Photos of New York era Guilds 1953-56

john_kidder

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zizala said:
Your '54 X-150 looks like a near twin to mine (the one that came from Joe V)......including the simple black pickguard. Mine has no label or serial number, and is clean enough inside that I see not the slightest trace of there ever having been one. Assuming yours has one, can you let me know the SN?
When I buy a US guitar now I routinely get it shipped to Joe for a workup. So he had both X150s in his shop at the same time - we laughed about them being twins. But no trace of a SN on mine either, I'm afraid.

zizala said:
Binding repair and replacement needs an expert and artful restoration person thats willing and patent enough to do the kind of fussing this work requires. Its not easy to find one of those guys.....but patient searching and asking around in your area might turn someone up.
Joe did a superb job on my X350 - the binding was mostly gone, the plies on the treble rims were separating, and he pulled all together plus a neckset at an acceptable cost - I recommend his work highly.
 

hansmoust

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zizala said:
The CE-100 is one of those time capsule guitars....stored away but never played. Just some finish checking keeps one from believing they're looking at a new guitar. The pickup placement seems unique for one of these.....its set a little further back away from the fingerboard extension than any other single pickup CE-100 I've seen so far. More Gibsonesque......like an ES-175.

Hello zizala,

Here's a bit of historic information that I hope you will find interesting:

When Guild introduced their CE-100 during the mid-'50s, it was obvious they had been looking at the single pickup Gibson ES-175.

ES175_early50s_1.jpg


Now you may not be aware of this but in electric guitar building there's something like a theoretical 'sweet spot' for the fingerboard pickup, which is where the 24th fret would be if you would continue calculating the position of the frets past the fingerboard extension.
On a Gibson ES-175 the (fingerboard) pickup is exactly at that spot and so were the pickups on Guilds other single pickup guitars.

When Guild decided to 'more or less' copy the ES-175, they not only copied the overal shape of the guitar, but also the way the pickup was placed in relation to the other parts.
Up till then all the Guild electric archtops had a 25-1/2" scale and a 20 fret fingerboard, except for the M-75 Aristocrat, which had a 24-3/4" scale and a 22 fret fingerboard. The CE-100 was the second guitar to get a 24-3/4" scale as well, just like the Gibson ES-175, but they designed it with a 20 fret fingerboard.
However at that point in time the ES-175 had a 19 fret fingerboard and by placing the pickup on the CE-100 about the same distance from the end of the fingerboard, it landed past the point where the 'sweet spot' for the fingerboard pickup was.

That's how your CE-100 did get the pickup placed at that particular spot:

CE100_1956_1.jpg


After showing the CE-100 to players, they soon realized that they had placed the pickup too far towards the bridge but by that time the catalog photo already had been made and that's why the CE-100 is pictured like that in the '56 catalog ( and several catalogs after that).
Shortly after the official introduction of the model, the pickup was moved to the spot where it should have been in the first place.

It is interesting to note that round about that same time the Gibson ES-175 did get a 20 fret fingerboard as well, thereby giving the impression that the pickup on the later models was moved as well, which it wasn't.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

zizala

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Thats excellent information Hans! Thanks!

It hadn't occurred to me to think about a "sweet spot" for neck pickup location, but of course it would make a difference.
And certainly one has to take into account that end of a 19 vs 20 fret neck gives one a visual location comparison.....Gibson compared to Guild.... rather than one that has anything to do with the sweet spot. Its an interesting and entirely "human" error on Guild's part one can say.

For whatever reason....a combination of many I'd suppose, my CE-100 with the pickup placed slightly southward still manages to produce one of the better amplified sounds of any Guild in my collection. So guess I'm lucky that way.....maybe because its got a virtually new big toned Franz pickup. But could it have been better in the sweet spot?
I won't worry about it.......(not much!)

I was wanting to ask John Kidder....

