Bluesbirds: Owners & Long Time Borrowers List

adorshki

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Hello

Looking at those guitars from behind I see serious resemblance to Songbird.
Except for different covers for cavities they seem to be about identical.
Same body - same neck w different angle - different top - hardware.
The Songbird WAS derived from the Nightbird outline, itself Gruhn's take on the BB outline.
I think it was intended to be the perfect stage complement for electric players looking to be able to switch off to an acoustic tone without even "feeling" it.
Anything else?

Just whirling silly thoughts here - if I put a hot humbucker into soundhole and connect it to my Marshall JMP-1 preamp - how close do I get w Songbird vs a Bluesbird ???
I don't think you'll ever get the same kind of resonance, especially compared to chambered version of the BB, but Swiveltung's done something very similar:
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?194909-Songbird-conversion
Z2oqbvI.jpg
 

Nuuska

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Hello

Yes - I am well aware, that pick-up only will not turn a Songbird into Bluesbird or Nightbird - we had that good discussion here of body woods etc affecting electric guitar sound.
Like I wrote - whirling silly thoughts . . .

BUT

I see that the Songbird - and also Bluesbird? - is asymmetrical - besides obvious cutaway - in that the horn protrudes about 5/16 inch further from center line than the upper bout on the other side.

So my curiosity wakes up. How about the older cousins with different cutaway and rounder horn ?
 

adorshki

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Yes - I am well aware, that pick-up only will not turn a Songbird into Bluesbird or Nightbird - we had that good discussion here of body woods etc affecting electric guitar sound.
Like I wrote - whirling silly thoughts . . .
I might have misinterpreted the original question.
"Won't get the same resonance as a Bluesbird" was just a personal guess, I offered up Swiveltung's novel experimentation as a possible source of input for an answer.
I think you participated in answering some of his wiring questions but didn't know if you remembered who it was.
The more I think bout it, the more I think that the resonant characteristics of a flat top (Songbird) will be very different from the characteristics of an arched top and yield a distinctly different voice through the same pickup, no matter what you do.
But I suspect I still don't get the question because I think you know all that?

BUT

I see that the Songbird - and also Bluesbird? - is asymmetrical - besides obvious cutaway - in that the horn protrudes about 5/16 inch further from center line than the upper bout on the other side.

So my curiosity wakes up. How about the older cousins with different cutaway and rounder horn ?
If you're asking about sonic differences I bet GAD's the perfect guy to ask.
Conventional wisdom has it that cutaways don't really affect tone that much in an acoustic, but the subtle differences might be more pronounced when put through pickups, if one accepts that pickups react to vibrations from the whole guitar and not just the strings.
 
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Nuuska

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If you're asking about sonic differences I bet GAD's the perfect guy to ask.
.


Hello

No - just the physical shape - many cutaways are symmetrical in body shape - except that a part has been cut off.
But the body line remains as if it was "normal". Like my F212CSB
In Songbird the body line is not symmetrical, but on cutaway side the upper bout is that 5/16 further away from center line.
 

adorshki

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No - just the physical shape - many cutaways are symmetrical in body shape - except that a part has been cut off.
But the body line remains as if it was "normal". Like my F212CSB
In Songbird the body line is not symmetrical, but on cutaway side the upper bout is that 5/16 further away from center line.

OK, right, I noticed that ever since I saw the Songbird in the '96 catalog.
At this point I attribute it to Gruhn's design aesthetic.
For whatever reason, he decided to outline the Nightbird that way, which was then carried over to the all the derivatives that followed.
I could guess it was simply to offer a slight bit bit more clearance around the neck at the cutaway?
I've posted this before but it's relevant enough here good enough to post again:
https://www.vintageguitar.com/3275/1985-guild-nightbird-prototype/
 

jiagap

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Recently picked up a beautiful Bluesbird off of Craigslist for $1100. Mine is Model #350-6400 with Serial # CL001275. It is a natural finish with after market installed bigsby. I am thinking it is 1998 or before?? Westerly.

If I am reading this right, is this saying there we only 853 of these made?

