New Guild Jetstar

Bill Ashton

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"Made in China", better buy 'em up now guys, before a (or the) tariff hits...not a political commentary, just a prediction that we may see prices rise even though the goods on display were already delivered...
 

matsickma

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Not much steel or aluminum in a guitar so if an all out trade war doesn't break out prices on guitars may not change much. A guitar trade war would probably be a good thing for the sellers of used guitars that say "Made in USA".
M
 

Bluesra

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Hello, First time poster here. I got my first Guild (S100 Newark street) last year thru a trade and it really surprised me, I love it. Ive been REALLY lusting for a Jetstar in Seafoam green, ever since I first saw the thing. The 25.5 scale, the funky shape, but now im curious about the Little Buckers.

Looks like people arent in a hurry to post about the new Jetstars, or if people are even buying them. But can anyone tell me how the LB 1 will compare to the HB in my S100? Can I expect to get close to a single coil or P90 sound? Does the LB sound significantly different than the HB?

Also, maybe Drumbob can comment on this, the Seafoam Green. On Reverb and one of the NAMM videos the color looks like a nice baby blue, and on the Sweetwater site it looks to me like a seafoam green. Im sure it has to do with lighting but any comment on this?

The made in China also worries me a little. Ive had some great korean guitars but havent owned a chinese made one since my first guitar.
 

Bill Ashton

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My thoughts weren't necessarily about the metal, but just goods in general. Maybe I don't understand our President's policies just right...:tongue-new:

But Bluesra, I am kinda with you. Mostly acoustic guitar player now, but because I have a lust for amplifiers that I seem unable to control, my thoughts were that if I was to only have ONE electric, that Jetstar just might be it...in, of course, Seafoam Green. Think we could have them do a special-run of Lake Placid Blue and add a real Guildsby? :laughing::laughing:
 
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Bluesra

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My Guild S100 is what got me out of my 4 year acoustic phase, the new orange also helped.

Just watched a NAMM video with some jetstar playing and i really liked the tone, sounded like a fat single coil tone. I really need to get one of these.
 
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Here are my initial thoughts on the Jet Star that arrived the other day: The fit and Sea Foam Green finish is excellent. Very good workmanship. The fretwork is likewise well done. I have yet to plug it in, but have played it acoustically for about a half hour so far. The playability is very good; smooth, easy chording and string bends, no dead spots on the fretboard, straight neck, relatively light weight and what I've now realized is an almost perfect sized neck; a bit of a chunky C shape, not too thin, but not a baseball bat. It feels good in my hand, and I'm a pill about skinny necks, which I abhor. My NS SF-IV and S-200 have the exact same necks, so Guild's consistency in this respect is excellent. So far, I'm impressed with the Jet Star. Will be plugging it in tonight to see how she sounds.

Thanks Bob, for your review in VG magazine on this guitar. You mentioned the 2 things that I was on the fence about and no one else had brought up.

#1] There's a volute which, in my mind, is a must with a headstock like this guitar has.
#2] With the 25.5" scale, would it be neck heavy? Glad to hear that it's not.

My first post here and my first Guild guitar, ever. (y) Cheers!
 

GGJaguar

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Welcome to LTG Howlin! You'll find a lot of great Guild info here, as you now know. :)
 

mbuc

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I always wanted a thin mahogany plank guitar with humbuckers, Gibson SG style but I do prefer the 25.5" scale so the Jetstar was calling my name lately, at 360 EUR I just couldn't resist and got me the one in SFG.

This guitar really took me by surprise. Perfect build quality, no flaws whatsoever, very resonant, perfect frets, wonderfully grained Pau Ferro fretboard, very dense and smooth, feels just like ebony, not as rough and open pored as some rosewood fretboards are these days. I have yet to measure the neck but it doesn't feel thin at all, which I was afraid of when I read the specs on the Guild website. The neck seems a little wider than usual Fender style guitars but I may be wrong. Body shape is very comfy to me, one of the few solid body guitars that I can play seated leaning back on the sofa, which is great. and the neck seems to stand out a little further, just like on a Jazzmaster or Firebird. The headstock reminds me of a Firebird anyway.

Electronics work just fine like they should and don't feel cheap at all. Might be a step up from the usual Chinese stuff we know from Epiphone and the likes. Tone is thick yet sparkly at the neck and twangy but not too icy at the bridge, some funky inbetweens in the middle position. Wonderful sustain. No dead spots on the fretboard and after a little truss rod tweaking and bridge adjustment it plays great. After the first two hours of playing, this guitar leaves absolutely nothing to be desired.

I have yet to try 11s, which is my standard gauge on electrics. The 10s it came with almost feel like 11s here so I may stick with 10s. For those who are wondering about the color as on the internet some more look like sonic blue and others look like sage green or some light green. In reality, it really is cyan, aka sea foam green. The Poly Urethane doesn't feel overly plastic-like.

So what's left for nitpicking? The neck angle is a little on the flat side. If it was a bolt-on neck I might shim it. But it works for me as is, there is just no margin for further flattening, the bridge is almost as low as it can get and there are probably players out there that prefer an even lower action. With added overdrive, the neck pickup gets muddy more quickly than I am used to (but I'm a single coil guy so that may be why). The nut is a little sharp on the treble side but that is an easy fix.

Highly recommended. Made in China sure has evolved. Certainly not a step down from the Korean made Newark St. guitars.
 

GAD

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I've had one for over a year sitting in the review pile. @mbuc is dead on. My only qualms are the standard unbalanced pickups and such, but it's a heck of a guitar for the money.
 

mbuc

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Measured width at the nut / 12th fret: 1.705" / 2.066"
Measured thickness at the 1st fret / 12th fret: 0.877" / 0.946"

Thinking about buying a second one in black and swap the pickups for some single coils, preferably Dynasonics / T-Armonds. Those darn LB-1s seem to have a genuine size, though, so I guess routing would be necessary. Or maybe not?

Does anyone happen to have the measurements of the new Guild DeArmond Dynasonics?
DeArmond Dynasonic Pickup – Nickel/Black – Neck
DeArmond Dynasonic Pickup – Nickel/Black – Bridge

Jetstar 1.JPG
Jetstar 2.JPG
Jetstar 3.JPG
Jetstar 4.JPG
Jetstar 5.JPG
 

DThomasC

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Many TVJones pickups are available in the same form factor, namely the same outline as a Filtertron. They are almost exactly the same length as LB-1's and about 1mm wider. That means they fit into the HB-1 mounting rings if you widen the ring at least 0.5mm, or 0.25mm on each side. To be honest, you could probably jam a TVJones pickup into an unmodified LB-1 mounting ring without breaking the ring, but it would be a tight fit. a few minutes with some sandpaper is all it takes. Make sure you get into the corners; they're the most important part. The amount you need to remove is so small that you can put the LB-1's back in and nobody would ever notice.

As for the mounting screws, either the "English" mount or the "Universal" mount will work. The screw holes on the TVJones pickup are about 2mm closer together. You can mount them as is, which will have the screws pointing in a little, or carefully bend the ears.

I know that it works. I've done it!

Edit: you can buy new mounting rings from TVJones, but they're larger than the Guild rings and will require drilling new holes in the guitar.
 
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mbuc

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Wow, I did not know that and it's incredible news, thanks for posting this! That sounds like a fun and very rewarding project. I'll give it a try as soon as I have guitar and parts, which may take a few months. And most certainly I will use the Guild rings as TV Jones rings would not only require drilling new holes in the guitar but also cutting the pickguard. I'll post pictures when I'm done. Thanks again!
 
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Hi everyone, another Guild lover here.
I've been searching a lot trying to find some replacement pickups for my Newark Jetsar, and finally i've found a very cheap alternative option for these boomy and muddy LB1s. I hope some of you find this at least interesting.

Here are the pickups i found on ebay: a couple of unbranded, ceramic, gretsch - like chinese cheapos. I paid 16 euros ( approx. 18-USD) shipping included for the pair (16 euros? WTF??). They are described as 6.6k Ohm, very interesting as i'm mostly a telecaster player, and i need the definition and sharp bite of the single coils (yeah, that TWANG).


The size is almost the same as the LB1s (less than 1mm longer), so you can use the original pickup frames without too much effort. You can push the pickups into the original frames carefully, by heating the frame just a little with a hair dresser, so the plastic is more flexible.
The mounting centers won't line up exactly, but you can align them by folding the wings back a little (+/ - 0,5mm). I left the bridge pickup without the mounting screws, as it holds real tight in the frame and the height can be adjusted by pushing it down, manually.