In the photos, your '54 X-150 looks like it has a laminated maple top compared to mine with laminated spruce.
Is it an optical delusion on my part? Somehow I see slab cut maple patterns, but the photos might be giving me the wrong impression.
Or another interesting variant?

z
 

hansmoust

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zizala said:
For whatever reason....a combination of many I'd suppose, my CE-100 with the pickup placed slightly southward still manages to produce one of the better amplified sounds of any Guild in my collection. So guess I'm lucky that way.....maybe because its got a virtually new big toned Franz pickup. But could it have been better in the sweet spot?
I won't worry about it.......(not much!)

Oh, you shouldn't worry at all. There's a lot to say 'against' the importance that some people place on mounting the pickup at the 'sweet spot'. You should keep in mind that the placement of the pickup is in relation to the open-string length. Once you're playing notes at the first fret, the pickup is no longer in the 'sweet spot' and the higher you go on the neck, the more the pickup 'moves' away from that second-octave position. Somebody with good ears can hear the difference between pickups that are placed in slightly different locations, but it can be a matter of taste and there's not really a 'good' or 'bad' location. A lot is 'tradition'.
There are people who do not like 24 fret guitars because on those, the fingerboard pickup is always mounted more towards the bridge. The placement or the sound of that pickup is not necessarily the problem, but it changes the contrast when you're changing between pickups and also the interaction of the pickups when you use them simultaneously; think 'in-between-sounds' on a 3-pickup guitar!

There are a lot of variables and that's what makes it all interesting.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

kakerlak

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What you need is an array of like 12 very narrow, tall singlecoils shoehorned in next to each other, with some kind of digital blend switch that's triggered by the frets, so wherever you go on the neck, the "right" pickup is active. Or maybe you could have a single pickup on motorized rails that moves very quickly, like a printer cartridge via the same fret trigger apparatus...

Or not :)
 

zizala

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Here's another......kind of an oddball.....

The short-lived X-100 of 1953-54.

P2070048.jpg


This one's a '54, has a 17" body and is essentially like a non-cutaway X-150.
Its got a "magic" pickup, is very comfortable to play and keeps my ES-300 in the case!

Whether its real or not, I can't help but see an Epiphone influence whenever I look this.....

ziz
 

skinny

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zizala and JK those are some mighty fine specimens you both have!!
And Jeffs X550....I love those blondes :wink:
So I guess I'll put mine up as well, not a blonde but I love her just the same.
A '53 X400

skinny
IMG_0600.jpg


IMG_0604.jpg
 

zizala

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Thats beautiful, skinny!

Another one I can dream about....

Sure the blondes can be great, but something about these very first orange/burgundy sunburst Guilds with the black pickup covers appeals to me more.

z
 

taabru45

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zizala said:
Thats beautiful, skinny!

Another one I can dream about....

Sure the blondes can be great, but something about these very first orange/burgundy sunburst Guilds with the black pickup covers appeals to me more.

z


Is that cause when we were in school all those years ago, the girls hairdos sometimes came out in that color scheme?? hmmm early impressions are lasting impressions.. :lol: :lol: Steffan
 

hansmoust

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zizala said:
I was wanting to ask John Kidder....

In the photos, your '54 X-150 looks like it has a laminated maple top compared to mine with laminated spruce.
Is it an optical delusion on my part? Somehow I see slab cut maple patterns, but the photos might be giving me the wrong impression.
Or another interesting variant?

z

Hello zizala,

So far no word from John Kidder but I would think that it's just the low resolution of the photo that makes it look like slab cut maple veneer.
All we can do is wait for John to get back with us!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

john_kidder

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Soory for delays.

As far as I can tell, it's spruce - there is some haze on the finish that has obscured the grain and a few finish blemishes that give it a different appearance. A half-hour's polishing last night with "Guitar Finish Restore Plus" brought the finish and the grain back to a few square inches - I look forward to taking all the parts off (maybe finding a hidden SN?) and getting down to a real polish someday when I have a few hours and need to sweat a lot.

