Here’s a rare Guild from the mid-1990s that looks like a Telecaster, is built like an acoustic guitar, and kind of sounds like both while not sounding entirely like either, all the while allowing the combination of both in a single baffling beautiful guitar that was probably 20 years ahead of its time. Read along while I dig into the mysterious magnificence that is the Guild Crossroads CR01.
Guild 1997 X700 Stuart
The Guild X700 is a guitar that was pretty difficult for me to come by while also being high on my list of guitars that I wanted to review. Once I got one did its high-end nature make me a better player? Could I rip George Benson licks without thinking about it? Did the very quality of this fine instrument make me a virtuoso? Hardly, but this late-90s model X700 was the top of the line production two-pickup archtop Guild of its time, so let’s take a look and see how it fares under my critical review microscope.
Guild Crossroads Doubleneck (Slash)
You say you like rare Guilds? Well this is your lucky day because today’s review is of a rare Guild Crossroads Doubleneck guitar.
Designed by Slash of Guns ‘n Roses fame (not to mention Slash’s Snake Pit, Velvet Revolver, and his current collaboration with Myles Kennedy), this guitar is a very unique design that solves a problem that few other guitars can. You see, this instrument is not only a six-string and a 12-string guitar, but the 12-string is an actual acoustic guitar!
This is a big guitar with twice the uh… guitar… of a normal guitar, so this is a big review with almost twice the words of a typical review. That means you should buckle up, crank some Anastasia, and discover what it’s like to own a real Guild Crossroads doubleneck guitar.
Guild Bluesbird Holoflake
Here’s another rare Guild from the vault, this one being a 2002 Guild Bluesbird in limited edition Black Holoflake finish. When this guitar with its fairly divisive finish is listed for sale it is often accompanied with a fair bit of inaccurate information, all of which is easily believable due to a seeming lack of hard evidence to the contrary. Read along while I examine this rare beauty and attempt to set the record straight on this incredibly iridescent Guild Bluesbird Holoflake guitar.
Fair warning: this is a long review, and while there’s no math, prepare to be dazzled with science while being dazzled by the guitar.
Guild Nightbird DX (Deluxe)
Today’s Guild rarity is the über-rare Guild Nightbird DX, and when I say über-rare, I mean it! They made only 20 of these guitars which means that I currently own a significant percentage of the global supply of Guild Nightbird DX guitars.
Is it worth the hype? What’s it like owning such a rare guitar? Did it cost one million US dollars? I’ll answer these questions and more in this, the only detailed review of a a Guild Nightbird DX that you’re ever likely to find. Let’s take a look at this rare guitar and see if it lives up to the Guild Nightbird name. (more…)
Guild Tweedy Bird MM500 Micro Mini Amp
Here’s a fun little bit of Guild history from the 1982 Guild Accessories Catalog: The Guild Tweedy Bird MM500 Micro Mini Amp, and yes, that’s the name, though it depends on where you look as to whether it’s the Tweedy Bird, MM500, or Micro Mini Amp. What are the features? What do all the controls do? How’s it sound? Can you use it as a recording interface? Does it take micro-SD cards? Is it USB-C compatible? Some of these questions might actually be answered in this riveting review, so let’s take a look at this tiny transistor amp from the early 1980s. (more…)
Guild Newark St. X175 Manhattan Special
Today’s Guild is a Newark St. X175 Manhattan Special from 2020, and I gotta say that as soon as I saw this guitar announced I knew that I had to have one. From the killer blue finish to the DeArmond pickups, this guitar looks like everything I’d ever want in a guitar. Is it? Read along while I take a look at this gorgeous Malibu Blue Newark St. Guild guitar right down to my comments about the ground wire leading to the tailpiece. And yes, I have comments about that wire.
My Quest for Guild HB1 Adjustment Screws
This page outlines my madness in the seeminly endless search for replacement adjustment screws for vintage Guild HB1 humbucker pickups. I have spent WAY too much time investigating these little screws, and decided to put everything in one place to make sharing this information simpler when talking to manufacturers in an effort to recreate these machine screws.
I mean, they’re #4-40 1 1/8″ pan-head machine screws. How hard could it be?
Guild Newark St. Starfire I SC Review
Here we have a 2020 Guild Starfire I SC (single cut) in Seafoam Green that I absolutely had to have based on the color alone.
There is a fair bit of stir in the online guitar forums about these Starfire I guitars, most of which revolves around the question, how is Guild making these for such a low price? This guitar has a street price of $599 new! In 2020! Hell a similarly equipped Newark St. Starfire III (which is sort of what this should be called – more on that later) has an MSRP of almost double that of this one ($1,555 vs. $835 in May 2020). So how are they doing this? Cheaper parts? Cheaper wood? Cheaper labor? There are only so many ways to lower production costs, so grab a cocktail while I tear this guitar open to see how they made it so inexpensive in a world where the price of everything is soaring.
3D Printing a Guitar
If you’ve read any of my posts or even books, then it should come as no surprise to find that I am an immense nerd. As a nerd, I find anything having to do with technology or engineering to be quite fascinating, and to that end I got myself a 3D printer. As a guitar-playing nerd, one of the first things I wanted to print was a guitar.
Clearly I did just that, but does it play well? And how’s it sound? Read on while I take you through all the details of how I 3D printed this colorful and very ’80s looking plastic Strat that — spoiler alert — plays and sounds just like a Strat!