Later Guild Quality Comparisons

[die Bullen]

As I guy who only has 2 NY-era archtops in my possession, I'd like to pose what I hope is not a controversial question. I know that the Hoboken years were very good for Guild but what about subsequent, later production facilities?

I really need a gigging guitar that is not impossible to replace- I won't bring the 50's Guilds out of the house because there just weren't made in large quantities and are just too hard to find.

What do you guys generally feel about the Corona years? Did quality decline markedly after Westerly?

 

[Walter Broes]

I gig the oldies - I see no real reason not to.

 

[GAD]

I have owned Guilds from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s.

None of them have suffered in any way with the lone exception of pickups. When they abandoned the HB1s, there was some less than stellar replacements. A Corona Guild with SD1s will rock though - no doubt. I went to great lengths to drop vintage HB1s in my Corona Bluesbird, and though they sounded better, I'll be so bold as to say that the Seth Lovers I got with it sounded just fine.

You archtop guys will string me up for this, but I feel that the Westerly years were the golden age for Guild.

 

[Walter Broes]

You archtop guys will string me up for this, but I feel that the Westerly years were the golden age for Guild.

All depends on what you're after. If Guild would have had other options than humbuckers on Westerly guitars, I could probably be perfectly happy with a Westerly guitar, but humbuckers don't work nearly as well as single coils for the music I like to play.

 

[die Bullen]

No matter what I do the guitar won't have humbucker (s).

If I get a later model I will have handwound Lollars (or another handwound manufacturer) dropped in that look like humbuckers. Pickups are the least of my worries!

 

[jbucklin]

I own two Guild archtops--a Westerly x-700 and a Corona x-500, both of which are used for jazz gigs exclusively. I can say without any hesitation at all that there is no difference in quality between the two. Of course they sound different, due to the difference in their respective tops---the X-700 with it's solid, carved spruce top, and the x-500 with it's laminated spruce---but other than that, as far as the level of craftsmanship that went into building them, they are equals. I do tend to play the Corona-built guitar more, however; and that has more to do with the feel of the instrument.

That being said, I would love to get an earlier Hoboken or NY model---any arch top will do---but especially an X-500. They are just flat-out sexy guitars.

 

[littlesongs]

You archtop guys will string me up for this, but I feel that the Westerly years were the golden age for Guild.

All depends on what you're after. If Guild would have had other options than humbuckers on Westerly guitars, I could probably be perfectly happy with a Westerly guitar, but humbuckers don't work nearly as well as single coils for the music I like to play.

+1

 

[Walter Broes]

No matter what I do the guitar won't have humbucker (s).

If I get a later model I will have handwound Lollars (or another handwound manufacturer) dropped in that look like humbuckers. Pickups are the least of my worries!

Hmm..in that case you can add about $300 to the price of the guitar, seems like an expensive experiment, seeing you can still get a "player" CE100D for around $1500 - or even an X175, like the one guitar center seems to have (posted yesterday or the day before on LTG).

 

[die Bullen]

You may very well be right that it is best to just get one with P90's already in but (and we're talking about me now) will I be able to bring myself to gig outdoors with a 50 year old guitar? I just don't know....

 

[mad dog]

I've played hollowbodys from the 60s, 70s, right on up. And now own a Westerly built X500. In terms of build quality, no difference, or very little difference. As GAD says, p/us have certainly changed. Even there, it's a judgment call. I grabbed a pair of Lollar Imperials for the X-500, then held off. The stock HBs have a cool sound, really works with that guitar.

MD

 

[Walter Broes]

You may very well be right that it is best to just get one with P90's already in but (and we're talking about me now) will I be able to bring myself to gig outdoors with a 50 year old guitar? I just don't know....

I don't really see the problem - that's what they were built for! My trusty late '62 has been through about a thousand gigs in the time I've had it, or a little more, and it's still going strong.
And because I love that guitar so much, and realise it would be hard to replace if something major happened to it, I looked long and hard, and eventually found its almost identical twin - which is better than what any insurance company can offer.

