odd pilot..

[nalapit13]

did anyone see this on ebay???

http://www.ebay.com/itm/guild-pilot-bas ... 45fcbc9d3d

my friend bought it. it has a guild pilot serial number that goes past what is on the guild site for dating.

But...... the weirdest thing is...... the body is mahoghany... anyone know whats up with that?? i have never seen a mahoghany bodied pilot.

 

[fronobulax]

Nope. Nope. I wouldn't place too much stock on the serial number not being in the usual lists. Maybe Hans has some insight?

 

[mellowgerman]

Good score on your friends part!

 

[nalapit13]

It was a great score. Especially when the description sounded like it was a mess. I tweaked the truss rod and put a battery in it and it sounded fine.

 

[jte]

It's a Pilot Pro 4 with the later version headstock, gold hardware, Mighty Mite pre-amp, etc. I had a white one (long story on getting it as I ordered an Electric Blue SB-602 with factory DiMarzios which UPS lost just as Guild quit making that version...)

I've never seen a mahogany body (mine was maple). That does seem very odd. Have you been able to verify it's mahogany?

If you do ever have electronics problems, let me know. Before I sold mine I took out the MM pre-amp and converted it to passive (treble cut) EQ, master volume, and a pickup blend pot (leaving the fourth pot unattached to anything). It worked a lot better for me that way as the EMG PUPs are very good pickups but that pre isn't as good as the pickups feediing it were.

I wish I'd kept that white one now though....

John

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

(Well jte beat me, but since I put in the effort, here's my post anyway!)

It's a Pro4 Pilot! The last of the Pilot series. The early Pro4's still had the "BE" prefixs of the standard Pilots. Later on they switched to AL04XXXX. It might be from around '94.

Mine are both maple, but it's not surprising that they went back to mahogany.

Here's my Pro4 Pilot:

It has a serial number of BE104469!

 

[nalapit13]

its definitely mahoghany. we started stripping it when he got it. its a little beat up. if you look carefully at the pic from the ebay auction, between the two pickups is a brown spot which is the mahoghany peeking through.

my friend is going to send me a pic of the bass partially stripped. i will post it as soon as i get it.

 

[hansmoust]

it has a guild pilot serial number that goes past what is on the guild site for dating.

Hello nalapit13,

That's not unusual since the Guild serial number lists are not complete. That particular bass is from the end of 1993.

But...... the weirdest thing is...... the body is mahoghany... anyone know whats up with that?? i have never seen a mahoghany bodied pilot.

That particular period was kind of a transition period for the Pilot basses during which several new variations were tried out. The mahogany bodies were one of them but eventually they didn't get a place in the line and therefore they're somewhat rare. I've seen a couple of mahogany ones ( I actually bought one myself) and I think they sound really good!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[krysh]

nice catch!
if anybody has a fretles 'hog pilot for sale, please let me know.

 

[hansmoust]

if anybody has a fretles 'hog pilot for sale, please let me know.

Good luck!

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[krysh]

if anybody has a fretles 'hog pilot for sale, please let me know.

Good luck!

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl

hehehe. I guess I'd need a lot of luck for this one. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[jte]

nice catch!
if anybody has a fretles 'hog pilot for sale, please let me know.

Well, given the period and the Jaco Pastorious ad campaign, and the paucity of fretless basses by other companies, I'd suspect there's a greater percentage of fretless Pilots than other basses in the '80s. Plus Guild was offering fretless basses for LONG time. My oldest price list (January 1973) says all basses are available fretless for no extra charge. In fact, the first fretless bass I saw was a JS-2 with the carved acorns and oak leaves. It was a used bass at a local store around 1975 or so. Fender first showed a fretless in the 1970 catalog, and they didn't make a factory fretless Jazz bass (other than the MIJ Jazz Bass Special which was a P/J) until the American Series replaced the American Standards in 2000. So Guild has always been ahead of the curve on fretless basses.

Now, the mahogany Pilot part is a whole 'nother thing, ain't it?

John

 

[hieronymous]

nice catch!
if anybody has a fretles 'hog pilot for sale, please let me know.

Well, given the period and the Jaco Pastorious ad campaign, and the paucity of fretless basses by other companies, I'd suspect there's a greater percentage of fretless Pilots than other basses in the '80s. Plus Guild was offering fretless basses for LONG time. My oldest price list (January 1973) says all basses are available fretless for no extra charge. In fact, the first fretless bass I saw was a JS-2 with the carved acorns and oak leaves. It was a used bass at a local store around 1975 or so. Fender first showed a fretless in the 1970 catalog, and they didn't make a factory fretless Jazz bass (other than the MIJ Jazz Bass Special which was a P/J) until the American Series replaced the American Standards in 2000. So Guild has always been ahead of the curve on fretless basses.

Now, the mahogany Pilot part is a whole 'nother thing, ain't it?

John

Following the early-fretless-Guild bit, my M-85 II is factory fretless from about 1971.

 

[nalapit13]

 

[hansmoust]

If you're not sure yet what you're going to do with the finish, here's the back of my mahogany Pilot.

It's a finish that would not be all that hard to replicate.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl

 

[nalapit13]

That is beautiful Hans. My friend is going to go with a natural look.