A good deal or what?

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langleyt

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A friend of mine just happened upon a guitar that some guy had stored in his closet. I think it just may be worth something but I know nothing about guitars. Anyway, it is a Starfield (ever heard of that brand?) imitation Les Paul. As far as the brand goes I heard that Gibson bought out Starfield in the 1950s; that's what my friend said that the guy who gave him the guitar told him anyway...so that's why not many people have heard of it. So, it is pretty old and is labeled Custom to boot. It has real pearl inlays and the plugin piece at the bottom is pure silver. It has hardly ever been played (the frets are barely even worn) and just handed down from father to son, now my friend is the proud owner. It looks a great deal like the Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus that I saw in Musician's Friend with a light burst finish with that cross-grain, woodcut look. That's the best I know how to describe it.

My friend is wanting to clean it up. Not that it is anywhere close to dirty or anything. He just wants to give it a nice shine and clean up the pickups and that kind of thing, and is wondering what would be the best thing to clean it with. Any ideas?

So what do you guys think? He got this thing for FREE, so at the very least it was a good deal!

t
 
made by Ibanez in the American shop....but I thought they were strat shaped......................gibs
 
A good carnuba wax based guitar polish (like Martin). DO NOT use Pledge or any furniture polish in a aerisol can as the propelant can disolve laquer finishes.
 
Thanks guys...

I don't know gibs, I don't think this is the same thing as you are thinking. I saw some vintage guitars made by Ibanez, or it's Japanese equivilent, called Starfield. But they looked like a Fender. This guitar doesn't look anything like any of the guitars in the Fender family. I actually mislabled it by calling it an imitation Les Paul. The only thing that stamps it as a Les Paul is it's appearance. It is actually a Starfield Custom guitar made in the 1950s, and looks just like a Gibson Les Paul Custom from the same era. Starfield being the brand name which I don't think resurfaced as Ibanez or as any existing company at all. I'm not sure it was fashioned to resemble the Les Paul, but it seems Gibson had a problem with the design and bought the company out. Lock, stock and barrel. I believe this guitar may actually be a rare find and can't even be found in duplication.

Thanks Track Rat for the polish tip, I will pass it along. I already kinda figured about the aerosol stuff. When I used to do clean up behind the guys, I was afraid to do anything more to their guitars than dust them with a clean cloth. :)

t
 
I'm pretty sure there was no Starfield guitar from the 50's...

Some information here:

http://www.jemsite.com/usa/usa.htm

Seems that the Ibanez Custom Shop in southern California made these in the early 90's. I did a search on Google and found some Starfields out there, all dating from the late 80's to the early 90's so far as I can tell. One of the Starfield models became the Ibanez Talman model... Someone mentioned that Fender sold the Starfield name to Ibanez... at any rate, I found no mention of any guitars of this name from anything earlier than the late '80s.
 
Well, whatever its provenance, free is for sure a great deal!!!!.............:cool:

Just because I never heard of a Starfield/Gibson connection, doesn't mean it didn't happen, because Gibson, like Fender, has had a long and interesting, rather meandering way to get where they are now.....

Gibson also has had more than its share of suing through the years, and I'm not sure if Ibanez wasn't one of the sue-ees, so maybe a connection there is possible.....could have been Fender suing them, though, over the strat/tele lookalikes.....

Maybe you can get your friend to make a picture, and you can upload it somewhere for us to look at....seeing the body shape, pick ups, hardware, bridge, tail, etc might elicit more information from somebody and we can get a more concrete history on it............

In the meantime, I hope your friend enjoys the guitar!....gibs
 
The Starfield guitars were manufactured by Starfield America, located in North Hollywood, CA. They discontinued production on their two lines Altair and Cabriolet in 1994. I don't know exactly when they started production, but I don't think it was in the 1950s. It was probably sometime after Seymour Duncan started making pickups.

The model you are describing sounds like the Cabriolet. It was a single cutaway which came in three models, the American Special, the American Standard and the SJ Limited. The top of the line was the American Special which had a list price of $1,250. It had two Seymour Duncan humbuckers. They also had an ebony fingerboard with pearl dot inlays on some models. In excellent shape this guitar would be worth around $900.

