What Guild Is this Closest to?

PittPastor

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I know there were only 3 of these actually made (or so I read...)

But was this based on a production design and tweaked? Or completely designed from the ground up for Merle?

43b4a2c966b8aaf155795985e6de8895--guild-guitars-pete-townshend.jpg


tumblr_n2jfl4HKUL1sv2pn3o1_400.jpg


(Pete Townsend shown for scale)
 

The Guilds of Grot

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I would guess it's built off the superstructure of either an X-500 or Artist Award with a sound hole instead of "F" slots.
 

kakerlak

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I would guess it's built off the superstructure of either an X-500 or Artist Award with a sound hole instead of "F" slots.

Yeah, I'd guess the back/sides/neck are nominally Artist Award stuff. My memory of Hans' book is that the top is thick, solid flamed maple, like a Les Paul in that it's flat across the underside and carved on the topside only in effort to thwart feedback. I could be way off, though -- it's been a while since I've read up on them. I do wonder how well it works in the feedback dept -- I have a one-off luthier-made guitar that has a solid top that's an inch or so thick in the middle and otherwise unbraced and I find it has a long, ropey sort of resonance to it that actually loves to slip into that kind of cascading/exponential feedback. It sounds killer, but it's the worst feedback machine I own, way touchier to manage than my X-700. It's hard to describe, but I always figured it was a product of having a lot of mass in the center of the top and less around the rim, making the thing sort of bouncy, for lack of a better term? Total sidetrack, though, and not a very scientific comparison.
 

twocorgis

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All pertinent info on this model is on page 170 of the "Bible". No more than five were made.
 

txbumper57

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Carlo Greco who was the man behind the Merle Travis model also made something similar to it when he started making his own guitars in the late 70's IIRC. But then again Carlo's guitars are just as hard to find for sale as an original Merle Travis I would imagine.

TX
 

adorshki

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Now that you mention Carlos Greco it all makes sense...
Hate to be a pest but "Carlo" not Carlos.
:friendly_wink:
And Rick Nielsen also has one, and the restoration job he describes in this Premiere Guitar article was even "sneak previewed" here by Hans quite a while back (the work in progress was mentioned but the owner's ID was protected):

Not surprisingly, Nielsen didn’t purchase his Merle Travis when it was first released in a run of just three, but he did spend a good proportion of his adult life searching one out. “I looked for one for 35 years,” he explains. “They only made three. One that Merle Travis had, a second one, which is the one I have, and a third one, which I have pictures of Pete Townshend playing but now belongs to a collector. That’s about the rarest guitar I have.”

He continues: “Mine was completely smashed up and in pieces when I got it. I had two of the Guild people who originally built it in 1963, who were then working at Fender, to restore it. When it was done, I was offered a million dollars for it. It had taken me 35 years to find it, so I was going to hang on to it for a while. I never heard back from the guy.”


Where Hans confirms at least 5 built:
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?175141-Townshend-s-Special-guitars

Pic of the pre-restoration guitar (thanks Hans and SFIV1967!):
MerleTravis_repair.jpg
[/IMG]
From here:
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?173863-Merle-Travis-postcard
 

davismanLV

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As I started this thread I just remembered "I think one of these was busted into a whole bunch of pieces, or maybe I'm thinking of the wrong one." So thanks for that post, Al. I'm not as senile as I thought I might remember to be...... I think.
 

adorshki

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As I started this thread I just remembered "I think one of these was busted into a whole bunch of pieces, or maybe I'm thinking of the wrong one." So thanks for that post, Al. I'm not as senile as I thought I might remember to be...... I think.

I think I remember you, you used to work here, right?
 
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