Proud new owner of a 1981 Guild M-80

[twakeman]

Hey There,
Well I ended up trading my gibson RD standard for a this 1981 M-80. The owner of Austin Vintage Guitars let me take it home for a couple of day's and I played around with getting it all set up and even took it to one of the best luthiers in Austin Tx and he tweeked it for me a little and gave me the approval on it being a solid guitar. took this baby home and found the right strap length and wow this thing is awesome. However the bridge pickup is not a XR-7 and I do not know what brand is in there but anyone have any suggestion on where I might be able to find a original pickup and pickuprings. Also need some volume and tone knobs.

Here is also a picture of my Les Paul and my esp semihollow body.

 

[matsickma]

The early 1980's Guild M-80 is a great playing guitar. There are two body styles: Unbound and Bound. You have a unbound model. I had owned a cherry unbound model for many years. The contour and feel of that guitar was unbeleivable. Guild did a real nice job of shaping the maple cap archtop and then rounding the edges on the body. In my opnion the unbound models doesn't visually grab your attention from a distance but once you hold one you get additicted to the feel and comfort of the guitar.

In regard to XR7 pickups...they come up occasionally on ebay. The mounting rings are a bit harder to find but thy also pop up once in a while.

I cannot tell from your pictures the type of knobs on the guitar. Guild solidbodys of that era do not use the traditional Guild knobs most associate with Guild. Your guitar should have a set of transparant black "speed knob" styled knobs.

Good choice in guitar. That 24 fret early 80's neck is great. I tend to think they look like a solidbody version of a Starfire 4.

M

 

[marcellis]

I really like the design of the M80. I think that is going to be the electric guitar I buy.

Is it a heavy guitar?

 

[Qvart]

Well I ended up trading my gibson RD standard for a this 1981 M-80.

Seems like M-80's are popping up everywhere lately!

(Well, it's a new thread to me anyway).

Great guitar, and yes - they're HEAVY.

Twakeman, those pictures are kinda small. I checked your photo hosting link but I don't recognize that site. Could you make them bigger?

\m/-_-\m/

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

This is my un-bound M-80.

These are the knobs you need to look for. They have dimples around the top edge.

Does anybody elses have a brass nut, or did somebody add that on mine?

 

[matsickma]

Hey Grot,

The brass nut was from the factory on the 80's M80 and the S275. I don't know if it was a upgrade or stock. Both of the 80's M80's and S275 I have/had had them. I am curious if the S250 and S25 also had them. At one time or another I owned almost every 80's solid body and the ones I didn't own you have. So it looks like guild limited the brass nut to the later M80's and S275. Would like to know about S250 and S25. I expect Hans will discuss this little detail in the Bible II.

Hey Twakeman, Does your S250 have a brass nut?

M

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

My S-250 has a plastic nut;

As does my S-25;

 

[Default]

Kurt, would you just kill me now and get it over with? :roll:

Dying of GAS is such an unpleasant way to go.

 

[matsickma]

Hey Grot,

Your S250 looks to be a pretty upscale version of that model. That bridge doesn't look stock as my S275 has the type with the little rollers (Mueller?).

It is a shame these guitars never became popular. The neck is quick and the 24 frets get a bit small at the high end but they are pretty cool. What I like is Guild retained the classic headstock for these models. All the solid bodies after this set of solid bodies have a wide variety of headstocks.


M

 

[Thunderface]

Isn't that the truth. The production life of the S-250 was way too short. My '81 S-250 was one of the earlier production four knob models. Hans said they went to three knobs in late 1981 or early 1982. And my '82 M-80, as you can see, is of the bound variety.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Yup, need the correct bridge!

 

[fab467]

Nothing like a little Guild solid-body porn...beautiful guitars fellas! 8)

 

[guildzilla]

Good timing for this subject. I sold my '82 M-80 to Q last week and shipped it today. It looks a lot like the one Thunderface's pic shows on the far right.

Heavy as lead, man, but a really nice guitar with a great feel to the neck and fretboard.

I liked it enough to consider selling my Nightbird, but now, after having it here for 10 months, I've removed that temptation.

 

[Thunderface]

I told Q that when he gets his, we'll both be packing M-80s, which kind of makes us sound like terrorists. Q said he had never thought of that before. :wink:

 

[Qvart]

I told Q that when he gets his, we'll both be packing M-80s, which kind of makes us sound like terrorists. Q said he had never thought of that before. :wink:

Geez guys! I guess the cat is meeeeooww out of the bag!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks again 'zilla!

 

[guildzilla]

My pleasure, Q. You can form a duo with Thunderface. You can be T-Bone.

 

[Qvart]

I told Q that when he gets his, we'll both be packing M-80s, which kind of makes us sound like terrorists. Q said he had never thought of that before. :wink:

And our M-80 serial numbers are seven digits apart. Crazy.

It left Greensboro, NC this afternoon. Delivery scheduled for tomorrow. \m/-_-\m/

 

[stclrob]

I told Q that when he gets his, we'll both be packing M-80s, which kind of makes us sound like terrorists. Q said he had never thought of that before. :wink:

And our M-80 serial numbers are seven digits apart. Crazy.

It left Greensboro, NC this afternoon. Delivery scheduled for tomorrow. \m/-_-\m/

Nice. You need to start picking up some single coil solid bodies soon.

 

[Default]

I told Q that when he gets his, we'll both be packing M-80s, which kind of makes us sound like terrorists. Q said he had never thought of that before. :wink:

Uhhh, in my HS, they were flushing them down the toilets and...


I don't want to talk about it!




I like the lineup of models in that pic. You can see how the body shapes at Guild evolved.

 

[Thunderface]

Thanks. From a purely visual standpoint, I'm thinking a '70s S-100 would look good between the S-50 and S-300, and perhaps an X-82 after the M-80, to cover the pointy-guitar period. Okay, also from a "I wish there was a ..." standpoint as well.