Hi all! First post here, but I've been lurking and benefiting from your knowledge for many years! Indeed, that knowledge (along with Hans's book) was instrumental (pun intended) to my picking up these two beauties.
I've been meaning to try out some Guilds for a long time, but three things finally got me going in the last few months. First, I sold off a lot of guitars I wasn't playing... which cleared out space for some more! Second, I started playing around a bit with rockabilly, and realized I needed a nice hollowbody with single-coil pickups. Third, I finally decided to get rid of my Squier Venus electric 12-string, which had a warped neck and never played right.
After lots of research, I decided that for rockabilly, I'd like an X-175, T-100, or Starfire II or III. I tried out a bunch (there were several for sale in the Toronto area, mostly from the 90s) before finding this wonderful '60 SFII for sale at a local shop for a reasonable price. I snapped it up.
It's one of the very early SFIIs with the maple laminate bodies (like T-100 Slim Jims) and the early DeArmond pickups. To my ear, it sounds just like the Epiphone Casino I used to own, but with a bit more clarity and "bite." I does a good ES-295 impression, too, though I've never played one of those for more than a few seconds. I absolutely love the tone and feel -- and the look! I'd love to have found one with a Bigsby, but I'm not about to make that big a mod -- and as you'll see below, the neck angle might not allow it anyway.
I'm pretty crazy about the clear knobs and the Ray Davies-style chevron pick guard!
One thing I'm not too crazy about are the tuners (original Waverly nickel tuners), which have short shafts that make wrapping a bit of a pain. I notice the shape of the Waverly repros that StewMac sells are a little different. Does anyone have tips for a longer-shaft, smoother tuner that's a direct replacement? (Of course I'll keep these safely tucked away!) By the way, the serial number, 14251, puts it toward the end of 1960 production.
The one and only weird modification here was that the previous owner removed the bridge base and mounted the Hagstrom bridge directly into the top of the guitar. They presumably did this because the neck angle changed and they couldn't get the bridge down low enough with the base in place (thankfully, there is still enough angle for proper heigh adjustment over the DeArmonds). It seems stable and holds tune, but I'd like to get a rosewood base back on there -- it just doesn't look right otherwise.
My second purchase was a '67 Starfire XII 12-string. I'm a huge fan of 12-strings (especially on weirder Byrds stuff, like "8 Miles High"). I really love Rickenbackers, but two things kept me from going that route: (1) I have a '66 345 6-string, so I know from experience how much better the x-braced '60s Ricks are than newer models, and (2) '60s Rick 12-strings are incredibly expensive! Then there's the narrow neck problem. I always figured a SFXIII would solve those problems for me if I could ever get my hands on one. Well, this weekend, on a trip to NYC, I managed to track down a beautiful example. Though I haven't been able to spend much time with it just yet, it seems like a lovely guitar, and I got it for a reasonable price.
Aside from some binding shrinkage, it's in stunning shape, and looks like it's barely been played. The finish isn't faded at all, and there is no buckle rash at all on the back.
The reason I haven't been able to spend much time playing it yet is that it, too, has some bridge issues. This time, the issue is that the neck angle has changed, and no one has bothered to do anything about it. The action is ridiculously high, the rosewood bridge has no more downward adjustment left. But there still looks to be plenty of angle left, and tons of room over the pickups. I'm going to try out an ABM 12-string tune-o-matic bridge, which I have on order.
I'm having a blast with the SFII -- and can't wait to play around with the SFXII once I've got it all set up.
I've been meaning to try out some Guilds for a long time, but three things finally got me going in the last few months. First, I sold off a lot of guitars I wasn't playing... which cleared out space for some more! Second, I started playing around a bit with rockabilly, and realized I needed a nice hollowbody with single-coil pickups. Third, I finally decided to get rid of my Squier Venus electric 12-string, which had a warped neck and never played right.
After lots of research, I decided that for rockabilly, I'd like an X-175, T-100, or Starfire II or III. I tried out a bunch (there were several for sale in the Toronto area, mostly from the 90s) before finding this wonderful '60 SFII for sale at a local shop for a reasonable price. I snapped it up.
It's one of the very early SFIIs with the maple laminate bodies (like T-100 Slim Jims) and the early DeArmond pickups. To my ear, it sounds just like the Epiphone Casino I used to own, but with a bit more clarity and "bite." I does a good ES-295 impression, too, though I've never played one of those for more than a few seconds. I absolutely love the tone and feel -- and the look! I'd love to have found one with a Bigsby, but I'm not about to make that big a mod -- and as you'll see below, the neck angle might not allow it anyway.
I'm pretty crazy about the clear knobs and the Ray Davies-style chevron pick guard!
One thing I'm not too crazy about are the tuners (original Waverly nickel tuners), which have short shafts that make wrapping a bit of a pain. I notice the shape of the Waverly repros that StewMac sells are a little different. Does anyone have tips for a longer-shaft, smoother tuner that's a direct replacement? (Of course I'll keep these safely tucked away!) By the way, the serial number, 14251, puts it toward the end of 1960 production.
The one and only weird modification here was that the previous owner removed the bridge base and mounted the Hagstrom bridge directly into the top of the guitar. They presumably did this because the neck angle changed and they couldn't get the bridge down low enough with the base in place (thankfully, there is still enough angle for proper heigh adjustment over the DeArmonds). It seems stable and holds tune, but I'd like to get a rosewood base back on there -- it just doesn't look right otherwise.
My second purchase was a '67 Starfire XII 12-string. I'm a huge fan of 12-strings (especially on weirder Byrds stuff, like "8 Miles High"). I really love Rickenbackers, but two things kept me from going that route: (1) I have a '66 345 6-string, so I know from experience how much better the x-braced '60s Ricks are than newer models, and (2) '60s Rick 12-strings are incredibly expensive! Then there's the narrow neck problem. I always figured a SFXIII would solve those problems for me if I could ever get my hands on one. Well, this weekend, on a trip to NYC, I managed to track down a beautiful example. Though I haven't been able to spend much time with it just yet, it seems like a lovely guitar, and I got it for a reasonable price.
Aside from some binding shrinkage, it's in stunning shape, and looks like it's barely been played. The finish isn't faded at all, and there is no buckle rash at all on the back.
The reason I haven't been able to spend much time playing it yet is that it, too, has some bridge issues. This time, the issue is that the neck angle has changed, and no one has bothered to do anything about it. The action is ridiculously high, the rosewood bridge has no more downward adjustment left. But there still looks to be plenty of angle left, and tons of room over the pickups. I'm going to try out an ABM 12-string tune-o-matic bridge, which I have on order.
I'm having a blast with the SFII -- and can't wait to play around with the SFXII once I've got it all set up.