If they sound pretty damn close to you, that's pretty much all you need to know, right? (that sounds a little agressive, but I really don't mean it that way at all!)
I've played the Starfires, and I used to own a 64 SF IV. Now, as a little disclaimer first, it's next to impossible to "isolate the pickups from the guitar" in comparison listening/playing tests, unless you make it a science project and you put new pickups on an old guitar, and old ones on a new guitar.
Playing a reissue SF IV, I remember my old starfire sounding a little less polite, a little ruder, and louder. Whether that's the difference between a first year hoboken built Starfire guitar and a brand new Korean copy, I honestly can't judge. Maybe if you put the new pickups on an old guitar, they'd sound more similar already.
In the case of the Franz pickups, I do have a little more experience. I have two old X175's, and used to own a third one. I briefly owned a sunburst NS one, and now own a black one. In pretty extensive testing at home, in the rehearsal room, and on stage, I found the Franz pickup reissues hotter, louder, and more agressive than the early 60's ones I'm extremely familiar with.
Not surprising after connecting them to a multimeter : the old ones I have, some measure out at 6K resistance, some at 5K. The new ones are a solid 7K. So no real surprise there.
On the first NS X175 I had, I had my buddy rewind the pickups in it to 5K neck, 6K bridge, and that brought them a whole lot closer to what I'm familiar with. Did it make the new guitar sound exactly like my originals? Not by a long shot, but at the very least it drove my amp the way my hands and ears expected it to.
On the new black one I got, I installed an actual old, early 60's pair of Franz pickups I still had. (lucky Ebay find years ago) Again, no big surprises, it brought the guitar a lot closer to what I'm used to in sound and feel. But even with the original vintage pickups, it doesn't sound as sweet as my old X175's, it's treblier, not nearly as sweet and pretty in the midrange, and comparatively speaking, it lacks dyamics and sweet midrange "bloom". It's a "harder", stiffer, more brittle tone, for lack of a better description. A little hard to judge whether the bass and treble are a little hyped, or whether there's midrange lacking.
My point being, you can't separate the pickups in the NS guitars from the guitar when comparing to actual Hoboken-era Guilds.
I will say though, that I think that for the price, the NS guitars are pretty spectacular instruments, nicely made, great necks, and I think it's pretty dang cool FMIC (who spec'd these guitars) didn't just put readily available generic pickups on these guitars, but they went the extra mile and cloned the old ones.
When I say "cloned", that means "cloned within a budget" I guess. What I'm saying is that I think the NS guitars and their pickups are probably as good as they're gonna get for what they cost.
And like I said before on here : they had to save on something. The finish is one obvious point, they're poly-something, and not lacquer. Apart from possible environmental laws that prohibit nitrocelluose lacquer from being sprayed in Korea, poly finishes are a whole lot less labour intensive, so cheaper to manufacture.
Did they really save on electronics? I don't really think so - they could have had Seymour Duncan, Lollar, Fralin or whoever do exact clones of the 60's pickups, but that would have put these guitars in a completely different price bracket.
Apart from some fancy models and the M75's, Hoboken-era electric Guilds are some of the most "affordable" classic American made vintage guitars you can get. So if you really crave the full monty, look for a vintage one.
But if you like what you're feeling and hearing (and seeing) in the Newark Street guitars, go wild, and get one! I think they're pretty great for a Korean made production guitar in that price range. Sorry for the looooong post.
