Newark Street Starfire IV

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Let me preface this by noting that I said I would never buy a non-American built Guild.

OK, it's not the first time that I was wrong.
I had the saturday off, so I drove over to Eighth Street Music in lovely Pennsauken, New Jersey, ostensibly to try out one of the X175s that they had on their website. Unfortunately for me, all they had was a Newark Street SFIV in the unopened box.

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First impression is that Guild nailed the look and feel of a classic 1968 Hoboken Starfire. It is an extremely pretty guitar, with the transparent red finish setting off the mahogany grain nicely. It has the three line chesterfield on the headstock and nice retro touches like the indicator brads and the "go to 9" volume and tone knobs. (Why don't they go to ten? Because you wouldn't be able to handle it!) It has the classic harp tailpiece and the binding is aged for a vintage look. The nut is white, which sticks out a little, but it isn't glaring.

Case is a TKL 2310/BL, for those who are interested.

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The neck is slim and tapers into the flat heel. It has a poly finish and it's not as slick as my older guitars, but I think it will improve with use. It isn't as grabby as some of the DeArmonds were. What impressed me was the resonance of this guitar. The top is in line with the thickness of the 1968 SFIII that I own, although the Newark St Starfire IV has a center block. It feels lively. It also weighs quite a bit less that my Westerly reissue SFIV.

The problematic Hagstrom Bridge bridge of the original was replaced with a tune-o-matic, which allows the owner a greater range of adjustment to intonation. The break angle is much improved over the typical vintage Starfire, which often needs the bridge ground down to maintain a low action.

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The harp tailpiece seems to be cast, not two pieces welded together like the originals, but I won't know for sure till I throw some Ernie Balls on later tonight. The mini-buckers sounded good in the store, but I am not a big Blues Deluxe fan, so I'll get a better feel through the Ampeg later on.

Summery?
It's a really, really nice guitar. I'm not sure that this will be the equal of a 45 year old Hoboken, but, for the price, you are sitting pretty damned close.
 

twocorgis

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Way to TOFTT buddy
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I'm wondering when/if 8th Street is going to get and of the Newark Street Starfire I basses in stock. I have had a cal into them now for quite some time, and they have promised to give me a heads-up when/if they get one.
And this makes how many Starfires in the herd now?
crazyguy.gif
 

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All I can say is that I am looking forward to the bass impressions from you and the rest of the thumpy guys.

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And, I was pretty pleased with the price out the door, too!
 

SFIV1967

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The rosewood bridge of the original was replaced with a tune-o-matic...
First of all, congratulations! But I have to correct you, the 60ies original Starfire IV never had a rosewood bridge but a Hagstroem Adjustomatic on the rosewood base. Since the Hagstroem Adjustomatic was a bit of a difficult to adjust bridge, I fully understand why Guild went to the later TOM on rosewood base.
Ralf
 

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Nice Steve, congrats!
I wonder why, when they were trying to replicate the Hoboken original, they went with a stock plastic selector switch instead of the metal original? :? Yes, just a niggling detail, but while you're doing everything else right...
 

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I guess their answer would be, "it's not a replica", lol. Maybe it was just too expensive to replicate. In any case, I could get a metal Gretsch tip for 10 bucks or so. Not the same, but who can tell from a few rows back?;)
 

AcornHouse

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I guess their answer would be, "it's not a replica", lol. Maybe it was just too expensive to replicate. In any case, I could get a metal Gretsch tip for 10 bucks or so. Not the same, but who can tell from a few rows back?;)
They probably thought: "aw, it's just a switch. Nobodies gonna notice."

They don't know us vewy well, do they? :lol
 

Walter Broes

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Congratulations Steve! So far, the only thing I see people saying online about the Newark St. guitars is that they're great! My wallet would have preferred "they suck!".

