Recent T250 Acquisition

[matsickma]

With a bolt on neck it's hard to be sure if it left the factory with that neck. Possibly some body marking under the control panel will match up with the SN.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Guild used up a remaining T200 body at the end of the T200/T250 run.

M

 

[matsickma]

The bridge pickup is the item that struck me as odd. If I didn't own the passive Dimarizo stacked HB Bridge pup I wouldn't of thought anything unusual about the guitar.
M

 

[GAD]

The bridge pickup is the item that struck me as odd. If I didn't own the passive Dimarizo stacked HB Bridge pup I wouldn't of thought anything unusual about the guitar.
M

Do you have a pic?

 

[cupric]

The bridge pickup is the item that struck me as odd. If I didn't own the passive Dimarizo stacked HB Bridge pup I wouldn't of thought anything unusual about the guitar.
M

I can't think of too many Guilds with a single coil like pup in the bridge position. S60, S65, Brian May, T200/50. The first two are not stacked Hb, either is the BM, and the B Ms had Burns lookalike pups as far as I know, or can remember. I know very little of the Roy Buchanan, S200/50.R
Cool thing to have!

 

[GAD]

The neck pickup is definately a stacked double-coil. The bridge pickup is completely wrapped in black tape so I don't *think* it had a cover. Also I didn't see a way to dismantle it, but it's got four wires coming out of it so I assume it's also stacked coils.

 

[Rocky]

Exactly. I believe Hans once told me that the first few were called T-200 and then it was renamed T-250. so how does a late T-250 have the earlier T-200 body shape?

I'm on board with this. Roy pulls the endorsement, and Guild renames the guitar and ups the number to claim improvement. Early T-250's are T-200s with a different TRC, and eventually the design morphs to more common/less expensive appointments, like chrome, three saddle bridge, imported neck plates...

 

[matsickma]

A guy I took some lessons with years ago knew Roy Buchanan. They apparently shared an apartment together. Drank a lot.
Bottom line is Roy's career stalled. He agreed to endorce the T200 model but wasn't very happy with the deal Guild gave him. I was led to believe that pictures with Roy and his T200 often showed a piece of tape covering the Guild name on the headstock.

Not sure why Guild evolved the T200 into the T250 but it was definitely an improvment. Offering chrome over gold plating was likely just something that made sense. Many people perfer chrome over gold.

When the Westerly plant closed a guy was selling a lot of Guild parts out of AZ. I bought some items. I remember he had a lot of chrome T250 bridge and control plates. Wish I still had his name.

I found the pickup parts I mentioned earlier and got pictures. Inside the black plastic covers is molded Dimarzio.

 

[matsickma]

I should also comment on the bridge on the T200 I had. It was a low SN but I can't recall it number. I kind of think it was a single digit number. It was black.
The bridge allowed adjustment of height and intonation of each string so was an improvement over the early Tele's but the part quality was pretty marginal. It was constructed of bent/ shaped metal. The quality of the bridge parts on the two different T250's I owned were improvments over the T200 that I had.
M

 

[GAD]

Fascinating stuff! The pickup is definitely different since the one in your pic has a large bar magnet and the one in mine has slugs. The only one like mine I've ever seen is the one I linked to in my T250 writeup: https://www.axecentral.com/what-is-...-250-1986.original-owner.-play...-121064.html



It's possible that this is the very same guitar, especially if the bridge pickup is non-standard. The pots don't look like they've been resoldered, but I can't say for sure from my pics. Might have to pull the pickup and take a better look.

Interestingly the original T200 catalog pic has EMGs, chrome hardware, and more traditional looking saddles:

The saddles on both of the T250s I've owned are the modern Fender-esqe looking things that work well enough but are just ugly to me.

 

[krysh]

This is my #27

 

[SFIV1967]

This one with EMG pickups hangs in the Hardrock Cafe in the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN (signed by the entire Aerosmith band):



Ralf

 

[SFIV1967]

I should also comment on the bridge on the T200 I had. It was a low SN but I can't recall it number. I kind of think it was a single digit number. It was black. The bridge allowed adjustment of height and intonation of each string so was an improvement over the early Tele's but the part quality was pretty marginal. It was constructed of bent/ shaped metal. The quality of the bridge parts on the two different T250's I owned were improvments over the T200 that I had.

I hope you don't mind if I post that 15 year old picture.

And since we show pairs I found Michael's previous picture as well with a red T-200 of one of his friends:



Ralf

 

[krysh]

Great Ralf, here you can see the differences of the bodies quite well.

 

[matsickma]

Wow! That long lost picture of my pair! Thanks for posting! I also had a black T250 but maybe sold it before that picture was taken.

Unfortunately the bridge details of my black T-250 are not easy to distinguish. They are significantly different from the burst T-250. Also for some strange reason it looks like the high e-string bridge is gold. Thst isn't the case. They were all black.

Interesting saga with this guitar model!

I think most of us don't think Guilds decision to use the funky headstock on a T200 /T250 was a wise idea. Having such a 80's hair band headstock just didn't go with a classic tele shape. I suspect that decision cost them sales. The "cake knief" or "foot" shaped headstock would have worked.

However... I have to say...seeing Joe Perry with his T250 with black guitar, black pickguard and pointy offset headstock kind of works!
I wonder if Joe Perry wanted the classic bridge ashtray with the vintage tele bridge parts?

M

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

I know that Grot likes the "foot" headstock, but I prefer the "cakeknife".

I like the "cakeknife" over the droop-snoot headstock! Especially on that guitar!

I like the 'foot" better on Basses!

 

[DrumBob]

I had one of those in Candy Apple Red.