more new Newark Street guitars!

GAD

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When did they start with he "Stair-Step" Pickguard? Have we seen that yet? Oviously the pick-up location is to get all three "in" the Pickguard. Personally, although it might not be as accessible, I think it might have looked better with the rotary switch on the upper treble bout to balance things out.

Ooh I totally missed that!
 

Default

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The bracelets, center block reminds me of a Japanese bass I had. The top flattened out and the action couldn't be corrected without big honking shims. I guess it doesn't matter if these are around for thirty years.
 

jp

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I kind of like the initial approach, but there do seem to be some clunky design missteps:
  • Agree with Walter on the pickup placement. Fail.
  • The stairstep pickguard just seems totally out of place on this guitar.
  • Pickup switch also seems like an odd choice. Ecch!
  • I'll be the first to mention it. What the heck were they thinking with that TRC? At least design one that will seem more fitting with the throwback headstock shape. This seems slapped on as an afterthought.
Despite these points, I bet it probably sounds pretty awesome with the three Franz and thinner semi-hollow body. I wonder how much it is chambered, though. I also like the Bigsby choice, vs the B2. I wonder how much this sucker weighs? Specs don't list that.
 

Bonneville88

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O6TBgbjh.jpg

Well hallelujah! The blue guitar just NEVER went with my outfit! :ROFLMAO:
caJrYlfh.jpg
 

guitarlover

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Will the position of the bridge pickup have a significant influence on the tone and in what sense or is this just an aesthetical "problem" ?
 

AcornHouse

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Will the position of the bridge pickup have a significant influence on the tone and in what sense or is this just an aesthetical "problem" ?
The closer to the bridge, the brighter the sound, generally. That’s why the bridge pup is also labelled as the “lead” pickup by some manufacturers.
 

matsickma

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Some rationale behind the pickup being a little farther away from the bridge could be to balance out the volume of the pickup. As is often the case not only does the sound of the pickup get brighter being closer to the bridge but the output volume gets lower. That is the reason most bridge pickups are wound a little hotter.
The physics goes back to our old early inventer friend and empherical physicist Michael Faraday circ 1830's and the principal of electric current Induction resulting from moving a conductor in the presence of a magnetic field. You can get higher output if the amplitude of the motion is larger or if more coils are wrapped around the magnet. Wrapping more coils can alter the tone due to inductance. So having the pickup a little farther away from the bridge allows the string to displace farther and therefore have a louder output.
M
 

fronobulax

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If they made a bass version would I buy it? Maybe but it would be competing with an Epiphone Jack Casady Signature.
 

matsickma

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The Guild head does look a lot like the reverse Firebird head without the "beak".
I used to think they were trying to mimic a reverse Fender headstock but I see more similarities with the Firebird.
 

SFIV1967

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I'll be the first to mention it. What the heck were they thinking with that TRC?
That's the same style as already used on the 2018 Jetstar, so nothing new. But it isn't so obvious there as the headstock is black:

1596670336492.png


The vintage 60ies models used the metal TRC, you could argue if that was a better fit or not to that headstock shape. In my opinion yes.

1596670440567.png


The natural one looks as odd as the new one with either TRC...

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And the new Starfire I Jet:

1596670883701.png


Ralf
 
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Walter Broes

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Some rationale behind the pickup being a little farther away from the bridge could be to balance out the volume of the pickup. As is often the case not only does the sound of the pickup get brighter being closer to the bridge but the output volume gets lower. That is the reason most bridge pickups are wound a little hotter.
Yes, of course. But as I've said perhaps once too many times on here before, I don't like it. It also gives the lead pickup more low end, and quite a bit less treble, and the effect is pretty dramatic. It might for a slightly more useable bridge pickup tone when using the bridge pickup by itself, more suitable for rock tones or less spiky clean tones. But the guitars get a lot more mellow sounding on the whole, ruining a lot of the magic that's in the neck/bridge combination. It gets tubby and woolly instead of twangy and hollow sounding.

The current crop of affordable Gretsch guitars have the same thing, a bridge pickup that sits in between the traditional bridge and middle pickup locations, and I don't like it one bit. Not only does it make that bridge pickup too mellow sounding for my taste, the location of the pickup interferes with my picking hand more than the traditional, closer to the bridge location.

streamline.jpg
 

X-170AB

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The only thing I don't like is the headstock–doesn't seem like it belongs with a Starfire III body.
 

matsickma

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Looking at the SF1 DC it looks like the bridge pickup is a little closer to the bridge than the SF1 SC. The DC isn't right up against the bridge but it is closer.
I didn't mind the tone out of the SC but they are full size HB's. I'll have to check it out more in the coil tap mode.

I have to admit I haven't had to contend with the bridge pup location in a serious playing session so I may very well find the new pickup location to be more of an issue over time.
M
 

fronobulax

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The only thing I don't like is the headstock–doesn't seem like it belongs with a Starfire III body.

Quasi Veer

I tend to forget that other people used the six on a side arrangement, including Guild. So I see it and expect a Fender or something inspired by Fender. (Yes, that's often wrong but work with me here).

So I am reminded when Fender was making Kingman series acoustics in New Hartford and we saw them in production at LMG III. Still doesn't look right to me, but I do remember a Fender (not Guild) employee talking about all the lessons learned from the electric headstock that were applied to the acoustic.


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