Guild Starfire I SC Semi-Hollow Review

Good buy

For less than a grand this guitar is a good buy. It played well from the factory but after a little tweaking it plays fabulously. This is my second guild guitar purchased. The other an acoustic that matches the burst of the starfire. Fit and finish on the starfire are excellent. I would not hesitate to purchase another guild. Sounds fantastic plugged in and will sound awesome playing… read more at my church and live gigs. Buy a guild you won't regret it.

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Great guitar!

Guitar arrived on time and in perfect condition. Beautifully crafted. No sharp fret ends, set up well. The coil split is a great feature. Definitely adds to the tonal landscape of the guitar. Love the feel. The neck is finished but allows smooth travel throughout it's length. Really a wonderful instrument. Thanks again to Sweetwater and my Rep Mike Arango.

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New customer

Just bought a Guild Starfire1 and a gator case. I am very pleased with my purchases and love the customer service. The Starfire is top quality and better than I expected. I highly recommend this guitar.

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A REAL guitar to love!

Like one of the other reviewers, I have had the guitar a couple of months before I decided to submit a review. I think these reviews are very helpful to prospective buyers, and I try to be as objective as possible after the "honeymoon" is over! Well, this guitar is way over its pricepoint in terms of quality IMHO. The first thing I came to really appreciate is the continuity between… read more the neck and the body; they just seem to be "together" and the guitar sounds very rich and warm unplugged. I wouldn't describe the neck as being narrow; it is kinda wide, but thin and not deep. I find it very comfortable to play and the fretwork is well done. No sharp ends and really well dressed for a guitar selling for well und a grand! Impressive. Like someone else said, I enjoy just playing it unplugged on the couch and it is quite resonant. The finish is nearly perfect and there is no separation between the paint and the bindings...smooth. a little minor wavyness around the F-hole that is barely visible. The Bigsby works fine, and the tuners are OK..not great but OK. Now, the electronics. Meh, the pickups are pretty pedestrian, and the tone pots are virtually useless. They are NOT linear, and they don't do anything until they are completely rolled off. No biggie as I never use them anyway, but the whole wiring harness is operable, but would benefit from an upgrade. Again, the coil-splitting works, but is ho-hum. That said, I love the guitar and it is a great instrument. It came with 11's and I changed to 10-46 without any issues other than adjusting the action a little. It sounds great, and with an upgrade to the pickups and electronics, you will have a pro grade gigging guitar!

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Love this guitar!

This is such a fun guitar to play with great sound. The Bixby is fun to play with although I am not skilled enough yet to use it more often. If I had to be fussy the paint detail is a little rough in the sound holes but it is an awesome guitar at a great price!

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A superb value

Having ordered an Epiphone some 6 months earlier and growing impatient, a quick search of Sweetwater's inventory for a hollow or semi-hollow with a bigsby at or under $1000 led me to the Starfire I range from Guild. Knowing that the brand was a legacy maker from the 60's that had been in and out of production, changed ownership several times, and that they were currently under the… read more Cordoba umbrella, I had no idea what to expect. I pulled the trigger on this white Starefire I SC preferring the single cut to it's double cut sister (mostly to differentiate it from my army of Casinos) half expecting to dislike and return it. I received the guitar in the dead of July, and did nothing more than tune it, admire it's looks, and let it sit for two weeks to settle before judging it. Once it had stretched in, a quick truss adjustment was needed and the action was lowered a bit... and that was it. Intonation is spot on. Fit and finish is excellent. Nut is cut well, it holds tuning much better than my Les Paul or my Gretsch 6119 '62. The neck is very comfortable, Gibson 60's slim taper -esque. Frets are slim, fretboard was very dry (some Music Nomad Oil took care of that) but the edges are rolled well and not a sharp fret end anywhere. The Guildsby is a fun addition, OEM bigsby knock off, but it is smooth and returns the strings to their correct pitch. The HB2 pickups are their own thing, kind of if a TV Jones Hilo'tron and a Gibson PAF had a baby. Low output, but some bite, very mid rangy. Probably not a guitar for aggressive rock, or metal, but excellent for jazz, blues, indie, country, or anything where jangle is appreciated. The split feature I am sure will be a huge plus for many players, I've never been much of a fan though... I have a strat... but it is very versatile. The only critique, and it is minor, is the jack. Crackles and occasionally cuts out in the neck position. If used professionally this will need to be replaced. Other than that, I cannot complain about anything on this guitar. It sounds wonderful acoustically, is a great couch guitar, very comfortable, and a joy to play. I am quite impressed!

