'92 Guild X-500 and 2015 Peerless Cremona

[tomvwash]

I was on a Reverb spree and purchased both of these this past week. One of them has to go. I'm astonished at the difference between the two. The "16 Cremona has the thinner body, still hollow, but with the carved top with a tone that fully resonates--maybe too much acoustic, but incredibly nuanced, bell-like chime. Incredible. The Guild, on the other hand, reminds me of the D'Armond, which I ditched after a couple of months. The wood sounds almost dead in comparison to the Cremona, a sort of flat thud. What am I missing here? New strings--I'm not sure what's on it now. Pickups? It's a beautiful instrument, love the weight and size, and very well maintained.

 

[GAD]

First thing I would try is new strings. Some of my archtops sound *amazing* with flatwounds and horrible with round-wounds. Some guitars sound amazing with heavier strings, some with lighter.

I will say, though, that I have a '90s X700 and it's not at all my favorite. I think there's a reason the Benedetto redesigns were so well received. The pickups in my X700 are SDs and I don't think they do the guitar justice, either.

Edit: My X700 also has 200k pots in it which I found to be quite odd.

 

[tomvwash]

First thing I would try is new strings. Some of my archtops sound *amazing* with flatwounds and horrible with round-wounds. Some guitars sound amazing with heavier strings, some with lighter.

I will say, though, that I have a '90s X700 and it's not at all my favorite. I think there's a reason the Benedetto redesigns were so well received. The pickups in my X700 are SDs and I don't think they do the guitar justice, either.

Edit: My X700 also has 200k pots in it which I found to be quite odd.

Thank you for this. Yes, much better, a lot better with D'Addario 12, flats. The existing strings must have been well worn.