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I recently posted this road test to the Gretsch-Talk forum, where I have posted road tests to numerous Gretsch guitars along with other instruments of interest to a bunch of Gretsch slingers. I submit it for what it's worth and welcome discussion of my conclusions. I truly did not know what to make of the guitar but know that I enjoyed playing it and was astounded that such a creature exists. I'm new to the Guild world with a Starfire III RI as part of my stable and an A-150 Savoy on order. I'm very impressed with the Newark Street Series as an affordable, interesting, stylish and eminently useable line of guitars at a very attractive price.
Having played electric guitars since the mid sixties I am seldom surprised by a guitar. God only knows how many types of guitars I've played over the years. Picking up the Guild M-75 Aristocrat I was expecting something on the order of a Les Paul Special, P-90 pickups and a warm but powerful sound. Boy was in off base on that one.
My first clue was the weight; it was significantly lighter than my calibrated eyeballs had guesstimated. I was at Sticks 'n' Strings out on east Broadway in Tucson and they tend not to stock Deluxe Reverb amps so I plugged into a Bugera V22 Infinium, a pleasant surprise of an amp, albeit a complicated amp.
I setup the Bugera for a clean sound with a generous helping of reverb. From the very first note I struck I was amazed by the brightness of this guitar, at least through the Bugera. Time limitations prevented me from trying the amp,with other amps but I will do so in the future if circumstances allow.
Holy smokes! This is one bright guitar. It is not, however, harsh in any way. The pickups have the general appearance of a P-90 but, I would surmise that they are so what different. They are fairly large single coil pickups with a single row of pole-piece screws. They also have a single, small, Phillips-head screw in the center. I'm not certain if these screws are for the purpose of mounting, height adjustment or both.
Switching between the pickups give three flavors of the same basic sound, bright (neck), very bright (both, albeit with a somewhat softened character because of both pickups picking up signal and different points along the string), and extra super bright on the bridge pickup. I can't really think of anything similar to the sound of this guitar. It's closer to a Fender sound that anything I would attribute to anything in the catalogue of the "three Gs", Gretsch, Guild or Gibson. The closest I can come to something that sounds similar would be a Telecaster or, perhaps, a Jazzmaster.
Even those comparisons fall short of reality. The P-90 pickup is very warm, almost dark sounding, yet it is very clear and very powerful. The pickups in this Guild share similar traits but are not at all dark sounding. The strength and clarity remain, however. It's hard to put into words, the sound is never harsh or piercing even though it is incredibly bright. As an example, a Tele is very bright but can be somewhat harsh if you are not careful. I don't think you could get a harsh sound from this guitar no matter how hard you tried.
The M-75 is a very traditional looking guitar. The appearance harkens back to the '50s, even the '40s. It has a lovely sunburst finish and beautiful binding. The fingerboard inlays are gorgeous and the gold plated hardware adds to the sense of decorum.
With so much clarity and bright timbre available Country music is an obvious application. It's somewhat more soft spoken than a Telecaster though every bit as bright. It came to life as a Surf guitar, which came as no surprise whatsoever. In spite of its conservative appearance this guitar could Surf with the best of them. It would be quite the sight, a guitar that looks like a small-bodied version of a Jazz axe mixing it up with Jaguars, Strats, Moserites and DiPintos, but it's up to the task if you can live without a vibrato tailpiece.
I would project from my experiences that this guitar might do well for higher energy electric Blues. While I didn't have an opportunity to push it into high volume operation I can't but imagine that a high gain amp and some pinch harmonics might make for a very pleasing combination.
The lightness and compact design of the guitar make it a great armchair instrument and the acoustic volume was surprisingly high. While I was waiting for a spot in the amplifier room I noodled on this guitar in an armchair and found it very enjoyable in this mode. It would be a great TV room guitar or nice to have along when you are traveling and want something to pass the time in a motel room.
One other thing I noticed is that this was a very easy guitar to play. It was lightweight, had light action and seemed to invite long, linear arpeggios.
If you want mellow, warm sounds you probably should keep looking. While it's not a screechy, nasty sounding guitar it is not characteristically warm. A bit of roll-off on the tone controls helped, but the character of this guitar is bright.
Whenever I test a guitar my first choice in amplifiers is a Deluxe Reverb RI. They are plentiful and predictable. I've gigged plenty on these amps and I feel that they make for a good "reference amp" in testing. In the case of this Guild there was no DRRI available so I used a Bugera V22. It is a pretty good sounding amp but not an amp I would be likely to buy for myself. It is a channel switching amp, something I avoid. The more controls an amp has the more places there are for failure to take place.
