New member with my first Guild!

[flyswatter]

Hello,

I just joined the forum after purchasing a new Guild Starfire IV in candy apple red two days ago.

Although I was generally familiar with Guilds (especially the acoustics), I'd never considered buying a Guild electric before I stumbled on this guitar at Steve's Music in Montreal. I was gassing for either a Gibson or Gretsch, and had already tried a bunch of Epiphones, Ibanez Artcores, etc... but never really bonded with them (an ES-335 is way beyond my budget).

Well, when I picked up the Starfire it was instant magic as far as I'm concerned. Ten minutes of play in the store and I bought it right on the spot. Took it to my gig that night and loved every minute of it (although the next day I upped the string guage to 11-52s as I like a little more "fight" when I play blues). The Guild has exactly the feel and sound I was looking for (I'm a gigging blues and rock guitarist, I already own a Tele, a Strat, and an SG, and was looking for a semi-hollowbody to complete the pallet).

Price was right $1129 Canadian, which included a TKL hardshell case -- great value as far as I'm concerned.

So, I have a couple of questions about my new guitar that I'm hoping the folks here can answer:

1) Would this be a pre- or post-Fender model? The guitar is Korean made. Serial # is KSG1301475. Can the guitar be dated from that info?

2) I read in some reviews that the floating rosewood-base bridge can slip out of alignment. Would there be any advantage to securing the bridge more permanently? Would simple carpet tape accomplish this, or should I not worry about it (so far the guitar stays in tune/ intonation fine).

3) The DC resistance on the neck pickup measures above 7 kOhm, versus about 5.1 for the bridge pickup. This makes the neck pickup quite a bit louder, slightly muddy (compared to, say the neck pickup on my SG). Is there a solution for this without going so far as changing pickups?

4) I'm a little concerned about the exposed gear Grover tuners on the headstock. They look a bit vulnerable uncovered like that. Do these tuners tend to remain stable over time, or would it be worth installing, say, regular Grovers or Gibson-style Klusons (I anticipate heavy gig use for this guitar!).

Thanks for any help if you can address these queries.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Let me be the first to welcome you to the forum!

As for your questions, I'm not so good with the "newer stuff" so I'll take some guesses as I'm sure somebody else will come along who knows more.

1. All the Korean made Guilds are "Post Fender". It was Fender who created the Newark Street series of electrics. It might be possible that the "14" in the serial number is for 2014.

2. Some people "pin" the bridge, some tape them as you suggested. I've even heard on gluing sandpaper to the bottom of the bridge but that's a little tough on the finish!

3. Oh boy, The Bridge pick-up was re-created incorrectly! There are pages about it here on the Forum. Maybe Ralf will be along shortly to post the links.

4. Keep your headstock out of the dirt. Past that, as long as it stays it tune for you you should be good to go. If not replace 'em!

I hope that's a start and that's a nice looking Guild and we are always impressed with first posts that contain photos!

 

[davismanLV]

Welcome to the forum, flyswatter!! That's a beauty! I'm pretty much lost with electrics, so I'll leave it at that. Great first post with photos!! :encouragement:

 

[richardp69]

This is a really pretty Guild. I had the exact guitar but I, like Tom above, am pretty much an acoustic guy so I sold it to re-invest in more acoustic gear. But, the little I did play it, it was a fine sounding electric.

Welcome to the forum and best of luck with your Guild(s)

 

[walrus]

Beautiful guitar! Welcome!

walrus

 

[killdeer43]

WELCOME TO LTG!
Great looking first Guild and a super introductory post, with pics no less! :applause:

Cheers,
Joe

 

[SFIV1967]

1) Would this be a pre- or post-Fender model? The guitar is Korean made. Serial # is KSG1301475. Can the guitar be dated from that info?

2) I read in some reviews that the floating rosewood-base bridge can slip out of alignment. Would there be any advantage to securing the bridge more permanently? Would simple carpet tape accomplish this, or should I not worry about it (so far the guitar stays in tune/ intonation fine).

3) The DC resistance on the neck pickup measures above 7 kOhm, versus about 5.1 for the bridge pickup. This makes the neck pickup quite a bit louder, slightly muddy (compared to, say the neck pickup on my SG). Is there a solution for this without going so far as changing pickups?

4) I'm a little concerned about the exposed gear Grover tuners on the headstock. They look a bit vulnerable uncovered like that. Do these tuners tend to remain stable over time, or would it be worth installing, say, regular Grovers or Gibson-style Klusons (I anticipate heavy gig use for this guitar!).

