Stupid Wall-Hanging Guild Buying Son of a...

dbirchett

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For some reason I thought that the phase switch for the Mars SI was down by the other controls like earlier Guilds. Didn't realize that this was a different guitar to the one you just got and thought you were playing a photoshop trick.

I assume that this is one with the Fender HBs. What is the width of the neck.
 

GAD

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Very early ones have them together on the upper bout.
 

GAD

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For some reason I thought that the phase switch for the Mars SI was down by the other controls like earlier Guilds. Didn't realize that this was a different guitar to the one you just got and thought you were playing a photoshop trick.

I assume that this is one with the Fender HBs. What is the width of the neck.

This is the one I just got - it has the switches separate.

5D3_1673_1600.jpg



This is the first one I had: it has the switches together:

_B0Z5214_800.jpg



It's a coil split - not a phase switch.

Yes - Fender HB1s. Neck is 1 11/16" at the nut.
 

Zelja

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I never liked the look of those.
I have a couple that I love the sound of but agree that they are not as cool looking as the standard filtertron style pickups. The screws probably wouldn't bother me. I have some supertrons in the old style without the screws and will look to install them in my SF4 as an experiment.
 

GAD

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You know, thinking more about it I may be wrong about the top having faded from sunlight as there was no sign of that under the bridge. When I put the new pickups in I'll know for sure.
 

GAD

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Wouldn't you notice a difference in color under the Guildsby, pickguard, bridge and pickup rings?
M

Right, which is why we're at post 27 discussing how I could possibly have had the guitar in my hands and not completely dismantled it yet. Well, that and the switches. I had an amp cabinet to sand!

No veer yet, which is interesting. Might be a record. :victorious:
 
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If it's NOT darker under the pickguard...then it means one of two things:
1. He had it on the wall without the pickguard, and only re-installed it at the time of sale. (doubtful)
or
2. It simply has a lighter top than the rest of the guitar...which is actually kinda cool!

Either way, you scored a beautiful guitar!!! And...it has the Bigsby bridge saddle for a wound G string!
 

SFIV1967

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If it's NOT darker under the pickguard...then it means one of two things:
1. He had it on the wall without the pickguard, and only re-installed it at the time of sale.
Well, that theory would be easy to proof when you remove the pickup rings and it is dark red under them. (same for the area hidden under the bridge and bigsby)
Ralf
 

adorshki

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Well, that theory would be easy to proof when you remove the pickup rings and it is dark red under them. (same for the area hidden under the bridge and bigsby)
Ralf

Right but in the meantime we need to build up the suspense by speculating..
 

GAD

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Whelp, I was wrong about the top. It appears it came that way from the factory because there is no sign of fading anywhere to be seen. Apologies to the nameless doctor who's name I disparaged with the title of this thread.

5D3_2291_1600.jpg



In other news, check this out. Not only do the holes like up with the new TV Jones rings, but the routes absolutely fit vintage HB1s. They're tight, mostly because of the wider pickup ears on the vintage HB1s, but holy crap - I had no idea. Sadly the pickup ring mounting holes do not line up, but for a permanent mod that's an easy thing to overcome. I have a set of '94 HB1s destined for one of my Nightbirds, but I'm tempted to try them in this guitar because they can be coil split. If I keep the TV Jones in there I'll likely replace the coil switch with a master volume.


5D3_2296_1600.jpg



I also didn't notice until I took the Fender HB1s out that the neck pickup is mounted backwards which you can see in the first pics in this thread.
 

dbirchett

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This guitar was obviously designed to compete with similar Gretsch models. Gretsch has a history of varying the color between the top and the back & sides. Intentional or not, it fits.
 

GAD

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This guitar was obviously designed to compete with similar Gretsch models. Gretsch has a history of varying the color between the top and the back & sides. Intentional or not, it fits.