I don't know when exactly the metal switch tips came in, but none of my Hoboken guitars have them. (youngest one I own is an early '63 though)
 

twocorgis

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I don't know when exactly the metal switch tips came in, but none of my Hoboken guitars have them. (youngest one I own is an early '63 though)

True, Walter. I just checked the '59, and it's got a plastic tip as well. Were the early Starfires this way as well? Ralf?
 

twocorgis

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My '65 SFIV has the metal tip.

I just checked the Bible p. 87, and there's a picture of a '64 that has the metal tip as well. Being that the first Starfire IVs were in 1963, there couldn't have bee too many made with the plastic tips, but this is Guild we're talking about, isn't it?
 

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Considering that they purchased guitars and had them reverse engineered, the example could have had a replacement switch on it. It is aged like the binding. So, now my fingers hurt and the worst thing I can say about it, is the nut is sharp around the corners.
The fretwork is excellent, it hangs right, plays great out of the box and the pricepoint is at a happy place. Best of all, "it sounds like a Guild".

Can't wait for the user reviews for the rest of the line!
 

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Congratulations Steve! So far, the only thing I see people saying online about the Newark St. guitars is that they're great! My wallet would have preferred "they suck!".

Mine would have been happier too, but somebody had to take one for the team! Not sure how long this one will stay at Casa Default, because I really do have too damned many guitars, but Korea is the new Japan, as far as building guitars goes.
 

mbrindell

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Sorry I am a little late here guys but all my X series Hoboken Guilds, plus the Aristocrat have plastic switch tips while all 4 of my '62 and '63 Starfires have metal. My '69 ST303 also has metal. And thanks so much for the review Steve. I will post one as well as soon as the A150B arrives. I am glad you touched on the fit and finish. Thanks again. There is one Starfire bass on ebay if anyone wants one quickly. I am thinking about picking that up as well possibly. I played bass in several blues bands for about 4 years and miss it sometimes. Unfortunately, I no longer have my nice Carvin bass rig.
 

guildman63

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I guess I'm going to have to find a way to get an A-150, Aristocrat, and X-175. And why stop there?
 

SFIV1967

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Considering that they purchased guitars and had them reverse engineered, the example could have had a replacement switch on it.
Chris, Steve, Sandy: Yes, that is a possibility, but when I had asked Mike Lewis about it at NAMM he said they tried to reuse some common parts over the whole line, see the "incorrect" truss rod cover on the SF IV as well. They did reverse engineer the bought guitars, and certainly it is possible that there were some replacement parts on them, but the more logic explanation is the re-use of common parts to keep cost lower. Also as you might have noticed the Newark St. series has a different headstock shape. I had all of this explained in my NAMM thread.
"The Newark St. Collection models are not intended to be re-issues of previous models! Because they are not 100% exact re-issues and hence can't be called re-issues. They are very close copies but not 100% "copy exactly" copies. (see little differences like different label, different TRC, different fret size, different fingerboard radii, different finish, sometimes different bridges,...). Guild calls them "The 2013 version of the <insert model>.""
"One more maybe interesting information: The headstock of some of the used original models had the "lip top" design. For the 2013 Newark St. models the headstock shape was changed. They now have the typical Guild "center-raised" style, however the shape of the rest of the headstock is still like it was on the "lip top" headstocks. The lower part is a bit wider than the top part. So the new headstocks look like they are more curved. Most will not notice, but have a look in Hans' book on page 26, look at the middle headstock there and compare it with the M-80 headstock on page 27 on the right side. You will see what I mean by the wider lower part of the old "lip-top" headstock. So it's a combination of an old and new headstock shape."
Ralf
 
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Let me just clarify that the switch tip is a non-issue to me, as is the headstock shape. It's not a slavish copy of a vintage Hoboken SFIV, but the important bits are right on. It looks good, plays good and sounds great. Us old farts are going to pay for vintage, but for people that want to gig with a starfire, it's perfect.
 

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Congratulations on the purchase and the review, Steve! Nice nice nice!

If you want a metal switch tip, I think I have a spare chrome, aftermarket tip laying around here somewhere, but I think it's a metric thread. If it matches your switch. I'd be happy to drop it in the mail if you're interested.
 
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