Just another disaster.

marcellis · Jun 9, 2016

I held off buying at Sweetwater (Starfire III) so I could have I could have a few more days of the 30 day return policy AND so I could get delivery at my office on the 14th. My plane arrives in Houston the 16th. It would be waiting at the office. Last time I checked, day before yesterday, there were still 2 in stock.

Today I paid and arranged for shipping. Then I went to the Starfire III page -- SOLD OUT.

I hope it was LTG'ers that got them.I lived through Katrina. I'll probably live through this. But damned!

I'll probably leave for Asia in 3 weeks. Who knows how long it will be before I put my hands on it.
I'll ask to get a cherry-red Starfire V and pay the $100 difference.

NEONMOONY · Jun 9, 2016

Numerous music houses, such as, Sam Ash, American Musical Supply, Music 123, MF etc., have SF III at $1099 in black and red with no price difference. I believe all have 30-45 day return policies.

marcellis · Jun 9, 2016

Yeah, but I stuptidly bought first before I checked availability. I've been watching it two weeks. When I started they had four or five. This week it was down to 2. I've been dealing w-this one salesman at Sweetwater. for years. I'd bet they've run into this situation before. I've never dealt w/the other stores you mentioned.

guildman63 · Jun 9, 2016

If it is not in stock you should be able to cancel your order without penalty at any time before your order is processed. Besides, online merchants are not supposed to take your money until they are ready to process your order, which technically isn't until the guitar is in stock. Good luck, whatever you do.

marcellis · Jun 9, 2016

Whaddya know, my sales guy held mine back. He knew I was serious and understood how living abroad
complicated my purxhase. There is one black Starfire III left,if anyone's interested.

The 30 day return period starts from the date of purchase. That's why I was ao meticulous about what day I would purchase it.
Now, if shipping goes right, I'll have only lost 4 or 5 days of the 30 day return. But the last two weeks, I've watched the
stock drop from 5 red ones to zero. This model is selling. Sweetwater has the Newark line. But most are out of stock.

One black Starfire III, some Starfire V's one in Alpine White (in stock), a Starfire VI (beautiful natural Maple), is also out of stock.

Yeah,I recommend,Sweetwater and my sales guy. The Starfire ships w/.11's.

http://www.sweetwater.com/joe_schafer

NEONMOONY · Jun 10, 2016

Sweetwater website shows them in stock.

marcellis · Jun 10, 2016

NEONMOONY said:
Sweetwater website shows them in stock.

Hi. If you go to the page for the red ones Neomoony, http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StarfireIII

to the right of the lower bout, "You'll see. "It's arriving soon".
You'll also see a blue link that reads: "Notify me when in stock."

Plus my sales guy http://www.sweetwater.com/joe_schafer
told me I got one of the last two. I got the one I had been watching.
It can be verified at his link via email. http://www.sweetwater.com/joe_schafer
Check it out.

But there IS at least one BLACK Starfire iii left. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StarfireBlk
You can see it in bright green letters.

I don't know,about Cordoba or the other NS instruments. But I watched 4 or 5 sell in a week or two.
Those instruments are selling.
-----
A related topic, I've seen Starfire iii's w/white pickups. Are those covers or frames you can buy?
Didn't see any on EBay.

Thankss.

Los Angeles · Jun 10, 2016

No disaster here, just Sweetwater proving once again that they have the best customer service of all the major sources.

marcellis · Jun 10, 2016

Los Angeles said:
No disaster here, just Sweetwater proving once again that they have the best customer service of all the major sources.

LA, do you know anything about some SF3's having white pick-upcovers? I looked on EBay, couldn't find any.

But speaking of customer service, the sales guy just sent me the official pic's of the guitar. Hope it looks like this when I unbox it.

I don't know if these are Grover Sta-tites. Hope so.

Didn't include serial number F-hole shot. But the last 2 are 38. This is the one one I've been watching for 2 weeks.

Hard to believe hardshell case included.

I land in Houston the 16th. This is due the 14th. It should be waiting for me.
But a lot of things can still go wrong...wrong...wrong.

I'm always consider worst-case scenario first.

Los Angeles · Jun 10, 2016

Marcellis, are you talking about pickup rings or the pickup covers themselves? The only image that brings to mind are the Starfire III's from the early 60's with DeArmond pickups:

NEONMOONY · Jun 10, 2016

Marcellis, I mis-understood your original positing. I thought you wanted black and you were settling for red. My mistake.

marcellis · Jun 10, 2016

No problem Neomoony.

LA, ah those white pups are exactly what I'm talking about, I didn't know they were different. How do they compare sound-wise?

Los Angeles · Jun 12, 2016

marcellis said:
No problem Neomoony.

LA, ah those white pups are exactly what I'm talking about, I didn't know they were different. How do they compare sound-wise?

