Another Mystery guitar/ left handed

[Stanthemanllan]

Having read all the comments, I decided to have a look at the pickups. They are Guild. Also here is a photo of the case it came in. Thanks everyone. John

 

[kakerlak]

Yep, those are the Fender-made pickups, so they'd have been nearly new when you bought the guitar. Might not have been the first pair of pickups in it, then, if you think the guitar was first put together in the '70s.

Now that you have it apart, what the internal construction like? Is there any sort of block under the bridge, or is it fully hollow? You might stick a cell phone down there, if it'll fit in the pickup route, and see if whoever made it happened to sign the neck block or anywhere else inside. A little mirror can be handy, too. Could've signed the underside of the top, etc. Pressing laminate tops/backs into shape seems like a significant chore for a one-off, hobby build, even if the luthier has excellent skills and tools -- I'd think it would take a fair bit of fabrication to be able to do.

 

[Stanthemanllan]

Photos inside the body and the bridge

 

[SFIV1967]

What's the story on the double-wide bridge on that photo you scrounged up?

That real Guild X-175 also has different pickups, so somebody added some none-Guild parts.
Regarding the OPs guitar: The shape in general looks better than the Guild X-175 shape in my comparison! It's interesting that 3 of the knobs are at basically the exact same position like on the Guild.
Ralf

 

[SFIV1967]

Great pictures from inside! Yes, the pickups are the Fender made (and Guild stamped) pickups from the end of the 90ies.

The body inside does not look like a Guild made body at all, all the details are different. And what's most interesting: The cutaway looks from inside like it was added later on! Almost like the guitar started it's life as a non-cutaway guitar and the body was reworked at some point in time.

I was trying to find out more by looking at the potentiometers but I can't think of who the manufacturer is? Somebody knows the manufacturer?

TO15A500K, obviously a logarithmic 500kohms pot. TO15? The "O" seems to have a kind of "S" in it?

Can't see a datecode.

Ralf

 

[kakerlak]

Photos inside the body and the bridge

It strikes me as unconventional that the two tone bars/braces are so narrow-set, to the point that they're interrupted by the pickup routes. I wonder if this started life with something surface-mounted/floating.

 

[kakerlak]

And what's most interesting: The cutaway looks from inside like it was added later on! Almost like the guitar started it's life as a non-cutaway guitar and the body was reworked at some point in time.

Ralf

I'm not sure I'd jump to that conclusion. It'd be pretty damned tricky to splice in a smooth Venetian cutaway like that on a transparent finish. I'm guessing the builder just didn't want to mess with kerfing that rising area of the body, where the rim depth rises in transition to the neck and/or wanted to give it some extra bracing and opted for the multiple full width braces, instead.

 

[SFIV1967]

I'm not sure I'd jump to that conclusion. It'd be pretty damned tricky to splice in a smooth Venetian cutaway like that on a transparent finish. I'm guessing the builder just didn't want to mess with kerfing that rising area of the body, where the rim depth rises in transition to the neck and/or wanted to give it some extra bracing and opted for the multiple full width braces, instead.

I agree, that's why I found it interesting anyway. It just looks so different from inside on the cutaway area but outside there is no sign of anything spliced in. Inside it all looks pretty rough but outside very perfect!
Anyway, all kind of typcal details for some builder I am sure. Just not done at Guild.
Ralf

 

[gilded]

Let's see, rough on the inside, perfect on the outside? I've got it, it must be a Gretsch!

 

[Stanthemanllan]

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. I now have a much better understanding of this guitars DNA and it appears to have been built by a competent guitar maker, maybe employed by Guild, but not assembled there. The maker clearly had access to a Guild hardware and wanted to create a guitar to his specs.


I think it may be worth considering how difficult it was for lefty players in the 60s and 70s before the days of the internet, Ebay, and custom guitar makers.


I know from personal experience it was virtually impossible (especially in the UK) to find lefty guitars in stock in music shops, even in London. My friend had to custom order a fairly standard model Guild acoustic in the early 70s which took 6 months to arrive.