Once installed, comes the sound test. To my ears, they are less muddy, less boomy and a bit more articulated than the LB1s. So they are more usable for me. The bridge pickup has a trebley and gretschy bite, and the middle position is decent too. The neck pickup is more 'aseptic' in my opinion. A natural-dark sound without too much character, but again, less muddy than the Lb1s. And you can always adjust the height of the magnet poles to your like.
Adding a bit of drive and a short slapback delay, provides a very decent for the money rock'n'roll sound and even more definition (16 euros?? really?? WTF??).
I mean, don't expect a boutique super sound, but for the money you can have a very usable alternative to the originals. I'm still missing a bit of the unplugged dynamics that this Jetstar model has, but for 16 euros (really?? WTF??) you can't ask for more.

Anyway, i have only played them for 20 minutes with a bedroom-apartment volume. I'll have to try them longer and in a live concert to have a proper opinion. I'll write back with more details as soon as i can.
 

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mbuc

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That's a great find, certainly the most affordable option I would ever expect to find. Still humbuckers though. If you hadn't mentioned the lack of charcater I may have been tempted to try them. Please let us know what you think after you have tried them on stage.

I do like the LB1s a lot, I must say. The thick and warm tone from the neck is right up my alley. I just like to have a single coil alternative, therefore I have ordered a set of TV Jones T-Armonds. Alas it takes ages for them to arrive in Europe, I hope I'll be able to make the swap this year.
 
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That's a great find, certainly the most affordable option I would ever expect to find. Still humbuckers though. If you hadn't mentioned the lack of charcater I may have been tempted to try them. Please let us know what you think after you have tried them on stage.

I do like the LB1s a lot, I must say. The thick and warm tone from the neck is right up my alley. I just like to have a single coil alternative, therefore I have ordered a set of TV Jones T-Armonds. Alas it takes ages for them to arrive in Europe, I hope I'll be able to make the swap this year.
I have not tried them on stage, but i've spent some time playing a bit louder, trying different pole magnets height and different settings with my amp (a Fender Blues Deluxe).

Using the 'normal' option of the clean channel with all EQ's at noon, no reverb, no presence, and raising a bit the screws on the bass strings of the bridge pickup, the sound comes alive increasing that 'gretsch bite' with some cool mids too. Adding a bit of 'Presence' and/or using the 'bright' switch of the channel you get that unmistakable gretsch jangly sound. But there's even more, using the same settings in the drive channel you enter directly into Malcolm Young's territory. Of course it's not exactly the same Malcolm's tone, but it's without a doubt that kind of sound that makes you want to play G,D,A,E chords over and over, along with some cool rock'n'roll riffs like 'Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap'. I've had some fun with this pickup, yes.
The neck pickup gets better when you rise a bit the treble strings screws, and using the same settings mentioned above, the character appears. Snapping rocking tones but still lacking a bit of 'chime' for me. However i'm not a big fan of the neck pickups in general and i use most of the time the bridge pickup.
The mid position is not bad at all, cleaner and clearer than the other two, with definition and string articulation. Very usable.

I was really happy with these pickups and i wouldn't mind keeping them, but i found a guy selling a pair of Harmony Gold Foil Moustache pickups from the korean reissues. They seemed a very attractive option for me as they are single coils, and i'm a big fan of the original Dearmond gold foils, so i bought them for a cheap price and installed them yesterday.
The dimensions are smaller than the Guild frames, and the only thing to do is to fold out the pickup 'wings' a bit to insert the installation screws (yes there's going to be a 2mm gap on the sides, between the pickup and the frames).

About the sound, althought these reissue gold foils don't sound exactly the same as the old Dearmonds, they are very close. Good output level, articulation and plenty of bite. In my opinion, they don't have the 'hollow' sound of the originals (maybe because of the alnico magnets type and/or the overwound?) but they have that powerful fat single coil tone, between a telecaster and p90. Ideal for that mean blues sound from the 50s or those rock'n'roll - garage dirty tones.
Again, i have only tried them for 15 minutes but i was VERY happy with them, and i'll keep them in the guitar as they suit better with my ideal of a Guild Jetstar.

The TV Jones T-Armonds (out of my budget) seem a very cool option too, you'll tell us how they are once you get them.
 

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barrycreed

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More I look at the Jetstar the more it intrigues me.
Wondering if a Duesenberg Staytrem or Vibramate would work well.
I have a polara reissue and a tbird both made in Korea . How come the Jetstar is MIC?
 
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GAD

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More I look at the Jetstar the more it intrigues me.
Wondering if a Duesenberg Staytrem or Vibramate would work well.
I have a polara reissue and a tbird both made in Korea . How come the Jetstar is MIC?

probably to meet a price point.
 

GAD

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I have on in the review pile. It’s a solid guitar though not what I’d call inspiring. The value:price ratio is through the roof though, especially because I think I paid $350 for mine.
 
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