62 Starfire Bigsby Advice

[Dan Beckley]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a 62 Starfire - beautiful guitar in sunburst as opposed to the more common red colouring. I suspect it is the starfire 2 as it does not have a Bigsby. I have managed to acquire a Guild Bigsby and I wanted some advice regarding the bridge. My guitar currently has a wooden bridge saddle but I've noticed that most Starfires have a metal bridge saddle, certainly when a Bigsby is at play. Would I be ok installing the Bigsby with the current bridge or should I look to get a different style?

Oh, one bonus question, the neck pickup on this guitar is very dark - to the point of almost being unusable for 95% of applications. Is this normal for the dearmonds in the neck position? Conversely the bridge pickup is very bright with a real cutting tone that sits very well in a mix.

Cheers,

Dan

 

[BradHK]

Welcome and congratulations on getting a 62 Starfire. I love those guitars!

I have pretty much the same guitar in red with DeArmonds and my neck pickup is not muddy at all. In the 1950’s Guild sometimes had a capacitor on the neck pickup mounted at the pickup selector switch. One of my guitars came with this cap from the factory. This would give the neck pickup that “jazzy“ tone. I thought this was phased out by 1962 but you never know. With the hollow body it is pretty easy to remove the neck pickup and pull the selector switch out and check.

Regarding the bridge with the Bigsby, it really depends on how you use the Bigsby and what sounds you like. The original aluminum Bigsby bridge will rock back and forth when you use the Bigsby, but not by much. Since these are just floating you can try the rosewood, a new Bigsby with the intonation for an unwound G, TOM on a rosewood base, roller TOM on a rosewood base, etc and just see what you like. I have done most of these swaps and I currently have all of my guitars set as stock. If it has a Bigsby I have the Bigsby bridge installed. However, to my ear I think the Bigsby aluminum bridge is a little thin and bright compared to the rosewood, TOM, or the Hagstrom bridge on the rosewood base.

oh, and we would love pictures!

 

[Dan Beckley]

Welcome and congratulations on getting a 62 Starfire. I love those guitars!

I have pretty much the same guitar in red with DeArmonds and my neck pickup is not muddy at all. In the 1950’s Guild sometimes had a capacitor on the neck pickup mounted at the pickup selector switch. One of my guitars came with this cap from the factory. This would give the neck pickup that “jazzy“ tone. I thought this was phased out by 1962 but you never know. With the hollow body it is pretty easy to remove the neck pickup and pull the selector switch out and check.

Regarding the bridge with the Bigsby, it really depends on how you use the Bigsby and what sounds you like. The original aluminum Bigsby bridge will rock back and forth when you use the Bigsby, but not by much. Since these are just floating you can try the rosewood, a new Bigsby with the intonation for an unwound G, TOM on a rosewood base, roller TOM on a rosewood base, etc and just see what you like. I have done most of these swaps and I currently have all of my guitars set as stock. If it has a Bigsby I have the Bigsby bridge installed. However, to my ear I think the Bigsby aluminum bridge is a little thin and bright compared to the rosewood, TOM, or the Hagstrom bridge on the rosewood base.

oh, and we would love pictures!

Cheers Brad, that's some really helpful information.
.I will upload some photos when I get home from work and check for the capacitor you mentioned.
I think I'll try the Bigsby with the current bridge, see how it behaves and go from there.

 

[Nuuska]

Hello Dan

Welcome to LTG - I call it TWHOTI = The Warm Heart Of The Internet

 

[Default]

www.tubesandmore.com has the guild I wound g bridge.

 

[matsickma]

Wow...a sunburst SF2 with DeArmonds. That is not seen often. Is the guitar bound in the back?

The late 1980's X160T aka X161 was a less bling X170T. It came with a Guildsby and floating wooden bridge. Mine worked ok. I eventually did add a Bigsby bridge for a unwound G. If I remember correctly I had to add modest lateral slots in the bridge holes to fit the stock bridge center-to-center dimension. Was a easy mod using a drill and a little lateral force to elongate the hole.
M

 

[Dan Beckley]

 

[Dan Beckley]

Wow...a sunburst SF2 with DeArmonds. That is not seen often. Is the guitar bound in the back?

