X-175B Newark series, unpinned bridge??

I was looking at specs for the T-50 slim and noticed it had a pinned bridge. So I went the the specs of the X-175B and it shows it has a pinned bridge also. However, the one I own does not which is a newer one. This is actually my second one and I'm almost 100% positive my first one did have a pinned bridge and it was an earlier Fender era Newark series.

So my question is, does anyone else have an X-175B that is not pinned? I never really notice a difference. It sucks when it slides a little but no biggie to put it back. Just curious if anyone else is pin -less.

I am going to change out the Bigsby with a harp tail piece on mine. I assume it is NOT pinned, so I will make lots of effort to indicate the exact position of the bridge before the strings come off. I'll let you know what I find !

weird, I had an FMIC one that I sold, bridge not pinned, now I have a Cordoba one, not pinned either. I just put two tiny screws through the bridge base.

Inaccurate advertising and spec sheets is a Guild tradition!

there's no reason for it to be pinned either. DThomasC is right - don't trust the specs

I just got an X-175B this week which is my very first Guild and which I was extremely excited about getting, to say the least.

Though, after only a few minutes of unplugged playing I had a strange sensation about the neck, checked the guitar and noticed that the bridge was substantially off-center, so that the high-E string is very close to the side of the fretboard whereas the low E string is clearly towards the center.
I thought that somehow the bridge got displaced and immediately proceeded to loosen the strings so that I could slide it back to the axis but could not, realizing that it IS pinned to the top. So it is pinned (why do that in the first place is a mystery to me) and it is in the wrong place...
Even worse (maybe) than the left hand feel is the relative position of the strings to the pickups : They are way off the pickups poles at places. I have not plugged the guitar yet and I know that I shall not until that problem is fixed. Below is a photo of what it looks like.


I will eventually get my guitar changed as it is of course under warranty, but why the h*** would they pin the bridge in the first place ? And how could a guitar with such a flaw (which affects playability for sure and presumably sound) pass quality tests ? This leaves me with quite a bitter feeling... :frustrating:
What are your thoughts about this ?

So the bridge is glued to the top? Can you take the bridge off at all?

kahraba, I have no answer for you, but welcome to LTG!

walrus

kahraba, welcome to LTG!

Is this a brand new instrument? If so, then send it back for a replacement.

If it's used then the previous owner might have used double sided tape or (worse) a drop of super glue to hold a bridge in place.

If it's double sided tape then ordinary rubbing alcohol will soften the adhesive.

Thank you all !
The bridge is not glued but the two threaded posts go through it, into the top of the guitar. I can lift the bridge easily when the strings are loose and see the posts underneath.
I am sending the guitar back for sure, hoping for a quick and happy ending.
For your information, the pass certificate is dated 03-03-2014.

One of my Nationals, an archtop, arrived from its former owner with the bridge positioned for good intonation with real light strings. They felt like 9s to me…ack! After I removed 'em, as I would've done anyway, I found the bridge was tacked to the guitar's top with some sort of resin. I was able to X-acto it off without any trouble, but still…

(This one below isn't my guitar but looks near-identical to it.)



-Dave-

kahraba said:

why the h*** would they pin the bridge in the first place ?

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Making sure that the bridge base doesn't move is a good idea IMO. I've played electric archtops for over 20 years, and I've always did that, and so has pretty much everyone else I know who plays similar guitars. If you don't, it will slide around some (or a lot), unless you use 13 gauge strings and never bend.

It sucks of course that on this guitar, they decided to pin it off center. That's very bad quality control.

I hate the bridge on my Starfire III. My big Jazzbox has a wood and bone floating bridge - nothing on top of it.
The SF III has that metal roller thing perched atop the wooden bridge. I really don't like it.

marcellis said:

I hate the bridge on my Starfire III. My big Jazzbox has a wood and bone floating bridge - nothing on top of it.
The SF III has that metal roller thing perched atop the wooden bridge. I really don't like it.

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What year is it? I seem to recall the NS Starfires having a sort of Tune-o-matic bridge on a wooden base.

All of the Westerly and Corona Starfire IIIs I've owned had metal on metal bridges like this:

It's a Newark Street. So the year would be 2014-2015. I think it's the Tune-o-Matic perched atop a Rosewood floating bridge.

Walter Broes said:

Making sure that the bridge base doesn't move is a good idea IMO. I've played electric archtops for over 20 years, and I've always did that, and so has pretty much everyone else I know who plays similar guitars. If you don't, it will slide around some (or a lot), unless you use 13 gauge strings and never bend.

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Got that. I suppose there is also an influence of the angle that the strings make at the bridge. I have been playing an Höfner Senator as my main acoustic for more than 10 years and I can tell you that it wouldn't move, even with the 11's that I used to play. I do not bend much and I admit that when changing strings it takes me a few more minutes to set the intonation... but it only takes two or three strings under tension to keep the thing in place on this guitar.

How secure a floating bridge is also depends on where & how hard you hit the strings. If you're playing harder and nearer the bridge you're more likely to nudge it out of position. Or if you palm mute the strings at the bridge your chances of pushing it askew are good. I have long arms and so my natural playing position is up nearer the neck. I also play mostly with my fingers, seldom with a pick, which means I'm normally not raking the strings with as much force. And I tend to use heavy-ish strings. So I'm fine with unpinned bridges. But if you've gotta anchor a bridge more solidly then you've just gotta.

-Dave-

Yep. I play all over the place, from in front of the neck pickup to all the way almost on top of the bridge, pick soft, in between, and pretty hard, fingerpick, chicken-pick, palm mute, and bend medium strings (11's) with a plain G, and the guitar travels quite a bit (not all the time like it used to, but still..), so I gotta!