Guild Starfire III AmberStar Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1962)
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Item #4198
Guild Starfire III AmberStar Model Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1962), made in Hoboken, NJ, Honey Amber natural lacquer finish, laminated maple/mahogany body: mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black hard shell case.
An extremely rare and beautiful example of an early Starfire III, equipped with the great-sounding white-topped DeArmond Dynasonic pickups (the same pickup Gretsch employed on their 1950's classics) used only from 1960-63. This guitar is finished in a light natural hue Guild called "Honey Amber" over the striped "Sapeli" mahogany body, giving a distinctive and very attractive look. This was a rare custom order finish option and the model name is noted on the label as "AmberStar III".
Hans Moust's THE GUILD GUITAR BOOK reports: "For a short time in the early '60's some Starfires with a color other than the standard cherry red finish had a different model name written on the label. No instruments from this series with a Honey Amber finish have been reported." Well, here's one, and if you'll pardon our pun she's a real honey all over!
The single cutaway fully hollow body is body triple bound front and back and the pearl dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard single bound. Hardware includes original Grover 'Sta-tite' tuners, early style rounded edge back-painted pickguard with Guild logo, amber "G-logo" knobs, and Bigsby with original Bigsby bridge marked "Guild" on the base bottom.
A great-playing and spectacular-sounding guitar, with a tone you could describe as a 1950's Gretsch crossed with a Gibson ES-330, with an additional high-end 'snap'. This guitar has a particularly good neck set angle and rates as probably the best-sounding and playing Starfire III we have had. Included is the original fleece-lined black HSC and the warranty card/hangtag-for a different AmberStar with a serial # that is 1200 instruments away...whether this is a factory error or a later addition we don't know!
The Starfire series has been Guild's most consistently successful electric guitar line since its inception, and these previously under-appreciated 1960's guitars have recently become better respected by collectors and players alike. This guitar dates to mid/late 1962 and is one of the most interesting Starfires we have seen. A much rarer guitar than the post-beat boom mid-60's version, especially in the custom-ordered Honey Amber finish. This is a very classy thin-body electric; compared to equivalent Gibson or Gretsch models, the early Starfire models are still rather undervalued guitars.
Overall length is 41 1/4 in. (104.8 cm.), 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 in. (5.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
All original and very clean overall; some finish missing along the back of the neck and general light finish wear, but a very well-cared for guitar. Generally Excellent + Condition.
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An extremely rare and beautiful example of an early Starfire III, equipped with the great-sounding white-topped DeArmond Dynasonic pickups (the same pickup Gretsch employed on their 1950's classics) used only from 1960-63. This guitar is finished in a light natural hue Guild called "Honey Amber" over the striped "Sapeli" mahogany body, giving a distinctive and very attractive look. This was a rare custom order finish option and the model name is noted on the label as "AmberStar III".
Hans Moust's THE GUILD GUITAR BOOK reports: "For a short time in the early '60's some Starfires with a color other than the standard cherry red finish had a different model name written on the label. No instruments from this series with a Honey Amber finish have been reported." Well, here's one, and if you'll pardon our pun she's a real honey all over!
The single cutaway fully hollow body is body triple bound front and back and the pearl dot-inlaid rosewood fingerboard single bound. Hardware includes original Grover 'Sta-tite' tuners, early style rounded edge back-painted pickguard with Guild logo, amber "G-logo" knobs, and Bigsby with original Bigsby bridge marked "Guild" on the base bottom.
A great-playing and spectacular-sounding guitar, with a tone you could describe as a 1950's Gretsch crossed with a Gibson ES-330, with an additional high-end 'snap'. This guitar has a particularly good neck set angle and rates as probably the best-sounding and playing Starfire III we have had. Included is the original fleece-lined black HSC and the warranty card/hangtag-for a different AmberStar with a serial # that is 1200 instruments away...whether this is a factory error or a later addition we don't know!
The Starfire series has been Guild's most consistently successful electric guitar line since its inception, and these previously under-appreciated 1960's guitars have recently become better respected by collectors and players alike. This guitar dates to mid/late 1962 and is one of the most interesting Starfires we have seen. A much rarer guitar than the post-beat boom mid-60's version, especially in the custom-ordered Honey Amber finish. This is a very classy thin-body electric; compared to equivalent Gibson or Gretsch models, the early Starfire models are still rather undervalued guitars.
Overall length is 41 1/4 in. (104.8 cm.), 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 in. (5.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
All original and very clean overall; some finish missing along the back of the neck and general light finish wear, but a very well-cared for guitar. Generally Excellent + Condition.