Synchro
Member
In support of the gear review section I'll post a brief review of my impressions so far, roughly ten days into ownership. A lot of the information presented will duplicate that found in my NGD thread, but hopefully this will provide a more easily searchable, less crowded location.
First impressions are always notable, even if not all that important in the long run. The overall appearance of the guitar is quite handsome, bright spruce under clear lacquer. When it yellows even slightly the effect should be breathtaking. The woodgrain is even, not particularly tight, but still well within the range of acceptable. The back and sides are figured, once again not textbook perfect, but certainly good enough to be attractive. The workmanship is excellent and the attention to detail more than satisfactory. The binding is perfect, the neck joint likewise and the finish is flawless.
One thing I particularly like on this guitar is the pickguard shape. It has a classic, old school, Guild shape, but it's also very narrow which gives it a modern appearance. It's a minor design point, but it really adds to the eye appeal of the instrument.
This is a very lightweight guitar, coming in at roughly 6.4 lbs, according to my $4, MIC, digital fish scale. When you're a young fellow weight is only a minor annoyance but at my stage in life I want my guitars as light on the shoulders as is practical. It's no coincidence that of the 13 guitars I own, the lightest ones get the most use. This is especially true when it comes to gigs, band rehearsals and other situations when I will be standing for any length of time. I have a lovely Gretsch G-6122-1959, basically a reissue Country Gent built to replicate Chet Atkins' own Gent. It's a great guitar, but at 7.9 lbs. it is passed over for many occasions because of its weight.
I was surprised, when it came from the factory, that the action was fairly high. The neck seems about perfect and the fretwork is above par so setting the action lower was no big task. The fingerboard is great and the action can get into Les Paul Custom territory with no worries. I installed a titanium Compton Compensated Bridge early in the game. The guitar was strung with EXL 110s from the factory which is definitely on the light side for this guitar. I installed my usual string set, 10, 13 & 17 plain strings on top with 27, 37 & 50 Thomastik Jazz Swing (flat wounds) on the bottom. The net result was wolf tones and an almost uncontrollable harmonic on the 5th string that would vibrate in sympathy with any A or D played on the guitar. It was literally unplayable at this point. I swapped to a Stainless Steel Compton bridge and that seemed to help. I have no idea why, but it could be that the resonant frequency of the titanium bridge worked in concert with the other components of the guitar to produce a wicked resonance right at A3.
Once I swapped to the Stainless bridge the A3 resonance was gone but I had a symphony of wolf tones emanating from behind the bridge. It was amusing, for a few seconds, then just irritating. A set of 3/8" grommets dampened the wolf tones and the guitar when from an untamable, feedback monster that no one could play to being a docile instrument with no nasty surprises. I don't see harmonics and/or wolf tones as being defects, per se, they are the consequence of an acoustic instrument, which has a milieu of factors which contribute to the resonant peaks. Fortunately, as I mentioned, I was able to tame this beast for, literally, pocket change. I need to also not that there were no resonance issues that I noticed with the stock bridge. I prefer the greater sustain of a one-piece bridge, but the OEM tunable bridge was always a viable option.
One of the major attractions this model helped for me was the small footprint Anti-Hum pickups. Mini humbuckers, of any sort, tend to have a more focused sound than their large footprint siblings. It comes down to bobbin spacing and the degree of cancellation caused by sensing string vibration over a wider area, versus a smaller area. Anyhow, the mini hums are great sounding pickups, somewhat like the Gretsch Filtertron, but not quite as twangy. There's a depth to these pickups that I find quite intriguing. In the higher end of the clean range these pickups come into full voice and make some beautiful sounds.
Like most pickups, these seem happiest when the volume control on the guitar is turned up. The 8 - 10 range on the volume control seems pretty good, go much below that and the sound becomes less lively. They aren't particularly hot pickups, but they are powerful enough to let the front end of the amp know that they mean business. Conversely, they don't overwhelm the front end of the amp and they retain a great deal of touch sensitivity.
I am very impressed by these pickups and feel that they are an excellent tool in producing the sound I imagine for myself. As I write, I've been playing for 48 years and have never found a pickup that I like any better.
One thing I like about this guitar is the fact that it has chrome plated hardware and no gold plating. While gold plating is beautiful, it tends to wear through quickly and to require very little in the way of upkeep. The machine heads are Gotoh SG301s, which suits me fine. They have an 18:1 ratio which I find easy to work with. The feeling is solid and I expect them to last for a while.
The tailpiece is a genuine, made in the USA, Guildsby, un-plated. Like every sand cast Bigsby I've ever played, it works smoothly and without even the slightest bit of friction. As it came from the factory it had a 3/4" spring and a nylon spacer. I found the handle a bit high for my liking but removing the spacer made it just about perfect. I tend to like the butter-knife handle to ride fairly low. I would imagine that many players would have been thrilled with it the way it shipped. The strap buttons were standard Guild fare, which I replaced with Schallers.
Everything feels solid, the volume and tone controls are smooth and respond predictably. The pickup switch is noiseless and feels solid enough to last a long time.
