Diceman said:
Hans, I look forward to getting my hands on a copy of your book, and figure that I should post my guitar's SN here to see if you know anything about its production! I know that there were only a handful of Starfire IV's made in '69. SN = EL2245
Hello Diceman,
Sorry for coming in late. It looks like they did a good job at the repair center in Nashville.
I try to visit that place when I'm in the U.S. It's a cool bunch of guys working there.
And usually there are a couple of nice 'vintage' Guild guitars that they are working on, so that's always interesting for me.
The only thing that somewhat surprised me was the use of the pickguard with the 'Chevron' instead of the 'Star'. The 'Chevron' is an early '60s feature but I guess that's the pickguard style they had available. At this point it looks like a replica pickguard, but it's not really a big deal.
It looks good!
Re. The Guild Guitar Book:
Not sure when the new print will be available, but they promised to let me know, so whenever that happens I will post the info here on the Forum.
Re. your Starfire IV:
There's not a whole lot I can tell you about that guitar. Production numbers of the Starfire IV were indeed very low during 1969, which had nothing to do with the popularity of the model. It was the result of the move from Hoboken to Westerly. During '67 and '68 there had been 2 separate Guild operations. The Hoboken plant produced all the mid-level and high-end models while most of the lower end models were produced in Westerly, where they were training the new workers. When the move to Westerly was completed during 1969, they started producing the higher-priced models in that location but obviously starting up a new line in a new location takes some time.
What you might find interesting is the fact that your guitar has a 3-pc. mahogany neck, which was an experiment they had started a year earlier. That practice was abandoned shortly after that and all Starfire IVs that were made after 1969 should have the 3-pc. mahogany neck with the maple centerstrip.
Anyway, I hope that you will enjoy your guitar.
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl