First time Guild Owner Starfire IV

[Mightymole]

Hi new to forum and new to Guild guitars. I have long been interested in Guild guitars but for some reason have never owned one. I saw this Starfire IV on a local ad for what I feel is a good price. The price was deeply discounted due to the alteration of a previous owner. As you can see the back was routed at some point and back access plates were added. A couple of interesting things, it was probably done a long time ago due to the different color in the lacquer where the plates were, and the backplates have been molded to fit the contour of the guitar.
I have been looking for a 335 type of guitar since I have never owned one. I realize this is not a carbon copy. So far I love this guitar. The pickups sound great. The person I bought it from altered the pickups to have 4 lead wires. This allows coil tapping. Generally though I like it in full humbucker mode.
wiring needs a little more work (bridge volume pot does not work) but with access plates hopefully even a hobbyist like me can work on it easily enough. The last owner added the master volume knob. The one thing I need to get used to is the thin narrow neck. The strings are so close to the edges of the board that I need to change technique in order not to have the strings slip of the edge.
It is was made in 1973 as near as I can tell. It has certainly been played but not super abused for it's age. The checking in the lacquer is starting to look cool. The binding is in good shape, all in all this is as cool of a guitar that I have purchased in some time.
One question has anyone seen routing and backplates put onto the back of a guild before? Just wondering.

.

 

[ranbush]

Congrats, looks like a player.

 

[DeArmond Hammer]

Congratulations, @Mightymole, and welcome! (Welcome to you, too, @ranbush!) According to Guild's info, your guitar was made in 1976. Those access holes look similar in workmanship, so I would guess that they were made by the same person.

The Starfire IV of that era (e.g. 1975, 1978) had a master volume control, whose knob was smaller than the other four knobs. So, when you write that the previous owner added the MV knob, I guess he really added just the knob to match the other four knobs.

With those access panels, that's a perfect guitar for a hobbyist with a soldering iron. I don't know how those humbuckers were altered to allow coil tapping, but I'm sure you can find wiring diagrams for coil-tapped pickups with a master volume.

The guitar's label says the model is SF4-Blk, which I would think indicates a black finish. I wonder if the label was mistaken, or if the finish was sanded off the body as from John Lennon's famous blond Casino. I wouldn't be surprised if an owner who would cut access holes in the back would also sand off the finish in the front.

 

[SFIV1967]

Welcome to LTG! Interesting guitar! Richard already mentioned all things important. It would be interesting to see if she was indeed black originally. You might see signs of it on the inside of the f holes and on the inside of the pickup routings. So have a look under the pickups.

Is that maybe some black left?

That's what the original master volume knob looked like and since the little position pointer nail is currently hidden under the big knob on your guitar you also see that the big knob was added later on. The big knob looks better anyway! The switch tip on your guitar might be a replacement as well, as you see in below picture the original (and impossible to find) switchtip was pretty flat on top.

And one height adjustment screw of the neck pickup seems to be missing.

Ralf

 

[GGJaguar]

Seems to be missing its neck binding.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Seems to be missing its neck binding.

Did SF-4's have neck binding?

 

[hansmoust]

Did SF-4's have neck binding?

All Starfire models (except for the Starfire basses) had neck binding!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[Mightymole]

Thanks for the info. I will take a closer look and take a couple more pics. I have learned a lot.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

All Starfire models (except for the Starfire basses) had neck binding!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

Ah, man, I got Hans'd!

So was this neck bound at one time or is something else going on here?

 

[ranbush]

Congratulations, @Mightymole, and welcome! (Welcome to you, too, @ranbush!)

Thanks for the welcome, Richard. This forum looks like a VERY valuable resource for learning about Guild gutars.

 

[Opsimath]

Thanks for the welcome, Richard. This forum looks like a VERY valuable resource for learning about Guild gutars.

You have no idea the knowledge here - but good folks that will help you out along the way. I don't think you could find a better forum. They'll even help find guitars for you to buy!! What could be better than that??!!