It could be that this guitar maker was unable to source a suitable lefty Guild and decided to build his own version with whatever was available to him, just a thought

John

 

[SFIV1967]

I was trying to find out more by looking at the potentiometers but I can't think of who the manufacturer is? Somebody knows the manufacturer? The "O" seems to have a kind of "S" in it?

In the meantime I found the manufacturer of the pots. It is "Taiwan Noble Electronic Co., Ltd.", the "T" stands for Taiwan and the sign behind it is the Noble company logo.
So the part number is 15A500K, a good quality logarithmic 500 kohms pot and 15A means it has 10% audio taper .

Unfortunatelly the datecode is not visible in your picture which would be just behind the 500k...The datecode could give you an indication after which date the guitar was made.

Ralf

 

[Nuuska]

I copied these pictures on 24-inch screen - zoomed them to be same size - having pups same size in both pics.

The body shape next to neck on right side - way different
- Guild has about 90 degree angle and meets at the fret top of the marker
- Other guitar upper bout meets neck between frets at NON 90 degrees angle.
- The "horn" on other guitar is a bit rounder
- Guild has much wider upper bout.
- Guild has slightly wider waist
- Lower bouts seem to be about the same - but the two pics are not quite same scale

 

[Stanthemanllan]

Sorry for the delay in replying
I’ve taken a photo of the pot
Hope this may help
Thanks

 

[SFIV1967]

I’ve taken a photo of the pot

O.k., so the pots are from week 12 in 2001, means March 19 to March 25 in 2001. That was when the Noble factory in Taiwan made them. It took probably a few month until they arrived in USA. That all fits perfectly to the Fender made humbuckers and the Guild case from that same time. That would indicate the guitar is not older than mid 2001...

There are a few more odd things on that guitar. Both the cutouts for the pickups look "amateurish" in the way they were cut. But there are no other holes visible that could indicate previously used different pickups.

Look what I mean, here the neck pickup:
Not a clean cut and also a cut from the saw into the wood.

And that one brace on the neck pickup was not cut in parallel:

And the bridge pickup:
The two "1" marked arrows point to areas with laquer on the wood, all other areas show fresh cut wood after the guitar was lacquered.
And same like on the neck pickup in the left corner there is a cut from the saw. And the left brace is again uneven cut/angeled.
All things a Guild factory or a real good luthier would not do in such way.

So that guitar still has some strange things in her which we will probably never find out.

Ralf

 

[Stanthemanllan]

Thanks Ralf. I must have acquired this guitar when it was a couple of years old and sold a story of it being much older....oh well. It wasn’t as if they were asking a silly price, I think I paid around $1000
That said, it is a nice guitar to play and sounds good.
Also it’s probably a unique lefty creation

Many thanks for your time and observations Ralf
Much appreciated

 

[SFIV1967]

That said, it is a nice guitar to play and sounds good.
Also it’s probably a unique lefty creation
Many thanks for your time and observations Ralf
Much appreciated

No worries, as you realized we often have fun doing those kind of detective things on unknown instruments. And I think everybody learns something what to look for and it is also normal that we are not always right and often be corrected in things. And yes, it is most important that it is a guitar that looks nice and more important that plays nice! As we have people here from all around the world sometimes somebody already saw details of something on other models and sometimes we can link a model to a maker. In your case I think we are at the end of what we found out. Unless one similar model would show up in the future to maybe better link them together. It's still possible the guitar is older than 2001 and the complete electronic parts (wiring, pots, pickups) were only added in the 2001 time frame. We just don't know.
Enjoy your unique guitar and greetings from Germany!

Ralf

 

[Guildedagain]

The second you see a three screw truss rod cover, I think it becomes an offshore guitar.

 

[kakerlak]

The second you see a three screw truss rod cover, I think it becomes an offshore guitar.

I wouldn't apply that logic to something one-off/hand made. The construction on this looks too irregular overall to peg it as something factory-made, be it here or overseas.