Guild Starfire I SC Antique Burst Tune O Matic bridge details

[rufus]

Ground wires are often just bare solid wire. Shielded wire certainly wouldn't hurt but you usually ground the shield anyway which makes it kind of pointless. On a hollow-body the ground wire is often insulated, though. My guess being that this allows easier to bend stranded wire to be used so that it's easier to maneuver the pots while trying to install them.

Re: pipe cleaners, sounds good to me! Just be careful because if they're like the ones I have here, pulling on them against the holes could lead to abrasion on the side of the hole. Be careful and it shouldn't be an issue. I've used tubing, dental floss, and my favorite - a specially twisted old coat hanger piece.

Great, thanks for the advice re shielding.

 

[rufus]

Iinstalled the harness with limited success. The neck pickup worked fine except for tone didn't seem to do anything (but the pickup itself sounded fantastic) in the middle position it was very strange, both pickups worked but volume seemed to be controlled by the bridge vol and the bridge pickup only worked when the tone pot was over half way turned up. In the bridge position nothing worked. Very odd. I'm sure I soldered it according to the diagram. I will attach it. Anyway I've removed it and completely dissassembled the parts and am half way through cleaning them up as much as pos. I will try again. The pots I am using are CTS premium SSS pots (I'm not bothering with splitting the coils especially as I want a P90 in the neck). Should I use different pots ? anyway I'll try again see what happens. I enjoyed it and learnt some about instalation plus my soldering skills needed brushing up so hopefully better this time. That P90 sounded brilliant !

 

[rufus]

Well I did it and now everything works as it should, A knob missing but it's around somewhere. Soldering skills back up to the standard I used to be and I'm getting good at reinstalling the loom. I'm thinking now I might do it once more and put a push pull in for the humbucker. I'm currently reading up on the options for coil split (to the slug or to the screw coil) Love the new tone, much improved over the Guilds Humbuckers and loving the P90.

 

[rufus]

Definitely finished now, put in the push/pull split to slug coil and everything is hunky dory, even found the missing knob. Will attach the wiring diagram for push pull/3 way toggle switch/2 vol, 2 tone in case anyone is interested. It's basically the same as the original I used with the push/pull added to bridge vol as per the diagram.

 

[jp]

Congrats, rufus. Now it's time to work some mojo into that by playing the heck out of it.

 

[KirkD777]

Interesting. I found the Guild pickups to be dramatically better than what you get in a Gretsch or Epiphone in the same price range. I'm thinking of leaving them but I always end up switching out wiring and pickups in cheap guitars so imagine it's just a matter of time. I think I'll keep the Guild stock for a while first instead of making the same mistakes and dropping a bunch of cash improving then deciding I don't care for the guitar after the honeymoon period. But definitely, if you're going to dig into one of these don't cheap out. You don't want to ever have to go in again. Lol.

 

[KirkD777]

What Toneriders did you use?

 

[KirkD777]

I just pulled my 1990 Gibson LPC with nice aftermarket humbuckers out. Played around with it for a while then decided to compare the Starfire I stock with it. I swear it sounded a little better. Maybe just the depth of the semi-hollow but I swear the humbuckers were close or even the same. Not sure I'm taking them out. Do you think pulling out the wiring and upgrading the pots/caps is worth it? One thing I notice is the Guild feels a little cheap. Not really the wood but all the hardware. Thinking of bone nut, new bridge and a tailpiece. A really good fret setup. get rid of the pickguard because it just feels cheap. Its like they got a nice piece of wood then covered in in as much cheap crap as they could. Funny thing is they could have used a little nicer stuff for around $15 a guitar. I know that adds up but Epiphone is doing it with their new models. Probably why Epiphone is out of stock a lot too.

 

[KirkD777]

Did you ever find tusq saddles to fit? I'm on the fence about buying a used Tone Pros bridge for cheap but its got several notches cut on each saddle by previous owner. I did luck out and score a set of Burstbuckers for about $90 in trade so in it goes to the repair man. Lol.

 

[KirkD777]

Seems it's a little harder to upgrade Guilds and Gretsches. The new parts are always a little off. Epiphones and Squier don't have that problem.

 

[fronobulax]

Seems it's a little harder to upgrade Guilds and Gretsches. The new parts are always a little off. Epiphones and Squier don't have that problem.

Interesting proposition worthy of its own thread. But I will note that two brands you mention are "high end" compared to the other two brands. If the high end instruments had closer tolerances and the parts are not well made the parts won't fit the high end but it won't be the high end instrument's "fault".

 

[KirkD777]

Interesting proposition worthy of its own thread. But I will note that two brands you mention are "high end" compared to the other two brands. If the high end instruments had closer tolerances and the parts are not well made the parts won't fit the high end but it won't be the high end instrument's "fault".

Well the two higher end are using crappy import parts too. In fact Epiphones and the Classic Vibe series are using higher end parts. Really all you need to do is replace pickups on those brands. They've got bone nuts and cts wiring etc.