NGD: NS X-350

[GGJaguar]

Guitars with 3 pickups aren’t my favorite (I do have a few), but this super clean, pre-owed Newark Street X-350 Stratford could not be passed up for the price on a Labor Day sale. In fact, I don’t think the former owner played it more than couple of times. I’m guessing they were not happy with the unconventional control layout.



I was a little hesitant about this model because I did not like the Franz pickups on the NS M-75 Aristocrat that I had (too hot, could not lower them), but my fears were not realized. Since GAD did a tremendous review of this model, I will refer you to that for all the details. So here, I will just highlight a few things.

The model was introduced in 2020 though you will find some with 2019 serial numbers.



Fit and finish is typical of the Korean-made Guilds, but there was a lot of residue on the inside back of the guitar and on the braces. It looks like polishing compound. None of my other Newark Street guitars are that messy.



The Guildsby, with its razor sharp edges in the hinge area, is dangerous. Otherwise, it’s well-made and feels like every other NS-series archtop guitar I’ve played. So, there’s consistency for you. No surprises. Oh, the strap button on the shoulder has a little wood block to give the mounting screwing extra purchase. This was a problem for some Gretsch guitars made in the 1990s that didn’t have the block and the button would sometimes pull out of the body.



The parallel braces are not cut through in the same way as the other Korean Guilds that I have. The Franz pickups only require a small rectangular cutout in the top and there is a corresponding “tunnel” in the brace. With this type of construction, the brace retains most of its strength unlike on the X-175 Special, Starfire III and the discontinued CE-100D where the brace is cut halfway through.

 

[GGJaguar]

The big question for me was “How will this guitar sound?” The answer is that how “good” it sounds depends on the amp (for me, of course). When it first arrived I played it through my ‘60s Deluxe Reverb and Princeton Reverb. Surprisingly, I was disappointed. The sound was generic and uninspiring. So I switched over to my Vox-type amps and the guitar came alive. I haven’t tried it with my Guild or Ampeg amps, yet.

Unlike my M-75 where the pickups were very close to the strings (maybe mine had a bad neck angle?), the pickup height on this guitar is just about near perfect. Even better is that I do not hit the middle pickup cover with my pick while playing (the bane of 3-pickup guitars for me). Through a Vox AC-15, the pickups are bright and chimey with a little push in the midrange that gives them an underlying woody tone.

The controls take some getting used to, though. I’d say skip the instructions that Guild has.



For me, the best way to approach playing this guitar is to leave the volume controls for neck and bridge pickup wide open with the middle pickup volume control turned off. This way, I can use the pickup selector in the normal way and play it like a 2-pickup guitar. Then I can roll up the volume for the middle pickup (with the pickup toggle switch in any position) to tweak the overall sound as desired. Basically, I think of the middle volume control as a tone control.

My favorite tones using the middle pickup are neck+middle with the middle volume turned up to 2. This gives the guitar a lot more presence than with the neck pickup alone and doesn’t overly color the sound. I also like the sound of the middle pickup by itself and this is achieved by turning the volume controls off for the neck and bridge pickups. It’s a little awkward to do on the fly so it’s not ideal in a live music situation, but for noodling around at home it doesn’t really matter.

Although it’s not my favorite tone, the bridge+middle combination with the middle volume turned all the way up yields a credible Strat-ish quack tone. So there’s that for those of you who like that sound and find it useful.

The sound of all 3 pickups together is just okay. The high end is smoothed off and the tone is not as articulate. I feel the same way about my 3-pickup G&Ls that allow for all three to be on at the same time. I never use this setting.

Because I’ve been using the middle pickup to tweak the guitar’s sound, the location of the volume control for that pickup isn’t ideal. From the factory it’s located on the lower bass-side of the treble F-hole, i.e. – where you’d normally find the tone control on a Gibson-style layout. The volume control for the bridge pickup is in the usual spot. If the lead dress is long enough, I might try swapping the neck and middle volume pot locations so the middle pickup’s control is easier to reach on the fly.

