s) before finding this wonderful '60 SFII for sale at a local shop for a reasonable price. I snapped it up.

dsc01081.jpg


It's one of the very early SFIIs with the maple laminate bodies (like T-100 Slim Jims) and the early DeArmond pickups. To my ear, it sounds just like the Epiphone Casino I used to own, but with a bit more clarity and "bite." I does a good ES-295 impression, too, though I've never played one of those for more than a few seconds. I absolutely love the tone and feel -- and the look! I'd love to have found one with a Bigsby, but I'm not about to make that big a mod -- and as you'll see below, the neck angle might not allow it anyway.

I'm pretty crazy about the clear knobs and the Ray Davies-style chevron pick guard!
dsc01083.jpg


One thing I'm not too crazy about are the tuners (original Waverly nickel tuners), which have short shafts that make wrapping a bit of a pain. I notice the shape of the Waverly repros that StewMac sells are a little different. Does anyone have tips for a longer-shaft, smoother tuner that's a direct replacement? (Of course I'll keep these safely tucked away!) By the way, the serial number, 14251, puts it toward the end of 1960 production.
dsc01085.jpg


The one and only weird modification here was that the previous owner removed the bridge base and mounted the Hagstrom bridge directly into the top of the guitar. They presumably did this because the neck angle changed and they couldn't get the bridge down low enough with the base in place (thankfully, there is still enough angle for proper heigh adjustment over the DeArmonds). It seems stable and holds tune, but I'd like to get a rosewood base back on there -- it just doesn't look right otherwise.
dsc01082.jpg



My second purchase was a '67 Starfire XII 12-string. I'm a huge fan of 12-strings (especially on weirder Byrds stuff, like "8 Miles High"). I really love Rickenbackers, but two things kept me from going that route: (1) I have a '66 345 6-string, so I know from experience how much better the x-braced '60s Ricks are than newer models, and (2) '60s Rick 12-strings are incredibly expensive! Then there's the narrow neck problem. I always figured a SFXIII would solve those problems for me if I could ever get my hands on one. Well, this weekend, on a trip to NYC, I managed to track down a beautiful example. Though I haven't been able to spend much time with it just yet, it seems like a lovely guitar, and I got it for a reasonable price.
dsc01087.jpg


Aside from some binding shrinkage, it's in stunning shape, and looks like it's barely been played. The finish isn't faded at all, and there is no buckle rash at all on the back.
dsc01097.jpg


The reason I haven't been able to spend much time playing it yet is that it, too, has some bridge issues. This time, the issue is that the neck angle has changed, and no one has bothered to do anything about it. The action is ridiculously high, the rosewood bridge has no more downward adjustment left. But there still looks to be plenty of angle left, and tons of room over the pickups. I'm going to try out an ABM 12-string tune-o-matic bridge, which I have on order.
dsc01089.jpg



I'm having a blast with the SFII -- and can't wait to play around with the SFXII once I've got it all set up.
 

shihan

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Jan 18, 2013
Messages
1,540
Reaction score
796
Location
Ventura CA
Welcome anhamond! You sure know how to make a grand entrance! Those are 2 gorgeous guitars. I’ll bet the SF II sounds fantastic. The Dearmond single coils rule. Enjoy those fine guitars.
 

Jeff Haddad

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Messages
1,144
Reaction score
269
Location
southeastern PA
Welcome and congrats! I especially admire the SF II - I think the maple-body Starfires look great and yours looks to be in excellent condition. I don't know if the bridge currently mounted is too much lower than it would be on a floating bridge base - it looks like it sits up a bit on the studs and the installation looks well done.
 

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,956
Reaction score
8,019
Location
Massachusetts
Welcome! Awesome "entrance" and two awesome guitars!

walrus
 

GGJaguar

Reverential Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Messages
21,309
Reaction score
31,396
Location
Skylands
Guild Total
49
Terrific twosome!! Congrats and enjoy!
 

ClaytonS15

Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2014
Messages
497
Reaction score
400
Location
MA
Guild Total
3
Welcome! Great guitars as well. We all love pictures of old Guilds.
 

kakerlak

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Messages
2,354
Reaction score
128
Location
Oklahoma
I think you're out of luck on those tuners. Modern Waverly tuners are super high quality reproductions of Grover Sta-tites. StewMac does sell reproductions of the same sort of old Waverly tuners your Starfire uses, but only in the 3-on-a-strip version. I'm not aware of any available reproductions of those individual Waverly tuners. Entirely possible that, even if there was, they'd be identical in post height, too, though. There's likely enough break angle built into the headstock to wrap the low E (and D, if need be) going up from the post hole, rather than down. I've got a guitar or two like that and it's no big deal. You really just need one good wrap to be fine from a tuning stability standpoint -- the only reason I ever wrap way down the post is to get a little more break angle on guitars prone to ringing behind the nut (Fender G strings, etc.)

Cool guitars, though! Everybody I've seen show up here with those funny DeArmonds seems to really love them.
 
Joined
Aug 31, 2018
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
I think you're out of luck on those tuners.

Dang! But thanks for the info. Yes, I have them wrapping "up," and they seem to be holding tune pretty well. I'll just stick with them.

And yes, the pickups are pretty great. I don't have "regular" DeArmonds to compare them to (just some very thin-sounding Rowe pickups on a Fender Coronado), but I love the tone.

Thanks again for the help!
 
Top