Any ideas on this Bluesbird

[Harpymorgan]

Anyone any ideas on this. Definately not a 60s Bluesbird. The style of the headstock, the rounded end of the fretboard, and the f holes apart from anything else. No binding on the rear though.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=111579217227&alt=web

 

[dapmdave]

Wow. That's a conundrum, ain't it? A peek at the label would be great.

 

[JohnW63]

Not in Han's book as far as I could tell.

 

[GAD]

That's gotta be one of those "Guy works at Guild and builds his own guitar from parts in the shop" deals.

Or a custom shop creation.

Or a dream.

Either way, I like it!

 

[txbumper57]

Here is a link to a X175 from the same time period with the dearmond singles and humbucker surrounds.

http://tucson.craigslist.org/msg/4808390349.html

May shed some light on the age of the bluesbird, The Dearmond singles in Humbucker surrounds date from 1968 to somewhere around 1970, and they look the same on the Bluesbird as they do on the X175. Just an idea. By no means am I an expert on the subject but I did run across that X175 ad the other night and thought it might help. Funny thing about the headstock inlay, I've only ever seen the turqouise on that special acoustic model they made in the late 90's. If this was a later model from the Custom Shop in Nashville wouldn't it have that labeled on the back of the headstock? Looks super clean to be from the late 60's. Whatever it is I would love to spend some time with it.

 

[walrus]

Has to be custom, doesn't it? But boy, that thing must rock - are those 3 DeArmonds? Wow! I don't like it, I love it!

walrus

 

[Walter Broes]

That's an M65 (or at least the body) that somebody got creatie with. Not the Guild factory, I don't think they would have used Gretsch Filtertron pickup surrounds and a Gibson bridge. Not too sure those pickups are DeArmonds either.

 

[dapmdave]

That's an M65 (or at least the body) that somebody got creative with. Not the Guild factory, I don't think they would have used Gretsch Filtertron pickup surrounds and a Gibson bridge. Not too sure those pickups are DeArmonds either.

But the turquoise G inlay on an open-book headstock is really over the top for a non-factory mod. Unless they snagged the neck from a much later high-end acoustic.

This is a job for Mr. Moust!

 

[guildman63]

Very cool! A little busy for me with three pickups, but with two it would be sold!

 

[jazzman]

Looks like someone wanted to make a jet firebird with the red/black color scheme. The pickups look like the non-adjustable Dearmonds guild used in the early 60s.
It's feasible that the guitar was factory. The superstructure could have been left over from the early 60s and could have been finished later on using leftover parts.
Or it could have been an employee guitar, OR parts could have been sourced from guild and someone could have just modded the guitar on there own.
Regardless that is a bitchin' guitar!

 

[JohnW63]

I'm betting on a well done FrankenGuild.

 

[Harpymorgan]

My first thought was a M65 as Walter says, but with a complete new neck grafted on, there are a lot of clues as to it not being original, the logo, the filleted corners by the pickup, the fret markers and the scrolling on the top. But to echo other comments it seems to have been done very well.

 

[hansmoust]

That's an M65 (or at least the body) that somebody got creatie with. Not the Guild factory, I don't think they would have used Gretsch Filtertron pickup surrounds and a Gibson bridge. Not too sure those pickups are DeArmonds either.

Hello folks,

Walter is probably close with his conclusion. With a lot of non-Guild parts and Guild parts from roughly 3 different decades I would say this is a home project by somebody who definitely had more skills than the average guy.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl