What reissues/models would you like to see in the Newark Street Line?

I think they need a Guild abbreviation book to translate this thread. I do see a problem though. You ALL want something DIFFERENT ! There is little consensus to help pick the next guitar line to put out. From a marketing stance, they need to make what will SELL and do it well enough to get good press. So, I would suggest they plug what ever glaring holes are in their lineup. Find the thing that MOST players might say is the " I wish they made THIS again. " Maybe break it into categories. Rock guitar and Jazz guitar ? I don't know. All I know is I got lost trying to keep up with the Christmas Wish list I just read.

Well, you know....we can go back and forth on what we think the company should do or not, but I'm not in marketing or business, I'm a guitar player who happens to like Guild guitars. All things considered, and looking at how many used Guilds are available at sweet prices, it's a small miracle the brand still exists.

I'd like to see a reissued Duane Eddy (either or both versions) and an ST-402

Walter Broes said:

I don't know, I'd have to play one to see if I liked it. The MIJ Gretsches are pretty well made guitars, but I never played one that I absolutely had to have - I'm not a Filtertron fan at all, so that doesn't help.

You're right about the prices on the AP/GSR stuff. It's something we've discussed a lot in the past on here : the market for a 50's X500 replica at $5000 is going to be pretty limited if you can still get the real thing in pretty good shape for less.

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Street price was about $3600, although I got the T-400 for $2500 at the factory blowout. Not bad, if you compare that to a Gibson, not good if you compare it to a vintage model or an import.

I have to agree with L.A. - how about something new and different, particularly in the electrics? I'm not sure if my viewpoint is common, but I would always rather have the vintage version of the same model, so if they keep reproducing new copies of older models, I'm out.

But a new innovative model, high quality, USA made electric (series?), that can attract both us geezers as well as new younger players - I would love that!

walrus

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Street price was about $3600, although I got the T-400 for $2500 at the factory blowout. Not bad, if you compare that to a Gibson, not good if you compare it to a vintage model or an import.

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There's a minty clean used one on Ebay for around $1900 right now. And a couple of the AP models sold for realistic second hand prices too. And except for something affordable like the NS 175 I have, it's been a long time since I got a guitar brand new. But the fact the US-made ones don't seem to fetch great prices used, and it seems a little hard to sell them new for full price isn't going to motivate the Cordoba folks to start building a lot of archtops in the US, is it?

I actually see a near future where you can't buy anything but a used American built guitar. It's the problem with any durable-goods product. Unless you have somebody throwing guitars in a wood chipper, a hundred years worth of supply is going to overwhelm demand. As far as my APs go, they are far nicer, buildwise, than most of the Guilds I've seen, but people buy with their wallets.

walrus said:

I have to agree with L.A. - how about something new and different, particularly in the electrics? I'm not sure if my viewpoint is common, but I would always rather have the vintage version of the same model, so if they keep reproducing new copies of older models, I'm out.

But a new innovative model, high quality, USA made electric (series?), that can attract both us geezers as well as new younger players - I would love that!

walrus

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The thing is, as we all know vintage guitars can have issues, playability is not always the best and one is reluctant to mod them. With a production guitar i wouldn't fear about laying into it if I wanted to and you should be guaranteed good playability.

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Unless you have somebody throwing guitars in a wood chipper

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Well, ole Hankeroo and his ilk are basically doing that

I used to build coffee vending machines and they were so durable that, once you bought one, you never needed replace it, unless you drove your truck under a too low bridge!

I would be a fan of a MIJ (Made in Japan) guitar like the Gretsch. I had a Setzer SSLVO that was a killer instrument. They're too expensive, though. For the money I had in it I now have two P90 Starfire IIIs.

I like the NS Guilds, but I don't love them. I'd take a Westerly every time over a NS. One of the things that I really dislike about the NS Guilds is the open-gear tuners.

I would love to see a reissue of the Bluesbird, though I greatly prefer the 90s styles of almost every Guild electric.

The hollow Bluesbird would be easy to do. Just drop the minibuckers in there and away you go.

My opinions, possibly informed and definitely worth no more than what you paid.

The Newark Street line exists to sell a Guild branded electric guitar in the new market with a price point near $1000. The price point is what is important. I have no doubt that when the time comes that instruments can be made at that price point elsewhere without a loss in quality, we will see the Newark Street line MIJ or MIC or even MIA. But right now it is MIK.

We muddy the waters when we talk about MIA electrics "soon". The New Hartford MIA electrics were all limited editions at a much higher price point and Guild's decision to re-enter that segment of the market will almost certainly be driven by "prestige" and not just profit. That almost certainly can wait until the factory is running at full speed and the catalog of acoustics has been rebuilt.

