Guild Newark St. X350 Review

GAD

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As much as I love writing up my vintage Guilds, the modern Newark St. get the page hits, so they tend to bubble up to the top of the pile when they come in. Here's my review of the Newark St. X350 Stratford.


It took me over a year to score one of these for less than MAP, and the one I got was just about mint!

As always, please PM me with any typos or issues.

Guild-NewarkSt-X350-Stratford-TopFull-NE.jpg
 

GGJaguar

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Nicely done! I was surprised to read about the lack of an arm stop for the Guildsby handle. How strange!
 

GAD

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Nicely done! I was surprised to read about the lack of an arm stop for the Guildsby handle. How strange!

I actually discovered that as a fluke. Someone somewhere was complaining that they couldn't move the arm on their guitar over the strings, so I happened to pick up the guitar closest to me (my X350) to get a picture of the little bit that blocks that movement and it wasn't there!
 

JohnW63

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Are they the same Franze pickups they have always used in the NS series? You seem to like these better.
 

shihan

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Excellent review, as usual. i feel ready to switch away when I have the opportunity to try one out.
Thanks for taking the time to write this up.
 

GAD

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Are they the same Franze pickups they have always used in the NS series? You seem to like these better.

So far as I know, but I can't really say if they've changed the "recipe" at all since they started with them. Judging by Guild lack of desire to change the LB pickups, my guess is that they're the same.

Looking at my published reviews, The X175 review from 2016 (FIVE years ago! Damn) is where I see me not liking them at the extremes. I didn't get that vibe with this guitar, but since I no longer have the X175, I can't compare them directly.
 

Stefan Eff

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Nicely done! I was surprised to read about the lack of an arm stop for the Guildsby handle. How strange!

There are Bigsby brackets with or without stop. I prefer the last ones, but I too prefer the Duane Eddy or vintage narrow handle over the sharp edged butterknife.
86EE8E8D-6F78-4D98-91F4-C9929807C3D7.jpeg

Thanks for the great review.
Dunno what‘s not to like on Statites but the knobs are changeable if you want to. The types Guild (and Gretsch if I‘m right) uses are customized tuners with small buttons.
 
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GAD

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There are Bigsby brackets with or without stop. I prefer the last ones, but I too prefer the Duane Eddy or vintage narrow handle over the sharp edged butterknife.
86EE8E8D-6F78-4D98-91F4-C9929807C3D7.jpeg

Thanks for the great review.
Dunno what‘s not to like on Statites but the knobs are changeable if you want to. The types Guild (and Gretsch if I‘m right) uses are customized tuners with small buttons.

How do you change the keys without dismantling the tuners, and where do you get replacement keys?
 

parker_knoll

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How do you change the keys without dismantling the tuners, and where do you get replacement keys?
i think you have to change the tuners entirely but they are available with different keys, as are the (more expensive) Gotoh equivalents (SX510 if remember right), including pearl if that's your bag.

I changed some Grovers for the Gotohs (there's a thread somewhere) and they're much less sloppy
 

Walter Broes

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I was surprised to read about the lack of an arm stop for the Guildsby handle. How strange!
It's a little weird - I work at a small guitar shop part time, and we've had the Manhattan special and the 350, and the special had the stop, the 350 didn't
 

walrus

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Great and informative review, as usual, thanks!

walrus
 

freddyfingers

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Thanks for the review. I still bought it a while back. i did not find the control layout confusing until i read the review. Now I’m confused. To me it sounds like i can get just the middle pickup by turning down the other two, but that may not be the case if i read this correctly. That being said, the sound that i do get by doing that is what i was after. So I’m ok either way. With a certain preamp and a touch of slapback this guitar easily gets rockabilly , but straight in to a amp with a touch of gain and i get a full bluesy sound. I played it a lot at home through one of those Spark amps and a headphone. I normally dont use headphones but it allows me to practice when others dont wish me to. It wasn’t until i took it to a few louder jams that i agree with the feedback. Even at volumes i did not consider too loud, the thing begins to howl. I can control it, but it took me a bit by surprise That being said, its a great review and i appreciate someone taking the time to be very accurate and precise. Its a stunning guitar to look at , but then again to me archtops just are. Plus there’s the monkey.
 

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Great review!
Can confirm, you can push down the last two pushbuttons on the vintage model to have all three pups active. Also, Stew-Mac has a Freeway switch with far more combinations than a standard switch.
 

Stefan Eff

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The tuner buttons are pressed in. Here’s a very helpful video how to pull them off:



Replacement buttons are easy to find.
Stewmac for example.
Once the stock buttons are removed you can easily glue new buttons on with epoxy. Allow at least 3-4 days drying time: Everlasting.

2E6E0B99-7D52-4D7C-91DF-F03E017A7751.jpeg


The customized tuners from my Aristocrat.
But since you dislike Statites so much…
 

jp

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As always GAD, an impressive review, especially the dissection and analysis of the electronics. I feel this guitar particular Guild guitar required such comprehensive commentary. Great job! You're an information disseminating machine.
 

cupric

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Great revue! Enjoyed the read.
 

GGJaguar

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I feel this guitar particular Guild guitar required such comprehensive commentary.

Agreed and thanks to such in depth analysis, I know I don't want one. On the other hand, the X-175 Special still intrigues me based on his review of that model. :)
 

GAD

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I need to take pics of the X175 Special and the X350 side by side.
 
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