Surfliner series

Rickenmaxer

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My first time seeing this guitar. Looks pretty cool. Only thing I don't like....those 2 cheap plastic snap in 2 way rocker switches. Ugh. That would have to immediately go....and get upgraded to these... https://www.amazon.com/Allparts-EP-0260-023-Switchcraft-Black-Switch/dp/B002NM0KNK/ref=sr_1_7?crid=2DQ7MY1R17DSW&keywords=Switchcraft+2+way+slide+switch&qid=1654438560&sprefix=switchcraft+2+way+slide+switch,aps,230&sr=8-7
Yes! As a life-long Mustang fan (I had a '65 Mustang that I foolishly let go in the 90s), those would be my choice, too. Add a nice mother-of-toilet-seat pickguard to house them for added pizazz! I think a surf guitar needs a vibrato (though Dick Dale might disagree), but a Guild T-bird/Hagstrom Tremar unit would be a worthy addition AND an appropriate hommage to Guild's past. Damn, I think y'all are talking me into this!
 

spoox

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WELCOME TO THE SPOOXLY GUITAR SHOW, SPOOXLODYTES! MY REVIEW OF THE NEW GUILD SURFLINER:
Now I admit I don't know much about the Guild brand, but I found out on the internet that it was started by former Epiphone
employees that guilded together when Gibson bought Epiphone. Guild is the import brand for Fender, and that's why this guitar
looks like a Jaguar or somethin', (heh heh!). On to the important stuff!
There was no case, but it came with some stickers, picks, and a booklet--but NO COA!
The wood looks like maple--it was said to be a popular wood, and I think mahogany and maple are the two most popular woods for guitars, and under the orange finish the grainage doesn't appear to be mahogany. The neck is maple without much flamage.
It's a bolt on, and the neck plate is kinda cool--it looks like an arrow, or maybe a Xmas tree! QC is a little off on this one--it's string through but they drilled the holes at an angle or somethin'. It's got 3 rocker switches that can turn any of the 3 pickups on or off in
any combination. It would have been cool if they had went and put a Buckethead kill switch on this guitar too (heh heh)!
I think the bridge pickup is a Gibson mini humbucker with a weird cover, and for the neck and middle pickups I think Fender
had went and split a Filtertron in half! I have to buy a guitar cord to be able to hear what it sounds like through an amp, but unplugged
it sounds O.K.

Sorry! I've been watching too much Trogley! Anyway, my orange one arrived Tuesday and I've been playing it quite a bit. I like bright guitars, and this certainly checks that box. I don't mind the switches, but I do prefer the ones on my Hagstrom 12 string, so yeah, maybe one day I'll change them.
The LB-1 is nice, but pales to the ones on my '67 Starfire XII. I like the DeArmonds. The neck is nice, liked the frets, and purposely only played the Surfliner until tonight, when I switched to my recently acquired S-300. Oops--oh yeah, THAT'S what a neck should be like--!
I may eventually put a tremolo or maybe even a palm pedal on the Surfliner--if not a Tremar perhaps a Duesenberg. The main reason I bought this
is I wanted something that had microtonal frets and this seemed like the perfect candidate. Back in 2014 on my X-150D I wrote a Middle Eastern surf instrumental, and since then I have toyed with the idea of expanding on that theme. It always seems weird to me to buy new guitars--but then I drive only Studebakers so what do I know? For the money it seems pretty nice, but until the re-fret job I'd much rather play my poor ice pick ravaged S-50!
 

matsickma

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Back in the '80's Guild had a very extensive creative period that I am sure many long time Guild enthusiasts likely also didn't like! The proliferation of solid body guitars of all "weird" shapes and sizes occurred to keep up with the "Hair" bands. Bolt on necks, return to 25.5" scale necks, removal of pickguards and hard stops on SF4's, whammy's, pointy headstocks, all different shapes with some traditional fenderish and other that were exotic shapes. At the same time the high end beautiful Nightbird and Nightingales emerged along with the "chambered body" acoustic hybrid designs. The 80's era was a prolific time of creativity, risk taking guitar design period of new concepts to modifications of older classics. The 90's with the Fender acquisition Guild returned to it's roots with reissue of all or most of the Guild classics. They added the "squire" price point DeArmond line and eventually initiated the NS models.
Bottom line seeing the Surfliner models is a good sign that creativity and risk taking is continuing under the new Cordorba management. It's been guarded but my hope is it continues and expands.
The bad part is I have GAS and that syndrome is a problem for people my age who already have more guitars than they have room for!
M
 
