Guild Starfire V Mod

GSFV

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Hello! This forum has been invaluable in my quest for the right guitar for me. It helped me decide to get my first guild a year ago, and have simply adored the guitar! Back to back it beat out a 4800 ES 335 in both tone and feel. It is a Newark Street Starfire V in white. I play every sunday at church (basically a cover band) and have been baffled at how many different sounds I can get out of this one guitar! I'll try to upload some pics later when I'm not at work.

Anyway, there are a few things I'd like this guitar to do better. So I've been exploring and toying with some ideas on how to modify the electronics of this guitar. I am hesitant because of how much I love it, and am worried about potentially ruining my favorite guitar ever. So I'm hoping LTG can help me out. Now for the questions:


1): The guitar has 2 Guild Little Bucker's (LB1). Does anyone know if it would be possible to put in a push pull switch to coil split these for single coil tones? I know not all humbuckers can, and haven't been able to find much info on these.

2): If not, then I would look into buying another Starfire (4 or 5, because the bursts are gorgeous!! Maybe a westerly??), and putting in humbuckers that CAN be split. Which leads to my question: are the holes in the top of the SF large enough to fit in a full size HB? Like the Guild HB1. Obviously I don't want to have to cut away parts of the guitar. So I'm trying to figure out how to navigate all this. And I'd rather not spend unnecessary money on a Gibson when Guild is so much better for me (back to back I prefer the guild every time). And I don't want to go epiphone unless its absolutely necessary.

3): adding a 10db 9v batter for volume boost? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Help me LTG....You're my only hope! Lol. :) Thanks in advance!!
 

dbirchett

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Let me offer another suggestion. Watch Craigslist or eBay or even Reverb for a Westerly or Corona made Starfire IV or V. They won't be much more expensive than the Newark Street if you watch carefully and make offers when you can. Then you will have full sized humbuckers that you can split. You will have an even better guitar.
 

GSFV

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I did not know that the Westerly had full size Humbuckers! That definitely adds a whole new set of options! Do you know what kind they are? Guild HB? Seymour Duncan?

Do you know if the LB1 in the Newark Streets are splittable?
 

GSFV

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That is a beautiful guitar!! Definitely worth considering now that I know the westerly and corona has full size HB. Thanks!! Great idea.
 

krysh

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congrats and welcome on board. as far as I know, the LB-1's aren't splitable. i second the thought of getting an early 90ies sf 4 or 5. the HB-1's and the later (until 1999) Seymour Duncan Buckers sound great and are splitable. + you will even get another dimenson of sound with these. regarding a vol boost I'd simply buy a clean boost pedal which makes you more undependable on the guitar and you dont have to mess around with the electronics.
 

GAD

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LB1s have only a single lead (plus ground) so are not splittable.

Vintage HB1s are also not splittable unless you get the uber-rare early '90s models with 4 wires.

Late 90s Starfires have SD1s as mentioned above *and* they have 4 wires so they are splittable.

Note that NS Starfires are import guitars so likely have metric pots which can be an issue when ordering push/pull pots. Late 90s Starfires (and early 00s for that matter) are superior guitars to anything NS IMO, but they don't have the LB1 chime that may be what you like about it. The SD1s are great pickups but they're different sounding with more of a classic humbucker vibe. Still, if you have them split I bet you'd be real happy with the possibilities.

I would not add a battery to a Starfire. I have an X3000 with a battery and it uglifies an otherwise gorgeous guitar. The battery will not fit through the F-hole so on a SFIV you'd likely need to make a hole. That would be a deal breaker for me - get a pedal instead.
 

kakerlak

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What GAD said. You could convert the pickups to 4-wire, but I'm not sure half an LB-1 would sound very good, anyway.
 

GSFV

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I didn't realize that the westerly and corona had HB1 and or SD1. That is good info. I'll definitely have to look into that and consider it. Thank you! I am bummed that the NS has only two wires, but I somewhat expected it even if for the wrong reasons.
Cutting a hole in the guitar is 100% a deal breaker, so I'll travel down the pedal route.

Any recommendations on a pedal that you have experience with?

Does anyone know if a full-size HB would fit into the SF body without cutting holes? I'm thinking that if a HB SF is as rare as you say, it may be easier to get a NS SF4 and then swap the pickups. But cutting a hole is still a deal breaker. Does a full size HB fit in the SF body?
 

GAD

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What GAD said. You could convert the pickups to 4-wire, but I'm not sure half an LB-1 would sound very good, anyway.

Yeah - mini-hums and things like TV-Jones aren't known for their splitability.
 

txbumper57

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I think you have received some excellent advice from everyone that has posted which is pretty much the norm around here. Personally if you are as enamored with your current Newark Street Starfire V as it sounds like you are, I wouldn't touch it. You already know that you love it the way it is so don't make the mistake of trying to change it. If you do, You may never get it back to where it is now.

As far as a 9 volt 10db boost I would recommend the same advice already given to get a Pedal to accomplish this instead of adding it to the guitar itself. That way you don't mess with the current tone on your beloved SF-V and if you do get another guitar you can use the same pedal with it instead of having to install more electronics on a second guitar.

I would highly recommend reading GAD's Blog on Guild Pickups which can be found at http://www.gad.net/Blog/gads-guilds/ towards the bottom of the page under the title "Technical Articles". This will help you identify which Guild pickups are which along with the different sizes and years of Manufacturer.

If you do decide to leave your Starfire V alone then your next option would be to get another Guild! While I can speak from experience that this is a slippery slope I can also say that it is an enjoyable one as well. If you look hard enough you can find a mid 90's to early 2000's American Made Guild Starfire IV for around $1000-$1200 and even the more rare Starfire V for between $1300-$1500. I have a Late Westerly made SF-V that is one of my all time favorite guitars. I went a different direction and replaced the Fender made Humbuckers in it with some Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Phat Staple single coil pickups. To me it is the perfect mix of the old Dearmond Dynasonics and set of vintage P90 pickups. The cool thing about the late Westerly guitars is their wood selection was Amazing and almost all of them will take a standard sized Humbucker so you tonal options are limitless.

Here is a photo or two of my Late Westerly Made 2000 Starfire V for reference. Best of luck in your Guild Journey and I hope it all turns out how you want it to!

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TX
 
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dbirchett

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A full sized humbucker will not fit into the existing rout of a Newark Street Starfire IV or V without modification. That is why we are recommending the models from the '90s/early 2000s. They are fantastic guitars. Up to about 1998 they used the Seymour Duncan SD1s. After that they used a more generic design that some like many don't. These were made in Westerly, Rhode Island or Corona, California. They are fantastic and beautiful guitars. The Newark Street models, as you have discovered, are great. The Westerlys are better. Simple as that.
 

GSFV

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That's what I thought, I was just hoping to verify. It is much easier to find a NS than an older westerly. Awesome! Thanks so much for the information. You guys are awesome!!

I've been looking into the TC Electronic Spark mini booster. Does anyone have any experience with this pedal? Or have one they recommend in its place?
 
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