MojoTooth said:
how was it not designed for one? help me understand that. I always wondered why Gibson went to the trapeze from the stoptail in the 60's. i prefer the look of the harp and/or the trapeze myself.
The Gibson trapeze tailpiece is a pretty flimsy bit of metal compared to the harp tailpiece on the Guilds. There are several reasons the stop tailpiece is more sought after on Gibsons, and most of them don't apply to the Starfire. The reasons people want an ES-335 with the stop bar instead of the trapeze include..
A. Older is better and that's what they started with
B. The trapeze is flimsy and causes resonances and tuning instability
C. At one time Gibson shortened the interior block and there wasn't enough wood there for the stop tailpeice, so if you get one with the stop bar, you've probably got a full-length block
D. Eric Clapton's, Larry Carlton's, and Lee Ritenour's all had the stop bar, therefore it MUST be better.
Gibson switched to the trapeze because it was less expensive to install (less precision required) perhaps. But a primary reason was that if someone ordered an ES-3X5 with a Bigsby, they had to cover the holes on the face of the guitar drilled for the stop bar. So by switching to a trapeze as the standard tailpiece, instead of putting that plastic strip on the guitar that said "Custom", they didn't have anything in the way.
The Guild harp is much heavier so it eliminates the tuning instability the Gibson trapeze had, and it gives the guitar some downward pressure on the bridge that the Gibson doesn't. The Guild also terminates the strings a little bit closer to the bridge (actually a good bit closer on the treble strings) than the Gibson one does. On the Gibson the strings all end well below the F-hole, but on the Guild even the bass strings are right at the end of the F-hole.
Don't do it- it's better than a Gibson anyway!
No, seriously- I managed a guitar store from '77 through '88 and we were (among others) franchised dealers for both Gibson and Guild. While we sold more ES-335s than Starfires (a whole 'nother thread BTW), the Guilds were consistently very very very good guitars. The Gibson ES-335s ranged from OK and just above mediocre to very very good. In that whole time I managed the store only two ES-335s came through that were good enough to justify the reputation they had (and one was simply an exquisite electric guitar- played through a chocolate covered Fender Pro, it was THE SOUND). But every Starfire IV was as good as all but that one ES-335, and better than most 335s. That sampling includes not only new ones we sold, but ones we worked on, got used for sale, etc. every ES-335 and Starfire IV that came through the store for anything from sales to just being restrung. I'd always opt for a Starfire.
BTW, when Larry Carlton quit the LA Express and helped coach Robben Ford for the gig, they went out together to get an ES-335 for Robben. They wound up getting him a Starfire IV with the harp tailpiece.
John
