New to me M80

Harpymorgan

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Hi all, not been on here for a while, but have maintained a keen interest in Guilds. During one of my many eBay perusals a black 1976 M80 came up here in the UK. I did a quick check here to see if anyone had put dibs on it and put a bid in on it, and won. The owner has been honest about the condition, it has some buzzy frets, a duff phase switch and the usual problems with the binding on the neck. Other than that it looks in pretty good condition given the age. I put a maximum bid in to take into account at the worst case a re fret and perhaps some fretboard levelling, and got it for just over £400, which even if I have to spend a couple of hundred on it is still a keen price in my opinion. If anyone wants to look, do a Ebay search on completed items here in the U.K.
I'm not picking it up for a couple of weeks (got a trip to Buffalo with work tomorrow BTW), so as soon as it gets home, I'll report again on the condition and post some pictures.
 

Cougar

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....a black 1976 M80 came up here in the UK. I did a quick check here to see if anyone had put dibs on it and put a bid in on it, and won.....

I love when that happens. Major congrats! But I couldn't find it. A black one of those is going to look pretty cool, though. Yes, pics when you get 'em!
 

JohnW63

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It's got slotted screws holding the pickups in place. Does that work with GADs theory on screws and dates ? I need to find that blog.
 

GAD

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If it's a '76 then I'd imagine it has HB1s. The confusion with HB1s/SD1s/etc. didn't start until the '90s.

Unless, of course, it's been altered in which all bets are off, but those pics look legit to me.
 

Harpymorgan

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/gmmpjhmyc2xkpdk/2018-05-08 23.41.51.jpg?dl=0
Hi don't know if you can access the photo, if so I will post some more. Picked the guitar up last night and it's lovely. It has HB1s on it. So far sorted out the buzzing, the action was ridiculously low, and the neck had about 30 to 40 thou dip in it so not only did the strings buzz, you could not bend a note without it choking. I lifted the action and tweaked the neck and it's fine now. I'm surprised how low the action will go on this thing, it's a lot lower than I like, so I've lifted it up where I want it. The binding was loose on both sides, but all there and not split, so I've glued that back on, and because of the loose binding one of the finished edges of the frets had lifted just enough to catch the top e underneath. I've tapped it lightly back down and it's fine. The nut, which I think is a replacement was not cut deep enough and the g and a came out on a bend so I cut them in to the correct depth. New strings tomorrow and I'll clean and polish the fretboard. The only outstanding job is a new coil tap switch - does anyone know where I might get one?
 

GAD

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/gmmpjhmyc2xkpdk/2018-05-08 23.41.51.jpg?dl=0
Hi don't know if you can access the photo, if so I will post some more. Picked the guitar up last night and it's lovely. It has HB1s on it. So far sorted out the buzzing, the action was ridiculously low, and the neck had about 30 to 40 thou dip in it so not only did the strings buzz, you could not bend a note without it choking. I lifted the action and tweaked the neck and it's fine now. I'm surprised how low the action will go on this thing, it's a lot lower than I like, so I've lifted it up where I want it. The binding was loose on both sides, but all there and not split, so I've glued that back on, and because of the loose binding one of the finished edges of the frets had lifted just enough to catch the top e underneath. I've tapped it lightly back down and it's fine. The nut, which I think is a replacement was not cut deep enough and the g and a came out on a bend so I cut them in to the correct depth. New strings tomorrow and I'll clean and polish the fretboard. The only outstanding job is a new coil tap switch - does anyone know where I might get one?

Beautiful! They are fabulous guitars with a great tone.

You cannot coil-split those pickups, but you can phase reverse the bridge pickup which is what that guitar has. It's just a mini-toggle switch like this one: http://www.stewmac.com/Pickups_and_..._and_Parts/Switches/Mini_Toggle_Switches.html

It doesn't need to be DPDT but that's what every Guild I've ever seen has.
 

jp

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That's sweet, David! I dig the black finish and ebony black fingerboard, like my M-75. My needs a trip to the shop for one buzzy fret. I've always loved the singular look of the M-80s.
 

Harpymorgan

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Thanks for the info, it didn't look like a difficult to get vintage switch to me, unlike the pickup selector which is a lovely aged nickel.
A couple of questions now I have had the guitar for a few days.
These all seem to have a yellow finish over the black, the binding is cream where it has worn off though playing, and it looks like shellac to me, and indeed where I tried to clean under the back of the neck pickup with a bit of methelated spirits, the finish started to soften ( I quickly stopped). Is it usual to put shellac over nitro?
And does anyone have an opinion on the master volume (I'm sure this must have been covered before).To my mind the extra path to earth must drop some of the high frequencies.
 

GAD

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Can't help you with the finish. Only thing I ever use is Naptha.

The switch tip is damn difficult to replace so don't lose that! :)

Master volume for me is an "on/off" or "volume swell" tool, so I've never worried about frequency.
 

S100

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That’s awesome. I’m gonna have to get one, eventually
 

dklsplace

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You cannot coil-split those pickups...

Are you sure? I coil tapped the HB1 on my '99 X-150D. Pretty sure I used a CTS push/pull pot so it was easily reversible.
 

GAD

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Are you sure? I coil tapped the HB1 on my '99 X-150D. Pretty sure I used a CTS push/pull pot so it was easily reversible.

A '99 Guild wouldn't have Guild HB1s; It would have SD1s or Fender HB1s, and both of those can be split.
 

caliban335

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Beautiful. I love the look of that model. Wish I could afford one.
 
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