Those old DeArmond pickups are fantastic. Big, Bold, Chiming sound. They are single coils and the guitar you're getting are humbuckers.

Do not confuse these pikcups with the look-alike pickups that were used in several DeArmond models in the 90's/2000s. They look the same from the top, but underneath they are nothing alike. They don't sound the same either.

But here's the cool thing, I believe the screw holes on the dearmond pickup line up with the mounting ring screws for the Guild mini humbuckers. I don't have any knowledge about why this is, but my gut tells me that this is no accident.

My main point is that if you find a pair of the old dearmond pickups, you can probably get them installed without doing any drilling or other modification.

ras1500 · Jun 13, 2016

Back in March, I got my pick of the three SFIII's that were available at Sweetwater. I took delivery a few days later. Great Guitar.

http://www.snapfish.com/library/pho...=en_US#state={"pgvw":"siav","aid":5653756027}

marcellis · Jun 13, 2016

ras1500 said:
Back in March, I got my pick of the three SFIII's that were available at Sweetwater. I took delivery a few days later. Great Guitar.

http://www.snapfish.com/library/pho...=en_US#state={"pgvw":"siav","aid":5653756027}

How's the Guildsby do? Any tuning or intonation issues?

ras1500 · Jun 14, 2016

"How's the Guildsby do? Any tuning or intonation issues?"

Absolutely no issues, the guitar stays in tune remarkably well. Once dialed in, intonation is also correct up the entire fretboard. Note, that I go easy with the trem arm, just adding a little shimmer to some notes & chords. No major dive bombs.

marcellis · Jun 14, 2016

ras1500 said:
"How's the Guildsby do? Any tuning or intonation issues?"

Absolutely no issues, the guitar stays in tune remarkably well. Once dialed in, intonation is also correct up the entire fretboard. Note, that I go easy with the trem arm, just adding a little shimmer to some notes & chords. No major dive bombs.

'Shimmer' - good description.That's good to hear. It comes w/.11's. Is that what you use? I'm an acoustic player. I have a big non-Guild Jazzbox. I use .10's on it.. The Sweetwatersales guy said I might get buzz w/.10's. It's also got a Tun-o-matic saddle with a movable Rosewood bridge.

I'm basically an acoustic player. I know very little about electrics.My big archtop just has a movable Ebony bridge. It has a K.A mini-hum floating. So I hāve some experience w/that pup. I've never navigated a metal saddle atop a movable bridge before.

Finally, I'm no fan of GroverSta-tites. I have them on a slot-head non-Guild acoustic. I may bring along a set of silver Scallers. But I don''t want locking tuners. With a tailpiece and strings locked --I foresee see snapping strings. Maybe I'm wrong.

ras1500 · Jun 14, 2016

My SFIII came with round wound 11's. However, I removed them and replaced them with D'Addario flatwound 11's with a wound G string. I initially had a SFIII in 1967, it came with Guild EA610 strings, which were flatwound. I stupidly sold that guitar in the 1980's and always regretted selling it. Thus,I finally had the chance to replace it with the new Newark Street series Starfire. For electric guitars, I prefer flatwound strings; they feel so good and produce no finger squeak when sliding. If you get string buzz with 10's it's easy to turn the thumb screws on the bridge and move the saddles up a bit. As far as the tuners go, the Grover's that came on the guitar seem to be very stable.

parker_knoll · Jun 16, 2016

ras1500 said:
My SFIII came with round wound 11's. However, I removed them and replaced them with D'Addario flatwound 11's with a wound G string. I initially had a SFIII in 1967, it came with Guild EA610 strings, which were flatwound. I stupidly sold that guitar in the 1980's and always regretted selling it. Thus,I finally had the chance to replace it with the new Newark Street series Starfire. For electric guitars, I prefer flatwound strings; they feel so good and produce no finger squeak when sliding. If you get string buzz with 10's it's easy to turn the thumb screws on the bridge and move the saddles up a bit. As far as the tuners go, the Grover's that came on the guitar seem to be very stable.

yep, as Ras1500 says, there's no reason to get a buzz with 10s if you adjust the setup to fit. Have a look at an online guide on how to set up a guitar. It's really not hard.

marcellis · Jun 23, 2016

I still haven't plugged in my SF III, nor have I carefully checked the intonation. A few early conclusions:

1. It's small and very light.
2. Iy is more beautiful than I expected.
3. Guildsby works fine - no intonation issues. But the story's not over on that.
4. There is an unpleasant polyurethane odor when you open the case - every time you open the case.
A new guitar should give the owner, a really nice smell. Open one of the Yamaha APx classical cases Nobody would buy a new car that smelled like polyurethane for example.

The Koreans need to get their act together on that.

Just another disaster.

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