Guild Starfire I Jet 90 Review

Beautiful sound, beautiful guitar

I don't know why it took me so long to get a semi-hollow bodied, but I'm so glad I did, and I'm so glad this is the one I chose! It features several different tone options, and they all sound great. And just look at it! It seemed too good to be true, but it exceeded my expectations.

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Quite possibly the perfect guitar

As a player of mostly PRS guitars, I wanted a large, semi hollow that would also have a lot of tone options. Tried a couple of Gretsch models but nothing really grabbed me. Took a chance on the Guild and it checked all the boxes. The Franz p90s are spectacular. But where this guitar really shines is the pickup selector. So many options. The 2nd position (bridge and middle) offers… read more a beautiful strat-like quack while the neck pickup alone screams blues. I have my amp setup to the edge of breakup. The pickup selector along with the volume know gives me everything from pure cleans to raunchy dirt, especially on the bridge. The Bigsby trem is amazing. Stays in tune when adding a little vibrato (this is not a deep dive trem) and the vibrato along with a nice analog delay creates a huge soundscape that fills the mix. Comfort is key with this guitar. Sits perfectly on a strap with zero neck dive. As well, the neck is comfortable and familiar. The only thing I might do is swap the bridge pup for a Virtual p90, simply to add a little more grit plus to get rid of noise (which isn't terrible stock btw) This is a guitar that is suited for anyone, pro or novice. I've played it live about a dozen times and it's always been a pleasure. As well, it's one of those guitars that evolves with the player. I get more and more feel every time I use it. Great mid-priced instrument.

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Very Unique and Playable Guitar

I really like this guitar. It sounds and plays really great. Of course, this kind of vibrato system can cause some minor tuning issues, but no more than most other guitars with a similar configuration. The thin body is also a nice comfort feature. Electronically, it is really refreshing. The pickups sound great and ALL of the combinations are very musical. I am still getting… read more used to the rotary switch. I may put a chicken head knob on there to make it a little more obvious where I am on the switch under low lighting conditions.

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Guild starfire jet 90

i ordered this guitar on sept 4 2021 ftom a different retailer because it was so much cheaper than here at sweetwater and they couldnt match the price. that was my first mistake! it was on back order and i just received it yesterday 12/28/21, i never was informed it was shipped, it just showed up yesterday. yeah right!? i opened the box and on inspection i began to wish i had… read more never ordered this guitar. there was a large paint run/drip on the neck about 1/4 wide and 4" lon, it had been sanded smooth but the surrounding neck was sanded to bare wood and the drip just until you couldnt feel it. the neck had a very nice satin finish with a bright shiny streak where the drip was. at the nut there was a crack on borh sides of the neck and i believe it was just a finish crack but im not sure. the builder tried to hide the crack by dabbing on more paint and then trying to blend it in. it didnt work as you could still see the crack and the amiture attempt to conceal it! i continued the inspection and at the f holes there were little drips of paint hanging into the holes in some places and you could see where there had been an attempt to wipe it off or scrape it off in places. other spots on the f holes had no paint at all on it and was rough like unfinished edge of plywood. i then found a sharp nick in the binding on the lower bout in the back, it looked as if it was cut with a razor blade. lastly the selector knob was so loose you couldnt change the setting. there were black finger prints all over the white body that appeared to be graphite! i never bothered to plug it in as i didnt even know what position the pickup selector was in. i checked the tuning and it was just slightly sharp on 4 of the strings and slightly flat on the other 2. i played it a bit unplugged and it was very sweet sounding and i liked the feel of the neck very much. if it would have only had 1 or 2 of the problems i would have kept it but with that many flaws, even though most were very minor was too much for me on a brand new guitar. i am very discouraged with guild for letting this guitar out. my question is how does a guitar in indonesia with these flaws several of which were attempted to be hid get past quality control, then upon reaching the guild plant in california and boxed up and sent to the retailers warehouse in kansas city , where if you read the outside of the box, guild request the retailer inspect the guitar before shipping and then put into a shipping box and sent to me, nobody saw any of these obvious defects. i returned it today on 12 /29 and now have to decide if i want to re order and wait some more as it is still on back order. also im not sure they will still give me the great original deal. at some point these companies need to rethink their race to the bottom in search of cheap labor!

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Great guitar

This guitar can really play anything on it. The bridge and mid pickup together almost sound like a humbucker if you like that sound. The neck is comfortable. I have other hollowbodys that sound muddy or dark, but not this guitar.

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Terrific guitar!