Overall, I think it’s a neat guitar and I really like the Scarlet Red finish. I don’t know if it’s better or more useful than the 2-pickup X-175 and that decision would be up to each individual player. While I like the two additional tones mentioned above, I could easily live with the 2-pickup version. The only other thing of note is that I have yet to use the Guildsby on this particular guitar so I may replace it with a harp tailpiece.

 

[D30Man]

I have my eye on a B-stock X-175 in the same finish on the verb. I looooove that red.
Thanks for sharing insights here. I have never been a 3 pick up guy on anything except strats.
Interesting so much residue on the inside. Do you think it is just a little less concern with finished product on the part of the Korean plant?

 

[GGJaguar]

Do you think it is just a little less concern with finished product on the part of the Korean plant?

My other Newark Street guitars are cleaner inside so maybe someone got sloppy or was having a bad day at work. While it was a bit of a surprise, it's not something noticeable unless you're looking through the f-holes with some good lighting.

 

[D30Man]

Absolutely. It is a stunner on the outside for sure!

 

[Jeff Haddad]

Congrats and great write up!

 

[LesB3]

Would you say that the Guild is slightly better than, same as, or slightly less than a Korean Gretsch?

 

[GGJaguar]

Well, they're made in the same factory (though Gretsch moved production to China last year), but I give a slight edge to Guild. The neck construction is nicer (the scarf joints on the Gretsch models are obvious and ugly on those with transparent finishes) and Guild uses tuning machines that are a step up. Other than that, it's very close.

 

[LesB3]

Thanks! I love three pickup guitars, and really like the red finish on this one. I have not had any luck with Korean Gretschs though and do not have any experiences with Korean Guilds. I guess if they are made in the same factory, that's one negative point. But, they could be made to a higher price point than Gretschs as well so that point could be moot. I have an older Korean made Epiphone ES-5 copy that is actually quite well made, so was hoping the Guild would be of similar quality.

 

[GGJaguar]

Korean Guilds

The only issues I had with Korean Guilds are a sinking top on a CE-100D (seems to have been an issue with that model) and possibly an underset neck on a M-75 Aristocrat. I have had zero problems with my Starfire II ST-Dyna, Starfire III, Starfire III Dyna, Starfire IV, Starfire IV-ST 12, Starfire V, X-175 Special, X-175 Dyna, and S-200 T-Bird. So, I think the Korean Guilds are relatively trouble-free.

 

[Walter Broes]

I think the Korean Guilds are relatively trouble-free.

No experience with Korean-built Gretsches, but I have two NS X175's, and I have friends who own them/have owned them too.
I've seen this happen on my own two, and two others ones as well : the upper end of the neck/fingerboard extension are not as stable as you'd like. After a couple of years, you'll get a little hump in the fingerboard where the neck meets the body, or the whole fingerboard extension from that point on up will move up a little.

Which is quite the PITA, of course - in this context, it's a good thing these guitars have really big frets, so you can level the difference out of the higher frets, and you don't have to un-fret/level board/refret.

 

[Rich Cohen]

Wow, GG, where do you store all those guitars? I'm glad I didn't spring for that vintage 1954 Guild X-375. I had one a few years back. But, you're right about the problem of the middle pickup interferring with the pick.

 

[guitarlover]

Great guitar. I played one in a guitar shop a few years ago. As I recall the neck profile is quite different from the Korean X 175. The neck ont he Stratford is quite thick.

 

[chazmo]

Congrats, GG.

 

[bobouz]

Hmm, as you suggested, I can see that looking really good with a harp tailpiece, and being nicely balanced by the lovely bound headstock at the other end. Congrats & Enjoy!

 

[GGJaguar]

The neck ont he Stratford is quite thick.

I haven't taken measurements yet, but when I do I'll post them along with the measurements from my NS X-175 for comparison.

 

[GGJaguar]

As I recall the neck profile is quite different from the Korean X 175. The neck ont he Stratford is quite thick.

Okay here are the measurements from my guitars. The X-175 is just a tiny bit thicker than the X-350, but considerably beefier than the Starfire IV. Also, GAD measured his X-350 for his review and his neck was a tiny bit slimmer than my X-350.