WORKING CONDITION: Excellent. This guitar is professionally set up with low action and no buzzing. All pickup positions work flawlessly and sound great, and the Bigsby is silky-smooth with no tuning issues.

We are selling this guitar for renowned session guitarist Corky James, and with that, some meaningful upgrades have been done to the guitar to make it "Session Ready". The original tuners have been upgraded to Gotoh, and some parts of the Bigsby tremolo have been upgraded using Mastery parts, thus creating smoother action with the vibrato and better tuning stability. Lastly, the bridge has been changed for the same reason: better sustain, harmonics, and tuning reliability. 

PHYSICAL CONDITION: Very Good. There are signs of age in the finish (which is to be expected for a 65-year-old vintage instrument), but no gouges or deformations of any kind. The back of the neck is peppered with some dings and scratches but still feels great. The metalwork is shiny, with very little pitting or oxidation. In all, this guitar is a bit of a time capsule and one of the finest examples of Guild's stellar craftsmanship we have seen.

INVENTORY #58659

BRAND: Guild

MODEL: Starfire III

FUNCTION: Vintage Electric Guitar

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: This listing is for a Vintage 1961 Guild Starfire III Electric Guitar w/ Original Case. 

The 1961 Guild Starfire III is a premier early thinline hollow-body electric guitar, characterized by its single cutaway, mahogany construction, and dual White De Armond single coil pickups. As a top-of-the-line model for its era, it is distinguished from the Starfire II by the inclusion of a factory Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.

SPECS:

• Serial #17760
• Finish/Color: Cherry Red w/ Nitrocellulose Laquer
• Weight: 6.75 lbs
• Body: Thinline hollow-body with a laminated mahogany top, back, and sides
• Bridge: Replaced Model?
• Tailpiece: Guild-branded Bigsby B6 w/ upgraded string shaft
• Neck: One-piece mahogany with a a set-neck joint
• Nut Width: 1 11/16"
• Scale Length: 24.75"
• Tuners: Gotoh Open-Gear w/ Metal Butterbean Buttons
• Fretboard: Bound Brazillian Rosewood w/ Dot inlays
• Frets: 20 Vintage Medium 
• General Neck Shape: Vintage "C" Profile
• Pickup Configuration: (2) White-Top Single Coil De Armond
• Knob and Switch Configuration: 2 Volume, 2 Tone w/ 3-way Pickup Selector
• Other: Original bridge with nylon saddles, rosewood bridge base, Bigsby spring, arm axle, and string shaft are in the case.

Genuine vintage USA-made Guild, crafted at the company’s Hoboken, NJ factory, loaded with its original pair of DeArmond Dynasonic “white-face” single coil pickups. Hollow body thinline mahogany body with a mahogany set neck and bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard. Legendary DeArmond Dynasonic pickups full, fat single coil 60's tones w/ plenty of sparkle, and harmonically complex midrange presence. Clear and articulate pickups, responding very well to overdrive as well. Weight: 6lbs 10oz, professionally setup.

Two-piece mahogany neck, maple center stripe has a medium C-shaped profile carve with full shoulders in every register, measuring .845” deep at the 1st fret and .950” at the 9th. The bound Brazilian rosewood fretboard is a very dark, tight-grained cut, 24 3/4“ scale straight neck, optimally-adjusted truss rod, 1 11/16” at the nut.

Headstock is Guild's earlier and shorter "open book" shape that more closely mirrored a Gibson, with the headstock veneer and Guild logo, Chesterfield inlay, and the distinctly-shaped truss rod cover) sits flat on all edges. With the original Grover open-gear butterbean tuners, functioning smoothly and reliably.

ACCESSORIES INCLUDED: This item comes as seen in photos and includes the original vulcanized fiber case.

EXTRAS INCLUDED:

• Original bridge with nylon saddles
• Rosewood bridge base
• Bigsby spring, arm axle, and string shaft are in the case.
  

UNPACKAGED WEIGHT: 15 lbs.

UNPACKAGED DIMENSIONS: 44" x 4" x 18"