FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

In 2018, Guild reissued the Starfire XII as a stop tail version and called it the Starfire IV ST-12. Herein, it will still be called the Starfire XII because that's what it is. According to Guild's website, the Starfire XII was fitted with a rosewood fingerboard for the first year. Yet the guitar shown here is from early 2018 and has an unstained Macassar ebony fingerboard. Never trust catalog or website specifications! Normally, the Starfire double cutaway models had a solid center block that ran from the neck pickup route to the butt end of the guitar. This is definitely the case with all American Starfires and Korean Starfires made from 2012 to 2017. This design was changed around 2018 on the Korean-made models. The guitar here had two boards that run the length of the body and the top and back are gluded them. They are carved out as needed for pickup fitment and wiring. A solid block of wood sits underneath the bridge and stop tail (and between the two boards). This design reduces the overall weight of the guitar, but also means it is neck heavy. The small humbucking pickups are bright and chimey just as on the original 1960s Starfire XII.

 Body: Semi-hollow; laminated 1-piece Sapele top and back, and laminated Sapele sides; single bound top and back 

 Finish: Cherry Red, polyurethane 

 Neck: 3-piece mahogany/maple, set-in; black finished headstock overlay with pearloid logo and Chesterfield inlay

 Fingerboard: Macassar ebony, single bound; pearloid dot markers

 Number of Frets: 22

 Pickguard: Acrylic

 Bridge: Guild Adjust-a-matic with stop tailpiece

 Nut: Bone

 Tuners: Hanchang SG115,sealed,  nickel

 Pickups: Two, Guild LB-1 humbucking with adjustable pole pieces, nickel

 Controls: Tone and volume controls for each pickup, 3-way pickup selector

 Scale Length: 24 3/4 inches

 Neck Width at Nut: 1 3/4 inches

 Body Width at Lower Bout: 16 1/2 inches

 Body Depth: 1 3/4 inches

 Weight: 7.6 lb