Cordoba Guild folks, are you reading this?

matsickma

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Looks like a Gibson bass pup mounted on the middle of the 6 string Starfire. Curious why a bass pickup was used. The bass pickups I measured resistance on were really high resistance like 18,000. I would think that would significantly cut out the treble. Interesting place for the extra volume and tone knobs.

M
 

fronobulax

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Matsickma, look for a cover image from Steve Miller's "Sailor," ~ 1969 or 70? I think there is a Guild on that with three p/u's...the middle one a BiSonic :shocked: !!!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000DRBJ/?tag=tbook-20

Bass PU for sure because I can count only four pole pieces but it almost certainly is not a Bisonic bass PU. I'd guess a Gibson mudbucker but whatever it is I'm 99.44% sure a PU looking like that was never on a Guild bass when it left the factory.

But for a post factory conversion...

BA-1318.jpg
 
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Imo Guild jumped the shark when Fender took over and they left Westerly. Going back to the anaemic looking flimsy guilds of the 50's was a huge mistake as the late 60's and later models are clearly defined by many (not the hard line guild enthusiast) to be the shape of Guild, the shape that we love.

They also left the planet when they decided on pricing, I mean advertising a Guild x-500 for $8000? have a word with yourself! An X-700 didn't cost that much and thats a higher end guitar.

So after destroying Guild and over charging buyers with over priced guitars, weird models that no one bought, accept a few people (who are going to lose an arm and a leg on resale) lets hope Codobra get the line back in shape.

Bring back the Westertly models, bring back the value that Guild 'was' known for and the QC that Gibson could only dream of and forget everything that happened in the last 15 years.

My 2p
 

Walter Broes

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Imo Guild jumped the shark when Fender took over and they left Westerly. Going back to the anaemic looking flimsy guilds of the 50's was a huge mistake as the late 60's and later models are clearly defined by many (not the hard line guild enthusiast) to be the shape of Guild, the shape that we love.
Well....one guy's "aneamic looking flimsy guilds" are another (this) guy's perfection - I wouldn't trade any of my Hoboken Guilds for a Westerly built guitar. What you seem to think of as "sturdy" feels clunky, overly heavy and overbuilt to me. We all like different things, and I know quite a few people who are not into Westerly Guilds at all, and prefer the earlier lighter, more resonant guitars. different strokes yada yada.

Not saying Fender did a lot of good for Guild though, Fender's involvement, to me, was a perfect example of how some really good ideas and fresh starts unravel into half-finished stories, aborted tries, and inconsistent B.S. once corporate and bean counters get involved. I think there were probably a few good people and ideas under Fender, and at times things looked at least semi-promising, but it's like they never really got a good chance or a fair shake.
 

Default

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Hobo SF lll vs Westerly SF lll.

Two entirely different guitars for two entirely different kinds of music, imho. One of the things I like about Guild is that they were more experimental than Gibson. There was a lot of partsbox innovation, where resulting in a lot of unique guitars out there.
 

krysh

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Imo Guild jumped the shark when Fender took over and they left Westerly. Going back to the anaemic looking flimsy guilds of the 50's was a huge mistake as the late 60's and later models are clearly defined by many (not the hard line guild enthusiast) to be the shape of Guild, the shape that we love.

They also left the planet when they decided on pricing, I mean advertising a Guild x-500 for $8000? have a word with yourself! An X-700 didn't cost that much and thats a higher end guitar.

So after destroying Guild and over charging buyers with over priced guitars, weird models that no one bought, accept a few people (who are going to lose an arm and a leg on resale) lets hope Codobra get the line back in shape.

Bring back the Westertly models, bring back the value that Guild 'was' known for and the QC that Gibson could only dream of and forget everything that happened in the last 15 years.

My 2p

welcome to LTG.

and who are you that you leave such a definite 1st impression?
 

JohnW63

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Hobo SF lll vs Westerly SF lll.

Two entirely different guitars for two entirely different kinds of music, imho.

Could you elaborate on that, please ? As a new to Guild electrics person, I need to get all the impressions I can get.
 

Default

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Hoboken - light, resonant, feeds back, rounder fingerboard.

Westerly - heavy, noticeably thicker top, more resistant to feedback, flatter fingerboard. Fullsize humbuckers.

Both are quality guitars, but the RI seems like it was built for higher volume. Not as lively as the Hobo, but not as sensitive to howling. All in my opinion of course. I'm torn between replacing the Fender buckers with either SD Phat Cats or the new HB-1s...
 

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welcome to LTG.

and who are you that you leave such a definite 1st impression?

Yup, those are some strong statements, Michael. I'm interested in why the op has such a bad taste in his mouth over the past few years. There was some really cool Guilds in that period of time. As for any new Guild with a street price of $8k, I haven't seen one. OP is in Europe?
 

JohnW63

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Default,

Do you feel each is better at a different style ? One more a Jazz instrument, the other more rock ? Smooth vs. Edgy ? I guess it's one of those, " If you were going to play <fill in the blank> I'd reach for a Hoboken, but for THIS sort of thing, I'd grab a Westerly " sort of question.
 

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Jazz is jazz. Either guitar would work, but the Hobo is set up for a wound g and came with heavier strings. The Wes was set up from the factory for a plain g and 10s.

Different perseptions of what a rock and roll guitar needed to be? I think the neck minibuckers is definitely a jazz capable pup. The Fender buckers (which look like the reissue wide-ranging Fender pup to me) are pretty mellow pups that could do jazz. I've never tried flats on it though.
 

guildman63

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welcome to LTG.

and who are you that you leave such a definite 1st impression?

He's a jazzguitar forum member that has a history of not caring for many things Guild, which is certainly his right. His arguments of the $8000 - $10000 Guilds, and the flimsy and plain construction of Hoboken Guilds have been made before despite his claim that he loves Westerly Guilds and owns many, which may be true. The Guild value he speaks of still exists in the used market as much as it ever did. As for the price of the more recent AP archtops, companies can list whatever MSRP they choose, but the actual street price will always fall in line with perceived value. In this case people were willing to buy up all of the AP guitars for 50% to 60% of the original $8k - $10k MSRP ($4k - $5k, or a little more). Correctm e if I'm wrong, but I have yet to see one offered up for resale two years later. What does that say?
 

fronobulax

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As much as we love to hate FMIC my understanding is that Guild would have gone bankrupt and ceased to exist if FMIC had not purchased it. No matter how many bonehead moves they made, it did not die on their watch and that has to count for something. :)
 

adorshki

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Could you elaborate on that, please ? As a new to Guild electrics person, I need to get all the impressions I can get.
John if you weren't aware before, you should know that Guild's founder Al Dronge was a bit of a jazz player himself and the early archtops targeted those players and their endorsements were sought and prevailed until the early-to-mid '60's, when every record company was looking for the next Beatles and every kid in a garage band dreamed of having a hit single.
I suspect his son had a bit of influence on the direction as well since he's credited with talking Al into bringing acoustic dreadnoughts into the lineup.
And the move to Westerly coincided with the huge boom in demand for electric guitars and amps, so it seems only natural that the Westerlys would try to accomodate market demands of the times in the ways Default describes.
 

JohnW63

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I would re-write the above to say the Fender found some darn fine builders in a factory in New Hartford to build Guild guitars.
 

JohnW63

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Al,

Could I simplify what you wrote to say, the older ones were targeted to the Jazz crowd, and that by the time they moved to Westerly, they were changing the designs to accommodate the more modern music ? Did they then have more guitars with humbuckers and less with single coils in the lineup ? ( Assuming the sound preference was moving toward more over driven tones for rock music )
 

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According to Aaron Newman, he was a really talented jazz player, but he liked that muffled jazz sound with the treble rolled all the way off. Franzes are not even close to that, but you use what you can get, I guess.
 
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