Guild X175 Manhattan Special Review

[GAD]

Here's my review of the super blue Newark St. X175 Manhattan Special

Guild Newark St. X175 Manhattan Special | GAD's Ramblings

Today’s Guild is a Newark St. X175 Manhattan Special from 2020, and I gotta say that as soon as I saw this guitar announced I knew that I had to have one. From the killer blue finish to the DeArmond pickups, this guitar looks like everything I’d ever want in a guitar. Is it? Read …

www.gad.net

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

 

[GGJaguar]

Excellent review as always, GAD! Thanks for sharing! The X175MS seems like a good substitute for the X160 Rockabilly. Also, it appears that the parallel braces on the X175, as on other NS archtops, have been partially cut through to accommodate the pickups. This is a bad design and was, IMHO, the cause of the tops sinking on the (now discontinued) CE100Ds. Too bad FMIC missed that when the models were being developed.

 

[ClaytonS15]

Excellent review as always. Thanks!

 

[Jeff Haddad]

Good read and great-looking guitar!

 

[guitarlover]

Thank you for this fine review !

 

[SFIV1967]

Great review! That internal neckblock "construction" is interesting indeed. Well, maybe a recycling project to recycle leftover wood pieces.
And now we need to start the "project" of finding the periode correct "escutcheon pins". Where are the macro photos of them?

Ralf

 

[walrus]

Nicely done, as usual!

walrus

 

[Walter Broes]

Nice review, thanks for the mention/kind words.

Perception is funny, your love for Westerly electrics is obvious and genuine, my own Guilds have always been of the Hoboken persuasion, so I love the vintage style tuners, the rounded pickguard, and I'm so used to the pickup selector being on the cutaway of my old X175's that I'm forever grabbing air on guitars where it's in a different location.
If I'd change anything on the reviewed guitar, it would be the pickups, I'd put TV Jones, Duncans or vintage DeArmonds in there for a little more twang, grunt, punch and output volume.

Agree with the observations about Guild calling the pickups what they call them. And I still think it's super embarrassing the current owners of the DeArmond trademark are using the Gretsch marketing term for those pickups.

Also, it appears that the parallel braces on the X175, as on other NS archtops, have been partially cut through to accommodate the pickups. This is a bad design and was, IMHO, the cause of the tops sinking on the (now discontinued) CE100Ds. Too bad FMIC missed that when the models were being developed.

I haven't had any CE100D's apart, but I've seen a few NSX175's, and there's no concern whatsoever about the bracing/pickups. The front pickup sits on top of the bracing just like on the old guitars, but there's no cut bracing or anything else like that.

 

[kakerlak]

I haven't had any CE100D's apart, but I've seen a few NSX175's, and there's no concern whatsoever about the bracing/pickups. The front pickup sits on top of the bracing just like on the old guitars, but there's no cut bracing or anything else like that.

So are there issues with sinking/twisting tops on NS CE100s? I haven't followed the new stuff super closely and that model wasn't a huge appeal for me. Did its bracing get compromised in a way the Franz models didn't in order to accommodate the humbucker legs? Is it using a different bracing layout than the NS SF singlecuts?

 

[Walter Broes]

I don't know, but apparently someone reported a problem.

 

[GGJaguar]

First, a disclaimer - I'm not saying NS archtops are going to implode or aren't fine playing and sounding guitars. I've owned four of them and think they are an excellent value. But, these are my observations and, IMHO, there is something inherently wrong with cutting through the parallel braces to fit a pickup.

Here is my NS CE100D with the cut braces to accommodate the pickups. Note how the brace is cut by a little more than 50% which significantly reduces the strength of the brace. The top on this guitar was nearly flat with very little arch.

Here is the photo from GAD's review showing the cut braces (nicely shown by the blue overspray) under the neck pickup. There is no reason for them to be cut due to the top-mount pickups! Could all NS X175s have these "pre-cut" braces regardless of model? Maybe GAD can take a photo of the braces under the bridge pickup route to see if they've been cut as well. I'm not saying the cut braces are an issue with the NS X175's top integrity because I have no experience with that model. The braces were cut on my NS Starfire III and that guitar had a slightly sunken top, but nothing like the CE100D.

And it's not just Guild that does this. My Gretsch Electromatic 12-string made in the same factory has cut braces, too. Luckily, it also has a small soundpost under the bridge to help support the top.

 

[guitarlover]

The cut on the x 175 is close to the neck, so at the end of the bracing . Personally I think that the impact is not really that important in terms of stability (?)

 

[kakerlak]

Hold up. Is that a 5-piece neck block? Also, what's up with the treble side brace? It looks like the end is splintered off, which could easily be from the plunge router cutting the pickup opening, but it also looks like there's some sort of extra bit glued next to it -- it looks wider than the bass side brace. And yeah, why are we cutting a hole in this at all, boys? OTOH, I suppose it's ready to go if you want to drop in a vintage DeArmond.

 

[shihan]

Thanks, as always, for such a thorough, informative and funny review. Well up to your usual high standards!
Strange about cutting into the bracing. One would think some sort of modification could be made to prevent this. I would be more concerned with the bracing at the bridge pickup, cutting away some of that would seem to be a bigger potential problem. I have a NS X-175 on the way, I’ll have to investigate further.

 

[GAD]

Thanks all!

The NS Starfire IIIs have the same bracing cutout:

From https://www.gad.net/Blog/2019/05/13/2016-guild-newark-street-starfire-iii/

 

[kakerlak]

Are the braces fanned out sufficiently that the bridge pickup route doesn't intersect (or at least not as much)?

 

[GAD]

Bridge pickup route in X175 Manhattan Special:

 

[GAD]

Pic with both routes visible

 

[kakerlak]

^That's still a lot of cut-out. Maybe it's just me, but the finish is giving me some major Krylon vibes in your (excellent as ever) pics. I've sure bought a few pawn shop partscasters that had that look over the years.

 

[guitarlover]

So also cut out at the bridge. Still I think for strength of the top that the thickness of the bracing is more important than the width ( compare this to the principle of an H -profile). Also the outer ends are still at full width so the bracing cannot "turn" when the string-pull-forces are giving impact. Maybe that's why the extra block is glued (back on ?) at the treble side.