FNG
Enlightened Member
It arrived out of tune so I sent it back
I lol'd
It arrived out of tune so I sent it back
It's Monday, what'd you expect?And here I thought we were back on track.
Trestle bridge!
Wouldn't it have been easier to just send back the strings?
BACK ON TRACK
Thank you for understanding my rather foolish sense of humour.
Actually, I picked it up today as I wasn't working and got to play it quite a bit. It's my first "modern" Guild and very different from my previous Starfires or current Duane Eddy.
1. It's maple construction which I wasn't expecting. It feels a little heavier than my Duane (I don't have any scales) but the Duane is wider though thinner. This is 2" thick at the rim. The nut is 1.75"
2. The pickups are pretty high output - hotter than Filtertron, LB-1 or Dearmond 2K. They're shimmed quite high and there's just a couple of mm between the pole pieces and the strings.
3. The sound is quite "dry" - I think I mean the emphasis is on the fundamental frequencies without an excess of sympathetic harmonics. It took me a while to get used to it but it's growing on me and makes a nice contrast to the Duane which is full of ghostly harmonics and creaks.
4. The sound overall is very bright, which I also wasn't expecting as I'd read reports of these being dark sounding. Perhaps they're not all maple so the hog ones sound darker. Whichever, I am happy about this as I like a bright sound, and I'd rather have the possibly of something that can cut through the mix than trying to fix a muddy sound through various tricks; it's easy to dial out excess high frequencies, but you can't add them in if they're not there. I suspect this is one reason the previous owner swapped the Bigsby bridge out. After a few minutes I put it back. It also means you can get quite acerbic post-punk sounds which I like.
5. The bass is also very "tight" as associated with maple construction - despite the neck pup being right up against the fretboard, that pup is plenty bright and the bass doesn't flub out the sound, so I'm happy with that as this is usually one of my problem areas with guitars.
That's about it for now. Still getting used to the different shape. If I keep it I may put clear knobs or an ALuminium scratchplate or some other nonsense to make it less dour, but I'm happy with the black as the flame maples used at that time were always a bit too flashy for my tastes. Obviously with P90s there's pickup options, but these are pretty impressive so far.
De nada.Thank you for understanding my rather foolish sense of humour.
Yes, I've read that before.Perhaps they're not all maple so the hog ones sound darker.
And maybe why Guild used maple so extensively from the beginning?Whichever, I am happy about this as I like a bright sound, and I'd rather have the possibly of something that can cut through the mix than trying to fix a muddy sound through various tricks; it's easy to dial out excess high frequencies, but you can't add them in if they're not there.
maybe some clear knobs, too, not that it'd make a ton of difference.
And maybe why Guild used maple so extensively from the beginning?
Aren't all standard size US pots 3/8"?
The guitar looks the business! Hope you bond with it & really enjoy it. Love the wide neck (that it exists)!!Anyway, back to my new guitar...
More likely 1/4" - 6.3mm
Nice review!
Antiquities are decent P-90s. If they're really shimmed up super close to the strings, I'd be tempted to remove the shims and either leave them off or sand them down a bit. Personally, I always liked the sound of P-90s adjusted farther away from the strings with the pole screws adjusted up proud of the covers a bit.
Not compared to one of yours
I'll take a pic tomorrow (it's late here). I can fiddle around on the next string change which might be soon as I don't like the set that's on there much. I was wondering if the old ES-225s had the pickups shimmed or just miles from the strings.
Here's the listing with more pics for those that haven't seen it:
https://reverb.com/uk/item/15148518-guild-starfire-iii-2002-black-gloss
Wow, looks super clean! You know, might be worth putting the neck pickup's shim under the bridge pickup and leaving the neck pickup w/o a shim.