Guild Starfire III Model Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1966), made in Hoboken, NJ, serial # EK-1349, cherry lacquer finish, Laminated mahogany body, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, original black hard shell case.

This 1966 Guild Starfire III was the highest-ranked single-cutaway, fully hollowbody guitar in the very popular Starfire line. The Starfire III is a fully hollow thin-body, single cutaway guitar with a cherry finish, triple-bound top and back, equipped with Guild's 1960s Humbucking pickups and a Guild-logo Bigsby vibrato and bridge. This mid-1966 example is little changed from 1963-5 models except for a volute added to the back of the neck in 1965 and the Japanese-made tuning machines Guild began using right at this time.

The Starfire III is a great '60s rock and roll guitar from the end of the "Beat Boom" era, and is well-suited to jazzier stylings as well. This exact model was extensively used by many top mid-1960s groups including the Kinks, Beau Brummels, Music Machine, Dakotas, and many more; even the young Jerry Garcia. The Starfire III was easily Guild's most popular professional grade electric guitar at the time. 60 years along these original Starfires represent some of the remaining comparatively more affordable original American-made classic electrics of the period; still a versatile and great-sounding instrument.

Overall length is 40 11/16 in. (103.3 cm.), 16 1/4 in. (41.3 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).

This is a nicely clean and all-original completely unaltered example of this classic Starfire with just some typical minor wear. The finish retains a nice cherry color with hardly any fade. The all-original lacquer shows some general checking (heaviest on the back) with mostly small dings, dents and scuffs overall. The back of the neck has just a couple of tiny dings.

The binding is fully intact with some minor shrinking in the cutaway, the headstock veneer shows some scuffing but less shrinkage than many. All hardware is original and complete, showing mostly only light wear. The original frets have been lightly crowned and show light subsequent wear and the guitar plays very well with a better action than many. Overall this is a very nice package of 1960s hollowbody goodness including a well-preserved original Guild-marked HSC. Overall Excellent Condition.