Thoughts about vintage x-175 vs newark street x-175b?

rshinn32

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Hi Guys,

I've been looking at the vintage x-400's and x-500's as well as the new (korean built) Newark Street x-175b, and didn't realize there is also a vintage x-175. I was thinking the Newark Street x-175b was a reproduction of the x-400. But now understand that it's a repo of a guitar by the same name. I play a 2012 Guild T-500, which, if I understand correctly, is basically a thinline version of the x-175. I'm looking to get a full bodied guitar and so am thinking about looking for a vintage model, or, possibly, going with the new Newark Street x-175. I'm wondering if folks have thoughts/experience about/around the vintage x-175 vs the Newark Street x-175b.

Thanks very much for your thoughts.

Richard
 

GAD

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Any vintage Guild will crush any NS Guild. You know, in my opinion. :lemo:
 

JohnW63

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I wish I had the experience with a vintage something Guild to dive in. I do have a NS X-175. I have a lot of fun with it. I think I paid $700 for a new one. I think the price / performance ratio is very good. If I played well enough to spot the difference right away, I might think less of it , but as all around learning my electric guitar chops, I am very happy with it.
 

parker_knoll

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The X175 is one of Guild's core models. I've had two of the early ones: slightly thinner body and smaller form, Franz pickups. Later on they get bigger and get some humbuckers. You'll see that with a quick search on Reverb. Franz pickups are notoriously variable.

The NS is designed to be a pretty faithful repro of an early model; member Walter Broes plays a 1962 pretty much exclusively and also owns an NS model. He wrote a long post about the differences which I can't now find :). In conclusion, he's a fan of the vintage but thought the new one pretty good.

I find the vintage models to be lighter and more lively than modern Guilds but I've only strummed a new X175 in a shop. The advantage to buying an old one is if you don't like it you can probably sell it for what you paid for it. The disadvantage is playability may be impaired - frets wear, fingerboards warp, tops sink - or it may be excellent.
 
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shihan

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If you can afford a vintage Guild, do yourself a favor and buy one. The NS archtops are fine, but no comparison to a USA Guild. What are you waiting for?
 

kakerlak

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The bridge pickup on the NS models is mounted in a different-than-vintage location. I'd expect them to be less bright on the bridge pickup and maybe a little less dynamic in the middle. The good old ones have a terrific, honky middle position sound. IIRC, Walter was able to remount the pickup closer to the bridge w/o exposing the underlying route -- just revealing the original pair of screw holes from the mounting ears.
 

rshinn32

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Ahh. Ok. Does anybody know, is it easy to change the humbucker's, on a later model x-175 or x-500? Or, are the wholes different and require modification? I'm thinking I'd like to play alnico staple p90s.

Just found this one:

https://reverb.com/p/guild-x-175-bl...AQYAyABEgKePfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&hfid=13028399

Oh, I notice this `68 model one only has a single screw on each side of the humbucker. So, maybe that makes it easier to change out?

https://reverb.com/item/3569750-196...h3_jAYXEAQYByABEgKik_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&pla=1
 
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Quantum Strummer

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IMO if you're planning to do a pickup swap you oughta do it on an NS model rather than an oldie. The old Franz, anti-hum (smaller humbuckers) and HB-1 (bigger HBs) pickups are a large part of the vintage mojo. They're also non-standard to everything else size-wise.

That said, vintage-spec staple (Alnico V) pickups are terrific! They'll add a refined sweetness to an NS 175.

-Dave-
 

parker_knoll

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Ahh. Ok. Does anybody know, is it easy to change the humbucker's, on a later model x-175 or x-500? Or, are the wholes different and require modification? I'm thinking I'd like to play alnico staple p90s.

Just found this one:

https://reverb.com/p/guild-x-175-bl...AQYAyABEgKePfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&hfid=13028399

Oh, I notice this `68 model one only has a single screw on each side of the humbucker. So, maybe that makes it easier to change out?

https://reverb.com/item/3569750-196...h3_jAYXEAQYByABEgKik_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds&pla=1

No, the hole is a different size for a humbucker and P90. If you get one with full size humbuckers (mid '70s on at a guess but someone else can confirm) you can maybe buy humbucker size staple pickups and drop those in with no problem.

Or as Quantum says get an NS175 and drop some Staples in there. The staples are wildly expensive, however. Also, it may require a small amount butchery but that will probably be hidden under the covers. Google "rout size dogear P90" and see what dimensions you get. then see if they match the rout for the Franzes on the NS X175
 

rshinn32

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Ahh... I'm getting that, if I get a vintage model, I should just keep the original pickups. Thanks so much for all the good information.
 

Walter Broes

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Richard,
The basic explanation, quickly :
-The X400 you keep referring to was actually a very short lived model number from the early Guild days, before "standardiazation". There aren't all that many X400's around.

-Your T-500 is a recreation of a fairly rare Guild guitar : the thinline version of the Guild X500. The X500 was the top of the line Guild electric archtop, laminated b/s, lam spruce top, maple neck, deluxe appointments (multilayer binding, bound f-holes and headstock, gold hardware, "'G-shield" headstock inlay, ...) The T-500 was a short lived thinline version of that guitar, that eventually sort of evolved into the Duane Eddy model.

-The X175 was the "standard" version if you think of the X500 as the "Deluxe" or "Custom". Same basic guitar except the neck was/is mahogany, chrome hardware, less binding, non-bound headstock, "Chesterfield" inlay on headstock, ....

Any vintage Guild will crush any NS Guild. You know, in my opinion. :lemo:
That's a bit of a broad statement. That all depends on your use, needs, taste, etc....

Given a choice between my precious '62 X175 and the Newark Street version (I also own), sure, no-brainer. the old one by far. As we all know, the comparison isn't all that fair - the old one was built at a time wood and labour were comparatively cheap, was not a cheap-ish budget guitar built to a strict price point when new, while the NS Guilds are a different story altogether.

But for the music I play, a later mini-humbucker or Westerly full-size humbucker version wouldn't work very well, and the current Newark Street X175 actually works better because of the single coil pickups. For the tones I go for, gotta have the single coil pickups.

And I'm super-spoiled now, owning four nice Hoboken-era single coil Guilds, I have more than I need. But as a late teen into Rockabilly, I would have been over the moon with the NS X175 - a well built single coil, Bigsby equipped hollowbody that sounds and looks the part for a price two summer jobs would have taken care of? All I could get/afford at that time was maybe a heavy, overbuilt Gibson ES-175 copy with painfully inadequate humbuckers by Westone or Ibanez or Aria. (I was a teenager in the 80's)

And given the price and "replace-ability" of the NS X175, I'm still really happy with that guitar. Flying gig where I'm not sure if I'll be able to take the guitar on board? (most times you can't any more) Handy gig bag backup for gigs closer to home? "Expendable" guitar for those couple of rowdy/outdoors/biker gigs a year where I feel kind of weird about taking my precious vintage guitar? With the couple of simple tweaks I've done to the NS guitar, it sounds the same as my old X175 to 99.7% of the crowd, looks the same too, if a little newer and cleaner, and it plays great, stays in tune, plain works well for its intended purpose. If it gets destroyed by an airline, gets stolen or damaged, I'll curse loudly, shrug and go "oh well..." and move on. Not quite the same as with my vintage guitars.

My NS X175 is not as wonderful and fantastic for my needs as my '62, but neither is any Westerly Guild I've played. So there. Horses for courses, or something like that.
 

GAD

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Walter Broes makes a fair claim that my statement was a bit broad, so let me clarify.

When it comes to tone, playability, looks, and almost everything I crave in a guitar, i'd pick a vintage Guild every time.

When it comes to "replaceability" (I like that!) I'd pick NS every time. I have a few Newark Street guitars and I've paid no more that $500 for each of them. I would also not hesitate to pay that for a replacement should I lose or damage one of them and, perhaps most importantly, I would not be heartbroken if one got damaged. I don't like them as much as my vintage Guilds, and they don't inspire me the way the vintage models do, but they work, they're consistent, and they absolutely don't suck.

I should also point out that I'm at the stage in life where I'm supremely spoiled and lucky to be able to own some very rare guitars. When I was a teen and just starting out or even in my 20s when I was playing out a lot, I would have killed for a NS Guild because they do the job and look pretty darn great doing it. What floors me is that if a new Newark Street Bluesbird is $1000 then my '97 Westerly Bluesbird should sell for $5000, but it doesn't. In fact, I got it for $700. For the $1000 price I'd pay for a new NS Bluesbird I'd pick a Westerly model every time even if I had to pay a couple hundred more. That line gets blurred when you talk about things like X175s that I believe are less common.
 

Walter Broes

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That line gets blurred when you talk about things like X175s that I believe are less common.
Yes, even more so in the case of the ones I like. You can still get lucky every so often,, but I haven't seen any Franz equipped (old) X175's advertised for less than $2500 in the last couple of years. They've gone up in price considerably - most I ever paid for one was about $1800, but that's almost two decades ago. A used or heavily discounted NS X175 will barely buy you a vintage case and a vintage Guildsby, so it really is a bit of a bargain in comparison.
 
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