Why Guild Solid Body?

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fronobulax

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TBH, it probably doesn't even matter. I'm just curious.

At some point when you asked questions, got responses and then questioned the responses, for myself, and perhaps others, you stopped appearing like someone who was gathering information and started looking like someone who was trying to start a fight.

I have observed similar patterns with software professionals in face to face situations who are trying to glean limited requirements. Every question leads to another because in the back of their minds they are thinking about how to write/fix in order to meet the requirements. But the individuals who are providing the requirements often leave the room feeling beaten up. And the software implementer doesn't understand why no one is excited when they have a prototype and more questions the next day.

No harm, no foul. I had to learn the hard way that that technique should be used sparingly in computer mediated communications.
 

PittPastor

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At some point when you asked questions, got responses and then questioned the responses, for myself, and perhaps others, you stopped appearing like someone who was gathering information and started looking like someone who was trying to start a fight.

Well, I'm honestly not looking for a fight. Not sure why I'm coming off as belligerent here. Hmmm... I push at answers because I am trying to understand them. That's how I learn. I am not trying to say that I'm right, I'm trying to say: "Here's why I don't understand your answer. Here's why its not making sense to me..."

But in any case, I'll leave it there. It seems like this is an emotional topic that people have been through so many times before, that they're really tired of discussing it. If I ever could find two S-300s like DThomasC has, I guess I can get my own answer.
 

GAD

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Well, I'm honestly not looking for a fight. Not sure why I'm coming off as belligerent here. Hmmm... I push at answers because I am trying to understand them. That's how I learn. I am not trying to say that I'm right, I'm trying to say: "Here's why I don't understand your answer. Here's why its not making sense to me..."

But in any case, I'll leave it there. It seems like this is an emotional topic that people have been through so many times before, that they're really tired of discussing it. If I ever could find two S-300s like DThomasC has, I guess I can get my own answer.

Where are you located? Someone might be willing to let you discover first-hand.

Edit - I was on mobile - I now see you're in Western PA.
 
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DThomasC

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If I ever could find two S-300s like DThomasC has, I guess I can get my own answer.

What might you expect to learn? Let me put it this way: can you narrow the number of possible answers to just a few that you could list? Make the question multiple choice. That'll help me understand it better.
 
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PittPastor

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What might you expect to learn? Let me put it this way: can you narrow the number of possible answers to just a few that you could list? Make the question multiple choice. That'll help me understand it better.

The situation you describe seems exactly like what I was interested in: Two identical instruments, with the only difference being the wood of the body. My question is: "If I heard the same piece played on both of those instruments, could my ear detect a difference?" I don't care if I could identify which is which. My question is, can I hear the difference, and is it significant enough that it matters to me?

The reason this matters to me, should I ever start earnestly looking for a solid body, is it tells me if I can narrow down my choices.

I already know that some things matter. Feel matters, for example. Quality of build. Things like that everyone agrees on.

Pickups matter -- even though they are a matter of taste. But no one thinks a humbucker sounds like a single coil. You may prefer one sound over the other, but everyone agrees they are different. So, if I pick a guitar, I need to have an idea of what sound I am after. Pickup affects that for sure. What else does? If the wood it is made out of matters, then I also should figure out which wood tone I like better. If wood doesn't affect tone, than I can ignore that as a variable for tone. That's why I am trying to figure this out.

I know the answer for some is: "Go play 100 and pick the one you like" but that isn't very viable for me.
 

Dr. Hook

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The situation you describe seems exactly like what I was interested in: Two identical instruments, with the only difference being the wood of the body. My question is: "If I heard the same piece played on both of those instruments, could my ear detect a difference?" I don't care if I could identify which is which. My question is, can I hear the difference, and is it significant enough that it matters to me?

The reason this matters to me, should I ever start earnestly looking for a solid body, is it tells me if I can narrow down my choices.

I already know that some things matter. Feel matters, for example. Quality of build. Things like that everyone agrees on.

Pickups matter -- even though they are a matter of taste. But no one thinks a humbucker sounds like a single coil. You may prefer one sound over the other, but everyone agrees they are different. So, if I pick a guitar, I need to have an idea of what sound I am after. Pickup affects that for sure. What else does? If the wood it is made out of matters, then I also should figure out which wood tone I like better. If wood doesn't affect tone, than I can ignore that as a variable for tone. That's why I am trying to figure this out.

I know the answer for some is: "Go play 100 and pick the one you like" but that isn't very viable for me.

Not to muddy the waters any further, really, but you can have two identical guitars in terms of manufacturer and model, same materials, same everything, and they might not sound the same at all. This happens with electric guitars just as with acoustic guitars. What could explain that? Maybe you could say some minute variations in assembly, especially if a lot or all of it is handcrafted, but my guess would be the wood.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I'd approach my first solidbody by focusing on the sounds I like coming from such guitars when played by other people. Then consider stuff like scale length, weight and balance. Don't overthink it by diving into esoterics. Pick one understanding that to some extent you're taking a chance on it.

-Dave-
 

DThomasC

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The situation you describe seems exactly like what I was interested in: Two identical instruments, with the only difference being the wood of the body. My question is: "If I heard the same piece played on both of those instruments, could my ear detect a difference?" I don't care if I could identify which is which. My question is, can I hear the difference, and is it significant enough that it matters to me?

The reason this matters to me, should I ever start earnestly looking for a solid body, is it tells me if I can narrow down my choices.

I already know that some things matter. Feel matters, for example. Quality of build. Things like that everyone agrees on.

Pickups matter -- even though they are a matter of taste. But no one thinks a humbucker sounds like a single coil. You may prefer one sound over the other, but everyone agrees they are different. So, if I pick a guitar, I need to have an idea of what sound I am after. Pickup affects that for sure. What else does? If the wood it is made out of matters, then I also should figure out which wood tone I like better. If wood doesn't affect tone, than I can ignore that as a variable for tone. That's why I am trying to figure this out.

I know the answer for some is: "Go play 100 and pick the one you like" but that isn't very viable for me.

So what do you suppose are the odds that you will/won't be able to hear a difference? 50/50? 20/80?

Look, the fact is, this is a little like trying to decide which flavor ice cream you'll like by asking a bunch of strangers on the internet to describe all the different flavors, but then not believing them anyway. The fact is, if you're not going to just take our word for it - and it seems that you aren't - then you have only two choices that I can identify.

1. Just take your best guess at what you might like and buy one. If you don't like it, then sell/trade it for something else. You probably will learn something, but maybe not.

2. Visit some music stores and spend some time with different guitars. Play them unplugged first, then plug them into an amp. You're bound to learn more doing that than spending hours chatting with us. If nothing else you'll have a lot of fun getting to know the salespeople at Guitar Center.

In any case, if you really have very little idea what you want anyway, then "discussing" with a bunch of strangers whether or not wood matters is really not a good use of your - or our - time. Unless and until you develop your ears and playing style, the species of wood won't matter to you. Maybe someday down the road, but not now.
 

mavuser

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PittPastor,

are u looking for an electric guitar? are you religious? I have the guitar for u. It is a 1990 Fender Artist Endorsement Telecaster. full custom shop build from Oscar Pallares...Oscar wrote “Jesus C” on the shop label on the back of the neck (inside the neck pocket, inside the guitar).

wood does not matter as much as circutry. pots, caps, resistors etc all have varying values and can be stacked, split, bypassed “reverse phased” and a million other things.

always play an electric solid body unplugged before plugging in, to get a good feel for it. u should know almost immediately if it feels right.
 

DrumBob

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I sometimes go for the underdog, and Guild has always had that going on, IMO. I also worked for Guild from '79-81 and have a good understanding on how they did things back then. They made a very, very good product. That was always obvious. Some argue that Guild electric were copies of better selling guitars, and there's truth to that, but Guild always tried to add features that Gibson didn't have, to their credit. Finally, certain Guild guitars looked like nothing else. The S-200 Thunderbird was a very striking body design, even though Guild copied the Fender Jaguar's circuitry. The S series guitars of the '70s and '80's, love them, or hate them, were perceived as original for their time (even though Guild copied the body design from a German guitar called Hoyer).

And, as others have said, wood plays a very major role in the tonal aspects of electric guitars. I suggest you do your homework. :happy:
 
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PittPastor

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PittPastor,

are u looking for an electric guitar? are you religious? I have the guitar for u. It is a 1990 Fender Artist Endorsement Telecaster. full custom shop build from Oscar Pallares...Oscar wrote “Jesus C” on the shop label on the back of the neck (inside the neck pocket, inside the guitar).

wood does not matter as much as circutry. pots, caps, resistors etc all have varying values and can be stacked, split, bypassed “reverse phased” and a million other things.

always play an electric solid body unplugged before plugging in, to get a good feel for it. u should know almost immediately if it feels right.

Huh... that's pretty interesting. I'll have to see if I can find one and play it. Thanks for the tip mavuser!
 

dougdnh

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I've been playing semi professionally since the '60's, and have always been a fan of non-mainstream, good quality guitars. I've had Danelectro, Burns, Hagstrom, Cort, etc in addition to some Fenders and a Gibson. About 15years ago, I really got into Guild's DeArmonds. For the money, they were well made, good sounding instruments. A DeArmond Jetstar with the goldtone pickups was one of the best sounding solid bodies I've ever owned - unfortunately, I coudn't get into the bizarre shape. I felt if the DeArmond's were so good, real Guilds must be even better. I live in a pretty rural area so it's hard to try out different guitars, so if i can get something online at a good price I'll take a gamble. I spotted a Blues-90 on Craigslist for a very good price, so I grabbed it. The Blues-90 was very nice - loved the quality and sound. However, I wasn't crazy about the very chunky neck, so i decided to look for a regular Bluesbird. I found Rhode Island made Bluesbird on Craigslist, and bought it. Wow - it seemed this guitar was custom made for me - loved the neck, the sound, the quality, the look. I've gotten many favorable comments on this guitar. If i were to ever look for another solid body, a USA made Guild would be my first choice.
 
