Guild Starfire VI Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar - Blonde Reviews

Thanks so much to Mason and his team for guiding me in the right direction. My Starfire VI sounds, looks and plays exactly the way I hoped.

This was my first online guitar purchase, made reluctantly based on friends recommendations of Sweetwater. All I can say is that this was a stellar experience. The guitar arrived on time and well packaged, as do all Sweetwater purchases. My sales engineer Sunni Brandon kept me apprised throughout the whole process and sent me pictures of my actual guitar before I received it.

The guitar itself was in immaculate condition. Considering this had been through at least a couple of pairs of hands during the inspection process, there was not a single fingerprint on it. The guitar was in tune and the setup define. I set all my guitars up myself and this required nothing. Kudos to Sweetwater.

I highly recommend buying your next guitar from Sweetwater, I certainly will.

I recently became the proud owner of a new Starfire VI. It is absolutely beautiful. The build quality is absolutely stunning. I've played many Gibson 365's, and none of them had the beauty and guild quality of this Guild. An of course, the price difference tells me the the Starfire is a steal and the Gibson is terribly over priced. Congratulations to Guild!!

This guitar is beyond what I thought it could be. First time buying an instrument on line. No regrets at all Thank you for this. Got here fast without any problems. What an amazing guitar feels great and sure is pretty!! Sweetwater is the go to place for me. Beautiful thank you to all at Sweetwater WOW just WOW now to explore this fine instrument Thank you again!!!

I've wanted a Gibson ES-335 for years…but didn't. Initially started off looking for a double cutaway Gretsch and tried almost everything they make, but couldn't find what I was looking for in the color I wanted, the electronics, price range, etc. Looked at Epiphones, D'Angelicos, Gibsons, pretty much everything. Finally just searched "semi-hollow" in Sweetwater's search engine and the Guild Starfire VI in blonde popped up. It immediately stood out, but I was hesitant about dropping that much money without being able to play it in person. My sales engineer said I should definitely give it a shot, so I pulled the trigger.
The guitar arrived in a case, heavily packed and with no blemishes or damage. And it arrived a day early. I opened the case and just knew it was what I'd been looking for. The neck is just the right shape; not as huge as an Epiphone 335, but not flat and thin. It's perfect. The detailing on the guitar is superb; lots of little…almost Art Deco touches that set it apart from more well known guitars. It can produce pretty much any tone from any other semi-hollowbody.
I won't upload photos for my review, because apparently the guitar you see in the Sweetwater listing is the actual guitar I was sent. How more people aren't playing these is a mystery.

Guitar is stellar. Well set up and in excellent condition. Good fitting hard case. Service of my order was quick and efficient. My new guitar showed up several days earlier than originally promised. Wonderful service as always from Sweetwater.

To be honest I am a no guitar master. Playing is my therapy. I have been playing cheap guitars my whole life. This is my first big purchase of a guitar. So let me say this. It was worth every penny. I am able to play things on this guitar I couldn't before on a cheap guitar. I now play till my fingers hurt and hate putting it down. They playability is amazing to me. Its like the thing wants to jam with me. And the look is hard to explain. The pictures do not do justice to this guitar. On top of all that. The customer service at Sweetwater is just incredible. They have been checking in on me ever since I bought the guitar. Derrick Engler can't thank you enough buddy.

A delight to play. Neck is like butter. And such a pretty thing to look at. I'm not really into the gold thing, but it works here. Have I mentioned it's gorgeous? Great for blues and classic/hard rock. I'm not a jazz player, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't find superlative jazz tones in this beautiful beast.

I was a little worried about buying a guitar "sight unseen" that I had not played. After reviewing Sweetwater's set up process and talking to Ian I was comfortable enough to to make the purchase and I have been thrilled with the guitar. It arrived in perfect condition and the setup was great. An excellent experience all around.
Mark

Guild Starfire VI in Blonde (050321)
The Guild Starfire VI (in Blonde) is an exceptional guitar in remarkable ways, as it combines both form with function to achieve a powerful artistic impression. Besides the head to tail raw beauty, she has a fretboard articulation and tonal resonance that spring to life the moment you start to play it. The drop-dead looks welcome the player to a well-rounded instrument that carries a sonic projection that is both sharp yet refined enough to appeal to discerning guitarists—as only a traditional, well-conceived, semi-hollow body can deliver. Although a child of the Sixties, the Starfire VI indeed finds itself at home in the 21st Century like an old hippie who has stopped over for a drink and brings those great, first-generation Rock stories that you love. The abalone and mother-of-pearl fret markers, along with the gold hardware, traditional Guild tailpiece, and flaming maple finish compliment the black bezels, crème and pin striped binding, and stair-step pick guard that highlight her appearance. Granted, at first blush one starts wondering whether or not the sound can match the looks with this instrument and whether the Guild "Made to be played" motto can be confidently confirmed with such a handsome guitar—you're quickly disabused of any doubts once you play it. The instrument is no pretender, and she proves it with her bright, expressive neck and bridge pickups, tight Grover tuners, responsive tremolo arm, and a fits-like-a-glove neck (9.5 inch radius) that generations of guitarists like Eric Clapton have employed to great success with magical music. So don't wait too long, as who knows when this gem of an instrument will be discontinued and become another memorable and cherished part of history . . . just like that beloved hippie friend of yours who is waiting, like us, for the next Grateful Dead concert.
-Kit 05/03/21

