Guild Starfire III Model Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1961), made in Hoboken, NJ, cherry lacquer finish, laminated mahogany body; mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, original brown hard shell case.
A beautiful example of a very early Starfire III, complete with the extremely cool white-topped DeArmond Dynasonic pickups (the same pickup Gretsch employed on their 1950's classics) used only for the first couple of years on this model. Nice medium cherry finish, body triple bound front and back, and fingerboard single bound. Original Grover "Sta-tite" tuners, early-style rounded back-painted pickguard with Guild logo, amber "G-logo" knobs, and Bigsby with original Bigsby bridge marked "Guild Spec" on the saddle 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'.
The Starfire series has been Guild's most consistently successful electric guitar line since its inception in the early 1960's, and these often under-appreciated 1960's guitars have recently become better respected. This guitar dates to the beginning of 1961 and is one of the earliest Starfires we have seen. A much rarer guitar than the mid-60's version, this is a very classy thin-body electric; compared to equivalent Gibson or Gretsch models these are still a rather undervalued guitars.
Overall length is 41 1/8 in. (104.4 cm.), 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 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 with light average wear. Tailpiece changed to non-vibrato at some point; now restored with proper period Bigsby. An extremely nice and very early example. Original HSC is in solid condition but cosmetically wanting with some areas of covering missing. Excellent Condition.
