NGD - S65D

GAD

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6D3859E5-E5B8-4399-AA6C-6BF61078B77C.jpeg
 

GAD

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I've been on the hunt for one of these forever. The last one got snatched up by some dealer who I think must have confused it with a D65 because they bought it for $800 and relisted it for like $4000.

Anyway, I just took it out of its PRS SE gig bag and plugged it in and I'm hear to tell you that it sounds ENORMOUS. Slab mahogany with a single pickup has always been magic, but holy crap this thing is a monster.

From the price list that's a Dimarzio dual-sound pickup which, according to Dimarzio is a super distortion with three wires and a shield. The mini-toggle does seem to me to be doing a coil-split, but I haven't yet opened it up. I'm just blown away by the tone. Damn.
 

hearth_man

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That's why I have two of them. They get overlooked every time because it's considered a low end guitar in the S-300 series. But as you see it's a real player. It has to be, it's a vintage Guild.
 

hearth_man

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Gad, what is the year on that one? It looks to be in nice shape. These S65-Ds tend to be beat up and/or well played. They were priced well for someone on a budget who could not afford the S-300 but were great guitars as you've said. I have a 1980 and a 1981 model that each have different control layouts from each other and are different from yours. (1980 on the left and 1981 on the right)
Guild S65-D 1980 & 1981 body.jpg

Guild S65-D 1980 & 198.jpg
 

walrus

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Love it! Very cool! Wish I could have bonded with the S-60 you sold me!

walrus
 

GAD

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The switch is a serial/parallel switch! I had no idea.
 

GAD

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Gad, what is the year on that one? It looks to be in nice shape. These S65-Ds tend to be beat up and/or well played. They were priced well for someone on a budget who could not afford the S-300 but were great guitars as you've said. I have a 1980 and a 1981 model that each have different control layouts from each other and are different from yours. (1980 on the left and 1981 on the right)
Guild S65-D 1980 & 1981 body.jpg

Guild S65-D 1980 & 198.jpg

Impressive! Mind if I use one of those pics on my blog?

If the SN chart is to be believed, mine is a 1979 which is interesting since they don't show up in my price lists until 1980, but I can easily envision them making them before the price lists were sent out. Also I don't have a late '79 list so it's possible it's in there if there is one.
 

matsickma

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Hey GAD is it the mahogany body that augments the tone of the bridge SD pickup?
Just curious. It's been years since I had a hog S300D as I have the ash models. But I really like the tone of the mahogany S70.
M
 

GGJaguar

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Eexcuse my ignorance but what does this mean and what does it do?

The switch puts the pickup coils into either series or parallel mode. In series mode, the output of one coil is sent through the second coil of the pickup resulting in a thicker sound. In parallel mode, the signal is split into each coil and the combined on the other side resulting in a shorter signal path and, generally, a brighter sound.
 

matsickma

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Series/parallel...thats interesting.
The humbuckers two bobbins wired in series would act like a normal humbucker, provided the magnets on each bobbin are reversed from each other.
The parallel switch position would be like when you have a two pickup single coil guitar with the selector switch in the middle.

It probably would have also been a cool idea to allow a coil tap, like the new NS Starfire1 guitars. That would have added the bridge SC tone and a psudo middle position SC tone.
M
 

GAD

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Hey GAD is it the mahogany body that augments the tone of the bridge SD pickup?
Just curious. It's been years since I had a hog S300D as I have the ash models. But I really like the tone of the mahogany S70.
M

It's a Dimarzio Dual-Sound, but I absolutely think that 'hog body is a huge part of the guitar's magic. There's always been something magic about a slab 'hog guitar. SGs and Les Paul Jrs come to mind, and certainly the S60 I had was no slouch, but this thing is in a class by itself. The Dual-Sound is essentially a Super-Distortion with 4-wires, but I never expected a S/P switch! The only other Guilds I've seen with that are the Brian May models. I bet this thing would roar with a nice Alnico II P90, but it's so great as-is that it will never be altered.

I also think that the body of this guitar is a single piece of mahogany. I see no seam anywhere and there's even a knot in the back which I have to imagine would only have passed because the rest of the big piece is so perfect. Unplugged it rings like a freaking bell.

The neck is also big for a '70s Guild. It's a shade wider than 1 5/8" at the nut, but it's actually deeper than my red Blues-90! It's .86" at the first fret and .93" at the 5th which is very similar to (though slightly deeper than) my sunburst S300AD.

I'm so intrigued by this guitar that it just might have pushed all the other guitars down in the review pile. That's actually a good thing because I've been a bit distracted lately and this could bring me back to banging out some reviews.
 

GuildedCage

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It's a Dimarzio Dual-Sound, but I absolutely think that 'hog body is a huge part of the guitar's magic. There's always been something magic about a slab 'hog guitar. SGs and Les Paul Jrs come to mind, and certainly the S60 I had was no slouch, but this thing is in a class by itself. The Dual-Sound is essentially a Super-Distortion with 4-wires, but I never expected a S/P switch! The only other Guilds I've seen with that are the Brian May models. I bet this thing would roar with a nice Alnico II P90, but it's so great as-is that it will never be altered.

I also think that the body of this guitar is a single piece of mahogany. I see no seam anywhere and there's even a knot in the back which I have to imagine would only have passed because the rest of the big piece is so perfect. Unplugged it rings like a freaking bell.

The neck is also big for a '70s Guild. It's a shade wider than 1 5/8" at the nut, but it's actually deeper than my red Blues-90! It's .86" at the first fret and .93" at the 5th which is very similar to (though slightly deeper than) my sunburst S300AD.

I'm so intrigued by this guitar that it just might have pushed all the other guitars down in the review pile. That's actually a good thing because I've been a bit distracted lately and this could bring me back to banging out some reviews.
I still want to read your review of the S-70!🤘
 

matsickma

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S70? Didn't know GAD had a S-70 up for review. The two 'hog S70's I messed with were wired up differently. The tobacco burst one had some issues with the pickguard so I repaired it and then modified the wiring a bit more from stock. I don't have the little instruction flyer that came with new S-70's but I recall that what was shown in those instructions wasn't the way either S70 was setup.
I like the S70 tone from the DiMarzio single coils. Both had mahogany bodies.
My only complaint was the cheep tuners. Lower grade than the S300's.
M
 

GuildedCage

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S70? Didn't know GAD had a S-70 up for review. The two 'hog S70's I messed with were wired up differently. The tobacco burst one had some issues with the pickguard so I repaired it and then modified the wiring a bit more from stock. I don't have the little instruction flyer that came with new S-70's but I recall that what was shown in those instructions wasn't the way either S70 was setup.
I like the S70 tone from the DiMarzio single coils. Both had mahogany bodies.
My only complaint was the cheep tuners. Lower grade than the S300's.
M
My S-70 has the Original DiMarzio's in the middle and neck, but the original owner put in a single coil sized Seymour Duncan rail type humbucker in the bridge position that is quite hot and I love it. As for the tuners, are you sure yours were original? Mine has the same great tuners as my S-300.
 

hearth_man

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The mahogany body and ash bodies really do affect the tone. If the Super Distortion and Dual Sound are essentially the same pickup except for the additional wires the difference is certainly in the wood. I have an S300A-D, ash body, as well and the difference between the two guitars is very noticeable.

Gad, feel free to use the photos.
 

GAD

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I do have an S70. Two in fact. The tuners are odd and seen on some other Guilds of the time.
 
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