Of course, sound is what it's all about. This guitar has a solid spruce top and laminate maple back and sides. It is not made for high levels of acoustic volume but it has reasonable volume unplugged and sounds good that way. Many thin-bodied guitars sound a bit pinched when played acoustically, this one does not. The sound holes are fairly small and one can barely see inside the guitar. The bracing is out of sight and out of reach. I'm not sure just how heavy or light the bracing is, but whatever level they have chosen works well for this instrument. If I were a guessing man, and I am, I'd guess that it's lightly braced.
Once I chased down the overtone/wolf-tone problems I found it to play well through my various amps. It doesn't seem particularly prone to feedback, although I'm certain that it will if you push it hard and turn to face the amp. Actually, this strikes me as a very amplifier friendly guitar. The Guild hum buckers seem to be able to get along with anything I own which includes a DRRI, a TRRI (for outdoor gigs or toppling dictators), a '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb, an Excelsior, a Winfield Cyclone and a Winfield Typhoon. The Fenders all have the typical Fender preamp, the Excelsior is somewhat old school, think Supro and the Winfields have an EF86 pentode in the preamp stage, feeding EL 84 power sections. With this fairly diverse set of amps I've found that the Guild pickups go about their business and give the amp a solid signal to work with. This guitar is not picky about which amp it prefers.
The output, no matter what the amp, is a pleasing combination of clarity and character. The pickups definitely treat the overtones coming off the strings with respect and pass along a complex, interesting sound; something quite different from any other pickup that comes to mind. I can get a Chet sound fairly easily, but if I use a flat pick and dig in a bit harder the glassiness dissipates and the pickup bares more of its soul. The characteristic sustain of the guitar, coupled with these stellar pickups, is gorgeous. One of my tests is to emulate the silky, but bluesy sound of Billy Butler's solo on Honky Tonk. I've found that not just any old pickup can produce this sound, it's an exercise in clean, but very mellow and lacking in any sharp edges. The T-400 passes this test easily.
The pickup spacing is quite wide. The fingerboard is 20 frets long and the neck pickup is up there tight, quite a ways distant from the bridge. This gives a mellow, warm sound that holds up even in terms of old school Jazz guitar. The bridge pickup is quite close to the bridge and the sound of this pickup alone is spanky and bright. It's not a Tele, but it'll fool most of the people, most of the time. Combined, the sound sample comes from two disparate areas on the speaking length of the string which results in a mellow sound. It's not particularly dark, but it is warm, even gentle . . . until you dig in hard with the pick and out comes some serious Blues timbre.
First Impressions
First impressions are always notable, even if not all that important in the long run. The overall appearance of the guitar is quite handsome, bright spruce under clear lacquer. When it yellows even slightly the effect should be breathtaking. The woodgrain is even, not particularly tight, but still well within the range of acceptable. The back and sides are figured, once again not textbook perfect, but certainly good enough to be attractive. The workmanship is excellent and the attention to detail more than satisfactory. The binding is perfect, the neck joint likewise and the finish is flawless.
One thing I particularly like on this guitar is the pickguard shape. It has a classic, old school, Guild shape, but it's also very narrow which gives it a modern appearance. It's a minor design point, but it really adds to the eye appeal of the instrument.
This is a very lightweight guitar, coming in at roughly 6.4 lbs, according to my $4, MIC, digital fish scale. When you're a young fellow weight is only a minor annoyance but at my stage in life I want my guitars as light on the shoulders as is practical. It's no coincidence that of the 13 guitars I own, the lightest ones get the most use. This is especially true when it comes to gigs, band rehearsals and other situations when I will be standing for any length of time. I have a lovely Gretsch G-6122-1959, basically a reissue Country Gent built to replicate Chet Atkins' own Gent. It's a great guitar, but at 7.9 lbs. it is passed over for many occasions because of its weight.
Setup
I was surprised, when it came from the factory, that the action was fairly high. The neck seems about perfect and the fretwork is above par so setting the action lower was no big task. The fingerboard is great and the action can get into Les Paul Custom territory with no worries. I installed a titanium Compton Compensated Bridge early in the game. The guitar was strung with EXL 110s from the factory which is definitely on the light side for this guitar. I installed my usual string set, 10, 13 & 17 plain strings on top with 27, 37 & 50 Thomastik Jazz Swing (flat wounds) on the bottom. The net result was wolf tones and an almost uncontrollable harmonic on the 5th string that would vibrate in sympathy with any A or D played on the guitar. It was literally unplayable at this point. I swapped to a Stainless Steel Compton bridge and that seemed to help. I have no idea why, but it could be that the resonant frequency of the titanium bridge worked in concert with the other components of the guitar to produce a wicked resonance right at A3.