I first heard of the Jet 90 in September 2020, when a thread was posted about it on the Telecaster Discussion Page. I found the gold option very tempting...I love P-90s, I'm crazy about the tonal options with 3 pickups, and when I found out it came stock with a neck + bridge option, I was sold. However, various pandemic-related circumstances meant I couldn't get it then. Flash forward… read more 10 months, things have improved, and I couldn't get the gold Jet 90 out of my mind. RJ Ronquillo's demo video certainly didn't help! I decided it would be a perfect belated birthday gift and called Jared at Sweetwater. The quality of the Jet 90 is outstanding. Fit and finish are perfect, it plays like a dream. I read reviews that said the neck is skinny and the vibrato spring is flimsy. That's not what I found. The neck has a nice 'U' shape that is very comfortable. And the spring feels perfectly sturdy to me. Of course, you're used to dive-bombing, it's not made for that! The Franz P-90s sound incredible. They can growl or chime with the best of them. I wish I'd had the Jet 90 and it's THREE noise-cancelling options back in the day. I was gigging with a P-90 equipped Les Paul and I would have to bring a LP with humbuckers just in case the wiring in the club was dodgy, which would cause the P-90s to hum so loud the guitar was unusable. Just as important, this guitar is a looker! Absolutely gorgeous. Definitely worth the wait. My first Guild, not to mention my first Bigsby-equipped guitar! I'd be remiss if I didn't give a shout-out to Sweetwater. Jared put a D'Addario Humidipak free of charge in the Gator case I ordered to maintain the proper humidity while shipping. And the strings were properly detuned when it arrived at my house. The packing was outstanding and the Jet 90 got home safe and sound. I've bought my last three guitars from Sweetwater, and unless some other vendor had an exclusive that I just had to have, I can't imagine a reason why I'd shop anywhere. But excuse me...I need to get back to playing my Jet 90!

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Killer guitar for the money!

I bought this guitar after seeing a lot of videos pop up about it and I was looking for another guitar with P-90's. I own about 20 guitars right now and wanted a hollowbody with P-90's. I absolutely love the 3 pickup configuration and love the pickup selector. The guitar plays awesome and the pickups sound great. I pretty much just stick to the first position which is the bridge… read more and neck pickup together because it sounds so good. I love how big the body is on this guitar. The finish is super cool being Matte Black, but keep in mind a finish with no gloss shows any imperfections much more. Mine has some finish imperfections here and there, but I really don't care about that since I bought this guitar to play and not just put on display. For the money, this is an excellent purchase. I have played other guitars in this price range that had much worse quality than this one. This is my 5th guitar with a bigsby and the one on this one stacks up the same with my other ones as equal. This guitar came strung up with 11's (I usually play 10's), but I am keeping it as is since I really can't tell they are thicker when playing and they make this guitar sing! This is my first Guild guitar and I am very happy with this guitar.

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Made To Be Played

I've had my eye on owning one of these since November when I saw they were coming out. I called Brad Jahn, my sales tech, and ordered the satin gold and a case in the middle of December. For the 3 months I waited, if I needed a fix, I just would go online and watch RJ Ronquillo put it through its paces. After receiving it in March, I'm happy to say it's every bit the instrument… read more I thought I was getting. The Sweetwater setup was wonderful out of the box. After plugging it in, it was noticeable immediately that my Marshall didn't have to be turned up much to get the growl from the P 90's. It's a great rock and roll guitar and you can also dial in a variety of tones with 6 different pickup selections. It has a cool retro kind of look and as Guild says, "Made To Be Played". A very enjoyable, playable guitar at a great price. And the Gretsch strap was made for it! You can find it here, too!

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Man this guitar is sweet

What a value this guitar has it all. First gorgeous vintage look very classy. P90s are ridiculous how great the sound. The 6way rotary switch tones for ever. Devon Cunningham always a class act at Sweetwater If you don't get this guitar you're missing out

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Five-Starfire Jet 90

There's just no downside to this guitar. The Guild Starfire Jet 90 delivers way beyond its price point. The three P90 pickups and the 6-way switch, when considering features, already set this guitar apart from other semi-hollows. I was able to dial in many preferred settings with ease. The satin finishes are all wonderfully understated--I was partial to the gold top. The satin finished… read more neck is a big bonus and just feels right of the bat. The Jet 90 is simply a beautiful guitar. Love the design of the headstock.

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Amazing sounds, looks and feel

I am blown away with the sounds this guitar makes. This is my first semi-hollowbody, normally I play a Fender Strat and decided to give Guild a try. So.......very happy with this guitar, glad I went with the pleking. I have bought other guitars and been very happy, but the pleking makes it play on another level. Great neck and body with good intonation and playability, I haven't… read more put it down in six days and had to tune it once. Nick from Sweetwater hooked me up big time, I had to wait 40 days on pre-order/case and he was always keeping me in the loop with emails and calls. It's that treatment from Nick and Sweetwater, those little things that make a huge difference.

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Greatness!

This guitar is sooo amazing!!! The moment i saw the preview of this Jet90 on youtube, i was like "you will be mine!!!!" So as a buy and seller, i sold my other stuff to get this!! Lol I had to wait a few weeks before it was delivered. Ryan Gregory,my sweetwater tech, helped me with the process. He was also able to answer my questions regarding the arrival, payment, and guitar… read more parts. Out of the box, the Starfire felt nice! It sounds beautiful even without plugging it. I love the P90s on this. It's clear and bite-y! I gave it a 4.5 review mainly because of the rotary switch of the pickups' configuration. Not a fan of the way it was setup. But other than that,this guitar is a KILLER!!!

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