Category: Interests

Guild S284+ Aviator

GAD 5 Comments

One of the benefits of writing about vintage Guild guitars is the fact that I get emails about vintage Guild guitars. In this case, I got an email from someone asking if I’d help identify a Guild for sale in a local New Jersey store. I said “sure”, and the person sent me a picture asking if the guitar was a Guild S285 Aviator.

In my years of collecting and writing about Guilds I had never seen a Guild S285 Aviator and only read descriptions of them in books, but even though it wasn’t a perfect match, this guitar seemed like it might be one of those rare beasts. When the potential buyer informed me that he was passing on the guitar he gave me the store information and I made arrangements to pickup the guitar since it was in a store that was less than an hour from my house. My journey of discovery had begun. Was this really a rare S285? Let’s take a look and see what I’ve learned about this guitar and why I call it an S284+.

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Guild Burnside Lance

GAD 15 Comments

In a departure from my normal Guild reviews, today’s writeup is about the Burnside Lance, model BE100R.

While not strictly speaking a Guild, Burnside was a company that operated under the Guild umbrella so that Guild could sell less expensive import guitars along with their US-made brethren. Some companies (Jackson comes to mind) managed to produce some stellar import guitars, so let’s see if this Burnside Lance can compare with the US-made Guilds from the 1980s.

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Guild Nightbird I

GAD 16 Comments

Today we’re going to take a look at the Guild Nightbird I. Not the Nightbird or the Nightbird Custom or The Nightbird GG, or… You know what? We’ll talk about the crazy number of Nightbird models later. For now just accept that this is a Nightbird I.

This isn’t really a model that I lusted after so there’s no cool story about me wanting one since I was born (20 years before the guitar was even made). Nope – I bought this one just to write it up, so lets see if it’s worthy of the Guild Nightbird name by evaluating all its details in a completely impartial and unbiased way. Well, as impartial as unbiased as an unabashed Guild fanboy can be.

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GAD’s Guide to Guild Nightbirds

GAD 42 Comments

Guild Nightbird - Lava Burst
Guild Nightbirds are some of the best electric guitars every produced at the Westerly Guild plant. I own more than my fair share of them, and since I have a pile of Nightbird reviews pending I thought I would consolidate some of the repeating information I had into a single article.

Nightbirds come in a dizzying array of colors, configurations, and models, and it can be quite difficult to discern the difference between a Nightbird, a Nightbird I, a Nightbird II, and so-on. Having gone through this pain myself and having collected a fair bit of information, I have put it all into a hopefully easy to digest article that should help you if you find yourself considering the purchase of one of these fine instruments.  (more…)

Identifying Fake Vintage Guild HB1s

GAD 1 Comment

When Guild reissued the iconic HB1 pickup, they made them look exactly like the vintage models. They’re supposed to be made exactly the same way in order to get the same sound, too, but the jury is still out on that. The problem is that since they look very similar, I’ve been afraid that someone would use that fact to try and pass of new ones as vintage. Why? Because a vintage pair of HB1s can sell for $300 or more and the Newark Street HB1s are less than half that new (and even less on the used market).

Well, I’m sorry to say that it’s happened. Let’s look at how I immediately spotted these as fakes and how you can too.  (more…)

Guild Brian Setzer Bluesbird

GAD 7 Comments

It’s no secret that Brian Setzer is one of my favorite guitarists, and when I learned that he had a signature (sort of) Guild Bluesbird, well, I had to have one.

This 1986 Guild Bluesbird (which, though I call it a Setzer, doesn’t say Setzer anywhere on it) is a pretty unique instrument in the annals of Guild guitar history.

Let’s dig in and see why.

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GAD’s Guitar Review Standards

GAD 2 Comments

Having written a fair number of guitar reviews, I figured I would document my steps in case anyone out there was curious. Additionally, I figured having a fair bit of transparency into the process would somehow had credibility to the entire affair. Really, though, I felt like writing this so I did. The end. Well, not really. I discovered that I was writing things like “The Beesly Book” and figured that I should specify what stuff like that means instead of writing an explanation in each review.

If you’re at all interested, here’s what its like for me to write a guitar review.

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How I Took my Solar Eclipse Photos

GAD 2 Comments

As pretty much everyone in the world is no doubt aware by now, there was a total solar eclipse over the continental US on August 21st, 2017. I endeavored to not only see the eclipse from the path of totality, but also to take pictures. Naturally, since I was involved, it was never that simple.

The pic you see was taken by me on August 21st, 2017 in the parking lot of the Greenville Marriott in South Carolina. This article will show you more pics and explain what I went through to get them because that photo did not happen by chance. I spent weeks preparing. Here’s how. (more…)

Guild S284 Aviator with EMGs

GAD 16 Comments

Today’s review is for a 1985 Guild S284 Aviator with EMG pickups. I bought this from Guitar Center’s used website that contained a single terrible picture in the hopes that it would pay off like some of my other Guild purchases have.

The S284 is from the higher end of the Guild New Aviation line from the 1980s and came with a list price much higher than some of the other guitars such as the S270 or S281 Flyer. Is it worth the increased price? Let’s find out.

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Guild X170T Mars

GAD 6 Comments

This review is for a Guild X170T Mars from 1999. To be completely up front from the start, there is no part number X170T Mars that I’m aware of, but that’s what I call these for reasons that will become obvious in the review.

I scored this guitar in mint condition on eBay for the right price and have put it through my normal review process (and then some).  Read on to see what I like and dislike about this very orange Guild guitar.

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