Category: Guild

Guild Starfire III-90

GAD 2 Comments

Guild-2002-Starfire-III-P90
I have  thing for Bigsby-equipped guitars, owing in large part to my obsession with Brian Setzer’s music. In my quest to capture Brian Setzer’s Tone, I’ve owned far too many such guitars. After buying and selling my fair share, one of my favorites is the Guild Starfire-III with P90s.

After about 2000 or so, Guild (then owned by Fender) moved production from Westerly, Rhode Island to Corona, California. A lot of people in the Guild community were worried that the legendary quality of Guild guitars would plummet with Fender at the helm, and while Fender did a great job of letting Guild electric guitars die in the long tun, having owned many of each I’m here to tell you that these Corona-made Guilds are every bit the guitar of the Westerly-made models. This guitar is no exception. Let’s find out why.  (more…)

2016 Guild Newark Street Bluesbird Guitar

GAD 11 Comments

2016-Guild-NS-Bluesbird-Top
Today’s review is of a Guild Newark Street (NS) Bluesbird from 2016. This is one of the current crop of Guild Newark Street guitars, all of which are surprisingly great instruments. After reviewing a Newark Street X-175B and then a Newark Street S100 Polara, and comparing it to a 1997 reissue S100, I had many people request that I review the NS BluesBird, so I found a new one on Reverb for a price I was willing to pay and ran it through its paces. Let’s see how it fared.

(more…)

Battle of the Guild S-100 Reissues

GAD

GuildS1001990NewarkStreet
Up for comparison is a 1997 Guild S-100 reissue made in Westerly, Rhode Island and a 2015 Guild Newark Street S-100 made in Korea. Since the Guild from the 1990s is a reissue of the Guild S-100 from the 1970s and the Newark Street model is a reissue of the Westerly reissue more than it is a reissue of the 1970s models, this perhaps makes the Newark Street Guild a re-reissue, at least partially.

The Guild S-100 is one of their most popular Guild electric guitars, so I thought I would take the time to put two of the most common models available today side by side. Let’s see how they compare.  (more…)

1997 Guild S-100 Guitar

GAD 4 Comments

Guild-S100-1997

Guild’s S100 guitar, which appears on the surface to be a copy of Gibson’s SG, is one of Guild’s most popular electric guitars. I’ve resisted owning one for years because they were so popular and I’m not one to spend energy trying to fit in with the crowd, but circumstances would conspire in such a way as to ensure that I suddenly had two of them – a Newark Street version, and a 1997 reissue. This article concentrates on the 1997 reissue. My article on the Newark Street S100 can help you if you’re looking for information about that model. (more…)

Guild 2015 Newark Street X-175B Guitar

GAD 2 Comments

Guild-NS-X175B
I’ve owned a few nice Gretsches including a Setzer SSLVO, a Setzer Hot Rod, and a Gretsch Billy Bo, as well as a couple of Gretsch Electromatics. I’ve also owned two Guild X170s, a pile of Guild Starfires, both of the III and IV variety, and too many other guitars to count. I have a thing for hollow-body guitars with a Bigsby, or as we in the Guild world call them when they say Guild on them, a Guildsby.

After seeing this video put out by Guild, I decided that I had to have one of these Newark Street X-175B marvels. I finally got my hands on one for a great price and was thrilled when I played it. Let’s find out why this guitar excites me.  (more…)

1997 Guild Bluesbird Guitar

GAD 4 Comments

5D3_6768_1600
Today’s review is for a 1997 Guild Bluesbird guitar from the Westerly factory that I picked up on eBay for a great price. I didn’t need it, but it was so pretty that I couldn’t resist. Sadly, that happens to me a lot.

The Guild bluesbird of this era is quite clearly inspired by the Gibson Les Paul, but there are some important differences. First, and perhaps most important, the Bluesbird is chambered which makes it lighter than the average Les Paul while also making it more resonant with a more open sound. The shape is a bit different, and Les Paul purists will likely rebel against that, but for me, it’s every bit the guitar that even an Historic Les Paul is. Let’s find out why, and talk about some of the differences between the Guild Bluesbird and a Gibson Les Paul.  (more…)

Guild 2015 Newark Street S-100 Guitar

GAD Leave a comment

5D3_6822_1600
I used to have a reputation on the Lets Talk Guild forum as the guy who hated Guild S-100 guitars. I just never saw the lure, probably because I loved other models so much. When the opportunity arose to score one of the newer Newark Street models for a song, I jumped on it, figuring I could flip it and make a couple bucks profit. Sadly, I wasn’t prepared to be impressed by this guitar.

I bought this guitar used on LTG along with a Newark Street (NS) X-175B, which I will review in another post. I’ve discovered that these import Guilds absolutely crush the competition in the same price range. Let’s see why. (more…)

Guild HB1 Pickups: New vs. Old

GAD 10 Comments

NewHB1
As you may know, I am a huge fan of Guild guitars and especially their vintage HB1 pickups. Guild recently released a new version of the coveted HB1s, so I bought one and decided to see how it compared with a vintage model. As of right now, this comparison is only regarding appearance and size. I’ll report on sound differences later.

Short story: they are almost exactly the same size! Let’s look at the details.  (more…)

Replacing Pickups in a Guild Nightbird

GAD Leave a comment

I was given the unique opportunity to replace the pickups in a Guild Nightbird. This guitar came with Fender HB1 pickups but the owner had managed to get some NOS Guild HB1 pickups in matching gold from the world’s finest purveyor of hard-to-find Guild parts, Hans Moust. When asked if I would do the work to replace them, I jumped at the chance since I love Guilds, I love HB1 pickups, and this guitar was one that I used to own. Not only is this a beautiful guitar (that I was foolish enough to sell), but I knew that it would go from amazing to freaking amazing with the inclusion of Guild HB1s.

The Guild Nightbird is a very cool guitar. Yes, it looks like a Les Paul, but it’s hollow with a very unique internal design which makes for a wonderful sound. The problem with Nightbirds is that they usually shipped with Ken Armstrong or EMG pickups which don’t hold a candle to the vintage Guild HB1s in my opinion. I originally bought this guitar because of the lure of real HB1s in a Nightbird, only to be disappointed when I opened it up and found Fender HB1s. I then sold the guitar, after which it was sold again to the guy who I originally bought it from, who then contacted me to see if I would do the work to upgrade the pickups. We Guild collectors tend to work together, so this bit of provenance is only slightly unusual. (more…)

Guild Pickup Wiring

GAD 8 Comments

I’ve owned many Guild guitars, and due to the fact that I have a soldering iron and I’m not afraid to use it, I’ve learned a fair bit about various Guild pickups and their wiring. Since there seems to be little information on the Internet about this topic, I decided to write up what I have discovered.

Though I’ve covered the cosmetic and size differences of the various full-sized Guild HB1 pickups in my article entitled Guild Full-Sized HB1 and SD1 Pickup Variations, this article will cover the wiring of the pickups as opposed to the means of identifying them.

There are many different Guild guitars, and there are almost as many wiring schemes. Instead of covering each scheme here, I’ll describe the pickups themselves, and how they might be wired into any guitar. Other articles, such as The Fascinating Guild S-200 Thunderbird and Replacing Pickups in a Guild Nightbird will cover wiring specific to those guitars. (more…)