Starfire V on eBay

[spiff1970]

I've just seen this nice looking 66' Starfire V on eBay. Any tips on sound and pick-ups? Apparently pickups are the original. They seem different from the thinner HBs seen in most Starfires from that period though.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1966-Guild-St ... 3f1338eb2a

thanks.

 

[Los Angeles]

Wait until someone else confirms, but those look like 70's HB1's and the pickguard is definitely not original.

Further, the auction is getting pretty steep. At this rate, just pay "dealer" prices for an all-original one.

There are a couple of V's on gbase.com.

this one is a 67 at Rumble Seat for $1995.00 and shows what the pickups and pickguard should look like.

 

[Zelja]

Wait until someone else confirms, but those look like 70's HB1's and the pickguard is definitely not original.

I think they are late 90's "Fender HB-1s" based on the narrow distance between the dual PU adjustmment screws. Check out GAD's blog on Guild pickups: http://www.gad.net/Blog/2011/11/25/guil ... ariations/

Also this thread has some more info on that guitar.

 

[Kslam]

The pickups are definitely not original; even the ad says as much:

Serial # is EN-639 (mid 66')
I have spent some time with this guitar, cleaning and setting it up, and I have also investigated some history behind from the owner I purchased it from. According to the wife of the original owner, the husband was quite the tinkerer. This Starfire was fitted for the LARGER GUILD HUMBUCKING PICKUPS sometime in the early 70's. Not the perfect job, but certainly could be cleaned up. Because of this, the pickguard, original or not, was modified to fit the larger humbuckers. At this time, the knobs were replaced with 70's era Guild knobs (no VOL or TONE script on the knobs skirt). The INPUT JACK has also been reinforced with a metal jack plate. Beside an extra screw hole, it doent show damage from the previous input jack. The only surprise I found was the presence of stop tail holes underneath the Guild Bigsby as shown in pics. A professional job, but I was unable to find out if this work was factory. But please folks, expect to play this thing not expect it to be a collectors piece!! It has cleaned up nicely, the NECK IS STRAIGHT, FRETS are Great, save minimal wear to first 3 frets. NO GOUGES IN FRETBOARD. ALL ELECTRONICS WORK PERFECTLY!

With 5 hrs to go it's up to $1700! It'll be interesting to see where this one settles.

EDIT: Wow. Even with all the mods it went for $1937.

 

[spiff1970]

The pickups are definitely not original; even the ad says as much:

Serial # is EN-639 (mid 66')
I have spent some time with this guitar, cleaning and setting it up, and I have also investigated some history behind from the owner I purchased it from. According to the wife of the original owner, the husband was quite the tinkerer. This Starfire was fitted for the LARGER GUILD HUMBUCKING PICKUPS sometime in the early 70's. Not the perfect job, but certainly could be cleaned up. Because of this, the pickguard, original or not, was modified to fit the larger humbuckers. At this time, the knobs were replaced with 70's era Guild knobs (no VOL or TONE script on the knobs skirt). The INPUT JACK has also been reinforced with a metal jack plate. Beside an extra screw hole, it doent show damage from the previous input jack. The only surprise I found was the presence of stop tail holes underneath the Guild Bigsby as shown in pics. A professional job, but I was unable to find out if this work was factory. But please folks, expect to play this thing not expect it to be a collectors piece!! It has cleaned up nicely, the NECK IS STRAIGHT, FRETS are Great, save minimal wear to first 3 frets. NO GOUGES IN FRETBOARD. ALL ELECTRONICS WORK PERFECTLY!

With 5 hrs to go it's up to $1700! It'll be interesting to see where this one settles.

EDIT: Wow. Even with all the mods it went for $1937.

I let it go. I like the model and didn't mind the pick ups assuming they were Guild's but I wanted one in slightly better conditions. I will be vigilant.