Mr. Lumbergh
Member
It's official: I'm now a member of the Guild guild.
My Bluesbird arrived today. You may not, but my friends on Strat-Talk know, I've been on the hunt for something Lester- or SG-ish for a while now. I loves my 'Trons and own a few guitars that have them, but there isn't anything quite like the sound of a full-size bucker, and so when I saw a deal on this for half the normal price from Nashville Guitar Store, I went ahead and bit.
The reason for the ridiculous price is that the guitar was marked as "refurbished." Instead of sending their defects/returns back to the factory as Fender does, or destroying them as Gibson does, Cordoba apparently sends them to an "authorized refurbisher." The condition on this one was advertised as:
“When this guitar came in from the factory, the authorized refurbisher couldn't find anything wrong with it. No repairs or modifications were made to the guitar - they simply gave it a set-up and left it alone. It looks and plays like new. Back of the headstock is stamped "used" and original serial # has been replaced with a new one.”
Sure enough, my own visual inspection didn't find anything wrong. The workmanship was excellent; there were no finish flaws and the binding was very well done. One of the complaints that some have of the Korean Guilds is the inlay of the logo on the headstock is sometimes a bit off-kilter, but this one looks to be nicely centered. I'd have preferred one of the Ice Tea Burst finishes, but the glossy black on this has a depth to it that didn't have any flaws that I could see. Their version of a "Classic C" neck is more like a Fender's "Modern C;" it has a nice roundness to it, but isn't as thick as Fender's Classic. The "medium jumbo" frets are likewise a bit narrower, but about as tall. It shouldn't be hard to get used to. The pickups are the Duncan JB/59 set, an SH-4 bridge and an SH-1 neck, which gets a lot of accolades.
So then I plugged it in, and found a likely reason for it to be returned: selecting the neck position on the switch greeted me with silence. I confirmed via the tap test with a small screwdriver that the pickup was working, and that the volume and tone controls worked in the B+N setting. Bridge only worked as well, but nothing from neck-only. It seemed I found the reason why I was returned...
I didn't want to give up right away, so I fidgeted with the switch and was able to get it working intermittently after a couple minutes, and reliably after a couple more. Cool. Played it clean for a bit, then kicked on a bit of drive. YEAH!
The JB at the bridge (16.4K DCR) was supposed to dominate the 59 at the neck (7.4 DCR) according to the reviews that I've read, but I didn't actually find that to be the case; it seemed the 59 was louder, so my own setup including setting pickup heights will be an order. This is also the lightest guitar I have, coming in at around 6.5-7 lbs. This is due to the chambered mahogany body, and this also gives it a clear, resonant sound when playing unplugged. Even cooler, I discovered while writing this review that the tone controls are push/pull pots that switch the pickups into series/parallel mode to get a sound closer to a single coil. How cool is that? As far as I can tell from researching this online, only the first hundred or so of the latest Newark Street models have this, and one of them appears to be mine.
Is this the Les Paul slayer I was hoping to get? In some ways, yes; I have a dual-bucker sound that gets me close to those sounds with the same control layout and similar pickups, but it doesn't quite have the mid-range thickness that I normally associate with a Lester, and the body's a bit thinner and chambered. In this way, it seems to sound a bit more like an SG. This is all based on some low-level playing with my practice amp though, I'll be able to open it up a bit more tomorrow afternoon on the tube amp and will learn more.
The good:
Great workmanship. The finish and binding are excellent, as are the inlays in the fretboard and headstock.
It settled in very quickly after being brought up to pitch, and a nice gentle relief is in the neck.
The sound: not quite a Les Paul, but close. Nothing I don't think a mid-range bump can't get me a convincing representation of.
The pickups. I first thought that I'd eventually be replacing that JB with something along the lines of a Pearly Gates, but these two are a better match than I thought and seem like they could be quite versatile.
The price. All this for less than $500?
The balance. There is no neck dive at all.
The weight. This may be the lightest guitar I have, lighter than my Strats and Teles. It seems to be a bit less than my Gretsch 5120.
