The first Guild electric since 2004. Hopefully, other models and ranges will follow.
http://www.guildguitars.com/instruments ... 3828000837

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La vie est belle, le monde est pourri, make the most of it!

Apart from a bound neck and a few different locations for switches, what's the difference between these . It's just an overpriced copy

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Ted

"All right, guys, uh, listen. This is a blues riff in "B", watch me for the changes, and try and keep up, okay?"

Copy? That's a pretty harsh word for a 60 years old brand.
Guild, historically, relates rather to Epiphone, the fiercest competitor Gibson had in archtops and the likes. Actually, Epiphone was about 20 years older than Gibson as a company. On the acoustics side, the same Guild was also Martin's main competitor.
By the time Gibson aquired them and moved production to Kalamazoo, most Epiphone people stayed in New York and went to work for Guild.
In the 70s and 80s, when the whole industry was in a sorry state, Guild were pretty much the only ones to keep the quality bar very high.
The Starfire is a classic. Yes, it does look pretty similar to the ES, but only because it followed the same development path.
As for overpriced... Well, this word keeps popping up all the time, about expensive production guitars. I guess it's for each to judge and decide.
To me, it's pricey, but beautiful and well worth it.

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La vie est belle, le monde est pourri, make the most of it!

Hi Purple: wowza - it certainly is pricy! I'd never thought of a Gibson ES-335 as a knockdown giveaway before but...

At that cost the Starfire had better be extremely well made if they want to sell any of 'em. I wonder if anyone has seen one in a shop to tell us about that?



Hi ted j: well, there's lots of small spec differences that might mean something to someone. But I guess some will choose it simply because they want that style of guitar but for some reason don't want it to say Gibson on the headstock. Or they have a pathalogical hatred of dot markers.

I'm assuming it has a centre block, though I can't find out for certain on the spec sheet. If so then, yes, it was essentially one brand copying the successful model shape of another, back in the '60s. Nothing unusual or worrying about that. I expect they will want to convince us that a higher build quality justifies it. Whether that is true or not I don't know.

Cheers - C

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Ceri, I guess they haven't hit the shops yet. I am comparing to the older models, including the reissues after Guild was bought by Fender, and they were awesome.
As for the price, they're less than Gibson Custom ESs (which have MSRPs of up to $7,500) and it's a limited edition for now.
What's not to like? Just hope they'll make it back into the production lines. The Starfires, the Bluesbirds, the S series....

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La vie est belle, le monde est pourri, make the most of it!

Nuttin' at all. And just as there's people out there who want to be part of the Gibson or Fender "team", there's also those who individualistically want their headstock to say something different. Nuttin' wrong with that either.

I'm trying to remember which shop in my town is the Guild stockist (I think I know). I'd love to have a twang on one of those - though I doubt my bank balance will be supporting a purchase anytime soon.

Cheers - C

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My bank balance isn't supportive of that either for now, but still can't wait.
Cheers!

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La vie est belle, le monde est pourri, make the most of it!

I'll take any chance to show off my Guild. She's a one owner, me! She's a Starfire IV, but I had the Bigsby put on before I picked it up, so technically it's a Starfire V. The new one appears to have a fixed bridge and tailpiece which means it has a solid center. Mine has a floating bridge and is hollow body. surpisingly I've never had a problem with the bridge moving on me. She's done a lot of traveling and been to opposite corners of the U.S. and most points in between. And, I still have the hang tag.

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

Just gorgeous.
How would it compare to an ES-33x? In terms of tone, feeling, playability, etc?
Hollowbody, so I guess it would compare against an ES-330.

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La vie est belle, le monde est pourri, make the most of it!

I hope that Guild decides to reissue the S-100 Model again.The S-100s were an SG styled guitar with 2 really hot Guild humbuckers,with the bridge one having coil tap that pretty well ensured that the S-100 would be a real threat to SGs and Les Pauls and they would've been if they had been promoted and advertized a bit more agressively.

My buddy is a die hard Les Paul fanatic but when I passed him the S-100 plugged into my JCM 800 2204 stack one day he flipped out and couldn't believe how brutal the sound was from the guitar.S-100s are starting to climb in value these days ,ever since Kim Thayill of Sondgarden started using them exclusively.

You used to be able to pick them up on ebay for about $1,200-$1,500 but lately there was a pretty beat up one with after market pickups that weren't even Guilds for over $1,000. So you'd better move quickly if you want an authentic Les Paul/SG slayer and be prepared to pay a premium for them.But then again you'll have the only humbucker equipped guitar that you could possibley need.
















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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Uh - of course, yes! C'mon, Ceri; wake up!

Thanks for pointing that out. Meantime:


That's beautiful, congrats. In good shape too, by the look of it. And while I don't mind the appointments on the Starfire at the top of this thread I do like the pickguard, pickups and branding on the vibrato on yours which just quietly indicate for those as are interested; "this is not a 335".

Cheers - C

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MMMMMMMMMMMMMM Guitslingers' SG!!!!

Re the Gibson 335 etc. vs. the Guild Starfire: The Guild has humbuckers that are much much hotter and responsive than the Gibson pups and the Guild necks are not as chunky and wide as the Gibson's too.The Guild wins it in sound and playability,it's too bad that it has the cost going aganst it.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

My SF IV was my first semi-hollow type guitar :

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I believe Fender owns Guild now. They were amazing guitars way back.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal