Guild Starfire I SC Antique Burst

As Guild são guitarras com uma grande tradição, esta Starfire é uma boa representante da marca a um preço bastante acessível.
O modelo é um tributo à versão original da Starfire com uns apontamentos clássicos muito bem conseguidos.
A guitarra chegou bem embalada e protegida, o setup não estava mau para uma guitarra que deve ter estado algum tempo em armazém.
Em termos de aspecto a guitarra tem um design clássico, hollowbody thinline com uma pintura de teardrop sunburst de duas cores e o double bound branco. Muita classe só de olhar.
Em relação ao sunburst, de duas cores apenas, ele está em todas as superficies da guitarra e muito bem aplicado.
Começando de cima para baixo:
- os afinadores são abertos atrás e ficam muito bem neste modelo, funcionam bem sem qualquer folga ou problema
- A pestana é de plástico mas está bem cortada (será provavelmente o único upgrade que farei neste guitarra, que merece uma pestana melhor)
- O braço tem uma excelente tocabilidade, a mão desliza bem mesmo com o acabamento em poly
- fretboard em rosewood, sem nada a apontar
- Frets bem regulados e sem arestas
- A pickguard/scratchplate que é normalmente das primairas coisas a sair das minhas guitarras Single cut (para revelar melhor o corpo da guitarra) , tem um formato muito cool e por isso se manteve onde estava até agora
- Pickups são muito equilibrados e têm um bom som, mesmo com a bobina dividida o som não é fraco, nem perde dinâmica como muitas vezes acontece. Bons para sons limpos e mas também lidam bem com overdrive e distorção. São bem mais versateis do que esperava.
- os controlos funcionam muito bem e são bastante sensiveis a qualquer manipulação
- ponte impecável e cumpre bem a sua função.
- O som! É mesmo o mais importante disto tudo. É, na prática, uma hollowbody (com dois pequenos blocos a servir de base à ponte e a evitar o feedback imediato. A ressonância da guitarra é incrível, mesmo sem a ligar ao amplificador nota-se de imediato o tempo que demora até uma nota se desvanecer e deixar de soar.
Esperei alguns meses até escrever esta avaliação para garantir que fazia justiça à guitarra e creio que é das melhores nesta faixa de preço, muito mais interessante que as Epiphone por exemplo.
O único "contra" a apontar é mesmo a pestana de plástico, mas é um upgrade simples e não muito caro.
Recomendo sem qualquer dúvida.

Excellent semi-hollowbody for its price range, sounds great and with a good setup straight out the box. The pickups have a classic vintage full body tone with the option of switching from dual to single coil giving you the best of both worlds, Very versatile. The only down side is the tone and volume knobs have a cheap feel and the wiring seems sub standard but even so they do their job well. This is currently my axe of choice and is being used daily for small gigs in bars and hotels and it’s surpassed my expectations. I play it through my Voicelive 3 and it gives me all the variations I need, from acoustic to clean jazz and from blues to rockabilly it sounds great. I would highly recommend the Guild Starfire I .

When I ordered this I was considering a lot of different alternatives, just wanted a semi hollow or hollowbody similar to a 335 but within my price range. I went for the Guild mainly because of their rep. but also bearing in mind reviews of Gretsch Epiphone etc.
When it first arrived the outer box was damaged quite badly, completely open enough to get both hands in on one corner. The inner Guild box was fine, it had been opened at one end but resealed with tape I assume when Thomann did their checks. I found the delivery experience quite stressfull especially when I saw the damaged outer box but I needn't have worried because when I opened the inner box and went over the guitar with my HD camera looking very carefully for any defects there were none. I kid you not, I went over the whole beautiful guitar very carefully and the only criticism I could find was that the selector switch is a bit wobbly (not loose, just the switch toggle moves a bit).
I have to congratulate Guild on the quality of this guitar, it is in pristine condition. Not a blemish to be found anywhere on the finish, action maybe a bit high but I'm new to hollow body electrics, it's a little higher than my Tele and a little lower than my Taylor 314 so maybe that's where it should be. Intonation slightly out on 4 of the 6 but with the
tune O'matic bridge easily put right. One thing I'm not sure about is the saddles are facing one way for EAD and the other for GBE (is this because EAD are wound and GBE are not ?? I really don't know but will investigate and alter if needed)
Anyway, absolutely astounded by the quality control at Guild on this budget Guitar and would have expected to pay double for this level of quality.
Very happy.
Also Thomann should be congratulated on good service (I'm assuming the damaged box was caused en route).

I bought it because I had a performance coming that was mostly in a blues/rock n roll vein. I've always been curious about Guilds... The Lovin Spoonful's Zal Yanovsky played a Guild S-200 Thunderbird... would love to try one of those. So I guess I was primed to try one out.
It arrived, typical NGD...the excitement of opening the box and pulling the guitar case (which I'm glad I ordered) opened it and ... it wasn't as set up as I'd hoped. So I fiddled with it. The fretwork was ok enough. Not the best but not that bad either. I adjusted the bridge height, the truss rod and intonation but once I got it sorted and plugged it in.... it was lovely!
It has a wider neck than I'm used to but I quite like it. It feels almost like an acoustic or classic style guitar. Nice thick frets really add to the tone.
I like that if I want a sound like an amplified acoustic sound it does that brilliantly. Very deep resonant tones. And, when I want something a notch up jazzier it's got that as well. But it's also good for going into hard blues (sounding great through my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV) and... very much rocks hard. And...for other genres that I like (post punk , shoe gaze... ska, etc., etc.. ) I'm quite happy with it. Even surprised by it.
I do have to confess that I modded by switching the stop tailpiece with a trapeze style one to give it more of a vintage look; -which I'm happy to say adds to something to the tone (or so I perceive it to do.) I'll probably mod it further by replacing the plastic nut and maybe add a roller bridge to it. I busted a string on it mid set. But I have no complaints about the pickups though. Very satisfied with that.