Guild Starfire II w/LB1 - Any experience with recent Korean versions?

[va3ux]

Any experience with this guitar (Korean Starfire II) and its 'jazz guitar tone' ? The recently-made Korean versions had an 'extra thin body'. Are the LB1 pickups capable of mellow tones ?

TIA

[Rickco]

I had a '23 starfire III with LB1s, Korean made. The pickups were outstanding! I played it next to a '60 and it played and sounded almost the same and just as good, I was amazed at the quality of the pickups and the build of the guitar I think the II is semi hollow as opposed to the III but I liked it so much I grabbed a new T-50 and it is same year Korean same extremely high quality. Not exactly apples to apples but I wouldnt hesitate on a Korean Guild. The Chinese lines however are made cheaply for a much lower price point. I liked the LB1 so much Ive been trying to buy one for another project...check out the prices!!! and these are new Korean pickups, who'd a thunk?

[va3ux]

Wow. Thanks Ricko. That's great to hear. Is the LB1 neck pickup capable of smooth warm jazz tone ?

There's a Korean SF II ST for sale near here and I'm going to take a look at it. It apparently is 'full hollow' with a block under the bridge and stop tail piece, which is still full hollow in my book. On paper, this guitar checks alot of boxes for me.

Thanks again for the info.

[jazzloverfat]

Tried a Starfire IV about a year ago and it was a pretty amazing instrument. It was resonant and quite loud unplugged and through the store's Friedman amp it sounded righteous.

I also tried a (NOS?) Korean made Schecter Corsair which unplugged had one of the sweetest sounds I've heard from a semi-hollow.

Other Korean guitars I tried are from D'Angelico, the EXL-1 hollow and a limited edition semi and while fit&finish was great on both, the semi felt a bit less resonant unplugged compared to the Schecter and the Guild.

So based on this very relevant sample size , I'd say Korean guitars are pretty good propositions and definitely worth considering. Only reason I didn't buy them was purely superficial, I wanted something with USA on the headstock and a better brand cachet. But I still think about both the Starfire and the Corsair...

[LesB3]

I have the rarer "Dynasonic" version of the SF-II, the "DST" model.



It is a very thin, very light guitar, thinner than SF-III's - VI's for sure. As said before, it is fully hollow, with a block under the stop tail. LB-1's are closer to mini-HB's than standard HB's but do have their own semi-unique sound. I don't have any experience with them in an SF-II, but one of my SF-VI's has them, and they are definitely usable for Jazz. It should be noted that the SF-VI has an extra volume pot that the SF-II doesn't have, and my experience has been that it tends to darken the tone a bit on that guitar. So, they might sound brighter on the SF-II.

I really love the dark brown color and gold hardware combination.

Weak points for the SF-II will be the cheap-ish tuners, crappy pots, and an absolutely dreadful switch. I don't know where Guild gets their switches, but they are the worst in the biz, bar none. I've had them fail in as little as 3 months. All easily replaceable I guess. These didn't originally come with a case, so if you find one with a case, consider it a bonus!

There are a great many starfires to choose from, but only the II's, V's and the VI's were sold with LB-1's. SF-III's and SF-IV's generally come with HB-1's (full size humbucker) and modern SF-I's will come with an HB-2 (cheaper version of the HB-1, but commonly paired with coil splitting pots). I don't think there are any Guild electric hollow or semi-hollows that are made in China, only some of the solid-bodies are. SF-1's will be Indonesian, SF-II and on up will be Korean. Sometimes special models were issued so pickup options will vary!

Good luck!

[Rickco]

The LB1s are hot but full warm tone definitely fit for jazz. The newer SFIIIs come with LB1 or "mini buckers". The '23 T50 came with a Dyna, completely different sound Id swap it for a LB1 new or old if the weren't so damn expensive.