Guild Starfire I SC Semi-Hollow - Seafoam Green Review

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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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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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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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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