Once I swapped to the Stainless bridge the A3 resonance was gone but I had a symphony of wolf tones emanating from behind the bridge. It was amusing, for a few seconds, then just irritating. A set of 3/8" grommets dampened the wolf tones and the guitar when from an untamable, feedback monster that no one could play to being a docile instrument with no nasty surprises. I don't see harmonics and/or wolf tones as being defects, per se, they are the consequence of an acoustic instrument, which has a milieu of factors which contribute to the resonant peaks. Fortunately, as I mentioned, I was able to tame this beast for, literally, pocket change. I need to also not that there were no resonance issues that I noticed with the stock bridge. I prefer the greater sustain of a one-piece bridge, but the OEM tunable bridge was always a viable option.
Pickups
One of the major attractions this model helped for me was the small footprint Anti-Hum pickups. Mini humbuckers, of any sort, tend to have a more focused sound than their large footprint siblings. It comes down to bobbin spacing and the degree of cancellation caused by sensing string vibration over a wider area, versus a smaller area. Anyhow, the mini hums are great sounding pickups, somewhat like the Gretsch Filtertron, but not quite as twangy. There's a depth to these pickups that I find quite intriguing. In the higher end of the clean range these pickups come into full voice and make some beautiful sounds.
Like most pickups, these seem happiest when the volume control on the guitar is turned up. The 8 - 10 range on the volume control seems pretty good, go much below that and the sound becomes less lively. They aren't particularly hot pickups, but they are powerful enough to let the front end of the amp know that they mean business. Conversely, they don't overwhelm the front end of the amp and they retain a great deal of touch sensitivity.
I am very impressed by these pickups and feel that they are an excellent tool in producing the sound I imagine for myself. As I write, I've been playing for 48 years and have never found a pickup that I like any better.
Hardware
One thing I like about this guitar is the fact that it has chrome plated hardware and no gold plating. While gold plating is beautiful, it tends to wear through quickly and to require very little in the way of upkeep. The machine heads are Gotoh SG301s, which suits me fine. They have an 18:1 ratio which I find easy to work with. The feeling is solid and I expect them to last for a while.
The tailpiece is a genuine, made in the USA, Guildsby, un-plated. Like every sand cast Bigsby I've ever played, it works smoothly and without even the slightest bit of friction. As it came from the factory it had a 3/4" spring and a nylon spacer. I found the handle a bit high for my liking but removing the spacer made it just about perfect. I tend to like the butter-knife handle to ride fairly low. I would imagine that many players would have been thrilled with it the way it shipped. The strap buttons were standard Guild fare, which I replaced with Schallers.
Everything feels solid, the volume and tone controls are smooth and respond predictably. The pickup switch is noiseless and feels solid enough to last a long time.
Sound
Of course, sound is what it's all about. This guitar has a solid spruce top and laminate maple back and sides. It is not made for high levels of acoustic volume but it has reasonable volume unplugged and sounds good that way. Many thin-bodied guitars sound a bit pinched when played acoustically, this one does not. The sound holes are fairly small and one can barely see inside the guitar. The bracing is out of sight and out of reach. I'm not sure just how heavy or light the bracing is, but whatever level they have chosen works well for this instrument. If I were a guessing man, and I am, I'd guess that it's lightly braced.
Once I chased down the overtone/wolf-tone problems I found it to play well through my various amps. It doesn't seem particularly prone to feedback, although I'm certain that it will if you push it hard and turn to face the amp. Actually, this strikes me as a very amplifier friendly guitar. The Guild hum buckers seem to be able to get along with anything I own which includes a DRRI, a TRRI (for outdoor gigs or toppling dictators), a '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb, an Excelsior, a Winfield Cyclone and a Winfield Typhoon. The Fenders all have the typical Fender preamp, the Excelsior is somewhat old school, think Supro and the Winfields have an EF86 pentode in the preamp stage, feeding EL 84 power sections. With this fairly diverse set of amps I've found that the Guild pickups go about their business and give the amp a solid signal to work with. This guitar is not picky about which amp it prefers.
The output, no matter what the amp, is a pleasing combination of clarity and character. The pickups definitely treat the overtones coming off the strings with respect and pass along a complex, interesting sound; something quite different from any other pickup that comes to mind. I can get a Chet sound fairly easily, but if I use a flat pick and dig in a bit harder the glassiness dissipates and the pickup bares more of its soul. The characteristic sustain of the guitar, coupled with these stellar pickups, is gorgeous. One of my tests is to emulate the silky, but bluesy sound of Billy Butler's solo on Honky Tonk. I've found that not just any old pickup can produce this sound, it's an exercise in clean, but very mellow and lacking in any sharp edges. The T-400 passes this test easily.
The pickup spacing is quite wide. The fingerboard is 20 frets long and the neck pickup is up there tight, quite a ways distant from the bridge. This gives a mellow, warm sound that holds up even in terms of old school Jazz guitar. The bridge pickup is quite close to the bridge and the sound of this pickup alone is spanky and bright. It's not a Tele, but it'll fool most of the people, most of the time. Combined, the sound sample comes from two disparate areas on the speaking length of the string which results in a mellow sound. It's not particularly dark, but it is warm, even gentle . . . until you dig in hard with the pick and out comes some serious Blues timbre.
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