Guild Starfire II Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar
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Guild Starfire II Model Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar, made in Hoboken, NJ, serial # 17935, cherry lacquer finish, laminated mahogany body and neck' rosewood fingerboard, period Gretsch hard shell case.
This is an extremely fine example of an early Starfire II fitted with the cool white-topped DeArmond Dynasonic pickups (the same as Gretsch employed on their 1950's classics) that were used for only the first couple of years on this model. This guitar has a beautiful medium dark cherry finish, less bright-hued than later examples which appears to have hardly faded at all. The body is triple bound on the front with the early pattern unbound back (like a T-100) and the dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard is single bound. Other features include the early style "open book" headstock shape, a rounded-edge, back-painted acrylic pickguard with Guild logo and star emblem, amber "G-logo" tone and volume knobs, the Guild "harp" tailpiece and the original Hagstrom-made "Adjust-O-Matic" bridge.
This is a sharp looking, great playing and spectacular sounding guitar, with a tone you could describe as a 1950's Gretsch crossed with a Gibson ES-330, with an additional high-end 'snap' and clarity. The Starfire series has been Guild's most consistently successful electric guitar line since its inception in 1960, and these often under-appreciated 1960's guitars have in recent times become much better respected. This guitar dates to 1961 and would be one of the first full production year Starfires. These early models equipped with DeArmond pickups are far less common than the 1963 and after version carrying Guild's own humbuckers, and are often considered the best playing and sounding of all Starfires. This is a very classy and versatile thin-body electric; one of Guild's absolutely classic designs and compared to many similar period Gibson or Gretsch models still rather undervalued.
Overall length is 41 in. (104.1 cm.), 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 in. (5.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This Starfire remainis all original and extremely clean nearly 65 years along, as nice an example of the early model II as we have seen. The finish is still shiny with no apparent fade; there only some scuffing, light scratches and small dings overall. The are no alterations or repairs, and the guitar plays extremely well with just some very light fret wear.
We sold this instrument some years back; at the time we had gotten it instrument from the original owner. It was originally shipped from Hoboken to Sam Ash here in Brooklyn in 1961 and is now back home! The only oddity is the guitar was provided originally from that store not with a Guild case but a high grade Gretsch two-tone HSC, which it still resides in. Perhaps they had an overstock, or it was cheaper to get the cases locally than from across the river! At any rate this is simply a superb example, great playing and sounding guitar, one of our shop favorites than and now and still a cool New Yawk story. Overall Excellent Condition.
This is an extremely fine example of an early Starfire II fitted with the cool white-topped DeArmond Dynasonic pickups (the same as Gretsch employed on their 1950's classics) that were used for only the first couple of years on this model. This guitar has a beautiful medium dark cherry finish, less bright-hued than later examples which appears to have hardly faded at all. The body is triple bound on the front with the early pattern unbound back (like a T-100) and the dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard is single bound. Other features include the early style "open book" headstock shape, a rounded-edge, back-painted acrylic pickguard with Guild logo and star emblem, amber "G-logo" tone and volume knobs, the Guild "harp" tailpiece and the original Hagstrom-made "Adjust-O-Matic" bridge.
This is a sharp looking, great playing and spectacular sounding guitar, with a tone you could describe as a 1950's Gretsch crossed with a Gibson ES-330, with an additional high-end 'snap' and clarity. The Starfire series has been Guild's most consistently successful electric guitar line since its inception in 1960, and these often under-appreciated 1960's guitars have in recent times become much better respected. This guitar dates to 1961 and would be one of the first full production year Starfires. These early models equipped with DeArmond pickups are far less common than the 1963 and after version carrying Guild's own humbuckers, and are often considered the best playing and sounding of all Starfires. This is a very classy and versatile thin-body electric; one of Guild's absolutely classic designs and compared to many similar period Gibson or Gretsch models still rather undervalued.
Overall length is 41 in. (104.1 cm.), 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 in. (5.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This Starfire remainis all original and extremely clean nearly 65 years along, as nice an example of the early model II as we have seen. The finish is still shiny with no apparent fade; there only some scuffing, light scratches and small dings overall. The are no alterations or repairs, and the guitar plays extremely well with just some very light fret wear.
We sold this instrument some years back; at the time we had gotten it instrument from the original owner. It was originally shipped from Hoboken to Sam Ash here in Brooklyn in 1961 and is now back home! The only oddity is the guitar was provided originally from that store not with a Guild case but a high grade Gretsch two-tone HSC, which it still resides in. Perhaps they had an overstock, or it was cheaper to get the cases locally than from across the river! At any rate this is simply a superb example, great playing and sounding guitar, one of our shop favorites than and now and still a cool New Yawk story. Overall Excellent Condition.