Updated HB1/SD1 Article

SFIV1967

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Great update! I am sure that was probably not the final edit, over time we might discover more in the next years.
Actually, where the Guild mini humbuckers also called HB1? I don't think so. I think only the full size was a HB1.
But there have been various HB1 versions I think, wasn't there a higher resistance measured on some of the "hardrock" guitars using HB1s? Also there were variations in the terminals I think and variations with coil split, or?
Ralf
 
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cc_mac

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I want to acknowledge the hard work and efforts of GAD to pull together and publish information on the Guild HB-1 pickups and their successors.

Late last year, I started thinking about getting another Guild electric archtop. There wasn't anything for sale locally so I spent a lot of time looking at guitars for sale on Reverb, Gbase, eBay and Craigslist. The guitars of interest were the X-160 (not rockabilly), X-170, X-150D, and X-180 built from the late 80s through the early 2000s. I also found a lot of info on LTG about those guitars and others that weren't really what I was after but I enjoyed learning about them all. Sorting out and summarizing all that could be an whole article on it's own. What is of interest here is pickups.

I kept what I'd learned from GAD's article and from other LTG posts in mind as I looked over scores of ads for Guild archtops and semihollows. For guitars advertised as 1995 or newer I'd carefully examine the pictures of the pickup adjustment screw spacing. My casual observation was the narrower screw spacing indicative of Fender made pickups started to show up on some guitars advertised as 1998 models. There were also some advertised as 2000 models with wider screw spacing indicative of HB-1 or the Seymour Duncan version. Essentially it appeared to be a mixed bag between 1998 and 2000. In some cases it wasn't possible to verify the model date because a serial# wasn't shown. GADs recent update shows that a Fender made pickup can have an adaptor plate to use a pickup surround with wider screw spacing. That may be a one off or maybe there are more out there like that. Who knows?

It seems unlikely that Guild suddenly ran out of HB-1 pickups the day Fender took ownership in 1995. The pickups made by Seymour Duncan from stockpiled HB-1 baseplates and covers were reportedly produced for about a year but the supply a of completed pickups may have outlasted the actual production. It's just conjecture on my part but it may be that Fender made pickup didn't appear on Guild Electrics until 1998 or so and then only on specific models while the the older supply of of SD pickup was depleted on other models.

Thanks again to GAD and everyone else who has written about the guitars and pickups on LTG.
 
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GAD

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So many words! :)

One thing - "GAD had previously experienced a narrow screw spaced unit (dead give away of a Fender) that turned out to be a Guild HB-1." That never happened (that I can recall anyway! :) )

Nice succinct history though!

What happened was that I thought they were SD1s and Hans informed me that they were HB1s. They had the wide adjustment screws but they didn't look like HB1s to me. What happened to me was the opposite - wide screws with Fender HB1s inside via an adapter.

As for "regular" pickups - they fit fine in the HB1 rings through use of an adapter - that's exactly what my Nightbird has - regular sized pickups (Fender HB1s) in vintage HB1 rings. Guild used Dimarzio pickups in late 70s S300s (such as my S300A-D). They had vintage HB1 rings, but had naked coil Dimarzios in them. Here's a pic. You can even see the adapter in there:

_B0Z6458_800.jpg
 

cc_mac

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So many words! :)

One thing - "GAD had previously experienced a narrow screw spaced unit (dead give away of a Fender) that turned out to be a Guild HB-1." That never happened (that I can recall anyway! :) )

Nice succinct history though!

Sorry for getting that point confused above. When I edit it down to the succinct version then I'll correct or remove that.
 
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