George Gruhn era Nightbird

ANightbird · Mar 26, 2017

Hello everyone,I'm a new member living in Australia. So unfortunately there aren't too many Guild guitars around here . I've loved Guild for a while now . Firstly those Jumbo acoustics, then the Thunderbird and now the Nightbird.
I'm trying to get some knowledge on the Nightbird before buying one so any information is very much appreciated
From what I can see there weren't too many Nightbirds made when George Gruhn was at Guild . This is the era that interests me . Does anybody know how many were made ? What colours did they come in ?
Did the EMG pick ups sound any good ? Any other important pieces of information I might have missed
Thank you in advance
Anthony

Johnny833 · Jul 13, 2023

ANightbird said:
Hello everyone,I'm a new member living in Australia. So unfortunately there aren't too many Guild guitars around here . I've loved Guild for a while now . Firstly those Jumbo acoustics, then the Thunderbird and now the Nightbird.
I'm trying to get some knowledge on the Nightbird before buying one so any information is very much appreciated
From what I can see there weren't too many Nightbirds made when George Gruhn was at Guild . This is the era that interests me . Does anybody know how many were made ? What colours did they come in ?
Did the EMG pick ups sound any good ? Any other important pieces of information I might have missed
Thank you in advance
Anthony

They made 80 or so in 85 and somewhere around 300 total

GAD · Jul 13, 2023

No one knows the actual numbers except for probably Hans.

I have a spreadsheet with Nightbird Serial numbers and it has GG SNs as high as 100406. Of course that's totally non-conclusive data.

As for colors, Many are amber, but there's red, black, cherry burst, tobacco burst, orange... Every time I think I've seen 'em all another color pops up that I haven't seen. And those are just the GGs!

Some Nightbird info:

GAD's Guide to Guild Nightbirds | GAD's Ramblings

Guild Nightbirds are some of the best electric guitars every produced at the Westerly Guild plant. I own more than my fair share of them, and since I have a pile of Nightbird reviews pending I thought I would consolidate some of the repeating information I had into a single article. Nightbirds...

www.gad.net

Maple-top Nightbirds are among my favorite Guild models.

Rocky · Jul 13, 2023

On the spruce/maple front.
I believe all of the 1985 instruments were spruce topped, with maple appearing in 1986. The later in production, the more common maple is. By the time you get to the X-2000/3000 all of the tops are maple.

Rocky · Jul 13, 2023

Johnny833 said:
My last 3 numbers of my serial number are 132 I think u told me before but the 80’s were long and hard on me!! do u no where that puts mine as when it was made? And thanks for the quick response!!

By memory, I think that should be in the first half of 1986.

GAD · Jul 13, 2023

Rocky said:
On the spruce/maple front.
I believe all of the 1985 instruments were spruce topped, with maple appearing in 1986. The later in production, the more common maple is. By the time you get to the X-2000/3000 all of the tops are maple.

While they're all "Nightbirds", it's more complicated than that.

While it may be true that the original GGs in '85 were all spruce (I don't know, but that seems to hold up), the idea that maple became more common gets complicated because by 1987 the models had split into the I, II, ST, and DX, and then later the CU and finally the X2000.

GAD · Jul 13, 2023

Johnny833 said:
My last 3 numbers of my serial number are 132 I think u told me before but the 80’s were long and hard on me!! do u no where that puts mine as when it was made? And thanks for the quick response!!

I don't really have hard data - only observational data collected mostly by someone else. When it comes to date of assembly I'll always defer to Hans.

Johnny833 · Jul 13, 2023

Rocky said:
By memory, I think that should be in the first half of 1986.

I don’t remember exactly but I think it was GAD he said it was like the 19 th made in85 mine has a triangle backplate and again I don’t remember exactly but I think 85’s only had that the others are square if I m correct

Rocky · Jul 13, 2023

Johnny833 said:
I don’t remember exactly but I think it was GAD he said it was like the 19 th made in85 mine has a triangle backplate and again I don’t remember exactly but I think 85’s only had that the others are square if I m correct

No, it's definitely a 1986. Square backplates didn't come in until they added the phase switch, in mid-86.

Johnny833 · Jul 13, 2023

Rocky said:
No, it's definitely a 1986. Square backplates didn't come in until they added the phase switch, in mid-86.

I have a push push on the volume with no little switch

GAD · Jul 13, 2023

Johnny833 said:
I don’t remember exactly but I think it was GAD he said it was like the 19 th made in85 mine has a triangle backplate and again I don’t remember exactly but I think 85’s only had that the others are square if I m correct

That is not something I would have said because I don’t have that information.

If I did say it I didn’t know what I was talking about, which to be fair is possible.

Johnny833 · Jul 13, 2023

GAD said:
That is not something I would have said because I don’t have that information.

If I did say it I didn’t know what I was talking about, which to be fair is possible.

Sorry I couldn’t be sure if it was u or maybe Hans thanks for your response

HeyMikey · Jul 14, 2023

You do know the OP’s post is from 2017, and hasn’t been seen in 2 years…

Mapleman54 · Jul 14, 2023

Didn’t spot that, thanks! My capacity for errors is boundless it seems.. at least I didn’t type the message in the thread title this time!

GAD · Jul 14, 2023

Mapleman54 said:
Didn’t spot that, thanks! My capacity for errors is boundless it seems.. at least I didn’t type the message in the thread title this time!

This is not your fault. @Johnny833 had to click on a box that said something like, "This thread is 2,190 days old - are you sure?"

George Gruhn era Nightbird

ANightbird

Johnny833

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GAD

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GAD's Guide to Guild Nightbirds | GAD's Ramblings

Rocky

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Rocky

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GAD

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GAD

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Johnny833

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Rocky

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Johnny833

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GAD

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Johnny833

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HeyMikey

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Mapleman54

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GAD

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