LMG IV report for the M-75 lovers

SFIV1967 · Nov 16, 2013

jimmyl51 said:
... can explain to me what exactly Guild is trying to do with the GSR model guitars as they don't look to my eyes to be close reproductions of the famous Guild models that I remember as a young kid especially for the price that Guild wants for them in our current economy.

Jim: I am not at all working for Guild. But I thought my post 3 above yours gave the answer. That is at least what Mike Lewis told me some time ago. And it makes perfect sense in the FMIC context and looking at what Fender does with the FSR models ( http://www.fender.com/support/articles/fender-special-run-fsr-products/ ) as well as the annual new Fender "custom shop" models (which are limited volume or limited time special models). I have not heard much complaining about those models and how they are not 100% reproductions of a 1950 Tele or 1954 Strat...
Ralf

Default · Nov 17, 2013

I like your musings that the GSRs might be designed with the help of shots and beers, Ralf!

Makes sense to me!

SFIV1967 · Nov 17, 2013

Default said:
I like your musings that the GSRs might be designed with the help of shots and beers, Ralf! Makes sense to me!

Naa, I didn't say that !

That comment (and not from me) was in another thread about the general design philosophie over the years...But here I know from one source that there was definitely a good thought behind that GSR M-75 model...
Ralf

guildman63 · Nov 17, 2013

I mentioned the shots and beers a few posts back. Alcohol has been responsible for much of history, so why not GSR's?

Default · Nov 17, 2013

Sorry GM for the false attribution! That's what I get for posting on the phone. I still am amused by the thought of booze powered design sessions. I look at some of my amps and think "you had to be drunk to build something that way".

Walter Broes · Nov 17, 2013

Default said:
I look at some of my amps and think "you had to be drunk to build something that way".

Kinda like most old Gretsch guitars?:biggrin-new:

Default · Nov 17, 2013

Hey, leave my Astro Jet outa this! ;-)

i have a stock mid fifties Guild amp that has the power transformer and b+ nolted to the bottom of the cabinet and connected by an unbilical to the top chassis. It looks to be using the chassis for a transformerless amp, but has a very large ot. It's dead stock and it doesn't match any other Guild amp I've seen.

powerwagonjohn · Nov 17, 2013

My concern is the new GSR M-75 are listed by the store as a product of the Guild New Hartford shop when it is actually built off shore and finished in NH. This does not seem totally honest. I may be an excelant guitar but the advertising is questionable to me.
Thanks John

guildman63 · Nov 17, 2013

powerwagonjohn said:
My concern is the new GSR M-75 are listed by the store as a product of the Guild New Hartford shop when it is actually built off shore and finished in NH. This does not seem totally honest. I may be an excelant guitar but the advertising is questionable to me.
Thanks John

Legit. point!

SFIV1967 · Nov 18, 2013

powerwagonjohn said:
My concern is the new GSR M-75 are listed by the store as a product of the Guild New Hartford shop when it is actually built off shore and finished in NH. This does not seem totally honest. I may be an excelant guitar but the advertising is questionable to me.
Thanks John

Well, a whitewood body is no guitar yet...I don't see a problem if a US company is using pieceparts from abroad to make a product in the US, and call it made in USA, or? It's a Guild guitar and if Guild has factories around the world and those factories produce parts of it and ship those parts to the US and the guitar was assembled and finished in the US it's a US made guitar. And not questionable advertising. I doubt any of you is willing to pay a 100% US made guitar where every single piecepart is made in USA. If yes, the AP line is yours, but even there some pieceparts are not US made. My 5 cents.
Ralf

Walter Broes · Nov 18, 2013

SFIV1967 said:
Well, a whitewood body is no guitar yet...I don't see a problem if a US company is using pieceparts from abroad to make a product in the US, and call it made in USA, or?

Not a problem, but the price point might be for some people, seeing that the Korean version sells at 25% the price of the GSR.

Point is moot for me anway - for that kind of money, I'd probably look for a 50's one, or buy two Korean ones.

powerwagonjohn · Nov 18, 2013

The whitewood body is the most important part of the guitar to me. One can use pick ups, bridges, switches, etc. from other sources and these things can all be changed out but the neck and body to me is the heart of the instrument. I don't know if I would consider a offshore body and neck with inlays and frets a US product and even if painted and final assembled in the US, a US built guitar. Again, I am not disparaging the guitar just the advertising and maybe the price point. Do I want one? Yes Will I buy one? Probably not but that is just me and my opinion.
Thanks John

gibsonjunkie · Nov 18, 2013

I love the look and feel - and I'd grab one in a second if it were around $1,500-$2,000 - but that's just too much for that guitar.

SFIV1967 · Jan 4, 2014

Finally, here is the official link to the GSR M-75 Aristocrat™ on the Guild webpage: http://www.guildguitars.com/instruments/details/?partno=3829000830

But I can't understand that Guild never can proof read the specs...It shows for instance:

Control Knobs:

Clear Amber Volume & Tone

But looking at the guitar it should be obvious they are neither clear nor amber...

Ralf

hansmoust · Jan 4, 2014

SFIV1967 said:
But I can't understand that Guild never can proof read the specs...It shows for instance:

Control Knobs:
Clear Amber Volume & Tone

But looking at the guitar it should be obvious they are neither clear nor amber...

Ralf

Not to mention the five-ply black pickguard and Adjusto-Matic™ bridge with rosewood base

....but as a guitar catalog collector, I've learned not to take printed specs very serious.
Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

SFIV1967 · Jan 4, 2014

hansmoust said:
Not to mention the five-ply black pickguard and Adjusto-Matic™ bridge with rosewood base

Funny! I didn't even notice that, I just looked quickly at the end where I saw the wrong knobs mentioned. Too much copy and paste going on at Guilds advertising department...
Ralf

Harpymorgan · Jan 8, 2014

I've mentioned this before. The pickup pole screws are not in line with the strings. Does this matter?

feet · Aug 4, 2017

hey, everyone.

sorry for the necro-post, but are there any updated thoughts on these guitars? the gsr m75 aristocrats, with the humbuckers, specifically. i like the idea of the wider nut and (mini) humbuckers over the franz pickups, but i'm not sure if the extra cost is justified if they are essentially imports. do we know more about the origins and quality of the guitar, vs the current ns and ap (or vintage) versions? i'd be new to the 9.5 radius also; always used 12 as far as i know.

i guess i'd just like a higher quality, us version of an aristocrat, but it looks like that ship has sailed.

thoughts, ideas, opinions or photos would be appreciated. its kind of a hard thing to search for here, so if there are any newer posts with updated info you guys could pass along, that would be cool, too. also curious to see if they are "autumn burst", cherry burst or clown burst in person.

Default · Aug 5, 2017

According to my source, they were 100% built in NH. They were clownbursts and the jigs were set up wrong on the run, but Fender pushed them out the door anyway. I owned one briefly and the pups are jammed all the way to the side of the cavity, as well as the tailpiece being offset. In this guitar, the disparity in output between the neck and bridge was obvious and unpleasant. If the pups and tailpiece had been properly aligned, I would have kept it and had the bridge pup rewound or replaced. It played great, but for the price at the time, I couldn't justify keeping it.

Default · Aug 5, 2017

I have a NS M-75, and it is inferior to the GSR in most aspects. A damn shame! I would have loved to keep it.

LMG IV report for the M-75 lovers

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