Hello- Guild entusiast - new to board

[Zol]

Just wanted to say hello to all. I've been reading the last year or so and decided to join and contribute where I can. I'm definitely towards the bottom of the guild learning curve, so it may be a bit before I jump in to much! I have to get a copy of Hans' book to get up to speed on the history and nuances.

I've been playing for 30+ years and after typing that - I'm feeling old! I have 2 guilds and absolutely love them both. They are very well built guitars and sound great. They don't sound like any of the other guitars I have and I feel they are under-rated by your 'average Joe' - and I'm not talking about the plumber! I have a newer SFIV in maple, fender made, and a 1961 SFIII that's mahogany, with dearmond pick ups. The label actually says Amberfire III, handwritten, and I think that reflects the color. It's not the usual cherry red.

Anyway, I'm happy to be here and look forward to learning as much as I can about Guilds. I'm overdue. Until now, I've really been enjoying playing them!
Peace - Z

 

[Walter Broes]

Welcome to the forum Zol, and those are two very nice guitars you have! I'd particularly love to see some pics of the SFIII!!

 

[Zol]

Hi Walter - Thanks for the welcome. I'll take a few and see if I can get them posted. This is a great sounding guitar as I'm sure you know. I think I remember reading that you have a similar model.

 

[Walter Broes]

Yep, I have a refinished black '61, that is kind of an odd one in that it has block inlays like a Capri.

 

[coastie99]

Yes, Yes !!

Pictures please !

Welcome Zol.

 

[capnjuan]

Hi Zol and welcome to LTG! CJ

 

[Zol]

I have the strings off right now, but here are a couple pics of my SFIII. Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

hmmm - can't figure out how to post a pic! It looks like I need to put them on the web somewhere first. Does anyone know of a site I can put them on to link to? Thx - Z

 

[danerectal]

hmmm - can't figure out how to post a pic! It looks like I need to put them on the web somewhere first. Does anyone know of a site I can put them on to link to? Thx - Z

http://www.letstalkguild.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5522

Here's the standard how-to...

 

[Zol]

Thanks Dane, I really appreciate it -
man, that was just shy of painful waiting for the upload into image shack! Hope this works. Once I get strings and the pick guard back on, I'll try it again with 1 complete pic.

edit - take 2 - first try failed!

 

[Zol]

DOH!!

edit -- sorry - didn't see the edit button - fixed trhe original post! Oh well - newbee blues!

 

[cjd-player]

I've been reading the last year or so and decided to join - Z

I never cease to be amazed. :lol:
Well, at least you know what you're getting into. :roll:

Welcome to the nut house, Zol.

Sometimes we even talk a bit about guitars.

 

[danerectal]

That amberfire is an amazing specimen. Thanks for sharing.

 

[john_kidder]

A very attractive guitar. Welcome aboard.

 

[krysh]

welcome zol and gongrats to your great taste in guitars :wink: .
nice amberfire over there.

 

[kitniyatran]

Purrrty

 

[chazmo]

Welcome to LTG, Zol.

 

[Zol]

Big thanks for the welcome. I've been doing some digging and I'm thinking this may be a unique guitar from that period. I read the SF section in Hans' book and discovered that for a brief time in 61, custom color ordered SFIIIs had the ciolor reflected in the label and were hand written. The examples he gives are Blackfire and Emerald Star. At the time he published his book, he hadn't seen an Amberfire example yet. I'm sure he probably has since.

At the time I bought this, about a year ago. I was just interested in an early SFIII that was mahogany, as this one is, though from reading the book, the top may be a laminate, the body is solid mahogany from what I can tell, - and i wanted one with the dearmond 200 pick ups because I've always enjoyed the sound of them. I'm a guitar player and don't consider myself a collector. I buy guitars to play them. I had no idea this was labelled as an Amberfire and that there was such a limited number produced that way. Anyway - I thought this was pretty cool and wanted to share.

The tuners were replaced with Grovers and I have the originals. The neck was refretted in 68 with small frets. There's a label on the inside stating such. Other than that, I believe the rest is original. The body and binding are in great shape. Only the top is bound. I've looked at the pick-ups and though they certainly look original, I'm not sure if there's any way to date them. Does anyone know? My other question is regarding the truss rod bolt - first - there's not a lot of space to work with a tool to turn it! - and the question is, which way does what to the neck?

Thanks in advance for any help and keep on rockin! - Z

 

[jp]

Hi Zol,
Welcome to LTG. That's a beautiful guitar!

 

[AlohaJoe]

Wow... that is a seriously beautiful guitar! The mahogany makes for a rich, handsome top. Single-cut, killer PUPs and looks to be in good shape. You found yourself a keep-it-for-life guitar. Congratulations!

 

[hansmoust]

Hello Z,

Sorry for not responding right away after you posted about your Amberfire. I did see the posting but I have been traveling for 5 weeks with ample time to answer my e-mails.

Anyway, nice Amberfire that you have. It's really rare and as I mentioned in the book, I had not seen one at the time I published the book in 1995.
Of course the world has changed since the introduction of the internet, so it's much easier to do research and to contact people all over the world.
So far I've seen several and I actually bought one shortly after the book came out. It is from the same batch as your guitar and it has serial # 17542.

I've seen several others from that batch; Amberfire I, II and IIIs.
It's interesting to see that they used different model names during different periods. I've seen them labeled as Starfire III Amber, Amberfire III, Amber Star III and A.S. III and obviously there were Is and IIs as well.

My research in the official ledgers shows that most of the instruments from that batch were done around October 1961.

Hope that you will enjoy some of this information.
If you have any further questions, just get back with me.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore