Ngd sf-4

SFIV1967

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Then Hans told me "the back of the Pacific pickup should be stamped "California Pickup" in purple" (which they are) so my feeling is they are just one in the same?
The California pickups were made in Japan for Guild. They were in the Guild price lists and also single coil versions of California pickups were available for the solid body guitars. I can only guess that Hans referred to Japan when saying "Pacific". We also had a thread somewhere comparing the look of the DiMarzio made Guild XR-7 pickups (both rows of the polepices have screw slots) with the California pickups.
Ralf
 

hansmoust

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The California pickups were made in Japan for Guild. I can only guess that Hans referred to Japan when saying "Pacific".

If you read my posting in the link that you included, you will notice that I said they were from Japan. Guild referred to them as Pacific pickups when they were available as an option.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

mavuser

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nobody online or in person ever pointed out that the strings on this guitar are above the roll bar on the bigsby, not below. I just figured this out on my own. that’s how I got it. it sounds great set up this way with 11s. with 10s something definitely was not right, but im pretty sure it needs 11s regardless. maybe if the bridge was lower, the strings would need to go under the roll bar. it feels, plays, and sounds basically perfect, at least to me, the way it is. Ive really been enjoying this one recently. what do u all think about the set up? should i string it under when I change next?
 

chazmo

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Forgive the confusion, mav... If you string it under the bar, won't that cause the whammy to raise the pitch rather than lower? I.e., that's not what you want, right?
Am I misunderstanding you?
 

mavuser

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this is the part im talking about

rdJoeC.jpg


other ones online have the strings under. my bridge is actually notched too now that I look at it, by design/factory, to accommodate the string under design.
 

Los Angeles

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Nice! I love the burst, the dots and of course my favorite fret width and fret dress/shape from any era of any maker. This one's a bee-ute !
 

matsickma

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I often string over the tension bar with that type if Guildsby. The angle of the strings us pretty steep if routed under the bsr. It works but doesn't provide smooth vibrato action.

One thing I notice on a lot if Guildsby's is that their are insufficient threads on the bolt holding the vibrato arm to the vibrato body. The results is a portion of depression of the vibrato arm not doing much pitch change in the beginning of depressing the bar. For the vibrato to work best with the strings routed over the tension bar the play needs to be minimized. I have added teflon washers between the arm and body. You may be able to washers to the attaching bolt or add more threads to it to tighten it up.

I really like the look of the SF without the pickguard.

Starfire 4's from the 70's often came with the blick inlsys, MV and occasionally a Guildsby like a SF 5. They also have the deeper body of a SF5. Weird...they called them SF4's!?!

M
 

mavuser

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thanks for the info Matsickma. mine plays perfect right now, just going to leave it alone for a while. the action on the Guildsby is perfect for sure. did not realize 70s SF-5’s are deeper bodied. good to know. Are they all like that? Or just the Bert Weedons?
 

mavuser

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nice GAD thanks very much. looks like u need to add the 1981 SF-4 SB to the comparison chart!
 

mavuser

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the body depth on my 1984 SF-4 is 1 11/16” (measured at the side panel)

the nut width is 1 5/8”

the neck carve is medium C. definitely not chunky baseball bat, but not the “super slim extra fast action” I have seen on 70s solid body Guilds. this one works for me, for sure.
 
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