2018 Starfire IV ST

RyanV

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I bought this guitar from Sweetwater not having played one at any local store.

I went with the Sunburst stop tail model and I got a discount of $100 bringing the total to $1050 shipped.

When I got it I did tighten the truss rod just a bit to take some relief out of the neck, dropped the string height to 4/64ths at the twelfth fret hi and lo side and I also set the intonation.

This guitar is really lightweight, its super comfortable and its very well made. The nut fit is spot on and the frets are tall and very well done. I've played the new D'Angelico Excel Double cut, which costs about $1600 and I can say without a doubt that these Guilds are a much better built and playing guitar for less money.

NECK The neck radius is 9.5", with tall jumbo frets and a neck shape that's similar to the 70s Guild Starfires. For me this makes for easy chording and also silky smooth lead passages. It's just a joy to play.

When I first took the guitar to a jam my friends were blown away at the tone through my princeton reverb amp.

PICKUPS The pickups are unique, and I think they sound great clean or with dirt pedals although they don't seem to do as good as the HB-1s with high gain. I think they perform best clean to moderately dirty. The bridge pickup actually sounds fine to me. I don't see any volume issue. I did adjust the bridge pickup height to make it sound a bit more even to my ear with the neck pickup.

FIT N FINISH For the price I don't think you can't beat this. What's weird is that the Guildsby models cost the same.

CONS I think the input jack and toggle switch could be tighter. The pickup toggle switch does rattle, so I will be replacing it with a higher quality switch. The Sta-tite tuners are adequate, but they're aren't that great. I plan on trying to replace them with the new Kluson Revolution locking 3+3 witht he press fit collar. The Guild doesn't feel or look cheap in my hands at all like the Dangelico Excel does. I think this will make a very nice gigging guitar.

For 2019 I'm hoping Guild brings back the larger nicer head stock and if they did the V or IV in Sunburst I'd be buying one instantly
 
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