 

[chazmo]

You guys are debating the "made to be played" credo, not a quality issue.

die Bullen, Walter is certainly offering a widespread point of view here on LTG that our guitars (even the 50-year-old ones) are not "garage queens" -- as my car collector friends like to say. Clearly, you don't agree (which is totally cool, of course... it's your guitar).

As such, if your question is whether or not Westerly built quality product that you can use on a daily basis... Sure, why not! Change the pickups and you're done, right? Most people agree that Westerly products got increasingly better in quality over time right up to closing. You might even look for a cheaper (possibly) Corona arch-top, as most folks take no issue with quality there either.

Hope this helps.

 

[Walter Broes]

Chaz, there's that, and there's the fact I don't think replacing the pickups on a Westerly-made guitar is going to do the trick just like that - if you're hooked on a different "Guild era".

I realise it might be a strange thing to say, to some people, but I think one of the cool things about vintage Guilds as compared to, say, Gibsons, Fenders, or Gretsches, is that you don't have to feel too weird about taking them out of the house, because a lot of them are realistically priced, and haven't reached the utterly ridiculous collector price bracket yet. (and it's doubtful they ever will too)

And a lot of them, like my 175's, are "players" in collector lingo, too scratched up and dinged to ever really qualify as collector's items anyway, so you might as well do them justice and play the snot out of them!

If I had a 50's Les Paul, I wouldn't gig it - I'd sell it in a hurry, buy a couple of cool reissues, and have some fun with the rest of the money!

 

[die Bullen]

Yes this has all been helpful- thank you.

It isn't that I consider my 1953 X150 not "made to be played"- in fact I play the thing so often at home I think my wife is going to kill me!
It is just I'd feel horrible if it were mishandled or stolen at a gig because it was hard to find and there just aren't that many of them. I mean in '53 Guild only made ~500 guitars total so how easy would it be to find another one?

It is not like I let my guitars out of my sight at a gig but with a big band we sometimes play in cramped quarters outdoors with music stands and I have had close calls where someone's stand topples and almost smacks the guitar. I'd feel terrible if a stand went down and put a huge scratch in any 50's guitar or heaven forbid cracked the top.

Hence the quality question on later Guilds- I thought that with something a little newer/ easier to find I might not feel so badly about gigging with it just in case something were to happen. Maybe I am too paranoid and just need to go for it and live with my decision. In fact I bought a Squier cv50 tele specifically to gig with but as I am used to higher end instruments I am having a tough time even getting a sound I want at all, despite the TI flat 11's (yes flatwounds on a tele!).

 

[chazmo]

Chaz, there's that, and there's the fact I don't think replacing the pickups on a Westerly-made guitar is going to do the trick just like that - if you're hooked on a different "Guild era".
[ ... ]

AH! Well, then, I stand (sit) corrected. So the question really isn't quality, it's much more complex and there *is* a problem just going to a later model.

Thanks for correcting me, Walter. I am rather ignorant as the arch-tops go and I should keep my mouth shut!

 

[Walter Broes]

I'd feel terrible if a stand went down and put a huge scratch in any 50's guitar or heaven forbid cracked the top.

This pic of my main player might explain why I don't really worry about one scratch more - even though I *am* careful with the guitar and take really good care of it :

 

[twocorgis]

Walter, that's some serious mojo you've got going on there! 8)

 

[chazmo]

Walter, that's some serious mojo you've got going on there! 8)

It's "Broejo", Sandy.

 

[twocorgis]

Walter, that's some serious mojo you've got going on there! 8)

It's "Broejo", Sandy.

That's funny Chaz. My '59 looks like a "garage queen" by comparison!

 

[chazmo]

Walter, that's some serious mojo you've got going on there! 8)

It's "Broejo", Sandy.

That's funny Chaz. My '59 looks like a "garage queen" by comparison!

"Cujo" then??? (in reference to the corgis).