Versatility. As I said, I only just now discovered the push/pull switches. I'm gonna have fun tomorrow figuring out all the sounds that are in this thing.
Those little brass brads by the knobs to index where the controls are. Only Guild does this that I know of, and it's actually pretty handy and cool.
The bad:
The tuners. They're the open-back Grover, same as my Gretsch 5120 came stock with. They will also be the first thing to change as they were on the Gretsch. They're stiff, and the tiny bean-shaped peg doesn't give much to grab on to or torque to turn. Not a fan.
The otherwise-excellent Tone-Pros locking bridge doesn't have notches cut in the saddles for the strings! They're free to slide back and forth a bit. This seems like a fairly large oversight to me.
The nut is cut a bit too high. I'll have to invest in a set of files, or take it in for an adjustment.
The new serial no. seems a bit cheap, and is just a sticker applied over the original. This is nitpicking though.
The setup is a bit high for my liking. I'm sure I can drop it a bit; there's no buzz anywhere on the neck.
The ugly:
The tips of my fingers. I've been playing longer than normal and digging in harder than normal.
There is no other ugly. This is a beautiful guitar.
Winston on the desk giving his approval while the Tele in the background thinks "****, more competition?"
The binding on the neck and body are both flawless, and the cream color just fits with the classic black.
The nut is cut a bit too tall. I'll have to get it filed properly.
The stickers are a bit cheap-looking, and the tuners... I do not like them in a box, I do not like them with a fox. I do not like them here nor there, I do not like them anywhere. I will be upgrading them soon, and it will hold much better tune.
Beautiful mother of pearl inlays. The iridescence changes depending on how you angle it to the light.
Those inlay blocks are pretty basic as far as shape, but are beautiful to see in person.
WTAF is up with the saddles? No notches? TonePros, you need to be on your game. @GAD, this seems to be a bigger issue than you thought when you posted your review. These will be getting switched.
Even on an mid-level guitar, this is mother of pearl inlay. Beautiful.
My Bluesbird arrived today. You may not, but my friends on Strat-Talk know, I've been on the hunt for something Lester- or SG-ish for a while now. I loves my 'Trons and own a few guitars that have them, but there isn't anything quite like the sound of a full-size bucker, and so when I saw a deal on this for half the normal price from Nashville Guitar Store, I went ahead and bit.
The reason for the ridiculous price is that the guitar was marked as "refurbished." Instead of sending their defects/returns back to the factory as Fender does, or destroying them as Gibson does, Cordoba apparently sends them to an "authorized refurbisher." The condition on this one was advertised as:
“When this guitar came in from the factory, the authorized refurbisher couldn't find anything wrong with it. No repairs or modifications were made to the guitar - they simply gave it a set-up and left it alone. It looks and plays like new. Back of the headstock is stamped "used" and original serial # has been replaced with a new one.”
Sure enough, my own visual inspection didn't find anything wrong. The workmanship was excellent; there were no finish flaws and the binding was very well done. One of the complaints that some have of the Korean Guilds is the inlay of the logo on the headstock is sometimes a bit off-kilter, but this one looks to be nicely centered. I'd have preferred one of the Ice Tea Burst finishes, but the glossy black on this has a depth to it that didn't have any flaws that I could see. Their version of a "Classic C" neck is more like a Fender's "Modern C;" it has a nice roundness to it, but isn't as thick as Fender's Classic. The "medium jumbo" frets are likewise a bit narrower, but about as tall. It shouldn't be hard to get used to. The pickups are the Duncan JB/59 set, an SH-4 bridge and an SH-1 neck, which gets a lot of accolades.
So then I plugged it in, and found a likely reason for it to be returned: selecting the neck position on the switch greeted me with silence. I confirmed via the tap test with a small screwdriver that the pickup was working, and that the volume and tone controls worked in the B+N setting. Bridge only worked as well, but nothing from neck-only. It seemed I found the reason why I was returned...
