New member! Guild x80 skylark?

[MCM1910]

Greetings!

This is my first post here. I've been a long time fan of guilds but hadn't gotten to own a pre fender Guild. I always thought my first would be the D25...I love those...but something funny happened the other day, I stumbled on what I believe to be a 1985 x80 skylark.

I have to start off by saying that this guitar isn't exactly the best fit for me, i'm not really a pointy guitar type, but something about it really spoke to me and I bought it (seemed like a steal) and I'm trying to gather some information on it, to decide what I should do. I'm tempted to make some mods that would make it more suitable for my style but from what I know this is a pretty rare bird and I hate to make changes to something like that, so I am hoping to see what else I can find out
Here is what I know so far.
1. It's as high quality of a guitar as I've ever owned
2. These were made between 1983 and 1985 and my serial number puts it in the last few that were made.
3. It looks like less than 200 hundred of these were made during this period.
4. Various headstocks were used (1. cloud, 2. Pointy, 3. Hockey stick)
5. Market value seems to be all over the place. I've seen them posted for as much as $1200 and heard of people buying them for as little as $100.

Does anyone know any thing more about these? It has a ding on the point of the neck and body and they appear to be the same wood type so I'm thinking its all mahogany. The pickups I read are dimarzios but these don't look like dimarzios to me, maybe EMGs??? but they aren't active.
Thanks everyone in advance for your help!

 

[MCM1910]

Here's a pic if anyone is interested. I need to give it a good cleaning and setup, but its 100% rock and roll!

 

[SFIV1967]

Welcome to LTG! The X80 Skylark or Electric Swan is an interesting model you have, not many visible those days anymore. Our member "The Guilds of Grot" has one, but with a Kahler vibrato unit. Yours has the Guild SP6 stop tailpiece. I would have said the pickups are EMGs, others used were the Guild XR7 and the DiMarzio X2N, but both look different. Maybe when you clean the guitar you can just take them out and look at the bottom of them.
The body and neck are both Mahogany according to Beesley's book. Hans' new book is not out yet, we all wait for Volume II of "The Guild Guitar Book" which will cover this period and those models.
Not sure who except Grot has also a X-80, I am sure they will reply soon.
Ralf

 

[fronobulax]

Welcome.

 

[Thunderface]

Welcome MCM. Usually I'm not a big fan of the pointy, hockey stick headstocks, but on your Skylark, I think it works. Nice score, and again, welcome aboard.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Here's my 1984;

I don't know where Beesley got the "Electric Swan" name from. The literature I have calls it a Skylark.

Also, his pick-up selections differ then my literature. (Which I just recently recieved from one of our fine brethern here at LTG!)

Mine has the "Pacific" pick-ups while your's look like EMG's.

I'm sure that Volume II will have all the answers!

 

[MCM1910]

Here's my 1984;

I don't know where Beesley got the "Electric Swan" name from. The literature I have calls it a Skylark.

Also, his pick-up selections differ then my literature. (Which I just recently recieved from one of our fine brethern here at LTG!)

Mine has the "Pacific" pick-ups while your's look like EMG's.

I'm sure that Volume II will have all the answers!

That flame is beautiful!

Thanks everyone for the information. My car died this week so I'm trying to car shop but as soon as things slow down I plan to take a look under the hood. I took off the back plate and I'm pretty sure by the look of the solder these are the original pickups. So I have to tell the whole story of how I found this guitar. I'm a child and adolescent mental health therapist and I stopped in a Goodwill looking for some cheap legos, walked by this shelf and noticed a pointy guitar teetering on the shelf above a TV and old stereo. I picked it up thinking no guitar no matter how pointy should have been so neglected to be left a nudge from disaster. As I picked it up I realized, "oh, huh, its a Guild, thats cool, didn't know they made electrics like this." It felt solid holding it the way good American built guitars do, so I looked it up and down, sure enough "Made in America" stamped on the back. Now I'm thinking wow thats cool I wonder what they want for it...which is when I saw the little blue price tag...

I should stop here because I know other forums I'm on we aren't allowed to discuss price, and in my excitement over this I didn't read the rules here ;-) (sorry mods) so I wont reveal the price, but it was a steal.

So...I have no amp, I only have an acoustic and a mandolin. I don't really play loud heavy music anymore, but this guitar is simply the coolest. I really don't know what I will do with it...but every day I strap it on, windmill an unplugged power chord and smile!

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

As far as I know we have no rules here about disclosing prices, so do tell and then we can all be jealous and rave about what a great deal you got!

 

[MCM1910]

As far as I know we have no rules here about disclosing prices, so do tell and then we can all be jealous and rave about what a great deal you got!