I'm a semi hollow devotee. I own at least seven different models but this is clearly the best. Great playability and beautiful tone. The neck pickup is amazing: rich and articulate but never muddy. The bridge pickup is good but I swapped it out for another neck pickup (guild has them) and am very glad I did, outstanding sound in both spots. I also added the gold vibramate spoiler, great for string changes (also looks cool) and locking Grover tuners.
I play out a lot (blues and jazz mostly) and am always complimented by the cool looks and awesome tone. Even with the mods it is much less expensive than a 335, and way, way better.

Purchased an "open box" "mint" guitar from SW. The reps were very helpful. Guitar arrived in great condition, but needed intonation, and bridge height set-up, and p.u. height adjust, and tremolo bar adjust. All taken care of by SW. Now the action is terrific. Couldn't be happier with the low radius neck too. That was the diff-maker for me vs some of the other Gibson, and Gretch semi hollows. The build and finish quality is punching above its weigh vs. the price point. I'm using a Tech 21 Blonde amp pedal into a mixer, then into a PA. I alternate with an acoustic guitar, singing, playing solo, and using a loop station.

Everything about this is great. Looks better than the pictures. Build quality seems excellent. The fretboard is so smooth, the v block inlays look great,the pickups sounds amazing. Very full tone that sounds great clean or with high gain. Notes ring out very defined. The vibrato seems to work well. I cant comment on if it stays in tune because I only have the guitar for 3 days and I think everything has to break in. Knobs and switches feel solid. It makes me regret buying my $2,000 telecaster because I don't want to play it anymore. If you want a great looking guitar that has a great classic rock and blues sound you won't regret buying this guitar.

I just got my smoking hot Guild Starfire VI - Vibrato, Cherry semi hollow body and I love it. After Sweetwater's 55 point inspection and set up the guitar showed up on my doorstep ready to roll. It makes me feel great just to look at it and it plays even better. I love the action and the although I was skeptical of the Bigsby Vibrato tailpiece pre-purchase, after playing, I love it. I have been playing a Strat for years and was looking for something new and that had a more rounded sound and i found it in my SF VI. Sweetwater's service is also excellent all around. I work with David M. there. David is courteous, professional and always available to provide info or just make things happen.

After playing solid bodies for 50 years, I joined a band playing more rhythm and wanting a "rounder" sound. I shopped heavily for hollow body electrics including semi-hollow and initially settled on a full hollow body, single cutaway that sounded great (Gretsch 5420T, very nice guitar). I read dozens of reviews and watched countless youtube videos. When I played the Starfire VI all my research went out the window: this was the one. The playability and versatility of the sounds is unmatched by any guitar I played including vintage models and more expensive ones (for my music taste). The build quality and visual appeal is truly inspiring, even though I'm mainly interested in how it plays and sounds. Not for nothing, a master volume control + separate volume and tone is so practical that I can't believe every guitar doesn't have this setup. The tailpiece is very stable, but takes a few days to settle in. Feedback is minimal even at high volume, which was a problem with other full hollow bodies I played, even the ones with designs that were supposed to limit feedback.

I find myself playing twice as much because this guitar is so much fun to play. I literally can't walk by it without picking it up.

Love this guitar. Arrived quickly. Well packed and in pristine condition. Perfect setup out of the box. Beautiful flame top and back. All controls worked as intended, with not extraneous noise. Nevertheless, I "hotrodded" mine with Grover locking tuners (looks better with the bigger buttons anyway), a Vibromate Spoiler (to facilitate string changes), a modded StewMac roller bridge, and (of course) a black toggle switch cap.

I love this guitar. While it took a while to get here it was well worth the wait. I play a range of reverb heavy ambient music to rock and this guitar can handle both genres quite well. When shopping for a semi-hollow body, I looked at all types including a ES-335 dot and ES-339. Considering price I would say that the Starfire VI is a much better deal!