By the way, welcome Mightymole (congratulations on the Starfire) and Ranbush.

 

[Mightymole]

So when I stated earlier that this guitar wasn't abused perhaps I should clarify after closer inspection. It hasn't been abused in that it was not a part of an early Who concert. However it has certainly had some pretty big alterations.
1st the original color was black. Here are a couple of pics.

2nd I am sure the neck binding was taken off. Maybe a neck reset at some point? Could use some input here.

3rd goofy fret markers were added to the side. The marker dots are not not centered, and 12th fret markers are not in line.

Neck pickup is missing one of the adjustment screws

You can also see the pickup rings are damaged.
Someone commented that the pickup switch may not be original. It is certainly older but here are a couple of pics.

The good news is that the pickups sound glorious

The previous owner of two years was a self proclaimed luthier. He said he leveled and polished the frets. They seem ok and certainly no buzzing along the fretboard. The guitar plays well and sounds like a million bucks.
I may have some pictures of the case in a while to see if you think it is original. No Guild markings on it though.
Any input or comments are always welcome.

 

[DeArmond Hammer]

The guitar plays well and sounds like a million bucks.

If you care about playing rather than displaying, that's all that matters. I bet the fretboard binding came off for fret repairs, and wasn't important enough to the owner to replace. The guitar still looks great, though.

 

[Mightymole]

Yeah a player for sure. I am happy. I am just trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Definitely bought it to play. Also my daughter said it is her favorite guitar of mine. Hopefully she will be interested in playing it. The nice things about player guitars is there is no worries about future dings etc. I really do try to be careful with gear though. This guitar included.

 

[Mightymole]

pics of case and leather strap that is large enough to use as a harness for your horse and buggy. Totally cool Guild tooling on the strap.
Do you think the case is original or aftermarket. No Guild markings only a made in Canada tag. Thoughts? Pay no attention to the feet in the 2nd pic

 

[fronobulax]

Never seen a strap like that but it looks like it came from Guild. Case looks like several Guild cases I have seen except the color of the interior. Seems to me that TKL has a Canada connection and TKL has made a lot of Guild cases over the years. Not all Guild cases had badges so...

 

[DeArmond Hammer]

Case looks like several Guild cases I have seen except the color of the interior. Seems to me that TKL has a Canada connection and TKL has made a lot of Guild cases over the years. Not all Guild cases had badges so...

TKL was the first case manufacturer I thought of, too.

where do i buy TKL Canadian made cases?

www.guitarscanada.com

Awesome strap, btw!

 

[SFIV1967]

Someone commented that the pickup switch may not be original. It is certainly older but here are a couple of pics.

That was me. But on closer inspection of the pictures the switchcraft switch and switchtip seem to be original.
The case seems to be a good fitting aftermarket TKL case, same basic kind that Guild used as well.

Never seen a strap like that but it looks like it came from Guild.

Available from Guild directly:

Guild Tooled Americana Leather Guitar Strap | Guild Guitars

Guild Deluxe Tooled Americana Leather Guitar Strap

shop.guildguitars.com

Or others:

Guild Tooled Americana Leather Guitar Strap - 350-0613-050

Leather Guitar Strap with Leather Ends, 2.5 Inches Wide, Adjustable from 44 to 61 Inches - Brown

www.sweetwater.com

Ralf

 

[fronobulax]

Available from Guild directly:

Guild Tooled Americana Leather Guitar Strap | Guild Guitars

Guild Deluxe Tooled Americana Leather Guitar Strap

shop.guildguitars.com

Ralf

Interesting. Now I am curious to know whether the design has been in intermittent use from 1976 or so or whether the previous (guitar) owner just bought it within the past decade or so. Thanks.

 

[Mightymole]

My strap does not appear to have been used for decades. It could be an old strap that was used only occasionally. It certainly could have been purchased more recently. I think it is kind of fun that it came with the guitar.