Starfire I SC Antique Burst : Quite a lovely and flexible guitar

I bought it because I had a performance coming that was mostly in a blues/rock n roll vein. I've always been curious about Guilds... The Lovin Spoonful's Zal Yanovsky played a Guild S-200 Thunderbird... would love to try one of those. So I guess I was primed to try one out.

It arrived, typical NGD...the excitement of opening the box and pulling the guitar case (which I'm glad I ordered) opened it and ... it wasn't as set up as I'd hoped. So I fiddled with it. The fretwork was ok enough. Not the best but not that bad either. I adjusted the bridge height, the truss rod and intonation but once I got it sorted and plugged it in.... it was lovely!

It has a wider neck than I'm used to but I quite like it. It feels almost like an acoustic or classic style guitar. Nice thick frets really add to the tone.

I like that if I want a sound like an amplified acoustic sound it does that brilliantly. Very deep resonant tones. And, when I want something a notch up jazzier it's got that as well. But it's also good for going into hard blues (sounding great through my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV) and... very much rocks hard. And...for other genres that I like (post punk , shoe gaze... ska, etc., etc.. ) I'm quite happy with it. Even surprised by it.

I do have to confess that I modded by switching the stop tailpiece with a trapeze style one to give it more of a vintage look; -which I'm happy to say adds to something to the tone (or so I perceive it to do.) I'll probably mod it further by replacing the plastic nut and maybe add a roller bridge to it. I busted a string on it mid set. But I have no complaints about the pickups though. Very satisfied with that.