Bluesbird 350-6400-...........................................................2099.99
Chambered single cutaway mahogany body, flame maple top,
bound rosewood fretboard, humbuckings, deluxe case
806 Black 821 Natural 853 Gold Metallic
838 Red Transparent

And looking through this thread, is there a list somewhere, I was not able to access it?

Anyway, I went to Guitar Center the other day to try out some high end Les Paul's to see if I should change. I was not persuaded. The Guild is very well built and sounds great through my AX8 modeler. Thus far I am quite pleased.
 
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Hobbesickles

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Recently picked up a beautiful Bluesbird off of Craigslist for $1100. Mine is Model #350-6400 with Serial # CL001275. It is a natural finish with after market installed bigsby. I am thinking it is 1998 or before?? Westerly.

If I am reading this right, is this saying there we only 853 of these made?

Bluesbird 350-6400-...........................................................2099.99
Chambered single cutaway mahogany body, flame maple top,
bound rosewood fretboard, humbuckings, deluxe case
806 Black 821 Natural 853 Gold Metallic
838 Red Transparent

And looking through this thread, is there a list somewhere, I was not able to access it?

Anyway, I went to Guitar Center the other day to try out some high end Les Paul's to see if I should change. I was not persuaded. The Guild is very well build and sounds great through my AX8 modeler. Thus far I am quite pleased.

Congrats on the purchase! Pictures are always welcome. Yours is likely a '98 or '99 but I'm sure Hans will come along and give you the correct year. There was a list of the owners with colors that was being updated by the original poster of this thread but it seems to have been taken down. It had not been updated in a long time.
 

adorshki

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Recently picked up a beautiful Bluesbird off of Craigslist for $1100. Mine is Model #350-6400 with Serial # CL001275. It is a natural finish with after market installed bigsby. I am thinking it is 1998 or before?? Westerly.

If I am reading this right, is this saying there we only 853 of these made?
Welcome aboard jiagap!
Maybe I'm not understanding the question re quantity made, do you mean in Natural?

Otherwise, yours is already number 1275, and our member Hans Moust most likely knows how many were made by the time Westerly closed in 2001, without even taking into account the Corona-builts from '01- '03 I think it was..
Oh, wait a minute, NOW I get it:
No, that "853" is the finish color(and case type) code, it would be the last 3 digits a dealer would insert after "350-6400-" when ordering from the factory, to specify what color/case he wanted.
So the complete "SKU" for your guitar would be "350-6400-821" for Natural.
That list is for all the standard colors Guild offered on the model, no extra charge, no extra turnaround time, but they were extremely flexible about accepting orders for "non-standard" finish colors, or even just deciding to do it themselves.
It's been the source of some uncertainty about whether a given guitar might actually be a AAA even though it's not one of the standard AAA colors, because the guitars don't actually get marked with the SKU, it only ever showed on the dealer's invoice and maybe their "hang tag" so it got rung up correctly at the register.
See the 2001 price list, note Bluesbird AAA's had a limited range of only 3 standard colors (they're displaced to the top of the next column on that list):
http://www.westerlyguildguitars.com/files/Guild2001.pdf
Way down at the bottom you can see the list of all the "Standard" colors, they just didn't offer all of 'em on all models as standard.
And note that first digit "8" actually indicates that Bluesbirds came with deluxe cases.
:friendly_wink:
 
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GGJaguar

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So, I took up the gauntlet to try to recreate the Bluesbird list that went missing. However, it's only for those instruments made from 1996-2003 because, to be honest, those are the only years that interest me (and my time is limited). The list can be found here: https://www.ggjaguar.com/LTG/LTG Bluesbird list.pdf

Let me know of any corrections or additions. I'll try to update it every so often.

Thanks!
 

lostdog

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Thanks for doing this! It's great to see this thread active again. Two '99 Westerly's here (both are on the list): #1666 (sunburst) and #1884 (natural).
 

Gabby84

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Just purchased a black Guild Bluesbird, 2017. Fell in love with the feel and sound at the store. Tried it on a whim as I was looking at thinlines and standard tele's.
 
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I have a '73 M75 Bluesbird. Natural finish, all original. Has a little coily cord rash. It's my rock guitar.
 

fabdad

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Hello, are Nightbirds and Nightingales allowed in the list?
 
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