Problems with my new Starfire VI -- playability issues.

vastier

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So I have this Guild D55 and was so enthralled by it and then absolutely had to have the F-412 and I was so heavenly happy with both that I concluded that these were all I needed in the acoustic line, and that may be true because 3 years later I am still happy as a clam. Sure love my acoustic Guilds!

But I was drawn to the new Starfire VI with a Bigsby, from Korea, having seen so many exciting YouTube videos on the various Starfire models.
Frankly, I am an acoustic player who strums mostly, but now and then I enthusiastically break into lead guitar in Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” and other rock and roll classics. I’m not a pro, just so you know. :<)

My problem, that I hope you will help me with, is that I sound terrible on this Starfire VI. I have 2 other electrics – a Godin XTSA and a Schecter 12 String and I sound okay on those, and used to have a Fender strat that was equally okay, but when I pick up the Starfire, all my chording sounds out of tune .

I live on Vancouver Island so there isn’t a Guild person around here that I know of, so I took it to a luthier who adjusted the intonation, then said he liked the playability of the guitar, but suggested that if it still wasn’t what I wanted that he could file down the frets (reduce the height of them?) which to me means that when I press down on the strings, that they won’t be bent out of tune. I think I am making many notes sharp on this guitar only. My other electrics are just fine. This is not a problem on my acoustics.

What is your opinion on this? Should I have the frets filed down, fresh from the factory? Is there something unusual about the Starfire that I am not aware of?

It is such a beautiful guitar to my eyes, and it sounds beautiful, just the way I wanted it to, being a child of the 60’s :<) . I find it a bit heavy in the lower bout which I did not expect , but I can adjust to that. But if I can’t get it consistently in tune, I will have to say goodbye to it and hope you can help me avoid that.

Suggestions? Opinions?

Many thanks in advance.
Rick
 

GAD

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Many modern electrics have jumbo frets that are even larger than what you're experiencing. The idea is that the large frets encourage you to not press as hard because you really don't need to and the lighter your touch, the faster you can play. It sounds like years of power-squeezing your acoustic with its heavier strings and small frets has caused you to have a death-grip which is the opposite of what you should have when playing lead on electric.

Guild lists the frets on your guitar as "narrow jumbo" which means they tall and narrow vs. vintage guild frets which are usually low and wide.

FWIW I went through something similar even as a lead guitarist. My only guitar for years was a Guild S300 that has the low-wide frets. At some point I bought a Jackson SL2H that has absolutely huge frets and I'd pull every chord sharp because of my learned death-grip. It took a fair bit of practice on my part to be able to adjust and still after playing only Guilds for weeks if I pick up my Jackson I have to adjust but now that adjustment comes easily.

My advice is don't file the frets - learn to play it as-is. You'll be better in the long-run. Also, filing down the frets will possibly ruin the resale value of the guitar since most young players expect some sort of jumbo fret these days. I had a young played complain that the frets on a mint S300 were "too worn to play". He had just never played vintage low and wide frets before.
 
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What GAD said!
And have your guy make sure the nut slots are the correct depth. When making chords, and even just playing notes, especially in the first position, if the nut slots are not deep enough, you'll go sharp on whatever notes you're playing. I've noticed that a lot of new import guitars (esp from Korea and Indonesia) need attention at the nut. (All 4 of my Epiphones did, as well as my Carlo Robelli). And some need fret leveling. Not terribly expensive, and makes a world of difference. Hopefully your neck is as straight as possible, with just a bit of relief, nice low action with no buzzing, and that you are using 11's for strings. And make sure your floating bridge isn't moving around.
You'll sort it out.
 

Bill Ashton

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I had a similar problem with my Fender Jaguar several years ago, which I attributed to the really light strings (.009-.042)...heavier strings (flatwounds) and my troubles went away...of course I also became aware of my finger pressure. I think the Starfire comes with .011's and you are playing a D55 probably with mediums and the twelve certainly takes finger pressure. Try a notch heavier string set on the Starfire...
 

adorshki

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Many modern electrics have jumbo frets that are even larger than what you're experiencing. The idea is that the large frets encourage you to not press as hard because you really don't need to and the lighter your touch, the faster you can play. It sounds like years of power-squeezing your acoustic with its heavier strings and small frets has caused you to have a death-grip which is the opposite of what you should have when playing lead on electric....FWIW I went through something similar even as a lead guitarist...At some point I bought a Jackson SL2H that has absolutely huge frets and I'd pull every chord sharp because of my learned death-grip. It took a fair bit of practice on my part to be able to adjust and still after playing only Guilds for weeks if I pick up my Jackson I have to adjust but now that adjustment comes easily.
I had to go through that same learning curve just to be able to play my F65ce acoustic/electric, comes strung with extra lights (.010's) and is set up to mimic the feel of an electric as closely as possible for players who want to be able to swap to a real acoustic on stage with minimal technique adjustment.
My advice is don't file the frets - learn to play it as-is. You'll be better in the long-run. Also, filing down the frets will possibly ruin the resale value of the guitar since most young players expect some sort of jumbo fret these days. I had a young played complain that the frets on a mint S300 were "too worn to play". He had just never played vintage low and wide frets before.
Also very good advice.
The tips about upping the gauge a notch and possibly needing to tweak the setup (nut slots) are good too.
All by way of adding to the "weight of opinion" re your question.
 

Neal

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+1 on heavier strings. I play Elixer Nanoweb heavy gauge on my archtops (12-53), which are the equivalent of acoustic lights.
 

vastier

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+1 on heavier strings. I play Elixer Nanoweb heavy gauge on my archtops (12-53), which are the equivalent of acoustic lights.

So happy for all the thoughtful responses on this. That's what makes this place great!

I didn't know it came with 11's, and they were dead when they arrived and I replaced them with Dean Markley 10's, so that may be part of the problem. I am going to take the advice of trying the 12's to see if that remedies things a bit. Also, following other good advice here, I will not not take the extreme route of filing down the frets. I'll try the heavier strings, and be more conscious of my "death grip" LOL.

Thanks again. Let you know how it turns out.

Rick
 

Guildadelphia

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I would not be surprised if the nut slots were too high. I had the nut slots lowered a bit on my NS X175B and it made a huge improvement in playability. If the nut is too high there's a good chance that you're gonna go sharp. Regarding the taller frets, just lighten up a bit on your fretting hand....but if the nut is too high there is a tendency to to compensate by pressing down harder on the strings. Again, if the nut is too high slapping on heavier strings might help a bit but it's more of a band aid, not a cure.
 
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