In the case of this amp, beyond the high gain channel there is a triode/pentode switch for the power section. The V22 uses two EL84 power tubes putting out a maximum of 22 watts. This is really pushing a set of EL84s which typically put out 15-18 watts per pair in a push-pull, class A/B amp. Bugera claims to have a feature which extends power tube life by a factor of 10. I hope this works, because a set of EL84s pushing out 22 watts probably won't have a long life.
At one point I turned the V22 Infinium up all the way on the clean channel and got no distortion whatsoever. My first impression was that the pickups on the M-75 where of too low output to drive the amp I to overdrive. Since then I have discovered that the confusing labyrinth of controls on the Bugera includes a triode/pentode switch. Perhaps it had been running in triode mode the whole time.
While I liked the sound of this amp, as I mentioned earlier, I would not consider buying such an amp. Going back at least ten years to my 2x12 Hot Rod DeVille, I learned that the "drive channels" in these amps had little practical value in real world gigs. Ultimately, I have found that amps with simple controls tend to be much easier to setup for a usable sound. I set the volume to where I would want it for a solo and turning down the volume control of the guitar slightly for rhythm and playing fills. It works well. If you want overdrive just turn up the amp.
That basically summarizes the M-75. It's like a man with a very high voice, but a man that is well spoken and worth listening to. The M-75 is well behaved and easy to control. If you want mellow tones you are moving out of this guitar's comfort zone. It's great for Country leads, Surf or higher energy Blues and Rock sounds. If you are going to start a band that covers a lot of Bread or other very soft Rock this probably is not the tool you want to use.
The lower end, sonically speaking, is tight. The lower strings keep their definition well and have no tendency to flub out. If you want to sound like Duane Eddy this would do the trick but, as mentioned before, there is no Bigsby.
As I stated up front, this guitar was quite a surprise to me. This is a guitar I would consider owning, but it's not a priority in my collection. The sheer beauty of this instrument is impressive. It looks like a fine work of art; the finish and attention to detail is as good as any I've seen.
There is no real category for this guitar. At first glance is would look like a Les Paul's rich uncle but the similarity ends with general appearance. The M-75 is, for all intents and purposes a hollow body, complete with parallel bracing. The sound probably holds more in common with the Fender family than anything else. Frankly, it defies categorization. One thing I could say with total confidence, if you ever see one, or its sibling, the gold topped M-75G Aristocrat, it is well worth your time to give it a test play.
Guild M-75 Aristocrat
Having played electric guitars since the mid sixties I am seldom surprised by a guitar. God only knows how many types of guitars I've played over the years. Picking up the Guild M-75 Aristocrat I was expecting something on the order of a Les Paul Special, P-90 pickups and a warm but powerful sound. Boy was in off base on that one.
My first clue was the weight; it was significantly lighter than my calibrated eyeballs had guesstimated. I was at Sticks 'n' Strings out on east Broadway in Tucson and they tend not to stock Deluxe Reverb amps so I plugged into a Bugera V22 Infinium, a pleasant surprise of an amp, albeit a complicated amp.
I setup the Bugera for a clean sound with a generous helping of reverb. From the very first note I struck I was amazed by the brightness of this guitar, at least through the Bugera. Time limitations prevented me from trying the amp,with other amps but I will do so in the future if circumstances allow.
BRIGHT!
Holy smokes! This is one bright guitar. It is not, however, harsh in any way. The pickups have the general appearance of a P-90 but, I would surmise that they are so what different. They are fairly large single coil pickups with a single row of pole-piece screws. They also have a single, small, Phillips-head screw in the center. I'm not certain if these screws are for the purpose of mounting, height adjustment or both.
Switching between the pickups give three flavors of the same basic sound, bright (neck), very bright (both, albeit with a somewhat softened character because of both pickups picking up signal and different points along the string), and extra super bright on the bridge pickup. I can't really think of anything similar to the sound of this guitar. It's closer to a Fender sound that anything I would attribute to anything in the catalogue of the "three Gs", Gretsch, Guild or Gibson. The closest I can come to something that sounds similar would be a Telecaster or, perhaps, a Jazzmaster.
Even those comparisons fall short of reality. The P-90 pickup is very warm, almost dark sounding, yet it is very clear and very powerful. The pickups in this Guild share similar traits but are not at all dark sounding. The strength and clarity remain, however. It's hard to put into words, the sound is never harsh or piercing even though it is incredibly bright. As an example, a Tele is very bright but can be somewhat harsh if you are not careful. I don't think you could get a harsh sound from this guitar no matter how hard you tried.
