GUILD

By the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Guild guitar company really began to hit its stride. And, as it had become clear that the new fangled electric guitar craze was here to stay, Guild threw its hat in the ring in a big way by introducing a flurry of cool new models.  Of these, the Starfire series guitars and basses, which were introduced in 1960, would become some of the most iconic and recognizable Guild offerings.  The Starfire guitar models effectively fall into two different categories: Starfire I-III models are single-cutaway thinline hollowbodies (similar to the Gibson ES-125T, for instance), whereas Starfire IV-VII models are double-cutaway semi-hollowbodies, more akin to a Gibson ES-335. However tempting it may be to draw comparisons to competitors, the Starfire guitars, especially the I-III models, truly have that elusive distinct personality that sets them apart and gets one’s GAS gurgling. 

Between the Starfire I-III models, the II and III, were more versatile and thus proved the most popular. These featured two pickups (as opposed to the single pickup format of the Starfire I), and they differed only in that the II had a floating “harp” tailpiece and the III had a Bigsby vibrato. Given their appealing lightweight nature, sexy looks, and their distinctive tone, it is perhaps no surprise that Starfires found their way into the working collections of guitarists like Jerry Garcia, Robben Ford, Dave Davies, and Tom Fogerty (all of whom played a Starfire III at one point).  Accordingly, Starfire models remain popular to this day, as they find a place in a whole host of genres, ranging from alternative rock, chicken pickin’ and Travis style, Americana, blues, or jazz.

This particular 1963 Starfire II hails from the end of the first iteration of Starfire models (1960-1963), all of which were made in Guild’s second factory in Hoboken, NJ.  Featuring an optional mahogany body and a custom Honey Amber finish, this example is actually a fairly rare bird, relative to those in the standard Sunburst and Cherry finish.  Meanwhile, the earliest Starfire models also boast the very desirable DeArmond Dynasonic pickups, where Guild transitioned to Humbucking pickups later in 1963. As many Gretsch guitar enthusiasts will also attest, the Dynasonic pickups found on these Guilds are really in a class of their own and are widely appreciated for their brighter and snappy response, but satisfyingly robust overall presence.  Yet, part of the appeal of a Starfire II is its slim hollowbody design, which delivers an airy, resonant, and surprisingly powerful acoustic voice.  Like some of the Gibson thinlines (e.g., the aforementioned ES-125T, or ES-120T), this degree of acoustic presence makes for a wonderful “couch” guitar application, where one sincerely does not have to fuss with an amplifier to truly enjoy spending time with the guitar. Whether amplified or not, this highly dynamic and versatile guitar is likely to make a strong impression, and may well become one of the best tools you never knew you always needed.

Condition

This particular Starfire II was part of an estate of roughly forty, musty, dusty, crusty old guitars that we purchased in the fall of 2025. The collection had been stored in less-than-ideal moist environs for an indeterminate amount of time.  As a result, all of the guitars and their respective cases required extensive cleaning, including some mold/mildew remediation to be put in a suitable state for sale.  That said, following extensive cleaning and evaluation, we were pleased to discover that this instrument was, in fact, in impressive condition.

The rare custom Honey Amber finish is exhibits light wear, primarily in the form of light belt-rash-ish impressions on the back. Otherwise, there are no serious gouges, scrapes, or chips.  Most significant cosmetic wear is actually isolated to the headstock overlay, where there are a fair number of prominent swirls and scratches, as well as a couple small patches of what appears to be blistering. As is common with Guilds, the headstock overlay had begun to delaminate, but it has since been glued.  Meanwhile, the only structural issue of note is some damage to the body in a small area surrounding the input jack in the form of short cracks and cross-grain breaks.  This damage is likely the result of shock/torque on the cable plug while the cable was inserted—without a mounting block present for the jack (which is almost never the case!), the relatively thin sides of a hollowbody guitar are unfortunately quite vulnerable to such damage! Regardless, this damage was well repaired prior to its arrival at our store with what appears to be a discreet super glue fill—it is stable, and the visual impact is minimal.

With regard to playability, the action on this guitar is admittedly a little higher than what we would like to see at <3/32” clearance for the low E at the 12^th fret and approximately 5/64” for the high E, with optimal settings elsewhere (at the nut, bridge, and truss rod relief). This is mostly due to the fact that there is very little remaining fret height at approximately .021”– there was just enough for us to achieve a final leveling and re-crowning. We have elected to leave the original frets in place, in part for those collectors who might value such originality, but also as the guitar is actually quite comfortable to play as-is. Even so, we will otherwise freely state that this guitar would benefit from having fresh, taller frets, at which point there would be ample ability to refine the action further.

On less significant fronts, the single-ply black pickguard is a replica made by Pickguardian; but, the logo was laser-etched and painted after the fact.  The pickguard mounting bracket is also not original and is mounted with only one screw due to misalignment of the holes (it is stable, so we elected not to drill more!). Finally, the original case is an overall good condition, but it did have some exposure to mold and mildew, due to the conditions of its storage. We have thoroughly cleaned and aired out the case, but one could still detect a faint musty odor.  EXCELLENT Condition

• Thinline Hollowbody
• Single Florentine Cutaway
• Laminated Mahogany Top. Back, and Sides
• White Body Binding
• 2-Ply Black/White Top and Back Purfling
• Two Unbound F-Holes
• Gloss Lacquer Body Finish
• Mahogany Neck
• C-Shape Neck Carve
• Rosewood Fingerboard
• Mother of Pearl Dot Fingerboard Inlays
• White Fingerboard and Headstock Binding
• 20 Frets
• Black Plastic Headstock Veneer with Pearloid Guild Chesterfield Logo
• Gloss Lacquer Neck Finish
• DeArmond Dynasonic Pickups with White Covers
• 3-Way Toggle Pickup Selector Switch
• Translucent Foil-Capped Skirted Control Knobs (2 Volume, 2 Tone)
• Floating Rosewood Bridge with Hagstrom Adjustable Saddles
• Floating Chrome Guild “Harp” Tailpiece
• Nickel Vintage Style Grover Open Gear Tuners with Butterbean Buttons
• Replica Black Floating Pickguard with Laser-Etched Logo
• Bone Nut
• 1 11/16” Nut Width
• 24 3/4” Scale Length
• Approximately .87” Neck Depth at 1^st Fret
• Approximately .96” Neck Depth at 12^th Fret
• 20 1/4” Body Length
• 16 1/4” Lower Bout Width
• 2” Body Depth
• 5.8 lbs
• Original Hard Case