Welcome to LTG! Let me answer/correct after what Kurt just said!

1. All the Korean made Guilds are "Post Fender". It was Fender who created the Newark Street series of electrics. It might be possible that the "14" in the serial number is for 2014.

2. Some people "pin" the bridge, some tape them as you suggested. I've even heard on gluing sandpaper to the bottom of the bridge but that's a little tough on the finish!

3. Oh boy, The Bridge pick-up was re-created incorrectly! There are pages about it here on the Forum. Maybe Ralf will be along shortly to post the links.

4. Keep your headstock out of the dirt. Past that, as long as it stays it tune for you you should be good to go. If not replace 'em!

I hope that's a start and that's a nice looking Guild and we are always impressed with first posts that contain photos!

O.k., here is my take on what Kurt said:

1) KSG13 as the start of the serial number means Korea SPG Musical Instruments Co., Ltd Guild and 13 is 2013 made.
Now Guild Guitars was owned by FMIC until mid 2014 when Cordoba Music Group bought Guild from FMIC. So your guitar was made when FMIC owned Guild, but it really does not matter as they still come out of the same factory today.
A lot of the info about the introduction of the Newark St. models is here: http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/sh...2013-Newark-St-%99-Collection-electric-models

2) If you use tape use very thin double stick tape (like for attaching photos in albums), not carpet tape, as you would loose a bit of sound if the bridge sits too soft on the top wood. (I am not an expert here). Regarding glueing a small strip of sandpaper on the bottom of the bridge, if you use a 3000 to 5000 super fine grid from a automobile body shop that would work.
To setup the correct position this might help: http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/Archtop/ArchtopSetup/atsetup.html

3) The original mini humbuckers from the 60ies were around 7 kOhms. When FMIC recreated them in about 2012 they bought a good neck pickup but a defective bridge pickup as the master template and didn't verify that it only had about 5 kOhms. Now they consider this a feature and not a bug...Some like it, some hardcore old style Guild fans don't. You can always try to lower or rise the pickups and the pole pieces to equal the sound between them.
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?185150-Minibucker-reference-post

4) I would completely leave this up to your experience over time. Can't remember complaints yet about the Newark St. tuners, just remember some complaints about the GAD series acoustic guitar tuners.

Last but not least enjoy your new Starfire IV! For fun, watch Phil X shredding a Starfire V (which is "basically" the same just with bigsby.) I like after minute 13:17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljHh_WtaKS4

Ralf

 

[Quantum Strummer]

2) I read in some reviews that the floating rosewood-base bridge can slip out of alignment. Would there be any advantage to securing the bridge more permanently? Would simple carpet tape accomplish this, or should I not worry about it (so far the guitar stays in tune/ intonation fine).

I'd leave the bridge as is unless it starts giving you problems. I'm not a heavy hitter with my right hand, and I prefer heavier strings, so floating bridges have never been a problem for me. YMMV, of course.

3) The DC resistance on the neck pickup measures above 7 kOhm, versus about 5.1 for the bridge pickup. This makes the neck pickup quite a bit louder, slightly muddy (compared to, say the neck pickup on my SG). Is there a solution for this without going so far as changing pickups?

I'd suggest swapping the two pickups position-wise before taking more drastic steps (rewind or replacement). I'm a clarity guy…a somewhat underwound neck pickup is IMO usually a good thing. Two of my Rickenbackers have more recent ~7.25KOhm "toaster" pickups in the neck position paired with '90s ~11.5K bridge p'ups. Excellent balance both in volume and tonality.

4) I'm a little concerned about the exposed gear Grover tuners on the headstock. They look a bit vulnerable uncovered like that. Do these tuners tend to remain stable over time, or would it be worth installing, say, regular Grovers or Gibson-style Klusons (I anticipate heavy gig use for this guitar!).

Time will tell how robust these particular tuners are, but I have no worries about open-back tuners in general. One of my guitars still has its original 75-year-old open-backs. They work fine & dandy.

-Dave-

 

[flyswatter]

Thanks for the replies, welcomes, and info, everybody. I'd suspected it was a 2013 as the serial number looked a similar format to other Fender import guitars (country + factory + last 2 digits of year). Guess this one had sat in the store for awhile... the strings were a bit grimy on it.

As for the bridge and tuners, after a couple more days of steady playing the guitar stays in tune just fine so I think I'll leave them be. I have two rehearsals this week and a rock gig on Thursday, so by then I'm going to know for sure how this baby performs.

Glad to be a part of this forum. Cheers.