Guild pickups

[Peter Ecc]

Hi everyone, I have a pair of mid seventies Guild pickups and I'm trying to decide whether to sell them or put them in another guitar. I have an Epiphone semi with mini humbuckers and I'm trying to get a similar sound. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[matsickma]

Dump the Epi and get a Guild!
LOL.
Still not sure what you are interested in. A set of HB1 have been listed around $500. Not sure if they ever sell at that price. I would hold on to them for a while and see if a bargain Guild comes along in need of HB1's.

 

[Prof Silverhair]

I currently have 3 guitars with humbuckers; my '85 X170 w/ HB1's, an ES175 w/57 Gibson Classics, and a 335 w/Lollar PAFs. I read the reviews of the earlier model HB1s and thought, 'meh, they're probably good but are they that good?'. Have to say they stack up in every way. It's impossible to compare apples to apples for a host of obvious reasons. Just offering the HB1's are AT LEAST as good as the others. I'd also offer that I had a '01 Epi 335 that I had installed Gibson Burstbuckers. Long story short, I sold it for way less than I had tied up in it. That's a long way for me to say that I agree with @matsickma. Keep the HB1's and find a Guild to drop them in. I expect it will outperform an Epi/HB1 combo based on my experience.

 

[Shakeylee]

you might want to post a picture to get informed responses

 

[mavuser]

if you are trying to get a similar sound to a semi-hollow Epiphone with mini-humbuckers, you are probably going to need another semi-hollow guitar...with humbuckers, yes?

If your mid-seventies Guild pickups are the HB-1 humbuckers, they will only fit in a Guild guitar, without extra routing. And I would guess they may not be the best choice if you are chasing an Epiphone mini-humbucker tone, but I really don't know. If the 70's HB-1's are what you have, they would certainly be worthy of saving, or selling, for a 70's Guild guitar. For a non-Guild there are plenty of great hums out there. I would take a look at the DiMarzio options.

Just my opinion, but I think a Guild Starfire-4/5/6 sounds great with any humbucker (unless you can find a really, really, bad sounding humbucker).

 

[Peter Ecc]

if you are trying to get a similar sound to a semi-hollow Epiphone with mini-humbuckers, you are probably going to need another semi-hollow guitar...with humbuckers, yes?

If your mid-seventies Guild pickups are the HB-1 humbuckers, they will only fit in a Guild guitar, without extra routing. And I would guess they may not be the best choice if you are chasing an Epiphone mini-humbucker tone, but I really don't know. If the 70's HB-1's are what you have, they would certainly be worthy of saving, or selling, for a 70's Guild guitar. For a non-Guild there are plenty of great hums out there. I would take a look at the DiMarzio options.

Just my opinion, but I think a Guild Starfire-4/5/6 sounds great with any humbucker (unless you can find a really, really, bad sounding humbucker).

Thanks for your input, yes I was thinking of putting them in another semi-hollow guitar.
I now think that I'll sell these pickups, better that they go to someone restoring a 70's Guild, what do you reckon is a fair price to be asking?

 

[Shakeylee]

It really depends on what kind of pickups they are. Guild used at least four different kinds of pickups in the mid seventies.

 

[GAD]

Post a pic so we know what we're dealing with.

 

[Peter Ecc]

These are the pickups I have. 4-9-74 on one and 2-21-74 on the other are the dates engraved on the back of pickups. sorry about the photos I'm not very good with technology.

 

[Prince of Darkness]

HB-1s. Great pickups, uniquely Guild!

 

[Peter Ecc]

HB-1s. Great pickups, uniquely Guild!

HB-1s. Great pickups, uniquely Guild!

I'm selling the pickups for $500 Aus dollars. I would like to put them into an old Guild semi but they don't come up here very often in Australia.