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2001 Guild SF-4 Starfire IV build in the Westerly, RI factory USA in near mint condition. Featuring an all maple laminate semi-hollow body in natural finish (blonde) with a solid mahogany neck & rosewood fingerboard with dot markers. Stop tail piece, adjustable bridge and Grover tuners. The original hardshell case is in very clean 100% condition.

Like all the Guild guitars I own, the build quality is impeccable with a flawless finish. This one must have spent a lot of time in its case. I purchased this from a collector. It is hard to capture the flame maple in pictures. It shows more flame in person.

This is the first Guild Starfire model I have owned. The single cut Starfire I and Starfire II are full hollow bodies. The double-cut Starfire IV, V and VI are semi-hollow with a center block. See this post on the great Guild Forum LetsTalkGuild.com for the differences in Starfire models.

Many players see these as an alternate to Gibson ES-335. Both have similar look, shape and also have a center block. Since I own a beautiful mint 2010 Gibson Custom Shop ES-335 I will make a few comparisons.

Guild SF-4 Starfire IV weighs 8-lbs 4-ozs just 1 oz more than my 2010 Gibson Custom Shop ES-335. In my opinion there are more similarities than differences. Both a fine guitars and both have fantastic build quality. Many of the body and neck dimensions are close. This Guild Starfire IV has a chunkier neck, but not that much bigger. Both have a similar nut width which is slightly larger than 1 11/16 inches.

Guild Starfire IV and 2010 Gibson ES-335 Custom Shop

Gibson ES-335 Grover Tuners

Guild SF4 Grover Tuners

The build quality and playability is quite excellent for both the Guild Starfire IV and the 2010 Gibson Custom Shop ES-335. I would give a slight edge to the Gibson. Note however that the Gibson is a Memphis build Custom Shop with a pretty high price tag. This particular ES-335 is pretty flawless. I paid far more for the Gibson purchased new. I will also note that the Gibson absolutely needed a setup when purchased. The Guild was a bargain in my opinion and a worthy contender. I later had my luthier replace the nut with a bone nut and do a complete setup. The Gibson ES-335 plays and sounds awesome….BUT for the price paid…IT should not have been necessary. The Guild Starfire IV was purchased used and needed nothing!

I have played many Gibson ES-335s new and used and found them to vary a lot in build quality and playability. My Custom Shop ES-335 in my opinion is one of the better ones I have played.

The hardware for both guitars are quite good and similar. Both use Grover tuners. The Gibson Custom Shop ES 335 has an older style AB-1 bridge which is different than the Nashville bridge Gibson is mainly using. The Guild bridge is probably closer to the Gibson Nashville style bridge.

The main differences between the Starfire and the ES-335 are the pickups, the pickguard (scratch plate for my British friends), jack/controls location and the neck joining the body.

Pickups
The pickups on the are 2000s Guild Starfire are HB-1 made by Fender. Which are not bad at all. Different from the earlier Seymour Duncan SD-1 that were used on the late 1990s Starfire. Also quite different from the early Guild HD-1 pickups. I find the Fender made HD-1 pickups a bit brighter than the Gibson ES 335 Classic 57s humbucker. They are quite good, but do lack a bit of character when playing clean with no pedals or distortion. This of course is subjective.

The Gibson Custom Shop have Gibson made Classic 57 humbuckers that are quite good. Likely closer to PAF type tones if you are into that sound (and who isn’t).

Swapping out the pickups on the Guild to say Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers or another set of humbuckers would be easy enough as the pickups are standard size. However if you want to keep the Guild dual hump style covers you would need to remove the original pickups and have them rewound by a custom pickup maker. I plan on living with the Guild pickups a while before deciding if I want to swap them out. See GADs excellent reviews and pickup info at the links below.

Pickguard
Just like the Gibson pickguard much better than the Guild. The Gibson pickguard on the ES-335 is a well made multi-ply with great hardware. The Guild is single ply and not as elegant.

Jack/Controls Location
The Starfire IV has the jack on the side of the body, which I much prefer. The Gibson ES-335 has the jack on the top. This kind of forces the use of an angle 1/4” plug and causes the volume/tone controls to be in a different location as well. Also the pickup selector is on the lower bout instead of on the upper bout like on the Guild! I definitely like the layout and jack location better on the Starfire.

Neck Joint
The feel of the Starfire is a bit different as the neck joins the body a little bit further down and the neck does feel a bit shorter in your hands. Nothing drastic, but different then the Gibson ES-335. Looking at the pictures you can see the neck pickup is a bit further down as well.

Both these guitars are fantastic and extremely well build. My intent was not to make it a contest, but just point out some differences. I have seen many players asking about the comparisons.

Read GADs excellent reviews on the Guild Starfire IV here and here.