Heck of a player, too.
 

zizala

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Here's a 1955 X-50 just acquired.....

IMG_0188.jpg


This was left unplayed since 1956 and it looks it!

I'll follow with more photos and info on this one....its a great guitar and somewhat unusual.

ziz
 

hansmoust

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Hello Zizala,

Really nice one and another good example of how a Guild guitar could sit in the factory before it was completed and set up. The superstructure of that guitar, with the early style Guild logo, is from 1954. By 1955 the X-50 already had the script logo on the headstock. If it had left the factory in 1954 it would have had the black cover pickup and the silver backed transparent knobs. Most of the very early X-50s that I've seen had the 3-on-a-plate Waverly tuners but since this one left the factory somewhat later, it probably already has individual tuners of the same make. The same for the label, which more than likely will have the 'New York 7' postal code; it would have been 'New York 3' if the guitar had been completed in 1954.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

zizala

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Hi Hans,

Thanks for the your expert view of this...
....and yes as you pointed out, this X-50 is a perfect blend of '54 and '55.....with a later '55 serial number and New York 7 label.

Here are more photos.

Closer views of the top...

X-50-CLOSE.JPG


The pickguard is quite a thick chunk of bakelite.....remnants of band saw marks around the edges!

X-50-PICKGUARD.JPG


Here's a good look at the older original type bridge....

X-50-TOP.JPG


The narrower Epiphone style heel......attached to a wonderful softly V shaped neck.

X-50-HEEL.JPG


The 1 3/4" nut and 25 1/2"" scale makes this guitar just about perfect for me.
I play the later Guilds with 24 3/4" scales and 1 5/8" nuts out of love for the great guitars they're attached to.
Fortunately I'm adaptable, but if I could choose, they'd all have this neck.

The old style headstock inlay.....not typical for a '55 Guild, but as Hans pointed out, this '54 superstructure was
likely assembled in '55. I love stuff like that!

X-50-HEADSTOCK.JPG


I thought it unusual that this X-50 has individual Waverly tuners rather than the strip version that I see on most of the later X-50's....but maybe I've not yet seen enough.

X-50-TUNERS.JPG


This guitar came from a New Jersey estate sale.....in the case were strings, Mel Bay method books with teachers pencil notations dated from '56, and a pitch pipe. It seems likely that someone purchased this in '55 or '56, took lessons and gave it up soon after. I see no sign that It was ever played again until 2 days ago.

Funny how well the original set up still worked when I strung it up....a little truss rod tweak (probably its first), and just a few loose frets to attend to.
There is some loose and shrunken binding to be taken care of, but not too bad.....however it will be a challenge to do as this finish is so pristine.
The pickup is sensational, combine that with the perfect neck and comfy 16" body, and this one's going to get played a lot!

End of story.....

X-50-ALLBACK.JPG


Oh geeze, I almost forgot.....Happy holidays for those who are celebrating!

z
 

hansmoust

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zizala said:
I thought it unusual that this X-50 has individual Waverly tuners rather than the strip version that I see on most of the later X-50's....but maybe I've not yet seen enough.

X-50-TUNERS.JPG


Hello again Zizala,

Actually it is kind of unusual. Like I said most of the very early X-50s that I've seen had the Waverly strip tuners, but during 1955 they did some with the individual tuners, which was for me the indication that the guitar was completed during 1955. If the guitar would have lost the label, the guitar would not have had a serial number, so the tuners would have been the giveaway.
By the time the factory had been moved to Hoboken, the standard tuners for the X-50 were the strip version again. However, you will see individual tuners on later instruments. Guild didn't make a big deal out of putting the 'correct' tuners on their instruments. Temporarely shortage would often dictate the use of something else; usually a higher grade part.

Oh geeze, I almost forgot.....Happy holidays for those who are celebrating!

Yes, and Happy Holidays to everybody. Christmas celebration doesn't mean that much to me, but it is a good time to clean up my workshop!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
 
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