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Latest vintage guitar updates
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1967 Guild Capri CE-100
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 A closer look at a 1967 Guild CE-100. The Capri was a full-depth archtop, and Guild's first guitar with a Florentine cutaway - and a very sucessful model too; staying in the Guild catalogue in one form or another from 1958 until 1984. Stylistic similarities between models such as the ES-125C and ES-175 can be made, but this guitar is every bit as good quality as the better known Gibsons.
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1968 Guild Starfire Bass I
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 Images and description of a single-pickup 1968 Guild Starfire bass. The Starfire was a very fine bass, and a serious competitor to the Gibson EB2, finding favour with bass players from Phil Lesh and Jack Cassidy to modern-day players such as Justin Meldel-Johnsen.
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1953 Guild X-175
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 New picture set of a 1953 Guild X-175 electric acoustic guitar. 1953 was the very first year of Guild production, and in fact this was one of the first 500 instruments produced. It has a number of early features: Franz single coil pickups with black covers, very early inlays, just one volume and tone control and mahogany/maple/mahogany neck. More about the Guild X-175
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1971 Guild Guitar Catalogue
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Fold-out ten sided Guild catalogue. Updates the 1970 Guild catalogue. featuring an expanded range of S series solid bodies, with the addition of the S-50 and S-90. Models are shown with new 70s styling and Guild humbuckers.
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1970 Guild Guitar Catalogue
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Fold-out ten sided Guild catalogue. Updates the 1969 catalogue with the new S and JS solid bodies, and the ST double florentine cutaway semi acoustics.
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1969 Guild Guitar Catalogue
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Fold-out eight sided Guild catalogue - solid body, acoustic and bass models from this American manufacturer. Featuring Starefires, BluesBirds, full body-depth jazz guitars and more.
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Older updates here
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Guild Starfire
Hollow bodied bass guitar
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Guild Starfire bass description | Guild Starfire bass advertisements | 1968 Guild Starfire bass
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The Guild Starfire was one of the most respected basses of the 1960s, and gained recognition by its high profile users of the mid sixties such as Jack Cassidy of Jefferson Airplane, and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead. The Starfire pickups of the 1960s (Hagstrom bisonic) were very highly regarded, and the Starfire bass stood up well against hollowbody rivals such as the Epiphone Rivoli, Gibson EB2 and Fender Coranado bass. The Hagstrom units were replaced with Guild humbuckers in 1970, and although good quality pickups, instruments fitted with these are not as desired by collectors or players today.
The earliest single pickup Starfire basses had the pickup in the bridge position, later moving (1966) to the neck position (see a 1968 Stafire Bass I, also left). The Starfire's bridge was also made by Hagstrom, and consisted of a metal baseplate with rosewood saddles. It remained a feature of the Starfire throughout it's production run, with only a slight shape change in 1968.
The main features of the Starfire bass are summarised in the table below.
| Model | Starfire SF-I | Starfire SF-II |
| Available | 1965-1975 | 1967-1977 |
| Pickups | Hagstrom bisonic pickups, replaced by Guild humbuckers in 1970 |
| Scale | 30 3/4" |
| Width at nut | 1 1/2" |
| Body | Bound Maple (Sunburst and Flonde finishes) or Mahogany (all other finishes). Width 16 3/8", 1 7/8" thin, length 20 1/4" (1968) 18" (1975). Overall length 46 3/4" |
| Neck | Initially one-piece (later three piece) Peruvian Mahogany, rosewood fingerboard |
| Hardware | Hagstrom bridge, Guild tuners, volume and tone control, hand rests | Hagstrom bridge, Guild tuners, 2 volume and 2 tone controls, master volume, pickup selector. Push-button bass boost, replaced by a tone switch in 1970 |
| Finishes | Sunburst, Cherry, Emerald Green, Ebony Grain, Amber, Brown, Black, Walnut, Blonde, Natural Mahogany |
| Options | Fretless | Fretless and or stereo circuitry |
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Some of the different variations of the Guild Starfire bass taken from catalogue images over the period 1966-1975.
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From left to right
i) cover of the 1969 Guild catalogue; Cherry red Starfire bass II
ii) 1965 Starfire I, with Hagstom bisonic pickup in the bridge position
iii) 1969 Starfire bass II in custom Emerald Green finish
iv) 1975 Starfire II in Cherry finish. Taken from the 1975 catalogue. Note the new Guild humbuckers and larger headstock
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Back to the GUILD INDEX
Guild Starfire basses for saleIf you are looking for specific vintage guitars for sale, you may have to keep an eye on numerous vintage guitar stores, classifieds websites and ebay listings. Below are just the auctions - Vintage guitar stores tend to advertise theirs in their ebay online vintage guitar stores - have a look because there are some different listings.
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30 1/2" scale and long slender starfire neck. Double pickup model with master volume.
