Give me an Orange NS SF III with Block Inlays and I will buy it.

Mark WW

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I think Guild with their X-170T Manhattan (Hope that is correct) did orange better than Gretsch. Had very nice flame and block inlays. Why can't they offer orange and block inlays with their SFIII's. Just a little flame does go a long way. Current NS Guilds are very nice - I have a Black SFIII but their finish selection is Plane Jane. I don't think it has anything to do with historical correctness because as we know that is all over the board with Guild and I have no complaints about that at all.

Oh well just wondered if anyone else who really loves Guild's has the same or similar thoughts.
 
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GAD

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If they're going to do an orange guitar I'd hope that they'd finally make one with pickups that work. My X170T with TV Jones pickups is a monster.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I really like my X-170T! Got it about two months ago. I've found even the stock pickups are okay if you back off on their heights and go with the lower output. It's not a complex sound but it jangles a bit and works well with effects. (I have a set of gold Maxon U1000s/Super 70s I plan to put in.)

A thinner version of this guitar would be lovely. My surgically repaired spine gets cranky if I play thicker-bodied guitars too often or for too long.

-Dave-
 

GAD

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Someone had an orange Corona SFIII w/P90s for sale a while back but I can't find a link. This one was advertised as Red/Orange but I think it's probably just red. IIRC the guy selling the orange one wanted something like $3k for it.

https://reverb.com/item/7008299-guild-starfire-iii-p90-p-90-usa-conona-ca-super-rare-red-orange-hsc

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Walter Broes

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If they're going to do an orange guitar I'd hope that they'd finally make one with pickups that work. My X170T with TV Jones pickups is a monster.
So you want Guild to become Gretsch, really? Orange guitars with Filtertrons?
 

matsickma

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I would like to see some triple pickup archtops. Also how about a reissued Dearmond pickup with the white crowned bezel and the flathead screw type pole pieces to get the the "twangy grunge" sound of the earliest Guild guitars.
M
 

GAD

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So you want Guild to become Gretsch, really? Orange guitars with Filtertrons?

Having owned three Gretsches (SSLVO and two Hot Rods), the Guild is better for me in almost every way - except for the pickups which were awful (for me). I put TV Jones in mine because it was an available option; I never said that Guild should. I just think that they should put in better pickups than they have in the past, specifically with the X170T.

Possible obvious choices based on Guild history include Franz, P90s, Minihums, Dearmond, etc.
 

Mark WW

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Yes ideally they could put a better pickup in the III's in addition to the Mini Hums. I actually like the mini hums. That Red Orangish (pic lighting hard to tell?) one has P90's which would work...but it needs block inlays. I have seen one or two pics of SFIII's with block inlays.
 

Walter Broes

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I'm not a humbucker fan at all, but I think the current Korean minibuckers don't sound all that bad. Maybe because I'm not a humbucker fan?

Reissue DeArmond pickups are in the works, I've been told. Which is great news, I think.

GAD, which pickups in particular did you think were terrible?
 

GAD

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I'm not a humbucker fan at all, but I think the current Korean minibuckers don't sound all that bad. Maybe because I'm not a humbucker fan?

Reissue DeArmond pickups are in the works, I've been told. Which is great news, I think.

GAD, which pickups in particular did you think were terrible?

The Fender HB1s.

One of the reasons I love vintage HB1s is because they don't sound like most modern humbuckers. I imagine that's why people love the minihums, too.
 

Quantum Strummer

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The Fender HB-1s in my X-170T are fine but also kinda characterless. The real deals are sonically 3D and they purr in the neck position. :) I do like the current mini-hums in my T-bird. That guitar has turned out to be a genuine good 'un.

-Dave-
 

GAD

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The Fender HB-1s in my X-170T are fine but also kinda characterless. The real deals are sonically 3D and they purr in the neck position. :) I do like the current mini-hums in my T-bird. That guitar has turned out to be a genuine good 'un.

-Dave-

I think they would have done a lot better on the X170T if they'd put a push/pull on a knob to allow them to be split. I had a Nightbird with Fender HB1s and they didn't sound half-bad in single-coil mode. I think some single-coilness would have gone a long way to making those beautiful guitars sound better.

I've been watching the NS S200 used market. If I can score one cheap enough I'll use it for some pickup experiments.
 

bluesypicky

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The real deals are sonically 3D
-Dave-

This is the kind of input that makes me so proud of you QS......
I could only come up with "magic", but your two characters description is so much more precise and illustrative.
That's EXACTLY what they are: 3D.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I think they would have done a lot better on the X170T if they'd put a push/pull on a knob to allow them to be split. I had a Nightbird with Fender HB1s and they didn't sound half-bad in single-coil mode. I think some single-coilness would have gone a long way to making those beautiful guitars sound better.

It's too bad you can't split both pickups on the X-170T. The neck p'up would benefit most from this, I suspect. I do use the bridge some in single-coil mode…gives it more snap.

-Dave-
 

Quantum Strummer

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This is the kind of input that makes me so proud of you QS......
I could only come up with "magic", but your two characters description is so much more precise and illustrative.
That's EXACTLY what they are: 3D.

Aw shucks! :butterfly:

-Dave-
 
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