I didn't want to give up right away, so I fidgeted with the switch and was able to get it working intermittently after a couple minutes, and reliably after a couple more. Cool. Played it clean for a bit, then kicked on a bit of drive. YEAH!
The JB at the bridge (16.4K DCR) was supposed to dominate the 59 at the neck (7.4 DCR) according to the reviews that I've read, but I didn't actually find that to be the case; it seemed the 59 was louder, so my own setup including setting pickup heights will be an order. This is also the lightest guitar I have, coming in at around 6.5-7 lbs. This is due to the chambered mahogany body, and this also gives it a clear, resonant sound when playing unplugged. Even cooler, I discovered while writing this review that the tone controls are push/pull pots that switch the pickups into series/parallel mode to get a sound closer to a single coil. How cool is that? As far as I can tell from researching this online, only the first hundred or so of the latest Newark Street models have this, and one of them appears to be mine.
Is this the Les Paul slayer I was hoping to get? In some ways, yes; I have a dual-bucker sound that gets me close to those sounds with the same control layout and similar pickups, but it doesn't quite have the mid-range thickness that I normally associate with a Lester, and the body's a bit thinner and chambered. In this way, it seems to sound a bit more like an SG. This is all based on some low-level playing with my practice amp though, I'll be able to open it up a bit more tomorrow afternoon on the tube amp and will learn more.
The good:
Great workmanship. The finish and binding are excellent, as are the inlays in the fretboard and headstock.
It settled in very quickly after being brought up to pitch, and a nice gentle relief is in the neck.
The sound: not quite a Les Paul, but close. Nothing I don't think a mid-range bump can't get me a convincing representation of.
The pickups. I first thought that I'd eventually be replacing that JB with something along the lines of a Pearly Gates, but these two are a better match than I thought and seem like they could be quite versatile.
The price. All this for less than $500?
The balance. There is no neck dive at all.
The weight. This may be the lightest guitar I have, lighter than my Strats and Teles. It seems to be a bit less than my Gretsch 5120.
Versatility. As I said, I only just now discovered the push/pull switches. I'm gonna have fun tomorrow figuring out all the sounds that are in this thing.
Those little brass brads by the knobs to index where the controls are. Only Guild does this that I know of, and it's actually pretty handy and cool.
The bad:
The tuners. They're the open-back Grover, same as my Gretsch 5120 came stock with. They will also be the first thing to change as they were on the Gretsch. They're stiff, and the tiny bean-shaped peg doesn't give much to grab on to or torque to turn. Not a fan.
The otherwise-excellent Tone-Pros locking bridge doesn't have notches cut in the saddles for the strings! They're free to slide back and forth a bit. This seems like a fairly large oversight to me.
The nut is cut a bit too high. I'll have to invest in a set of files, or take it in for an adjustment.
The new serial no. seems a bit cheap, and is just a sticker applied over the original. This is nitpicking though.
The setup is a bit high for my liking. I'm sure I can drop it a bit; there's no buzz anywhere on the neck.
The ugly:
The tips of my fingers. I've been playing longer than normal and digging in harder than normal.
There is no other ugly. This is a beautiful guitar.
Winston on the desk giving his approval while the Tele in the background thinks "****, more competition?"
The binding on the neck and body are both flawless, and the cream color just fits with the classic black.
The nut is cut a bit too tall. I'll have to get it filed properly.
The stickers are a bit cheap-looking, and the tuners... I do not like them in a box, I do not like them with a fox. I do not like them here nor there, I do not like them anywhere. I will be upgrading them soon, and it will hold much better tune.
Beautiful mother of pearl inlays. The iridescence changes depending on how you angle it to the light.
Those inlay blocks are pretty basic as far as shape, but are beautiful to see in person.
WTAF is up with the saddles? No notches? TonePros, you need to be on your game. @GAD, this seems to be a bigger issue than you thought when you posted your review. These will be getting switched.
Even on an mid-level guitar, this is mother of pearl inlay. Beautiful.
Last edited: