GUILD STARFIRE I SC GVT

first play
GUILD STARFIRE I DC & SC GVT
20
GUITARIST NOVEMBER 2020
profile that thickens up and morphs into
more of a comfy C handful by the heel,
approximately 23.5mm at the 12th fret of
the DC; 23.4mm at the 10th fret of the SC.
A little more time in setup might have cured
a couple of tuning issues, too, not least that
the pre-cut notches in the tune-o-matic are
the wrong way around: the smaller ones are
under the wound strings.
There is a rather generic feel to both but
we were impressed with the standard-
sized HB-2 ’buckers on that Aristocrat HH
and here their underwound nature really
suits the DC, creating a really plummy,
mellow yet articulate enough jazz/blues
voice to start with at the neck, to an almost
too-sharp bite at the bridge, with the mix
benefiting from this width with a softer bite,
bounce and depth. A pretty classic rendition
of sounds we’ve heard many times before.
As with that Aristocrat HH we have coil-
splits via pull switches on the volume (not
tone) pots. They voice the individual screw
coils for some perfectly good enough jangle
and additional clarity and give the guitar
some extra sonic and stylistic range.
There is a rather
generic feel to both
but the underwound
nature of the HB-2
humbuckers really
suits the DC
Pulling in our Starfire V for a bit of
comparison with its LB-1 mini-humbuckers
– a much heavier guitar, we might add, and
that’s certainly not just from the additional
Bigsby – and the Starfire I DC might well
suit those much-missed low-volume
jazz/blues gigs a little better. It’s less
characterful, perhaps, but sometimes just
sitting with the style is what you need.
Whether or not it’s that colour, the SC
GVT seems more centre stage and here we
favour those coil-splits to add some snap
to the depth: a little more rockabilly and
old-style blues. We don’t have a Newark St
III to directly compare with but our well-
used II (with Duesenberg Les Trem), again
with LB-1s, pretty much sits in between
the full- and split-coil sounds of the SC.
Although no mention is made of it, the SC’s
bridge pickup sits considerably further
away from the bridge than the DC’s, giving
less sharpness and spike, especially split,
and overall we have a little more depth and
‘looseness’ compared with the DC. The SC
edges to the finish line as the more versatile
jazz/blues-meets-single-coil rockabilly all
6
5
5. A feature of the double-
cutaway Starfi res was
the placement of the
three-position toggle
switch on the treble
horn – unlike the Gibson
ES-335, of course
6. The upper strap button
here moves from the
shoulder placement
of the SC to the neck
heel. It changes the
strapped-on feel quite
dramatically compared
with the SC
GIT465.rev_guild.indd 20 01/10/2020 03:02