NGD: Starfire III-90

parker_knoll

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Fingers crossed I've just snagged this nice Corona III-90. It's not in my hands yet, so I don't want to jinx it. Weirdly it's just up the road from me and been sitting on on Reverb for two months and I never spotted it. I don't know why no one bought it, on ebay they usually sell right away.

Unfortunately it means I might have to let go of the Gretsch Duo Jet I just bought, but Duo Jets are common and III-90s don't turn up every day. This will be my third Starfire - I've had a great playing super mint 1960 with Dearmonds (that I was too young to appreciate at the time - couldn't deal with how pokey the pickups were) and 1966 with mini HBs that suffered from a high action; so with the P90s I'll have done them all. Nothing left to achieve :)

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walrus

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Very very nice! I love the look of the black pickup covers with the the black finish! I had a Corona BB P90, the Corona electrics are great guitars!

Congratulations!

walrus
 

parker_knoll

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Very very nice! I love the look of the black pickup covers with the the black finish! I had a Corona BB P90, the Corona electrics are great guitars!

Congratulations!

walrus

Thanks. Just arranged to collect it Monday, so it looks like it's in the bag! I was thinking, if I do want to bling it up I could always go with cream covers and clear or cream knobs.
 

Walter Broes

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congratulations! I'd seen that on Reverb, and wondered how it lasted so long, that was a fair price. Cool guitar!
 

GAD

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Very cool - I've never seen one in black!

If that's a roller bridge it's infinitely better than the stock model though it's always worth having the original.

Nice score!
 

shihan

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I have been eyeing that for a while. That is going to be one fantastic sounding and playing guitar.
If I had bought it, I wouldn’t have a place to play it because I’d be living in my car; my wife would see to that.
I’m glad someone here got it. Congratulations! Looking forward to a full report.
 

parker_knoll

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Very cool - I've never seen one in black!

If that's a roller bridge it's infinitely better than the stock model though it's always worth having the original.

Nice score!

Actually I am a rare fan of the Bigsby bridge. I even retrofit them to other guitars. Hugely improved the sound and sustain of my Ric 330.

The guy selling it is a jazzer. He just told me Les Paul was a mere showman with poor technique :)
 

drlucky

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Sweet! I'd seen it...would've loved to have bought it, but no spare $$ at the moment. Enjoy!!!

PS...tell the seller to listen to some Les Paul Trio stuff then get back to me... :)
 

GGJaguar

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Nice! That's the early version with the pickup placed right against the end of the neck.
 

parker_knoll

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Nice! That's the early version with the pickup placed right against the end of the neck.

if it needs brightening up I have ways to do that.

By the way, I used your site so many times over the years to find out about more obscure guitars. I think you were one of the trailblazers.
 

Bernie

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Looks very nice : I hope it works good and has no issues. I had been watching these guitars recently, including the Starfire ST II too : they seem to be the only "Les Paul" shaped slim hollow-bodies on the market, among the fancy brands at least (is that right ?), and about the best idea I can think of for a next electric...
I knew someone that had one for a while a long time ago (lent by a friend), and I keep its memory in mind, quite vivid still after about 40 years (must have an ST II I believe). Seems the best formai I can think of right now...Enjoy !
 

mavuser

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beautiful score Parker! congrats and enjoy!!
 
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mavuser

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Looks very nice : I hope it works good and has no issues. I had been watching these guitars recently, including the Starfire ST II too : they seem to be the only "Les Paul" shaped slim hollow-bodies on the market, among the fancy brands at least (is that right ?), and about the best idea I can think of for a next electric...
I knew someone that had one for a while a long time ago (lent by a friend), and I keep its memory in mind, quite vivid still after about 40 years (must have an ST II I believe). Seems the best formai I can think of right now...Enjoy !

these are much bigger than a les paul! u want the hollow aristocrat M-75, newark steeet has a beautiful one. i owned one breifly (formerly Defaults) it was a gold top.
 

Bernie

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these are much bigger than a les paul! u want the hollow aristocrat M-75, newark steeet has a beautiful one. i owned one breifly (formerly Defaults) it was a gold top.

No the Aristocrat M-75 is not a hollow-body guitar : looks too much like a Les Paul copy. I was thinking of hollow-bodies when mentioning the Les Paul shape : as a matter of fact I just meant with only one cut-away...That this one is much larger than a Les Paul does not worry me : it's even better with a semi-acoustic guitar (one would need sound to play acoustically). There are hundreds of Les Paul-like guitars - even thousands - whereas I can't think of any other slim hollow-bodies with only one cut-away...Guild had that for a long time. I like it.
 

parker_knoll

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Mavuser is right, Bernie. The Aristocrat is hollow even if it doesn't look like it.
 

mavuser

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No the Aristocrat M-75 is not a hollow-body guitar : looks too much like a Les Paul copy. I was thinking of hollow-bodies when mentioning the Les Paul shape : as a matter of fact I just meant with only one cut-away...That this one is much larger than a Les Paul does not worry me : it's even better with a semi-acoustic guitar (one would need sound to play acoustically). There are hundreds of Les Paul-like guitars - even thousands - whereas I can't think of any other slim hollow-bodies with only one cut-away...Guild had that for a long time. I like it.

i think u are confusing the NS aristocrat w the Newark Street Bluesbird. the aristocrat is full hollow. like i said i owned one. it also has a cutaway and P-90s/Franz
 
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Bernie

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Still, even if you're right, how do you guys know what I want better than I do...I told you of a 40 years memory of a guitar, didn't I ? And it doesn't look at all like this one, which is what I get googling Guild M-75 Aristocrat.
If this guitar is "hollow-body" as you say, and doesn't have any sound hole, where do you get its sound from ? I'm talking about guitars that have a bit of sound at least when played unplugged : aren't you talking about guitars that are empty inside in order to be lighter ?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkbOR75JWEM
 
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