Starfire III with Guild Vibrato Review

Best hollow-body I've ever played!

I bought this guitar last year and I couldn"t be happier. I"ve contemplated buying different brands and models, but I"m glad I decided for this Guild Starfire III. The guitar light and easy to hold, very comfortable to play and with a wide range of sounds. Unplugged is loud enough to be played and with a warm tone. Plugged in and clean is amazing for jazz and blues, the combination… read more of pickups and 2-tone with 2-volume knob give incredible versatility. But that"s not all! Crank the amp and the pickups will produce a very nice and organic distortion that is great for heavy blues, rock and roll and classic rock. I recommend this guitar to anyone! Thanks Guild for making such a fine instrument!

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Guild starfire 3 amazing quality

This is seriously one of the best guitars I own , ( ive been collecting 30 yrs ) quality is astounding and beats Gibsons poor quality control at the moment , sounds and plays fantastic , between gretsch , Ric , 335 , warm to rock to jangle it does it all . Mine is the cherry red which is beautiful , easily worth a couple of grand compared to gibsons. ONe class guitar and seriously… read more underated , BUY ONE you wont be disappointed

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Couldn't be happier

This really is a fantastic guitar - I'm in love :) really nice build, beautiful finish, and comes with a hard case. The variety of tones that you can get out of her is amazing - i figured that the clean tones were going to be good, my only concern was that i might need to travel with a second guitar for some of my gigs/sessions that require distortion (wasn't sure how the hollow… read more body would handle it) but this guitar actually handles heavy driven sounds much better than i thought it would - i haven't had any issues at all. Granted i don't play in a metal band, but i can't find anything bad to say about it - came beautifully set up and you really can't beat Sweetwater's service. Kevin is amazing. Kept in touch with me throughout the process (i had a short time frame where i was in the US), organised the shipping perfectly for me - really pleasant experience.

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Awesome guitar - Amazing service

Ok, i like to get any negatives out straight away - there aren't really any, the only thing i'd say straight up is that this guitar isn't for metal, but i can't imagine anyone going for a hollowbody expecting to sound like Slayer so really i think that's expected and negligible.Now, to the good stuff - this guitar sounds fantastic, you can get a great range of sounds from the different… read more pickup selections, the vibrato works like a charm and i haven't had any tuning issues and although as i mentioned before, it's probably not gonna suit a metal setup, i am pleasantly suprised with the amount of overdrive you can push this too with no real feedback issues. Mine came set up beautifully, works really well for the types of music i play and it comes with a really nice solid hardcase (which is a big deal for me because i gig quite a lot and hard cases are a must for me in some of the locations i gig at - i live on a small Caribbean island and many of my gigs involve drunk tourists who end up coming up on the stage to dance and inevitably something is gonna get spilled on my gear at some point). One other thing that's kinda nice is that you can actually practice without an amp - my brother actually asked me if it was an acoustic as well as an electric. Sure, an amp is prefferable, but if u just need to get in a lil practice session and for some reason don't have any amplification to hand, you'll definitely be able to hear the guitar at a decent level.Add to that the fantastic service (Kevin dealt with my order and really accomodated me - never had a bad experience with Sweetwater) and you've got yourself a pretty sweet deal.

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Great Guitar - blues, jazz, rock!!

Great Guitar! Takes me back to the 60's blues & rock tones I grew up with! Excellent playability, first class finish, lightweight, great classic sound - after switching out the strings for some pure nickels, all the fat tones from the golden years of rock & blues were at my fingertips. I play mostly clean with natural tube breakup and the Starfire III shines. Occasionally,… read more I venture into some jazz (great mellow tones). Surf sounds (with appropriate amplifier reverb effects) are also quite plausible. Probably not gonna be a great metal axe however. For me, this fits my playing style perfectly. I have loved the '335 types, owned a few, but the weight always made me yearn for something lighter. Make no mistake, the Starfire does not sound exactly like a '335 - nothing really does - it has it's own unique tone enabling it to stand out from the crowd in a sweet, hollowbody way! . . . or get nasty as the music directs. This is my first Bigsby equipped guitar, played a few stratocasters over the years, the Bigsby is quite different - haven't mastered the positioning yet, but the Bigsby effect is awesome. I use it lightly. This is not a "value guitar" - one that has a "good for the money" reputation. This is an excellent guitar . . . period. If a hollow or semi-hollow body tone is what you are looking for, you could spend thousands more and not do any better! As usual, the service from Sweetwater was excellent - fast shipping, excellent packing, great set-up - take it out of box and you are ready to play. First class guitar, first class service!

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