The late 1980's X160T aka X161 was a less bling X170T. It came with a Guildsby and floating wooden bridge. Mine worked ok. I eventually did add a Bigsby bridge for a unwound G. If I remember correctly I had to add modest lateral slots in the bridge holes to fit the stock bridge center-to-center dimension. Was a easy mod using a drill and a little lateral force to elongate the hole.
M

Thanks for the reply - yes the back of the body is bound if that's what you were asking? It does seem to be unusual to have the sun/tobacco burst model though I'm certainly no expert.

I may very well order a Bigsby bridge so I can try both.

 

[Dan Beckley]

Hello Dan

Welcome to LTG - I call it TWHOTI = The Warm Heart Of The Internet

Thank you

 

[Dan Beckley]

www.tubesandmore.com has the guild I wound g bridge.

Thanks for the link - so just to clarify, is the guild Bigsby bridge on their website for a wound or an unwound G? I'm currently using a wound G but I'm easy either way truth be told.

 

[Dan Beckley]

I have attached some photos. You will see in the two close ups that there are a couple of spots where the binding is pulling away from the body. Has anybody had this problem before?

 

[GGJaguar]

Welcome to LTG! Very nice looking sunburst Starfire! I wonder if that's the original finish - does the label say "Starfire III Ch" or Starfire III Sb"? As for the binding, unfortunately the shrinkage you're seeing is not uncommon on older Guilds (or any older guitar really). Just keep an eye on it as it may not shrink any further.

 

[Nuuska]

On upper bout treble side one - a bit clumsy - solution would be to cut the binding under the pickguard bracket and reglue it. The cut seam would open some but would remain hidden under the bracket.

 

[BradHK]

I believe that is a refin. My rational is that all four of the volume and tone knob metal markers have been removed from the body. My guess is that this was done during the refin as these get sanded down removing the old finish. However, I could be wrong and these could have just been removed for some reason and it could be original. As stated earlier, it would be good to get a view of the label to see if it provides more details on finish.

refin or not that is a beautiful guitar!

 

[Default]

Thanks for the link - so just to clarify, is the guild Bigsby bridge on their website for a wound or an unwound G? I'm currently using a wound G but I'm easy either way truth be told.

It specifically says unwound g.

 

[Dan Beckley]

It specifically says unwound

Ok, thanks. I wasn't sure as you had typed 'I wound G bridge' which I guessed was a typo, I being next to U on the keyboard. Anyway thanks for the link - I'm going to order the aluminium one.

 

[Dan Beckley]

Welcome to LTG! Very nice looking sunburst Starfire! I wonder if that's the original finish - does the label say "Starfire III Ch" or Starfire III Sb"? As for the binding, unfortunately the shrinkage you're seeing is not uncommon on older Guilds (or any older guitar really). Just keep an eye on it as it may not shrink any further.

Thanks - I never even considered it may have been refinished. I will check the label when I get home on Monday.
Will keep an eye on the binding - it doesn't really bother me as it is atm.

 

[Dan Beckley]

On upper bout treble side one - a bit clumsy - solution would be to cut the binding under the pickguard bracket and reglue it. The cut seam would open some but would remain hidden under the bracket.

Thanks, I think I'll leave as is for now and get someone more skilled than me to look at it if it seems to worsen.

 

[Dan Beckley]

I believe that is a refin. My rational is that all four of the volume and tone knob metal markers have been removed from the body. My guess is that this was done during the refin as these get sanded down removing the old finish. However, I could be wrong and these could have just been removed for some reason and it could be original. As stated earlier, it would be good to get a view of the label to see if it provides more details on finish.

refin or not that is a beautiful guitar!

Thanks,
Yeah that makes sense with the markers removed as you say. I will check the label when I'm home on Monday. I'm quite interested to find out now!

 

[Jeff Haddad]

Beautiful guitar, welcome to the forum!