At the risk of ruining all my new friendships with jealousy it was $25!!!

I'm so torn on this though, I really have no use for it...my plan is to clean it up real good and then decide what I will do...I'm gonna have to take it to guitar center, under the guise of an amp purchase, just to plug it in and see if everything is good with electronics! LOL

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

MCM1910, where are you located? Maybe we have a LTG member nearby with an amp that might invite you over?

$25!!!!! :applouse:

 

[MCM1910]

MCM1910, where are you located? Maybe we have a LTG member nearby with an amp that might invite you over?

$25!!!!! :applouse:

I live in Houston area, Richmond to be exact.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Hmmm, I don't remember any members being from that area so let us know how it went at the Guitar Center!

 

[MCM1910]

So here is the update for the Guild. I've spent several hours over the last two days taking her apart cleaning her up, and trying to get her set up. Had a few surprises along the way.

First off the pickups


Didn't see that coming...Does anyone know what model pickups these would be? Super Distortion?

In case my story was too unbelievable...



I polished the frets, adjusted the neck relief and it plays up and down with no buzzes and good action. Very resonate guitar, surprised me how loud it was acoustically. I was able to get all the sticker residue and dirt and grime (I don't think it had ever been wiped down or had the fretboard clean. I think she looks incredible now in comparison.




It is not without flaws though. There is a high fret around 22. It's strange, it is only on the high E string. When you fret 21, you get the pitch from 22. It appears that the 22nd fret is high and as a result when you fret 21 it is actually held down at 22. The fret itself sticks out some from the wood. I think a good wack from a hamer and a fret level would fix it with no problem. It also seems that the nut around the high E tuner is striped. Luckily these grovers have the anchor screw so its still completely functional with no problems its just a little loose feeling.

All in all though, this is a really great guitar and I've been impressed with the quality of the parts. I still plan to head up to GC to test the pickups. I expect the pots to be scratchy but thats about it.

 

[AcornHouse]

It is not without flaws though. There is a high fret around 22. It's strange, it is only on the high E string. When you fret 21, you get the pitch from 22. It appears that the 22nd fret is high and as a result when you fret 21 it is actually held down at 22. The fret itself sticks out some from the wood. I think a good wack from a hamer and a fret level would fix it with no problem. It also seems that the nut around the high E tuner is striped. Luckily these grovers have the anchor screw so its still completely functional with no problems its just a little loose feeling.

New set of tuners would be anywhere from $25 (used) to $100. You might even be able to find a single to match. Worth the fix.
Yes, with a loose fret, you can hammer, or press, it back in place, then use some thin CA glue to keep it there. It will probably need some dressing to get it perfect though. A fairly inexpensive job for a qualified luthier.

Nice!

 

[MCM1910]

Alright so my wife isn't biting on letting me get an amp, I was getting pretty bummed, pretty sure I was going to have to sell it, but then I remembered from my electric days...The Noisy Cricket...a small DIY half watt amp that can be built into just about anything for about $20 worth of parts. SSSSOOOO I'm thinking I'm heading up to Goodwill to look for a speaker and some kind of enclosure to build this in!

 

[MCM1910]

Okay here we go, I got a "smokey tone" amp built on the breadboard. Found a bookshelf speaker on the side of the road so I got it up and running with any luck it will sound absolutely gritty bluesy, terrible!

Video coming soon...

 

[SFIV1967]

Okay here we go, I got a "smokey tone" amp built on the breadboard.

Interesting! That's a little bit "low tech" compared to this: http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/sh...Your-Own-Amp-You-know-you-ve-always-wanted-to-!

nthego:

Ralf

 

[griehund]

Welcome, just saw this one on the Bay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1985-U-S-A-...r-/330962131682?pt=Guitar&hash=item4d0ee15ae2

 

[SFIV1967]

Welcome, just saw this one on the Bay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1985-U-S-A-...r-/330962131682?pt=Guitar&hash=item4d0ee15ae2

Pretty optimistic seller with that starting bid wish...
Ralf

 

[MCM1910]

Pretty optimistic seller with that starting bid wish...
Ralf

Ha! that's kind of what I thought. I'm still toying with the idea of letting this one go, but until then...

http://youtu.be/bVarQpYwuJs

a little Neil Young through the above pictured breadboard garbage amp...

So the good news, everything electronic is completely functional (Pots aren't even scratchy!), however it needs a new input jack, a real bummer too because its not your regular switchcraft jack, it is a flush mount barrel looking thing, ($10 for an input jack?!?! GEEZ). Anyway I ordered one and it should be here sometime this week or next.