OK, school me on humbuckers!

As a huge fan of that era of Guild and Guild in general, I’ll say don’t change a thing!

But those pickups are their own sound, and if you want a PAF they’re not that.

My favorite is the Wolfetone Legend. If on a budget, Duncan 59/Alnico 2 pro set.

 

If you are looking for "real" PAF humbucker tone and not the modern over-wound humbucker tone, check out the Duncan/Lover SH55's. I put a set of those in my homemade HH Tele and really like them. If ya look around, ya can buy a new set for $165 - $175 bucks.

They have the chime and sparkle of a good PAF without darkness or mud. And, they really sing when you push the amp hard.

I like humbuckers that will play well with the amp - get a sweet overdriven tone on 10, but when ya roll back the guitars volume they clean up nicely and clearly. Not the best description maybe, but that's what I expect from a good PAF. Early Clapton or Allman type tone .


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Ya. Seth lovers. Lollar imperials. Dimarzio anniversary

 

Good options. Dimarzio transitions if you want the EQ of the PAF 36th Anniversary with more oomph and a tiny bit more mids.

 

Tonerider alnico classics (II or IV).. great, affordable PAF tones

 

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Pickup heights
Pots and caps swapping
Pickup swapping

Go in that order, testing after each change. Takes you from free to expensive mods. I hardly ever need to go beyond the second step which costs a nickel to $10. Some like to skip to swapping pickups and then are left trying to randomly match an expensive pickup to the comparably inexpensive controls.

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If you're feeling like messing about a bit. Try meddling with thre magnet or removing the cover.

 

Some great advice here. I have a Lollar low wind Imperial in the neck of my Tele, (and love it) but have used and loved Seth's, Dimarzio PAF's, Tonerider A4's, Antiquites, Manlius, among others, to great effect. For me, the lower winds work best.

 

For a certain era of the mid 90's, the Guild humbuckers were made by Seymour Duncan. They are called SD-1 pickups by Guild collectors. Duncan claims they are based on the 59 model and put onto a Guild bottom. I like the mid 70's Guild HB-1 pickups quite a bit. They wont fit into anything Guild made after 95/96 when Fender took over the Guild brand name. The pickups made by Fender for Guild guitars can sound quite lifeless. The Starfire IV in question might be from this era. Duncan's Seth Lover pickup is a well done PAF type pickup at a fairly reasonable price. There are many others as well.

 

What style do you play? For boutique buckers l like Vineham.
www.vineham.com
59s and Seths are good also. I personally like the unpotted humbucker if you don’t play super high gain.

 

I put sd jazz in the neck position always. Its a clear pickup that never gets muddy.