GGJaguar's Guitarium and Ampeteria 1961 Guild Starfire III

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FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

The Starfire series was introduced in 1960. Based on the T-100, the Starfire III differed only in that it had a laminated mahogany body and a Bigsby tailpiece in place of the T-100's laminated maple body and harp tailpiece. The earliest Starfire III's (c. 1960) had laminated mahogany bodies, but examples of these are quite rare. This particular guitar is an early Starfire III and is equipped with DeArmond "Dynasonic" single coil pickups which are the same units that Gretsch used in the 1950s. Not so coincidentally, it was Carlo Greco, a former Gretsch employee, that recommended that recommended the DeArmonds as an alternate pickup to the Guild "soapbar" pickup. In 1963, the Starfire III, along with the majority of the Guild line, was fitted with Guild HB-1 humbucker pickups. Sometime during 1961, Guild switched from the standard B-6 Bigsby tailpiece to the Guild/Bigsby tail as on the guitar shown here. The reason for the switch was do disuade dishonest distributors from "forging" Starfire III's using Starfire II's. Both models were identical except that the III used a Bigsby tailpiece and the II used a Guild harp trapeze tailpiece. Unscrupulous distributors would buy the less expensive Starfire II, replace the Guild tailpiece with a Bigsby B-6 unit, and then ever so carefully add an extra Roman numeral "I" to the label. Thus, they could sell the fake Starfire III's for a bigger profit than if they sold the authentic model. The Starfire III was very popular and remained in the Guild line until 1972. Guild recently reissued the Starfire III, though it is not an exact representation of the original model.

GUILD STARFIRE III (1961)