70's x-175 compared to the later x-170

[mad dog]

I played a '78 x-175 today for a bit. Really nice guitar, in wonderful shape. It felt quite good. Neck only and middle p/u sounds wonderful, bridge only not quite. But overall, it impressed me. I'm sorely tempted, but he's asking too much I suspect.

I am seeing x-170s listed at somewhat lower prices. Haven't played one yet. How would it compare to that 70's 175? Do both have soundposts? Similar neck profiles? How do they do at higher volumes? Any strong disadvantage or advantage to either.

The Guild bug is biting hard. I think I'm a goner!

 

[california]

Hey Mad Dog,

First -- there are a lot of good opinions about both guitars on the board, hopefully your string will attract a lot of them.

You really need to try the two side by side, or at least get your hands on an X-170 for a road test.

The two guitars are very different in construction. The X-175 is a true hollow body archtop with a full sized body. The X-170 is a narrow bodied semi-hollow body, which means that it has a block inside to improve resonance lost by shrinking the width of the guitar.

The X-175 is a true jazz box, which explains the performance of the neck pickup (is there a middle PU on the one you tried? Most had only two.).

The X-170 is O.K. for jazz, but it has a brighter spumd from the lower pickup for more kinds of rock, country, etc. Both are awesome blues guitars.

I keep my X-175, a '78 like the one you're looking at, strung with flatwounds for a jazz sound. Frankly, there's nothing like it. Before I bought it I took it too my lithier to have it checked out -- he said it was perfect and that if I didn't buy it he would. I love the way the guitar feels and responds, probably because it has more of an acoustic heritage than the X-170. It is a suburst, and the color has aged extremely well. I picked up both at the same time, overall the X-175 was more to my liking so i sold the 170, but again, there is a lot of subjectivity here.

You didn't mention what the seller is asking. A '78 in good shape could sell for around $1500, in really great shape a bit more. The X-170s have been going from around $900-$1200.

Hope this helps...

 

[mad dog]

California:

That helps a great deal. I am looking for an x170 to try. Closest thing around here is an x160 savoy, which I'm gathering is a more spartan version of the x170, but the same basic box.

The x175 I tried was in excellent condition. Very well cared for, looked and felt wonderful. The seller is asking 2500 bucks. I think that's about 500 bucks over the top even for a really good one. Too bad. I would love to have it. The tone from that neck-only and both-combined settings is quite beautiful.

Since posting, I've done much research here on these. This is a great list. It is so helpful to have access to this type of information. Thanks!

Michael D.

 

[Jake The Loafer]

Mad Dog, I saw a nice natural Maple X-170 on Ebay for BIN around $1400.00 You can check it out. I have a X-170T & it's great. Not sure what year Savoy you are talking about. Also saw a nice Corona Amber Burst X-180 Park Ave. I have one & it's a very nice guitar.

 

[california]

$2500 is probably a little high. That's the average asking price on Gbase, but eBay and Craigslist prices are usually well under $2K. X-175 prices started climbing last year as X-500 and X-700 prices started going through the roof, the X-175 and X-500 are the same except for the trim according to Hans' book.
Yesterday I tried a beautiful Starfilre III (check the Starfire III post in the eBay section), it played incredibly well, but it just wasn't my X-175, and the Starfire did not feel a lot different from the X-170 that I had for a while.

Hang in there, Mike, there are better deals out there, and they show up fairly often. Elderly just sold one for $1200, and the last one on eBay went for $1795 -- maybe you should show those numbers to your seller. You can also tell him you know someone who bought one for a grand... but he got REALLY lucky!

You're looking for the right guitar, now all you need is to find one at the right price!

 

[jp]

Hey mad dog,

Two CL listings in Portland:

X-170
http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/308349520.html

X-175
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/msg/306681847.html

 

[california]

The X-175 from Portland is a heck of a deal!

 

[ChampAmp]

I have owned both, I ended up with an X-175 because I wanted a jazz emphasis. Bear in mind what music you like to / want to play: The X-170 will handle higher volumes than the X-175 due to size and the block in the X-170. It doesn't take much for an X-175 to feedback: You can learn to manage it via positioning, dampening w/fingers, eq, etc., but it is not the guitar for amp-near-you high volume playing.

 

[california]

I have owned both, I ended up with an X-175 because I wanted a jazz emphasis. Bear in mind what music you like to / want to play: The X-170 will handle higher volumes than the X-175 due to size and the block in the X-170. It doesn't take much for an X-175 to feedback: You can learn to manage it via positioning, dampening w/fingers, eq, etc., but it is not the guitar for amp-near-you high volume playing.

Ditto on that. Playing the X-175 in my house I dropped down from a Roland JC 90 to a Cube X30; in a small environment it is the same kind of sound without the feeback problems.