Today's Score TBird-ST

GAD

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Keeping to my plan of only buying Newark St. guitars when I can score them for $500, I just nabbed this:


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I'm hoping it does well because <spoiler> the S200 T-Bird I'm writing up now is not and I'm sure the NS fan boys will be up in arms when I release that review. I figured I should give the line another chance.
 

txbumper57

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Congrats GAD, Love the color on that one and I have been thinking about getting a stop tail model to put some Dynasonics into instead of the LB1's. Curious to hear how your review on this one turns out as the only Newark Street 6 strings I have liked were the earlier made Hollowbodies.

TX
 

richardp69

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I've got this exact same guitar but didn't do as well as you pricewise. But, that's o.k. It's actually quite fun but then again I know little about electric gear. Fun for me anyway.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I'm hoping it [T-bird ST] does well because <spoiler> the S200 T-Bird I'm writing up now is not and I'm sure the NS fan boys will be up in arms when I release that review. I figured I should give the line another chance.

No fanboy rage will be coming from me. :) I know my taste in electrics is kinda weird!

-Dave-
 

matsickma

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Given I own a '63 and '65 Thunderbird my view of the NS models was pretty positive but contrary to the claims that the Hagstrom tremer was improved I still find the vintage Hagstrom tremer to work better.
However one big improvement is replacing the knief edge Hagstrom bridge with a Tune-o-matic. Those Hagstrom bridges have a way of tearing up the palm of your picking hand!
M
 

matsickma

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GAD,

I don't remember what thread you requested data on vintage Guild mini HB's but I will publish the data here. I also have data on NS parts.

I didn't identify the exact year but general time frame. I will have to go back and add that data. I am rounding the "killa" Ohms to 1 decimal point.

Here goes:

1) Late 60's DE400 N7.0k, B6.9k
2) Mid 60's CE100 N7.0k, B7.1k
3) Late 60's M75 BB Gold N5.0k B4.9k
4) Late 60's SF5 N4.5k, B5.0k
5) TBD SF set N6.7k, B6.5k

NS Pups:
1) SB TBird N6.7k, B6.5k
2) BK TBird N6.9k, B5.0k
3) RED TBird ST N7.1k, B5.2k
4) CE100 N7.0k, B4.9k
5)S100 N6.9k, B4.9k

I am not suprised by the variability of the 60's pickups as quality control was pretty crude in those days for electronics. However I was a bit surprised by the variations of the NS parts. Not sure what kind of testing is done on pickups or sample of lots. Measuring the resistance is probably the least useful measurement for a AC device especially in a magnetic field where the 2πf characteristic can't be represented.

Anyway...that is what I got.
M
 

Default

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The NS ones are what they are - reproductions of a mis-matched set bought off ebay. The gold ones for sale in the Guild store seem to at least be close to being matched.
 

matsickma

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I wonder why they used a random set of pickups for the basis if the design when they had the vintage guitars available to work with?
M
 

GAD

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GAD,


1) Late 60's DE400 N7.0k, B6.9k
2) Mid 60's CE100 N7.0k, B7.1k
3) Late 60's M75 BB Gold N5.0k B4.9k
4) Late 60's SF5 N4.5k, B5.0k

5) TBD SF set N6.7k, B6.5k

NS Pups:
1) SB TBird N6.7k, B6.5k
2) BK TBird N6.9k, B5.0k
3) RED TBird ST N7.1k, B5.2k
4) CE100 N7.0k, B4.9k
5)S100 N6.9k, B4.9k

Fabulous - THANK YOU!

If you can get the years that would be greatly appreciated. If you could get the years for the ones in bold first that would be very exciting to me. :)

I'm very surprised at this one:

1) SB TBird N6.7k, B6.5k

Did it come from the factory that way? From what I've see that's an anomaly.

Does anyone have a NS guitar with gold LB1s in it? My guy tells me the website is a typo.
 

matsickma

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GAD, I'll get SN's. If you want to be precise you may want to have Hans verify the dates. I would only be able to use the published chart that is known to have errors.

If you want to expand this to other kind pups used by Guild let me know.

In regards to the NS SB TBird...it was one if the very first NS TBirds posted fir sale. It was in eBay before the big chain stores had them available. It was the 2nd NS TBird I know of sold on eBay. I missed the 1st one through a moment of hesitation and as soon as a second posted I bought it.

M
 

Quantum Strummer

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In regards to the NS SB TBird...it was one if the very first NS TBirds posted fir sale. It was in eBay before the big chain stores had them available. It was the 2nd NS TBird I know of sold on eBay. I missed the 1st one through a moment of hesitation and as soon as a second posted I bought it.

I got my black T-bird back then too, maybe even on the same day. I think I measured the pickups and found the usual ~5K bridge, but it's not in my iPad doc. Hmmm…I should probably (re)do it tonight in case I've also got an oddball.

Edit: found the "we bought the T-birds!" posts. :)

http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/sh...-the-Phoenix&p=1730942&viewfull=1#post1730942

-Dave-
 
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GAD

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I think the T-Bird I'm almost done writing up has S/N 16000008 or something crazy so it's an early one, too, but it's got the mucked up pickups.

Edit - it's 16000026
 
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matsickma

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Here is SN info:
1) DE400. SN EH310
2) CE100 SN 36906
3) M75 BB SN DD509
4) SF5 SN EN2175
5) NA

NS
1) SB TBIRD SN 1600097
2) BK TBIRD SN 1600783
3) RED TBIRD ST SN 1700267
4) CE 100 SN 1400189
5) S100 SN 1200105

M
 

GAD

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Here is SN info:
1) DE400. SN EH310
2) CE100 SN 36906
3) M75 BB SN DD509
4) SF5 SN EN2175
5) NA

NS
1) SB TBIRD SN 1600097
2) BK TBIRD SN 1600783
3) RED TBIRD ST SN 1700267
4) CE 100 SN 1400189
5) S100 SN 1200105

M

You 'da man!

Is #5 a set outside of a guitar?
 

matsickma

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So now that I posted some data I am considering how to best use it. I appreciate that resistance measurements will be lower values on pup's wound with fatter wire. Does anyone know if and when the NS windings changed gauge?

Since the pickups have little connector attachments I could swap and mix-n-match pickups and try to find a better sounding match. However that would require a good controlled setup which I don't presently have. So although possible to do it would be some time before I could undertake such an experiment.

As a general comment my NS S100 Polara has the best sounding overall tone and balance of the bunch (to my ears).
M
 
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