Here's my 1971 Starfire II, from the years when they came standard with humbuckers. The covers for these pickups went AWOL before the bass came to me. It's still in very good condition, kind of amazing for 53 years since it was made. The only thing that was really degrading when I bought the instrument (for a song
) was the plastic trim block where the neck strap lug goes on the back of the bass. It was oxidizing and crumbling so I stabilized it with few coats of hardening fingernail laquer and it's been perfectly fine since. I've been puzzled by the adjustable pole screws both being toward the bridge on my pickups, while the 1971 Guild catalog (below) shows the neck pickup having the adjustable pole screws toward the neck on the neck pickup. I thought that perhaps the pickup had been reversed by a previous owner; however, when I took off the pickup rings, I discovered that the shape of the pickups allows only mounting as they are—and you can see that the twin tilt screws are both on the left side of the pickups, as they are in the catalog image. It's a puzzlement!
However...it's actually a thought.
I don't know anything of the history of this one but the inverted neck pickup and the absence of the pickup covers may be related in some way. They're certainly the right pickups since I've been able to find photos of others when removed and they are a match for mine. I wonder... In any case, it sounds kind of amazing, so it remains just a curiosity.