Strengths
The M-75 is a very traditional looking guitar. The appearance harkens back to the '50s, even the '40s. It has a lovely sunburst finish and beautiful binding. The fingerboard inlays are gorgeous and the gold plated hardware adds to the sense of decorum.
With so much clarity and bright timbre available Country music is an obvious application. It's somewhat more soft spoken than a Telecaster though every bit as bright. It came to life as a Surf guitar, which came as no surprise whatsoever. In spite of its conservative appearance this guitar could Surf with the best of them. It would be quite the sight, a guitar that looks like a small-bodied version of a Jazz axe mixing it up with Jaguars, Strats, Moserites and DiPintos, but it's up to the task if you can live without a vibrato tailpiece.
I would project from my experiences that this guitar might do well for higher energy electric Blues. While I didn't have an opportunity to push it into high volume operation I can't but imagine that a high gain amp and some pinch harmonics might make for a very pleasing combination.
The lightness and compact design of the guitar make it a great armchair instrument and the acoustic volume was surprisingly high. While I was waiting for a spot in the amplifier room I noodled on this guitar in an armchair and found it very enjoyable in this mode. It would be a great TV room guitar or nice to have along when you are traveling and want something to pass the time in a motel room.
One other thing I noticed is that this was a very easy guitar to play. It was lightweight, had light action and seemed to invite long, linear arpeggios.
Weaknesses
If you want mellow, warm sounds you probably should keep looking. While it's not a screechy, nasty sounding guitar it is not characteristically warm. A bit of roll-off on the tone controls helped, but the character of this guitar is bright.
Some Thoughts on the Bugera V22
Whenever I test a guitar my first choice in amplifiers is a Deluxe Reverb RI. They are plentiful and predictable. I've gigged plenty on these amps and I feel that they make for a good "reference amp" in testing. In the case of this Guild there was no DRRI available so I used a Bugera V22. It is a pretty good sounding amp but not an amp I would be likely to buy for myself. It is a channel switching amp, something I avoid. The more controls an amp has the more places there are for failure to take place.
In the case of this amp, beyond the high gain channel there is a triode/pentode switch for the power section. The V22 uses two EL84 power tubes putting out a maximum of 22 watts. This is really pushing a set of EL84s which typically put out 15-18 watts per pair in a push-pull, class A/B amp. Bugera claims to have a feature which extends power tube life by a factor of 10. I hope this works, because a set of EL84s pushing out 22 watts probably won't have a long life.
At one point I turned the V22 Infinium up all the way on the clean channel and got no distortion whatsoever. My first impression was that the pickups on the M-75 where of too low output to drive the amp I to overdrive. Since then I have discovered that the confusing labyrinth of controls on the Bugera includes a triode/pentode switch. Perhaps it had been running in triode mode the whole time.
While I liked the sound of this amp, as I mentioned earlier, I would not consider buying such an amp. Going back at least ten years to my 2x12 Hot Rod DeVille, I learned that the "drive channels" in these amps had little practical value in real world gigs. Ultimately, I have found that amps with simple controls tend to be much easier to setup for a usable sound. I set the volume to where I would want it for a solo and turning down the volume control of the guitar slightly for rhythm and playing fills. It works well. If you want overdrive just turn up the amp.
Bright & Tight
That basically summarizes the M-75. It's like a man with a very high voice, but a man that is well spoken and worth listening to. The M-75 is well behaved and easy to control. If you want mellow tones you are moving out of this guitar's comfort zone. It's great for Country leads, Surf or higher energy Blues and Rock sounds. If you are going to start a band that covers a lot of Bread or other very soft Rock this probably is not the tool you want to use.
The lower end, sonically speaking, is tight. The lower strings keep their definition well and have no tendency to flub out. If you want to sound like Duane Eddy this would do the trick but, as mentioned before, there is no Bigsby.
As I stated up front, this guitar was quite a surprise to me. This is a guitar I would consider owning, but it's not a priority in my collection. The sheer beauty of this instrument is impressive. It looks like a fine work of art; the finish and attention to detail is as good as any I've seen.
There is no real category for this guitar. At first glance is would look like a Les Paul's rich uncle but the similarity ends with general appearance. The M-75 is, for all intents and purposes a hollow body, complete with parallel bracing. The sound probably holds more in common with the Fender family than anything else. Frankly, it defies categorization. One thing I could say with total confidence, if you ever see one, or its sibling, the gold topped M-75G Aristocrat, it is well worth your time to give it a test play.
