I used to own a gorgeous emerald green Guild Starfire, circa 1965.

I am considering getting another semi-hollowbody, and the top contenders are Guild Stargfire V or VI, and Gibson ES335 or ES 339.  I realize the Guilds are made in Korea, but reports seem to indicate they are pretty decent.  The Gibson ES 335 doesn't seem to have man complaints, while other Gibson models (336-339) seem to have problems with tuners, and/or the nut.

I am interested in input from people who have either owned, or played enough on both instruments (not just 10 minutes in the guitar store) to give more realistic input than the advertising input most manufacturers put out.

Any input will be appreciated.  I realize there is a price difference, and that I have a history of success with Guild, but the money isn't an issue, and I don't want my pre-existing bias toward Guild to be a bias either...

The current Guild stuff isn't too shabby at all. The Korean factory does a fine job.  Heck, across the board, Korean and Japanese guitars are great these days... Chinese builds are nothing to sneeze at either lately if you shop carefully.  Eastman makes a great 335 clone in the T386 and T486 lines... under 1k new for nitro finished and hand built?  That is pretty amazing.(necks are wide and thin, but felt pretty good to me... kinda want a T486 still).

The Gibsons are what they are, pretty much the gold standard... generally a very good instrument but there is a low level of hit/miss in the QC that has been nagging for years... and attracting vocal haters for years as a result.  I'd suggest playing before buying if possible, especially the semi / full hollow models.  There is something very hit/miss on tone with the semi/full hollows... what sounds great to one person might be classified as a dog by another.  The 335 I have was sold to me as a dog but sounds amazing to me... I'm still trying to find out why the prior owner hated it so much.  I have an Epi 339 Pro that is a pretty dang good guitar as well... I'd prefer nitro finish, but that's mainly my personal preference.  The 339 sounds a bit more like my LP's than I'd like, it's not as airy as a 335.  Upper neck access is also a bit tight as the smaller body does crowd the hand a bit above the 12th fret.
The 335s sound great, but the body can be a bit large if you play sitting, depending on your stature of course.

Between the two, I prefer the 335 by a pretty good margin... not just because of the headstock.  Neither the 335 or 339 give me the uncontrollable feedback I'd been promised playing higher gain with fuzz/disortion... no more feedback than a solid body in my experience.

Almost every Gibson "My guitar won't stay in tune" complaint I've heard can be addressed simply with lubing the nut (graphite, nut sauce...) and proper stringing technique... I'd venture that proper stringing technique would solve better than 90% of the complaints I've heard.  Failing that, having a tech touch the nut up usually does the trick.  Hell... that applies to all makes, not just Gibson.... it just seems Gibson catches most of the vocal outrage.

Pretty much across the board with a semi / full hollow body being the intended model, I'd play before you buy if possible.  The little differences in each instrument seem magnified  due to that body style.

I haven't played for many years, but took classical and flamenco lessons for years, even though I wanted to be a rocker...parents paid for the lessons, so that is what I got.  I don't know if playing style makes much of a difference, even though I am very aware that a circa 1965 Starfire would hardly be anyone's choice for a classical/flemenco lesson instrument...but that is what I had.

I had a really nice limited edition Martin OM in flame maple, but because of an old shoulder injury the angle to reach around the thicker OM body was perfectly wrong for my shoulder.  So I had to let it go.

If any of this makes a difference, please let me know.  I had heard that correct string wrapping, and lube for the strings often solved the problems people had.  I think when folks pay that much for an instrument, they expect it to be perfect out of the case, when it is really no different than learning the idiosyncrasies of a new pistol or rifle.

I am looking at getting back into playing again as I used to enjoy spending hours just playing and practicing.  Guitar will probably end up cheaper than what I currently spend for ammo in any given year in any event.

The 335/339 type are very versatile as to type of music you would play on them.  Thinner body semi-hollowbodies may be a great place for you to start.  Much easier to mess with than crazy thick bodies in some of the fully hollowbodies.

Have you given any consideration to Epiphones rendition of the 335/339?  They're under 500$ for a very playable instrument.  The Dot and Dot Pro are great lines at lower prices.  They offer a great value for someone new to playing, or just getting back into it.

Might also be worth your time to sit down at a guitar shop and try some of the solid body offerings... Telecasters, Stratocasters, Les Pauls, SG's... all classics in their own right for good reason, they're also pretty agnostic as to what types of music can be played on em.

I would do most playing without an amp.   I am more interested in which instrument would be more playable for me.  I prefer a thinner neck, but didn't find the neck on the Martin OM42 to bee too bad, it was the body thickness that bothered me.  Playability, quality, and sound both unplugged, and plugged in are more important than cost.  

resale value is only a passing interest as I really don't plan on selling it, and hopefully I will make the right purchase the first time rather than swapping guitars a few times before I end up with the right one.  I am a firm believer in buy right once, and only cry once, rather than crying every time I have to loose money swapping out a piece I am not happy with.  I accept that doing that (cry once) usually costs more money the first time.

Although Guild holds great memories for me, I realize that the newer Guilds are different than my circa 1965 instrument.  As a result I lean toward Gibson, but am certainly receptive if there are great  reports on current Guilds.

It sounds like you are looking for a guitar to play more or less acoustically.  If this is so you are looking at the wrong guitars. I own and have played many semi hollow body guitars and none of them are very satisfying to play without being plugged in.

I've never owned the guitars you're looking at, but I have 3 Korean built guitars (Epiphone Les Paul Custom, Schecter Jeff Loomis model, and Jackson King V) and they're all well made guitars.

I also own a '16 Gibson Les Paul Standard and a '14ish Gibson Explorer. My only gripe on the Les Paul is that the outer edges of the nut weren't perfectly cut, but it's otherwise perfectly functional and causes no problems. And since it's a Graph Tech nut, I don't have to worry about lubing it. The tuners are good too.

My Explorer is well made too, but on those, for some reason, they put fast ratio tuners on them and it can be a pain in the ass to tune. Also there's not quite enough range on the low E saddle on the bridge to intonate it with normal strings (this issue seems to be isolated to random Explorers), so I have to run heavy bottom sets on it, but I've been running those on my other guitars more and more, so it works out.

Even though about half, or maybe a bit more, of my practice routine is done unplugged on an electric, I'd agree... even a hollowbody electric doesn't ring quite like a true acoustic... let alone a semi-hollow body.

If I wanted a guitar to sound great unplugged, an electric wouldn't be my first or second choice.

But, ironically, the best sounding electric guitars sound good unplugged.

My Taylor T5Z sounds better unplugged than through a amp but it's a different animal. Maybe OP could try an Ovation super shallow body for practice. I love mine as a beater. It stays out all the time on a stand and they have great necks.

That is certainly true in my collection... the 'keepers' all ring nicely for unplugged practice, but a true acoustic or a plugged in electric still sounds better.