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GAD

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Back in the '80's Guild had a very extensive creative period that I am sure many long time Guild enthusiasts likely also didn't like! The proliferation of solid body guitars of all "weird" shapes and sizes occurred to keep up with the "Hair" bands. Bolt on necks, return to 25.5" scale necks, removal of pickguards and hard stops on SF4's, whammy's, pointy headstocks, all different shapes with some traditional fenderish and other that were exotic shapes. At the same time the high end beautiful Nightbird and Nightingales emerged along with the "chambered body" acoustic hybrid designs. The 80's era was a prolific time of creativity, risk taking guitar design period of new concepts to modifications of older classics. The 90's with the Fender acquisition Guild returned to it's roots with reissue of all or most of the Guild classics. They added the "squire" price point DeArmond line and eventually initiated the NS models.
Bottom line seeing the Surfliner models is a good sign that creativity and risk taking is continuing under the new mCordorba management. It's been guarded but my hope is it continues and expands.
The bad part is I have GAS and that syndrome is a problem for people my age who already have more guitars than they have room for!
M
I like your take!
 

Prince of Darkness

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WELCOME TO THE SPOOXLY GUITAR SHOW, SPOOXLODYTES! MY REVIEW OF THE NEW GUILD SURFLINER:
Now I admit I don't know much about the Guild brand, but I found out on the internet that it was started by former Epiphone
employees that guilded together when Gibson bought Epiphone. Guild is the import brand for Fender, and that's why this guitar
looks like a Jaguar or somethin', (heh heh!). On to the important stuff!
There was no case, but it came with some stickers, picks, and a booklet--but NO COA!
The wood looks like maple--it was said to be a popular wood, and I think mahogany and maple are the two most popular woods for guitars, and under the orange finish the grainage doesn't appear to be mahogany. The neck is maple without much flamage.
It's a bolt on, and the neck plate is kinda cool--it looks like an arrow, or maybe a Xmas tree! QC is a little off on this one--it's string through but they drilled the holes at an angle or somethin'. It's got 3 rocker switches that can turn any of the 3 pickups on or off in
any combination. It would have been cool if they had went and put a Buckethead kill switch on this guitar too (heh heh)!
I think the bridge pickup is a Gibson mini humbucker with a weird cover, and for the neck and middle pickups I think Fender
had went and split a Filtertron in half! I have to buy a guitar cord to be able to hear what it sounds like through an amp, but unplugged
it sounds O.K.

Sorry! I've been watching too much Trogley! Anyway, my orange one arrived Tuesday and I've been playing it quite a bit. I like bright guitars, and this certainly checks that box. I don't mind the switches, but I do prefer the ones on my Hagstrom 12 string, so yeah, maybe one day I'll change them.
The LB-1 is nice, but pales to the ones on my '67 Starfire XII. I like the DeArmonds. The neck is nice, liked the frets, and purposely only played the Surfliner until tonight, when I switched to my recently acquired S-300. Oops--oh yeah, THAT'S what a neck should be like--!
I may eventually put a tremolo or maybe even a palm pedal on the Surfliner--if not a Tremar perhaps a Duesenberg. The main reason I bought this
is I wanted something that had microtonal frets and this seemed like the perfect candidate. Back in 2014 on my X-150D I wrote a Middle Eastern surf instrumental, and since then I have toyed with the idea of expanding on that theme. It always seems weird to me to buy new guitars--but then I drive only Studebakers so what do I know? For the money it seems pretty nice, but until the re-fret job I'd much rather play my poor ice pick ravaged S-50!
Nice review, though you are a little out of date about the Fender connection, they sold Guild to Cordoba Music Group in 2014:) Agree about the S-300 as well, they are amazing guitars!:cool:
 