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DrumBob

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I confess to be totally ignorant about electric guitars.

I'm not buying the "Wood gives tone" argument. I watched the Fender video. But, although I will admit that striking the wood with a metal hammer yields different results, I am not at all convinced that those differences translate -- at all -- to the sound coming out of the electric coils. I would agree that in a sound lab setting, with an expert pointing out the differences, I might be able to pinpoint the sound change. But, without an A/B test, and with the sound going through a pre-amp, amp, and speaker, I would be shocked if 1 person in 50,000 could listen to one guitar playing, and tell you what wood it was made out of.

No offense intended, but you sir are ignorant about electric guitars, period, and probably should get some experience and knowledge under your belt. If you took your argument to www.thegearpage.net, you'd be laughed off the board in minutes. They don't suffer fools lightly there. They'd hang you out to dry. LTG is a very civil forum. Gearpage is not.

Your reasoning is sadly flawed. You can't compare putting a pickup on an acoustic to the sound of a well made electric solidbody with great pickups and choice wood. Apples & oranges.

May I suggest you stick with the acoustic guitars you already own? If you really want an electric, look at a Guild Starfire semi hollow.
 

adorshki

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No offense intended, but you sir are ignorant about electric guitars, period, and probably should get some experience and knowledge under your belt. If you took your argument to www.thegearpage.net, you'd be laughed off the board in minutes. They don't suffer fools lightly there. They'd hang you out to dry. LTG is a very civil forum. Gearpage is not.

Your reasoning is sadly flawed. You can't compare putting a pickup on an acoustic to the sound of a well made electric solidbody with great pickups and choice wood. Apples & oranges.

May I suggest you stick with the acoustic guitars you already own? If you really want an electric, look at a Guild Starfire semi hollow.

Bob I think you might have jumped a little too soon before reading the rest of the thread, he's been made painfully aware of that since that earlier post.
He's a pretty new member relatively speaking.
And he has an archtop, which he came here to get edjimiccated about when he first got interested in them, as a supplement to his original owner D40.
So he started asking about solid bodies in the same vein but got a little roughed up already by folks who probably didn't realize what an electric novice he was when he started the thread.
I think that's probably why I wasn't seeing "argumentative" the way some of the other guys were, because I participated in his archtop edjimiccation thread.
 

PittPastor

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No offense intended, but you sir are ignorant about electric guitars, period.... you'd be laughed off the board in minutes. They don't suffer fools lightly there... Your reasoning is sadly flawed.... May I suggest you stick with the acoustic guitar

Whew! Thank God you weren't intending offense!

I see your point, tho. Really, I made a mistake coming on an internet forum and asking questions about something. I should learn first somewhere else... preferably off on my own, by trial and error.

What was I thinking?

You know what... I'll just stick to my Acoustic guitars. Yeah, that's the ticket! If I want to branch out, maybe stay simple. Pick up the kazoo or something like that.

Hey, sorry for wasting your time.
 

DrumBob

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Truth is, the OP is ignorant about what makes an electric guitar sound good. The word "ignorant" doesn't have to have a negative connotation. It simply means he or she is unaware. The OP has very little knowledge in the area in which he inquires. He admits that. Fair enough, but when members like GAD and others sincerely take their time to help him with their educated opinions, he seemed to slough them off, which amazes me, as this is first and foremost, a friendly place to hang out, and it is also a very knowledgeable place as well. His response seemed to be, "I don't know much, but you're all wrong."

The OP seems like a troll. That's all I'm going to say in this subject.
 
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Default

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Why a Guild solidbody? Because they are always well constructed, they never had a down period like the big two, and they are affordable. You can find interesting models with sometimes unique features that you can't find in the more popular marks. When I first joined LTG, I owned 3 guitars - my 68 Starfire, my D-40 and my Gretsch Astro Jet. All of them sounded different, radically so. Now I own... several. They all sound different, they all play differently. I can hear the differences between rosewood, maple and mahogany, at least when I am playing them. Electrics are more subtle, but the differences are there too, depending on materials and construction. Whether you can hear them or not at this stage of the game is fine. If you pick up any guitar and it scratches your itch, that's a very fine thing. The more you play, the more you find out things on your own. I like Starfire 3s. I have a couple. Each one sounds different than the other, sometimes by a little, and sometimes by a lot.
 

fronobulax

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I'm going to close this. If there is more to be learned then let's start a new thread. My concern is that differences in communication styles are being perceived in different ways, latecomers are not paying attention and I'm seeing personal attacks being responded to and not reported. Others may have different opinions but since I get to Moderate, I think it is time to chill and preserve the LTG civility.
 
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