Category: Guitar

Guild Model Four Amp

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Todays journey into lunacy is my detailed review of this craptastic little import amplifier from 1980. Now, I don’t want to seem biased, but this little import transistor radio amplifier is about as far apart from the quality I’ve come to love and respect from Guild as listening to 128k MP3s through a pair of dollar store ear buds are from listening to Mozart on a Merrill-Williams turntable through a pair of Sennheiser HD800s delivered through a McIntosh MHA150. Actually, that’s ridiculous; this is worse.

Tag along while this Guild-loving reviewer lists all the reasons why you should never buy one of these adorable little wastes of money.  (more…)

1966 Guild Starfire III

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This 1966 Guild Starfire III came to me as a surprise gift. Well, it came to me after I apparently bought it on eBay while under the influence of Nyquil and Aged Rum. Well, it was fine Aged Rum and Coke (the real Mexican kind with real sugar, dammit) and then a shot of Nyquil. Maybe two. At least I think that’s what happened because the next day I woke up to a shipment notification for a this 1966 Guild Starfire III in very nice condition that I didn’t remember purchasing.

Anyway, it’s here, so let’s review it!

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Guild Brian May Treble Booster Pedals

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Guild famously made Brian May signature guitars, first in the mid 1980s (they weren’t quite good enough for Brian May purists even if Brian himself did use one in a music video), and then again in the 1990s with better results. Guild also released treble booster pedals to accompany those guitars, the red one on the left being from the 1980s, and the silver one on the right from the 1990s, both of which are a bit uncommon. In this longer-than-normal article I tear them both apart in order to let you know what the deal is with these rare pedals.  (more…)

Guild Newark Street T-Bird ST

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Guild released a couple of variants of the T-Bird around 2017 including the Stop-Tail model which has the ST model suffix. The red version, shown here, was easily my favorite looking of the lot, but when it first came out it was a Sam Ash exclusive model and I couldn’t find one anywhere. After finally finding this one they became very available which kind of bummed me out because the exclusivity of the guitar was no more and all my efforts that went into finding one suddenly seemed a waste, but aside from that, this is still my favorite combination for the Guild Newark Street T-Bird. Does it sound and play as good as I think it looks? Let’s find out.

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Guild X97V Prototype

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Today’s obsession is a 1983 Guild X97V. If you’ve never heard of that model that’s because it doesn’t exist… well, not as a production model, anyway. So far as I know this is the only one. This is a prototype guitar for a model that never made it into production, and while it’s certainly possible that there are other prototypes of the X97, as I’ll explain it looks like this is one of a kind. Should it have been a production guitar? I’ll let you decide that for yourself, though it’s pretty clear that Guild already determined that the answer to that was no. Still, this guitar has some interesting aspects to it so let’s take a look at this dangerously pointy Guild X97V.

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Guild X79 Skyhawk

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As of this writing the year is 2018. This guitar is from 1982 which makes this guitar 36 years old. Finding a 36-year old guitar in mint condition is no easy feat, and it took me years to find this Guild X79 Skyhawk guitar in this beautiful unfaded metallic blue finish. That’s partly crazy because this was a very popular model for Guild, but it’s also partly not surprising for reasons that will become clear in my review.

Let’s see how this guitar holds up when viewed through the eyes of someone who really enjoyed the ’80s.

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Guild X79-3 Skyhawk

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I love me a wacky ’80s Guild shredder guitar and there are not many that are wackier than this! This odd looking instrument is a Guild X79-3 Skyhawk which, believe it or not, was one of the more popular Guild electrics of the 1980s.

This particular guitar is from 1982 and being an X79-3 varies from a regular X79 in that it has three single coil pickups instead of the X79’s two humbuckers. Being from 1982 also means that it predates many of the strange Guild solid body guitars of the 1980s which is kind of surprising given how unique looking this one is.

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Guild AntiHum Mini-Humbucker Teardown

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Today’s mad science experiment involves me tearing apart a vintage Guild AntiHum pickup from the mid-1960s. This rare item is pretty valuable, so if you’re sensitive about gore, best to look away.

You and I both know that you’re not going to look away.

Like with the vintage Guild HB1 I dismantled, I tore this pickup apart in the name of science. Well, that and pure raw curiosity; I like to see how things work. So, without further ado, let’s dig in and tear this puppy open! (more…)

1994 Guild S-100 Polara

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For my 30th Guild guitar review, I decided to publish something special, which is a review of this 1994 Guild S100 Polara. I’ve already reviewed two Guild S100s, one from the 2015 Newark Street line and one from the 1997 Westerly Reissue series. Why another S100 review? Because this one is special and rare. It also blows those other ones out of the water.

This black beauty is a Guild S100 Polara from 1994. It was owned by a member over on the LetsTalkGuild forum who was kind enough to let me borrow it for a quick (three month) write up and review after which I threw money at him until he let me buy it outright. While that may not be strictly true, what’s important is the fact that it’s now mine and you can’t have it. What’s the big deal about an S100 from 1994? You’re just going to have to read the review to find out.

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Guild Anti-Hum and LB1 Mini-Humbucker Pickups

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One of my most popular articles is Guild Full-Sized HB1 and SD1 Pickup Variations where I put into writing all the nitpicky details about those pickups that I’ve learned over the years. I often get people asking me about the Guild “mini humbuckers” from the 1960s and thanks to a recent project that involved them, I have now gathered enough information to describe them in nitpicky detail, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.  (more…)