NGD: Starfire III-90

kakerlak

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Wow Bernie, why so surly?

I think the most functional distinction b/w "chambered" and "hollowbody" guitars would be in top and internal cavities and, in this sense, I'd call Guild's model description inaccurate. All full hollowbody guitars, Aristocrats included, have a completely open internal construction, typically with a separate back and sides, and, most distinctively, with either a laminated or solid pressed/carved top that's thin enough to require bracing to maintain its shape under string tension. These can have f-holes, round/oval soundholes, or none whatsoever. Chambered guitars, like some Les Pauls and all '90s Bluesbirds, Thinline Telecasters, etc., have a solid back that's been routed out in various spots such that it's open in some areas and fully solid in others (usually solid underneath the bridge/tailpiece, at minimum) and a thicker solid top that's typically flat on the underside and glued to the body, whether or not the top side is carved into a rounded shape. They do not require bracing as they are in firm contact with solid wood in enough places underneath, in addition to being often the better part of an inch thick in places.

Wood still resonates, even if there's no actual soundhole and, in practice, you'll find a fully hollow M-75 is louder acoustically than a solidbody guitar -- think of it like a drum vs. a practice pad or like tapping any sort of hollow object vs a similar solid one.

As for vintage Guilds, all the single cutaway Starfires (I, II, III) are fully hollow. All the double cutaway Starfires (IV, V, VI, XII) are semi-hollow. Semi-hollow? So "semi-hollow" is its own distinction. These are guitars built in the same manner of construction as a full hollowbody, but with a solid block of wood spanning the gap b/w the top and back, typically running from neck to tail.
 

parker_knoll

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Wouldn't it have been easier to just send back the strings?

Thank you for understanding my rather foolish sense of humour.

Actually, I picked it up today as I wasn't working and got to play it quite a bit. It's my first "modern" Guild and very different from my previous Starfires or current Duane Eddy.

1. It's maple construction which I wasn't expecting. It feels a little heavier than my Duane (I don't have any scales) but the Duane is wider though thinner. This is 2" thick at the rim. The nut is 1.75"

2. The pickups are pretty high output - hotter than Filtertron, LB-1 or Dearmond 2K. They're shimmed quite high and there's just a couple of mm between the pole pieces and the strings.

3. The sound is quite "dry" - I think I mean the emphasis is on the fundamental frequencies without an excess of sympathetic harmonics. It took me a while to get used to it but it's growing on me and makes a nice contrast to the Duane which is full of ghostly harmonics and creaks.

4. The sound overall is very bright, which I also wasn't expecting as I'd read reports of these being dark sounding. Perhaps they're not all maple so the hog ones sound darker. Whichever, I am happy about this as I like a bright sound, and I'd rather have the possibly of something that can cut through the mix than trying to fix a muddy sound through various tricks; it's easy to dial out excess high frequencies, but you can't add them in if they're not there. I suspect this is one reason the previous owner swapped the Bigsby bridge out. After a few minutes I put it back. It also means you can get quite acerbic post-punk sounds which I like.

5. The bass is also very "tight" as associated with maple construction - despite the neck pup being right up against the fretboard, that pup is plenty bright and the bass doesn't flub out the sound, so I'm happy with that as this is usually one of my problem areas with guitars.

That's about it for now. Still getting used to the different shape. If I keep it I may put clear knobs or an ALuminium scratchplate or some other nonsense to make it less dour, but I'm happy with the black as the flame maples used at that time were always a bit too flashy for my tastes. Obviously with P90s there's pickup options, but these are pretty impressive so far.
 
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kakerlak

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Thank you for understanding my rather foolish sense of humour.

Actually, I picked it up today as I wasn't working and got to play it quite a bit. It's my first "modern" Guild and very different from my previous Starfires or current Duane Eddy.

1. It's maple construction which I wasn't expecting. It feels a little heavier than my Duane (I don't have any scales) but the Duane is wider though thinner. This is 2" thick at the rim. The nut is 1.75"

2. The pickups are pretty high output - hotter than Filtertron, LB-1 or Dearmond 2K. They're shimmed quite high and there's just a couple of mm between the pole pieces and the strings.

3. The sound is quite "dry" - I think I mean the emphasis is on the fundamental frequencies without an excess of sympathetic harmonics. It took me a while to get used to it but it's growing on me and makes a nice contrast to the Duane which is full of ghostly harmonics and creaks.

4. The sound overall is very bright, which I also wasn't expecting as I'd read reports of these being dark sounding. Perhaps they're not all maple so the hog ones sound darker. Whichever, I am happy about this as I like a bright sound, and I'd rather have the possibly of something that can cut through the mix than trying to fix a muddy sound through various tricks; it's easy to dial out excess high frequencies, but you can't add them in if they're not there. I suspect this is one reason the previous owner swapped the Bigsby bridge out. After a few minutes I put it back. It also means you can get quite acerbic post-punk sounds which I like.