I came to the same conclusion looking at pics of my old Gretsch. Additionally, the shade of the top on this one closely matches my old Setszer SSLVO.
 

GAD

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I think I love the TV Jones Setzer pickups in this thing! It loses a little bit of its "Guildness" without the double-hump covers, but I really disliked the Fender pickups - especially in the neck. These sound fantastic because they deliver that bit of airiness and sparkle that the Fender's completely lack. Sadly everyone went to bed and it's a school night so I can't crank 'em.

There's some weirdness with the rings. The ring on the neck pickup is mounted backwards from the way the guild pickup ring was mounted. It looks a little bit odd if you look closely because it looks like both pickups are tilting towards each other. If I mounted the ring the other way then the pickup had a severe tilt towards the neck and that just wouldn't work.

Guild-X170T-TVJones.jpg



I'm learning to like the top. I think I disliked it at first because I had expectations of it looking just like my first one and it doesn't. I think the lighter top really accentuates the flame in a way the darker one didn't. I still like the darker one better, but I don't think that I'll be on the lookout for one.

As of right now the second toggle is disconnected. The TV Jones pickups are actually 4-wire but they're too low-wind to really do a nice coil-split. They could deliver a very cool serial/parallel setup, though. I think i'll leave it as is for now. I did a mock-up of what it would look like with a G-Shield knob there as a MV and I really didn't like it:

Guild-X170T-MV.jpg


I really don't like the Guild MV knobs because I think they're too small. I really love the Gretsch knobs, but that would just be tacky. Gotta come up with something cool.
 

GAD

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Holy crap I love everything about these TV Jones pickups. I just spent a solid hour with this guitar since my new Axe-FX has a headphone jack. :applouse:

When I had the Gretsch Setzer SSLVO it nailed the Setzer tone but I wasn't crazy about the guitar mostly because it was expensive, felt fragile, and basically wasn't a Guild. I loved my X170T at the time but I couldn't get it to sound like the Gretsch. Had TV Jones had these mounting options back then I'd still have that guitar today, but in a fit of stupidity I sold them both. That led to my SFIII-P90 arc and as much as I loved those they still didn't have that elusive "it" I was after. I may change my tune after the honeymoon is over, but right now I am just thrilled to death with how this thing sounds. It sounds so good I don't even care what color the top is.

Fender really blew it with those Fender-tastic psuedo-HB1s. At this point I'm convinced that they're the reason Mars Music went out of business. OK, maybe that's a stretch, but if these X170Ts originally came with TV Jones Classics in them, I think they would have gotten a lot more notice.

And yes, my review will have sound recordings from both sets of pickups!
 

Zelja

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In other news, check this out. Not only do the holes like up with the new TV Jones rings, but the routes absolutely fit vintage HB1s. They're tight, mostly because of the wider pickup ears on the vintage HB1s, but holy crap - I had no idea. Sadly the pickup ring mounting holes do not line up.
So the mounting holes for the pickup rings from TVJ align with the existing rings on the guitar but the rings from vintage HB-1s don't? I.e. the pickup rings are different from the Fender HB-1 lookalikes and the vintage HB-1s? I guess because the Fender HB-1s are standard humbucker size & hence smaller than the original HB-1s?
 

GAD

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So the mounting holes for the pickup rings from TVJ align with the existing rings on the guitar but the rings from vintage HB-1s don't? I.e. the pickup rings are different from the Fender HB-1 lookalikes and the vintage HB-1s? I guess because the Fender HB-1s are standard humbucker size & hence smaller than the original HB-1s?

Correct.
 

Quantum Strummer

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Re. split coil vs. parallel humbucking: one of my recent acquisitions has a three-way switch (series/split/parallel) for each of its two pickups. I really like the parallel HB voice. The output is the same (quite low) as in split mode but it has a little more mid oomph, which helps it project better. I'd give it a shot with the TVJs. (I have a set of four-wire Classics waiting for the right guitar.)

-Dave-
 
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