Now for my comments -
When I was younger and a bit more sensitive, I would have read that article and just taken offense. There's a condescending tone there that can't be denied.
But now I'm a 42 year old man that knows that PR management is part of the game. The community's critique of the bridge pickup can become an avalanche that buries the line. Suddenly, the things they got right, like build quality, the look, the playability and all at a great value get lost. So maybe I should cut Guild a break when they say "sounds great to us, you should try it and see for yourself." They need to sell these guitars.
We heard similar spin when the new S-100 was revealed: Comments like: "This S-100 is INSPIRED by the classic S-100 but It was not meant to be a re-issue - the earliest S-100 really DID have anti-hum pickups," etc. etc. And everyone who knows S-100s just said "Sorry, nope, you failed, try again." The S-100 was by far the most disappointing guitar in the NS line and the thin, crappy sound of the bridge pickup really stuck out on a stiff solidbody.
But the S-100 story proves that Cordoba-Guild is capable of making adjustments. I can't wait to try the 21-st century HB1 that are being put into the latest S-100s. They are trying to dial them in, and I very much appreciate that.
Another aspect to consider is that the timing of the pickup talk was probably not the best. If the pickup criticism had reached it's peak a year ago, instead of a couple of months ago, there would have been plenty of time to make adjustments before this year's NAMM.
But then, there's the bottom line to consider. This is an an industry where profit margins are extremely slim, throwing 10,000, 1,000 or even 100 pickups into the trash and making more can really hurt, especially in a year that requires tremendous capital to get the Corona facility up and running.
They might have WAY too many of these bridge pickups made already and it must be extremely cost prohibitive to re-wind them and/or throw them in the trash and rebuild.
BUT LET'S BE FAIR - this is not an entirely BAD sounding pickup, and we end up right where we started - maybe everyone should try it out and see if they can make it work. I don't have any 60's starfires anymore. But it would be a cool experiment to have the two side-by-side and make steady changes to the NS starfire until you get as close as possible. It would be cool to have a "how to dial it in" post on the forums with setup tips and mod recommendations.