5. The bass is also very "tight" as associated with maple construction - despite the neck pup being right up against the fretboard, that pup is plenty bright and the bass doesn't flub out the sound, so I'm happy with that as this is usually one of my problem areas with guitars.

That's about it for now. Still getting used to the different shape. If I keep it I may put clear knobs or an ALuminium scratchplate or some other nonsense to make it less dour, but I'm happy with the black as the flame maples used at that time were always a bit too flashy for my tastes. Obviously with P90s there's pickup options, but these are pretty impressive so far.

I'd probably swap out the pickup covers for some white ones to break up the blackout effect -- maybe some clear knobs, too, not that it'd make a ton of difference. I'd expect a maple SF II/III to have a fairly punchy and snappy sound to it, which it sounds like yours does. It's a cool guitar and I suspect GAD will be super jealous when he finds out that it's got a 1.75" nut.
 

adorshki

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Thank you for understanding my rather foolish sense of humour.
De nada.
:friendly_wink:

Perhaps they're not all maple so the hog ones sound darker.
Yes, I've read that before.


Whichever, I am happy about this as I like a bright sound, and I'd rather have the possibly of something that can cut through the mix than trying to fix a muddy sound through various tricks; it's easy to dial out excess high frequencies, but you can't add them in if they're not there.
And maybe why Guild used maple so extensively from the beginning?
 

parker_knoll

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maybe some clear knobs, too, not that it'd make a ton of difference.

On that note, does someone know the shaft size for the standard CTS pots? If you search beyond guitar sites the pots are much cheaper and the choice more various.

And maybe why Guild used maple so extensively from the beginning?

My Duane i think has a spruce top. It might even be solid. It seems to boost the midrange a bit.
 

GAD

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Nice review!

My SF-III-P90s had wonderful necks. IIRC, they also had Antiquity pickups which freaking rock. They ruined me, in fact, when I got my Bluesbird-90 which had... not Antiquities. I swapped them out and the guitar came alive. If the pickups in this black one are antiquities, then they may be "very high output" compared with the others listed, but they're nothing like the monster coils that came in that Bluesbird. Yikes. I think you're just experiences the fat-midrange goodness of a P90 when compared with those other examples. I Think the P90 tone balances well with the Maple body.

Enjoy that guitar - it's a beaut!

GAD
 

kakerlak

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Antiquities are decent P-90s. If they're really shimmed up super close to the strings, I'd be tempted to remove the shims and either leave them off or sand them down a bit. Personally, I always liked the sound of P-90s adjusted farther away from the strings with the pole screws adjusted up proud of the covers a bit.
 

parker_knoll

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Nice review!

Not compared to one of yours

Antiquities are decent P-90s. If they're really shimmed up super close to the strings, I'd be tempted to remove the shims and either leave them off or sand them down a bit. Personally, I always liked the sound of P-90s adjusted farther away from the strings with the pole screws adjusted up proud of the covers a bit.

I'll take a pic tomorrow (it's late here). I can fiddle around on the next string change which might be soon as I don't like the set that's on there much. I was wondering if the old ES-225s had the pickups shimmed or just miles from the strings.
 

kakerlak

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Not compared to one of yours



I'll take a pic tomorrow (it's late here). I can fiddle around on the next string change which might be soon as I don't like the set that's on there much. I was wondering if the old ES-225s had the pickups shimmed or just miles from the strings.

Yeah, Gibson used shims on their bridge pickups, typically not on the neck pickups, and not typically so tall that the pickups are right up under the strings.
 

parker_knoll

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Wow, looks super clean! You know, might be worth putting the neck pickup's shim under the bridge pickup and leaving the neck pickup w/o a shim.

It's a harmless experiment.

I found this, from Jason Lollar, quoted on another forum:

It all depends on the guitar but I would start at the bridge, it needs to be pretty close to the strings or your mids wont be prominent enough in this position. You want to adjust it with the amp set at a volume where it will just start to distort lightly. raise it up to just under the point where if you dampen the strings they don’t hit the pole pieces. If you lower it down a couple turns too much the mids will drop out, subtle but noticeable so set them right before that happens. with the amp turned up like that check the low E string and make sure it doesn’t blat, if it does either lower the whole pickup on that side or lower the pole, often 1/2 to 1 turn of the screw will clean it up.

Then go to the neck and do the same thing. With the volume control on the guitar all the way up its going to be pretty thick sounding with very full midrange, some people confuse the thickness of tone as being louder than the bridge pickup but its just different frequency response, if you play the top strings and switch between the neck and bridge you can tell that they are of equal volume, if you play chords your ear may fool you into perceiving the neck as being louder. The trick to P-90's is to get a clearer sound you roll the volume off on the guitar 10-20% and the mids will drop out and they will clean up. The highs will still remain as long as you don’t roll the volume down too much. So if you want a tight sound in the neck roll the volume down or go to the center position for tight clear rhythm tones.
Jason
 
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