I think that the Ibanez guitars that you are talking about are the Artstar series.
 
I'll try to get a pic of this guitar, but i'm telling you guys it really exists. I saw it with my own eyes. And it's old; it's been handed down several generations. I don't think it can be found by a simple internet search; me and my husband have been trying to find it that way too. I'm really baffled. I'm beginning to think this Starfield, not Ibanez, has a story to tell. I'm gonna keep digging. :)

t
 
Cool

langleyt sounds like your friend got a fantastic deal. I've never heard of starfield. So if you find some info on this I would really love to see it. And definately would like to see a pic.
Congrats to your friend.
 
I checked around and there is a link between the Starfield guitar and Ibanez. It seems that the Ibanez custom shop "H&S" actually manufactured guitars for Starfield at one time. These have been known as the "Ibanez Starfield."

Here is a link to a picture of one of the Ibanez Starfields.

http://communities.msn.co.nz/Guitar...mikesguitars.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=40

Is this anything like your friend's guitar? Here is a link to the Ibanez history.

http://www.jemsite.com/usa/usa.htm

I am still on the hunt for information. If I turn up anything else, I will let you know.:)
 
Sammander said:
Hmm... It has the right shape to look like a les paul.
Click to expand...

You are kidding .....right?

Here is a Les Paul..
 

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Sonic Misfit, I am glad you are on the search too. This won't leave my mind until it is resolved. Thank you so much for the pics, but that is not the guitar that my friend has. Those look more like a Fender, Telecaster to me. And not even nearly old enough. My friends guitar looks more like the pic joro posted. I found a Gibson LP Standard that looks real close too. I think it is a '59. I must sound like a nut, but that guitar is so old the finish is about a quarter of an inch thick. I haven't talked to my friend again yet, he lives in another state, but I am now determined to get a pic. This is baffling and exciting at the same time, and i'm gonna get to the bottom of it. Meantime, anyone else who wants to join the search...jump right in! The mystery guitar looks almost exactly like this one below, except maybe even older:

t
 

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Did any of the Starfields wind up in the Sears instrument lineup?
I bought a slick LP knockoff from Sears in '77, but can't remember the mfr.
 
langley,

This may have already been done, but I would be contacting Gibson and also any reputable vintage guitar dealers.........maybe somewhere on that path you will get confirmation of the supposed origins of this guitar.



:cool:
 
here is another shot

Is this what it looks like Langley?
 

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Here's the head stock

Pretty nice looking guitar
Not a Les Paul but, maybe this guy can steer you in the right direction....ya know?
 

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Last edited:
joro, I just sent an email to that site, asking the history on the guitar.....I've never seen a quasi LP shaped electric/acoustic with a trapeze tail quite like it.........it's unusual to say the least....

I don't really expect a reply, but if I get one I'll check back......gibs
 
Interesting that the headstock inlay is VERY similar to that found on some Epiphones, both original US models and the Asian made models.

Who copied it from who?

:cool:
 
Re: here is another shot

joro said:
Is this what it looks like Langley?
Click to expand...


Thanks for the link joro. Very nice guitar pic too, but not the one i'm looking for. It was an Ibanez wasn't it, acoustic? Wow that guy has a lot of guitars; maybe I should write him.

I think you are right ausrock. I already checked out the Gibson website but I couldn't find anything. I need to be armed with a picture first, I think, and go from there. When I started this thread, I had no idea that it was going to be this hard to find out the origins of this guitar. So it looks like my next step in this investigation is to drive south and get some photos and then write Gibson and the guy from joro's link.

So Sammander when I get that pic, I will certainly post it. :)

Thanks all!
t

btw...the picture I posted above looks almost identical to the guitar even to the seam you can see smack in the middle. I also got to thinking that the frets may be silver. When I first looked at them they had a dingy green look to them; now i'm thinking the dingy look could be tarnished silver.
 
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