PH_Graphics
Junior Member
Hans also had previously said. "That particular pickup was obtained from Hagstrom, who supplied Guild with several other pickups and hardware during the '60s and early '70s."
And: "Like most magnetic pickups for acoustic flat top guitars from that period, it didn't sound all that good."Ralf
If it were up to me I would have amended that quote to "Like most magnetic pickups for acoustic flat top guitars from that period, it sounded awful."
That's why I didn't shed any tears (at the time) over removing it and trying to fix the overall appearance by losing the pots, too.
I just posted a reply to GardMan regarding my latest thoughts on replacing the pickup. I did not, in that answer, go into my reasoning on replacement vs. removing all signs that it ever existed.
I'm leaning on putting something in place of the original pickup for a very simple reason: it says "electric" on the label, and that will never change. And if I'm going to put something there it seems to me that is should be the most functional solution possible. Since Guilds are generally bought by players, not collectors, it seems to me that the most functional answer is to put in a really high quality pickup, as long as that pickup could be reasonably easily removed and replaced with the original if a future owner wanted that. As for the remainder of my ownership term, I hated the sound of that original pickup from 1979 to 1988, so there is no (functional) reason I'd want to put it back now.
I should mention that for my present use I have no need for a pickup. Literally all of the local people I used to play with have either moved away or passed away, so for 5 years this guitar has been played in one of 2 venues: my home theater room and my back yard. It has more than enough unamplified volume for both settings. And in the unlikely event that I do start playing in public again, it seems to me that a good-sounding pickup will be a better option than one that sounds awful.
As for the pot holes, my current thinking is this: I've done a lot of woodworking in my life and I can't image that even a great luthier, without spending an inordinate amount of time, could patch those holes to the point of being invisible. As long as there is going to be some vestige of them left, I'm leaning toward a repair which is somewhat less visually optimal, but has the advantage of being instantly and easily reversed by a new owner if they want to reinstall the old pots. As a visual homage to the original knobs, and in order to accommodate that instant reversibility, here is what I'm thinking:
1. Lift the current shooting star cover;
2. Drill/file/sand to get the holes as round as possible and the edges as clean as possible;
3. Have suitable-sized discs made of MOP, abalone, ebony or rosewood (pick one) to fill those holes.
4. Shim the discs so that they are the EXACT thickness of the spruce top;
5. Use simple low-adhesive tape on the inside of the spruce top to tape the discs into place. NO GLUE.
Reopening the holes, if that's ever desired, is then no more involved than reaching in, removing the tape and poking out the plugs. Yes, a collector would gasp, but I've given them a simple way of undoing the plugs. As for me, I can't imaging it will hurt the sound, and visually it would be orders of magnitude better and simpler than what's there now.
Having said all of that, I'm no luthier, so is there a flaw in my basic thinking?
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