The NS line started out as 're-imagining' vintage (60's-70's) Guild instruments in the 21st century. With that as the theme, as well as a possible hint because the NS M-85-I bass exists now, I would expect to see it joined by its six stringed counterpart. So in some sense I want to see a Bluesbird and variations thereon. That said, I would be much more interested in innovation in the NS line than more re-imagining. The Orpheum is the acoustic that Guild might have made in the 1930's. What electric would Guild have made in the 90's if they had to compete with Fender rather than being owned by Fender? Was there a "Gibson-killer" that never left the drawing board? That is what I would like to see next in the NS line especially if it does not compete head to head with something in the used or vintage market that also has Guild on the headstock.

I would think that they would start a "Guild Contemporary" line, or some such moniker. The NS seems to be the inspired-by line.
I don't think the X-79 would be a good fit there.

GAD said:

I would be a fan of a MIJ (Made in Japan) guitar like the Gretsch...They're too expensive, though. For the money I had in it I now have two P90 Starfire IIIs.

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^This. This is the biggest trouble; used/vintage values are just too low to make room for new American (and probably MIJ) stuff. How many $6k+ '59 Les Paul reissues would Gibson sell each year if actual vintage 1959 Les Pauls traded at a $4-5k on the market? I hate to say it, b/c it doesn't appeal to me at all, but Guild's best foray back into US electric production might be to team up with some modern archtop maker, like they did w/ Benedetto, and make a handful of high-dollar jazz guitars each year as boutique/prestige stuff and hope the rest of their money can come from flattops.

The thing with 59 Les Paul's is they disappear into collections, never to be seen again. When you have a limited supply, that is where your demand will always be greater. I noticed that Gibson is selling p90 LP's at a $799 price point, so it can be done. I'm not sure what iconic instrument they could come up with.

Maybe a "tractor" Pilot bass? I'd like to see that..

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Maybe a "tractor" Pilot bass? I'd like to see that..

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I might buy one of those!

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The thing with 59 Les Paul's is they disappear into collections, never to be seen again. When you have a limited supply, that is where your demand will always be greater. I noticed that Gibson is selling p90 LP's at a $799 price point, so it can be done. I'm not sure what iconic instrument they could come up with.

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I've kinda given up on ever being in a place where I could actually use an electric anymore, but I almost posted a similar idea yesterday, then decided it was probably too obvious, but:
I think a chambered Bluesbird would be just the thing to try to grab a chunk of that LP market.
Maybe play up the "Cake" connection for the younger demographic, go after some other endorsements?

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The thing with 59 Les Paul's is they disappear into collections, never to be seen again. When you have a limited supply, that is where your demand will always be greater. I noticed that Gibson is selling p90 LP's at a $799 price point, so it can be done. I'm not sure what iconic instrument they could come up with.

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Yes, and even if they were more affordable (as they were not too long ago) people don't want to gig them, plus want hotter pickups etc. so i think there is a market for new guitars even while vintage are cheap. i know someone who bought an NS Starfire who would never buy a vintage because they're too scared of buying a dog.

adorshki said:

Maybe play up the "Cake" connection for the younger demographic, go after some other endorsements?

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The "Cake" demographic is between 35 and 50 years old right now. Not exactly the younger crowd!

fronobulax said:

That said, I would be much more interested in innovation in the NS line than more re-imagining. The Orpheum is the acoustic that Guild might have made in the 1930's. What electric would Guild have made in the 90's if they had to compete with Fender rather than being owned by Fender? Was there a "Gibson-killer" that never left the drawing board? That is what I would like to see next in the NS line especially if it does not compete head to head with something in the used or vintage market that also has Guild on the headstock.

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I think innovation is vastly overrated. The most popular guitars out there, to this day, are strats, teles, and Les Pauls. Save for a couple of small details, most of the current ones are pretty dang close to the original 1950's versions. I'll go further than that : half of the current electric guitar market are vintage inspired, reissued, vintage mash-up, brand new but reliced to look 40 yrs old guitars.

What could you do to a M-75 or a X175 that would make it a more relevant/interesting guitar? Put locking tuners on it? Give it those awful Gibson self-tuning robo tuners? Build a USB port, a camera and a phone into it? A lot of those things would make them more dated in five years than one of those Casio midi/synth strats looks now.

Being the roots-rock musician I am, with a taste for vintage guitars, I think it's fantastic they went the extra mile with the NS range and tooled up for Franz pickups, mini humbuckers, Full size Guild 'buckers, Hagstrom bass pickups, harp tailpieces, etc..... My remarks in earlier in this thread are about - yes, more of that please, those very very distinctly Guild things, but better quality. Have those pickups made by Fralin or Duncan or Lollar instead of by the cheapest bid from a Korean factory. Finish the guitars in nitro, do whatever it takes to get them closer to the real thing. I'm happy with how geeky a reissue I can get now for $1000, but I think I'd gladly pay about twice that for a guitar that sounds and feels even closer to my oldies. My NS guitar is a backup guitar now, but if it was just 50% closer to my oldies, I'd leave the oldies at home more than half the time.

The innovation bit : if that means making those guitars more generic with Gibson style hardware and pickups, or building a Guild branded super strat like we saw in the 80's, I'd see that as a step backwards, not innovation.