New Guild Day - T-400

Synchro

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Oddities make things more interesting any maybe that's why Guild always appeals to me. Your comment about the NS SF III and the T400 caught my attention. The pickups being the same and some of the dimensions of the body being close could contribute to that. More importantly your statement that the audience wouldn't notice cracked me up because it's so true and I sometimes get way to caught up in what I am holding instead of what I am playing.

The NS CE100D is definitely a guitar that interests me and I'm not sure if anyone on LTG has one yet. If they are up to the standards of the rest of the NS archtops then it should be a winner. The closest dealer to me is Harry's Guitars in Raleigh, NC which is about a hour and change away. I checked their online inventory and no CE100D yet but they do have a T-400 listed in stock. I might have to visit but leave my VISA card at home.

I'm still waiting for the Capri. Hopefully, it'll arrive on Monday.
 

SFIV1967

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Does the Capri have the same pickups as the Made in USA models?
Which Made in USA model do you mean? I think only the GSR T-400 and the GSR M-75 had Guild minihumbuckers and I think they were the same as in the Newark St. models.
Ralf
 
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parker_knoll

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sorry, don't the Newark series have mini hums as well?

the Capri says it has "twin Guild LB-1 “Little Bucker” dual-coil pickups"

I wondered if it's the same pickups on the Newark series as on the USA made series
 

SFIV1967

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sorry, don't the Newark series have mini hums as well?
the Capri says it has "twin Guild LB-1 “Little Bucker” dual-coil pickups"
I wondered if it's the same pickups on the Newark series as on the USA made series
Yes, the Capri belongs to the Newark St. series (which are all MIK) but I wondered what US made guitar models you try to compare them with?
Ralf
 

parker_knoll

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The Guild GSR T-400!

Here's some blurb on them: http://guildguitars.com/a-deeper-look-at-the-starfire-pickup/

I wasn't overwhelmed with the sound of the Newark Starfire III I tried. It didn't seem to have the 'balls' of my 1966 if i can use that vague term. I was also a bit disappointed with the repro Franzs. However, you can always get them rewound or beefed up, but it's an extra expense on a new guitar, means you have to get the soldering iron out etc.

I'm asking because I'm considering a T-400.
 

Synchro

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Does the Capri have the same pickups as the Made in USA models?

I'm not sure. The static resistance of the coils is identical to that of the NS series, according to my Fluke meter. They appear the same, except that the tangs into which the height adjustment screws are threaded have squared off ends on the NS models and they are tapered on the GSR. I can't imagine them designing an entirely different pickup just for the GSRs.

I put an NS neck pickup in the bridge of my T-400 because the stock bridge pickup was lacking. It had zero cojones and had to be run at 10 on the volume control just to match the neck pickup at 7. The bridge pickup was as high as possible without contacting the strings. I still have some setup and wiring work to do before I declare the project complete, and my work schedule is not cooperating at the moment, so it could be a while before I am able to give a meaningful report of the results.
 

parker_knoll

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Hey Synchro, i'm reading your thread with interest. I've lusted after Duane Eddys for years but they're usually out of my budget and i know how variable the playability can be on an old axe, so the T-400 really looked perfect for me. I'm disappointed to hear they have MIK pickups.

somehow the pickups on Korean guitars are always feeble, I don't know why, and that's the reason i didn't go for the Newark St line when I tried them out. Obviously any pickup can be made good but that's an extra few hundred dollars. for a guitar that was supposed to sell at $5k they could have used AlNiCo magnets and they could indeed have had them hand wound.

Rickenbacker will sell you a USA made guitar for far less with great pickups out of the box - just my opinion of course, but I'm a fan of HiGains.
 

Synchro

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Hey Synchro, i'm reading your thread with interest. I've lusted after Duane Eddys for years but they're usually out of my budget and i know how variable the playability can be on an old axe, so the T-400 really looked perfect for me. I'm disappointed to hear they have MIK pickups.

somehow the pickups on Korean guitars are always feeble, I don't know why, and that's the reason i didn't go for the Newark St line when I tried them out. Obviously any pickup can be made good but that's an extra few hundred dollars. for a guitar that was supposed to sell at $5k they could have used AlNiCo magnets and they could indeed have had them hand wound.

Rickenbacker will sell you a USA made guitar for far less with great pickups out of the box - just my opinion of course, but I'm a fan of HiGains.

I don't think that the pickups are in any way substandard. My only concern is that they are not balanced in output between the neck and bridge pickup. This conclusion has nothing to do with measuring the resistance of the coils, I only took that step after switching to the bridge pickup during a public performance and having it crap-out on me. That having been said, the sound of the pickups is great, they just need to have a different balance of output. I hate to say it, but whoever spec'd these pickups over at FMIC screwed up, IMHO . . . and in view of the fact that my money was involved, my humble opinion should have some weight.
 

parker_knoll

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ok, that's interesting. getting them rewound by a great guy is cheap anyway. or i could buy some old ones from Hankaroo
 

Walter Broes

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Yep, rewinding isn't expensive, and in this case it will cure the imbalance because it's clearly a resistance issue, from the measurements we've seen on the forum. And most Korean and Chinese made pickups will benefit from a rewind, I know Franz replica pickups in my NSX175 did, I had them underwound a little compared to stock (stock was hotter than any of the vintage ones I have), and the difference wasn't all that subtle : much, much better.

But in the case of an expensive USA made guitar, you shouldn't have to factor in having to tweak or replace the pickups, I do agree with that.
 

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Hey parker! There have been a few threads on the issue with the bridge minibucker. Until CMG gets the spec corrected, which I have no idea if they have yet, your best bet is to have a bridge pup rewind factored into the cost of the guitar. As I have stated before, Fender replicated a broken pup. Ask guru, jr, if you want to, he was trying to get it corrected when Fender sold Guild to CMG. Yes, it's hard to believe, but that's what Fender did. They did not check with any Guild people or spec any Guild guitars, they just bought a pair of pups from ebay and told the Korean plant to duplicate them exactly.
Which they did, probably shaking their heads the whole time. I'm not about to argue with Walter about whether Korean pups should all be rewound, he knows far more about that than I do, but 5.02k for a minibucker is just diasterous if you want to drive an amp the way minis should.
 

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I hate to say it, but whoever spec'd these pickups over at FMIC screwed up, IMHO . . . and in view of the fact that my money was involved, my humble opinion should have some weight.

it's not your opinion, it happened that way. Do you have a problem believing me? I've been correcting you on this subject since you joined the forum.
 

Walter Broes

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I'm not about to argue with Walter about whether Korean pups should all be rewound, he knows far more about that than I do, but 5.02k for a minibucker is just diasterous if you want to drive an amp the way minis should.
You get no argument from me - they screwed up, absolutely. They shouldn't have shipped (they shouldn't ship?) guitars with a 7K neck pickup and a 5K bridge pickup, whether they're Korean, Chinese, Albanian or US made.

My comment was more of a cork sniffer "they have to save money somewhere on these guitars, so redoing a Korean made pickup will usually make it a litte nicer" thing - nothing to do with them having screwed up the specs and basically being asleep at the wheel.
 

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I was just bowing to your expertise! ;-) I just haven't had any pups rewound yet. I have the two minibuckers that need it, and the Fenderbuckers in capnjuan's SFlll really hold that guitar back. Too much stuff that is higher priority on the to-do list, unfortunately!
 
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