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Great for the price

I've had this guitar for a little over 2 months. I've seen other reviewers say they had issues with the nut being cut badly but that was not my personal experience. The guitar feels and plays great, though the trem bar can be a little tight. The bridge pickup is pretty nice, and I'm using it more for rhythm work than lead, but it can handle both. My main gripe is with the neck… read more pickup. The difference in tone between the neck and bridge pups is pretty massive (more than expected) and the neck pup has a tendency to sound a little overly bassy and muddy for my tastes. Might work ok for jazz, but that's about it. Even with the coil tapped it sounds a little too thick for me (and that's saying a lot since I don't like thin or super-bright tone), but for the price I really can't complain too much. Tuners could use a little improvement, but again, for the price I can totally understand Guild cutting a few corners in the quality of parts. At the end of the day, no it's not going to be my main stage axe, but it's definitely a solid backup and I would have no qualms about plugging it in onstage.

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Amazing. My favorite

This is an unbelievable guitar. Especially at this price. Incredibly comfortable to hold, just the right thickness. The pickups, neck and tuner are amazing for the price. I have several guitars but this is my new favorite. It blew me away.

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Amazing semi-hollow

It feels above average, sounds above average, and is a great value for this quality of semi-hollow guitar. I wanted a semi-hollow with a tremolo so there aren't all that many options that fall into the "affordable" category. In the single cut the only color options are white and green, neither is especially desirable to me. I chose the white because green while perfect for an offset… read more solid body "surf" guitar just seemed wrong on a rockabilly instrument. I'd love to see it in red, walnut or even natural blonde. The sounds that come out of this thing are beautiful. I play it through a small 5 watt tube amp and it just sounds awesome. The coil split option is what really pushed me over the line for this particular guitar. You can nurse just about any kind of tone you want out of this thing. I'm not a jazz player but I'd bet a good jazz player would love this. all in all, Guild hit a home run with these Starfire I guitars.

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I am impressed

I must say, I am impressed with this guitar. I have owned, and currently own, many similar guitars (Ibanez, Squier, etc), and this Guild blows them all away. It plays and sounds like a guitar that should be twice the price. The coil split option is actually what sold me on this guitar, but to be honest I never use it because the hum buckers sound so good. The one negative I… read more have about this guitar are the tone pots. I may swap them out for audio taper eventually because the current linear taper pots are completely worthless. They are either on or off. Luckily the clear sounding pickups make up for this. This model is done so well that I am currently looking to get the Starfire III model.

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A lotta starfire at this price

I've been playing Starfire variations for a long time, mostly a 2000 DeArmond with single coils. This has the same playablity - fretboard, tremolo, knobs are exactly the same. Likwise, the clearance above the pickups is great for fingerpicking, while still having solid low action for faster playing. Beyond the familiar Guild jazzy and twangy tone, I was surprised how much jangle… read more there is here. Unplugged, there's a lot of acoustic resonance, and this carries over when you play it on a clean amp. I really sparkles. The push-pull volume pots let you switch between humbucker and single-coil sounds. In some states of volume/tone/pickups, the jump of switching the pickups mode can be pretty dramatic between twang and roar. Throw a lot of effects at it, and I expect this would be an excellent shoegaze guitar. But the fundamental character is excellent: clear and snappy.

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This sound for $...?

A friend of mine had played several different Guild Starfires (owns a guitar shop) and was telling me you would just need to play them to believe them. I don't think many guitarist with no knowledge of them if playing for the first time would assume they were playing a guitar 3 or 4 times as costly. I have had some not mentioning brands to hurt feelings but they were nice but… read more did they play better? No. Did they sound better? No. Fit and finish? Very similar. I can't find a blemish on mine. Now the coil split feature. Full on HH sounds very much like Gretsch on a Vox AC15C1. Rich deep sparkling chimney when clean. When split if you are expecting a Strat maybe, I'm not getting that exactly but there is a wonderful difference! It is like a second guitar with the push of a knob. I would recommend this guitar to a friend for sure.

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Guild Starfire 1 SC is Stellar!

I believe I my about first at most sites providing a review for this new entry level Guild Starfire. Of course I have just received it and set it up, but my first impression is this is a stellar entry level guitar for Guild. My big thing is being able to get fairly low action without fret buzz and this one nails it! Fretwork is excellent. Frets are well leveled and ends filed and… read more dressed. The HB-2 pickups are quite clear, switching is good and the coil tapping doesn't seem to drop volume too much. Neck is slim but with some chunk to it so you don't feel cramped. I have small hands so it works well for me. I play finger style, some Chet Atkins stuff, but also some jazz. This Guild will cover both well. It's not quite as bright as a Filtertron Gretsch, but close enough. The slightly softer pickups will allow for moving over to jazz well too. I have an $1000 Ibanez PM2 which is very well built. This seems every bit as good in quality. Of course time will tell if the electronics hold up, but I don't switch settings a lot, so fine for me. For $... this is an excellent offering. Go for it!

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