Newbie Starfire III fretboard radius and nut spacing

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Hi I'm new here and interested in Guilds.

Played an early 60's Starfire today.

The fretboard radius was definitely not 12" as I expected (I'm pretty sure the 90's-00's Starfires have a 12" radius) - seemed much more curved closer to vintage Fender 7.25"

Is that typical of vintage Guild electrics? Was there a standard radius and nut spacing or was it custom order?

Thanks
 

hansmoust

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reverberocket2 said:
Hi I'm new here and interested in Guilds.

Played an early 60's Starfire today.

The fretboard radius was definitely not 12" as I expected (I'm pretty sure the 90's-00's Starfires have a 12" radius) - seemed much more curved closer to vintage Fender 7.25"

Is that typical of vintage Guild electrics? Was there a standard radius and nut spacing or was it custom order?

Thanks

Hello reverberocket2,

Over the years I've inspected and measured hundreds of Guild guitars and they were all different when it came down to fretboard radius and nut spacing. When I visited the Guild factory for the first time some time during the '80s it all became clear to me after I noticed how the fingerboards were rounded. They were all done by hand on a big belt sander and because of that they all turned out slightly different. I must say though that the person who did it was really good and the boards were all within specs. Not that they had written down specs but the worker would know when it was right. There were a few people at Guild who were like that and who could turn 'eyeballing' into an art form.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
 
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