Newark Starfire IV bridges

telemike

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On the Starfire IV's, I see some have a stop tail with a tune-o-matic fixed to the body. What about the ones with the harp and rosewood tune-o-matic. Is the rosewood bridge pinned or fixed to the bodyor does it slide around?
 

parker_knoll

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On the Starfire IV's, I see some have a stop tail with a tune-o-matic fixed to the body. What about the ones with the harp and rosewood tune-o-matic. Is the rosewood bridge pinned or fixed to the bodyor does it slide around?

the bridges are never pinned. the string tension keeps them in place. you need to move them around to get the intonation right
 

GSFV

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Not sure about the Starfire IV's. I have a Starfire V in white. The bridge does not move. I have removed all the strings for cleaning and such, and the bridge didn't move. I even tried to move it because I was curious. No give. Even with fairly continual bigsby use it has solid intonation. :)

I know that's all Starfire V, but I can't see them making the V different from the IV's. It's also worth noting, mine is a Newark street. Older Starfire's could be different. :)
 

AcornHouse

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Not sure about the Starfire IV's. I have a Starfire V in white. The bridge does not move. I have removed all the strings for cleaning and such, and the bridge didn't move. I even tried to move it because I was curious. No give. Even with fairly continual bigsby use it has solid intonation. :)

I know that's all Starfire V, but I can't see them making the V different from the IV's. It's also worth noting, mine is a Newark street. Older Starfire's could be different. :)
Do you have a tailpiece or a stoptail? Stoptails will have a fixed bridge. Tailpieces typically use a floating bridge, at least as they came out of the factory (some owners add pins).
 

GSFV

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That's interesting. So, tail pieces with rosewood base typically float. Stop tails (no rosewood bridge) do not float.

But the bigsby equipped Starfire V has a fixed rosewood bridge. Interesting... I guess they fixed the bridge with the bigsby equipped for tuning stability? and with the harp tail piece decided it wouldn't be necessary?
 

Quantum Strummer

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I can't imagine Guild making an SF-V with a pinned rosewood bridge. I can imagine someone having their particular guitar's bridge pinned, though, after settling on a string brand and gauge. (I wouldn't do this 'cuz I'm too fussy about intonation.)

-Dave-
 

parker_knoll

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I can't imagine Guild making an SF-V with a pinned rosewood bridge. I can imagine someone having their particular guitar's bridge pinned, though, after settling on a string brand and gauge. (I wouldn't do this 'cuz I'm too fussy about intonation.)

-Dave-

yes, you wouldn't want the factory to fix the bridge because then you can't intonate it. Even straight bar bridges or Gibson stoptails can be intonated somewhat
 

telemike

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The tune-o-matic on the rosewood base would intonate
 

SFIV1967

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But the bigsby equipped Starfire V has a fixed rosewood bridge.
The rosewood bridge base on the Newark St. Starfires is pinned but not glued to the body. Coming from the factory there is a layer of foam in between which the first owner needs to remove before use, see the following pictures. So it should be possible to simply lift the bridge base from the body.

14183908572_825dccbd34_b.jpg


Same for the NS SF IV:

96383a86e189494f78355d0c93661bdc--guild-guitars-semi.jpg


Ralf
 
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DV-72 NT

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Can't speak for IVs or Vs, but I e-mailed Guild asking this same question about the NS III. Here is their reply:

Question: Message Body:
I am interested in the new Guild Newark St. Starfire III. Can you tell me if the floating bridge is pinned on this model? Thank you.

Reply: Windsor, Patrick on 24-Aug-2018:
Yessir! The bridge is pinned.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Patrick Windsor | Sales & Customer Service Associate
Cordoba Music Group
1455 19th St. Santa Monica, CA 90404
P 310-857-1726 | F 310-857-1690
Cordoba Guitars | Guild Guitars
HumiCase | Aquila | Savarez
 

Quantum Strummer

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Mounting the SF III's TOM bridge directly to the top makes sense 'cuz you can intonate the individual saddles. Gibson ES-330s and similar (also hollow) are put together this way too. With a fixed intonation bridge, though, you'll want some way of adjusting it backward or forward.

Since the Newark St. SF IV currently uses a TOM I guess the bridge base could be pinned at the factory. I'd want it to float myself, though, 'cuz then I'd be able to experiment with wooden bridges & such. :)

-Dave-
 
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DThomasC

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I'll believe that the Starfire II ST with fixed 'stop' tailpiece also has a fixed bridge, but I'll need to see with my own eyes that the Starfires with Bigsbies or harp tailpieces and rosewood based bridges are pinned before I believe the Guild rep.
 

SFIV1967

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...but I'll need to see with my own eyes that the Starfires with Bigsbies or harp tailpieces and rosewood based bridges are pinned before I believe the Guild rep.
At least the Guild webpage tells the same story:

closer-look-sf3-1500x630.jpg


closer-look-sfiv-1500x630.jpg


closer-look-sfv-red-1500x630.jpg


Ralf
 

matsickma

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I would think a NS "pinned" bridge offers the best of both worlds. Assuming a "pin" is used I would think it could be easily removed to allow a true floating bridge to be installed. Also when I purchased NS guitars with a rosewood bridge the guitar came with one for a wound G and a second rosewood bridge for a plain G string. However the early NS guitars like CE100 and X175 did not come with pinned bridges.
M
 

GSFV

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Hmm...Strange. Mine didn't have the foam piece when I purchased new from GuitarCenter. They even had to have it shipped in, so I know I didn't get a floor model. This was back in January of '17. Perhaps they have changed since the earlier production models? Not certain about the IV's, but for certain the V's are not movable or fixed or what have you. Whether pinned or glued I'm not sure. At face value it seems unlikely to me that they would produce such similar guitars with different methods, but anything is possible. Just my $0.02.

I have sent many questions to guilds web site and have found the replies to be very helpful and accurate. I've also never ran into any issues with their website (despite the issues surrounding LB-1 neck vs Bridge PU). I even got a few parts for free from them when some plastic pieces met an unfortunate end during gigs/travel. Gotta love good customer service.


I've also never had a problem with my V's tuning stability. Well...not once I took off the strings that came on the guitar and put some real ones on there.
 

parker_knoll

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The issues with the website are largely historic. E.g. the T400 was listed as having a 24.75" scale length and a master volume when it has neither. It's a new regime now and things may well have improved
 

adorshki

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The issues with the website are largely historic. E.g. the T400 was listed as having a 24.75" scale length and a master volume when it has neither. It's a new regime now and things may well have improved

Nice to hear.
Fender performed updates quite regularly with each change of the decade.
 
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