Guild Starfire IV Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1966)
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Guild Starfire IV Model Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1966), made in Hoboken, NJ, serial # EL-1084, sunburst lacquer finish, laminated maple body, laminated mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black hard shell case.
The Starfire series has been Guild's most consistently successful electric guitar line since its inception, and was by far the company's most popular electric instrument in the 1960s. This Starfire IV from late 1966 is a double cutaway, semi-hollow instrument obviously inspired by Gibson's ES-335, but with its own character. The laminated maple body is finished in a fairly dark in a fairly dark sunburst, which is somewhat less common than the mahogany/cherry finished version. This is one of the first double-cutaway Starfires built with the neck mounted farther out from the body allowing more fingerboard access.
The pickups are 1960s Guild humbucking pickups, generally similar to but a bit brighter and crisper than the Gibson equivalent. Like Gibson's ES-335 family the Starfire IV has a solid block running through the center of the body, cutting down on feedback and giving the guitar a tighter tone. The SF-IV has Guild's "harp' tailpiece instead of the Bigsby and a Hagstrom-made Adjust-O-matic bridge, which combine to often make the IV model a better player then the more upscale V model.
This Starfire IV is still an underrated instrument, a very versatile guitar that has been a perennial favorite among players of many styles -- they are particularly well-thought of as an electric blues instrument. This is a truly excellent example; extremely clean, all original and a fine player; STILL a notable bargain compared to similar Gibson instruments of the period.
Overall length is 40 3/4 in. (103.5 cm.), 16 3/8 in. (41.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3/4 in. (4.4 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 is a simply superb, extremely clean guitar overall, showing very little wear for its nearly 60 years on the planet. The finish has a few tiny dings, scuffs, and dents but still has the original shine to it, just like it did before the Summer of Love. There is one small lamination check to the top just below the pickguard, some chipping in the lower cutaway and a bit of binding shrinkage here and there, really that's about it. The plastic headstock overlay has hardly shrunken at all and is not curling up.
All hardware is complete, original and very clean. The original frets show some very minimal wear; really this guitar looks hardly played at all through the decades. This is simply a lovely guitar and one of the very finest example of this excellent 1960s Guild's creations we have ever seen. It resides in the original HSC with some typical external wear. Overall Excellent + Condition.
The Starfire series has been Guild's most consistently successful electric guitar line since its inception, and was by far the company's most popular electric instrument in the 1960s. This Starfire IV from late 1966 is a double cutaway, semi-hollow instrument obviously inspired by Gibson's ES-335, but with its own character. The laminated maple body is finished in a fairly dark in a fairly dark sunburst, which is somewhat less common than the mahogany/cherry finished version. This is one of the first double-cutaway Starfires built with the neck mounted farther out from the body allowing more fingerboard access.
The pickups are 1960s Guild humbucking pickups, generally similar to but a bit brighter and crisper than the Gibson equivalent. Like Gibson's ES-335 family the Starfire IV has a solid block running through the center of the body, cutting down on feedback and giving the guitar a tighter tone. The SF-IV has Guild's "harp' tailpiece instead of the Bigsby and a Hagstrom-made Adjust-O-matic bridge, which combine to often make the IV model a better player then the more upscale V model.
This Starfire IV is still an underrated instrument, a very versatile guitar that has been a perennial favorite among players of many styles -- they are particularly well-thought of as an electric blues instrument. This is a truly excellent example; extremely clean, all original and a fine player; STILL a notable bargain compared to similar Gibson instruments of the period.
Overall length is 40 3/4 in. (103.5 cm.), 16 3/8 in. (41.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 3/4 in. (4.4 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 is a simply superb, extremely clean guitar overall, showing very little wear for its nearly 60 years on the planet. The finish has a few tiny dings, scuffs, and dents but still has the original shine to it, just like it did before the Summer of Love. There is one small lamination check to the top just below the pickguard, some chipping in the lower cutaway and a bit of binding shrinkage here and there, really that's about it. The plastic headstock overlay has hardly shrunken at all and is not curling up.
All hardware is complete, original and very clean. The original frets show some very minimal wear; really this guitar looks hardly played at all through the decades. This is simply a lovely guitar and one of the very finest example of this excellent 1960s Guild's creations we have ever seen. It resides in the original HSC with some typical external wear. Overall Excellent + Condition.