spoox

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Nice review, though you are a little out of date about the Fender connection, they sold Guild to Cordoba Music Group in 2014:) Agree about the S-300 as well, they are amazing guitars!:cool:
I was in "Trogley" mode. He knows Les Pauls and some other Gibson models, some Fender stuff, and evidently nothing about GUILD...
The one mention of a Guild I that I can remember he made fun of it as being a weird looking attempt at a Les Paul. He is primarily a collector and seller and obsesses about condition, scarcity, etc. I'm not sure why I bother watching him except that I almost always coming away appreciating Guild guitars all the more by comparison--especially when he tosses around new Gibson prices as if 6 grand for a production guitar is a bargain!
 

GAD

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I was in "Trogley" mode. He knows Les Pauls and some other Gibson models, some Fender stuff, and evidently nothing about GUILD...
The one mention of a Guild I that I can remember he made fun of it as being a weird looking attempt at a Les Paul. He is primarily a collector and seller and obsesses about condition, scarcity, etc. I'm not sure why I bother watching him except that I almost always coming away appreciating Guild guitars all the more by comparison--especially when he tosses around new Gibson prices as if 6 grand for a production guitar is a bargain!

$6k is a bargain if they were $8k before. It’s all relative.
 

matsickma

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Ha! Didn't notice that either!
It's suprising more guitars don't have a 23 fret neck to ease the stretch to the 3rd E "nose bleed" octave. Very handy for young and old players!
M
 

Nuuska

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Them two BOZO 12-string acoustics had 24 fret fingerboards, if my memory serves right. And they were off body . . .

Peter Lang showed me his back when . . .
 

AcornHouse

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Them two BOZO 12-string acoustics had 24 fret fingerboards, if my memory serves right. And they were off body . . .

Peter Lang showed me his back when . . .
The Guild F15ce, and similar models, are 24 fret’rs. And some the pointy 80s models too, iirc.
 

chazmo

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So, while I'm not qualified to give a review of my new Surfliner, and I haven't plugged it in, I'll say a few general things and await a GAD rambling on the guitar's details.

First of all -- and foremost for me -- this is most definitely not a piece of junk like the First Act crap of yore... I do not think this will tarnish the brand, folks. Quite the opposite. At this very low price point, this guitar will bring in new buyers. I don't know how CMG is selling this so cheap, but the neck feels good, despite fret ends that could stand a little dressing. Without any adjustments by me, there's no fret buzz, and it plays and holds in tune.

The body is quite cool and well done, by any standard. And, by contrast to the Fender-style headstock, I don't find the body to be particularly derivative of anything. Which, obviously, I like. [edit: Just one update to this... While the pickguard of the Surfliner is certainly an original design, it obscures the observation that the Surfliner body clearly seems to be inspired by a Strat.]

My final thought is this... Once upon a time, Guild used to be THE value brand for American-built guitars. If this series of Indonesian-built guitars can provide good quality like this with such a low price point, then in truth I think Guild stands a chance of reclaiming that virtue of high value going forward. I say, good on ya', CMG.
 
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Boneman

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yea huh, where is GAD's review? Heck, I'm still waiting on @davismanLV 's review of his blue one :ROFLMAO:

But those are salient points you make and I think Guild will have some new fans coming out of this.
 

spoox

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The more I play my orange one the more I like it. It's weight and balance is such that I find myself playing it while standing--without using a strap!
I support it in the crook of my right arm--uke style. I only wish the Amtrak train was orange instead of blue...
 

davismanLV

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@Boneman I got all caught up in the excitement of the whole "open box" thread with prices marked down. The blue one was gone so then I got a sense of "what the hell am I doing, I don't need another guitar" and then I calmed down. There's still one available if you wanna cash in on that whole "less than $400" thing. Then YOU can review it for ME!! (y)
 

Boneman

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@Boneman I got all caught up in the excitement of the whole "open box" thread with prices marked down. The blue one was gone so then I got a sense of "what the hell am I doing, I don't need another guitar" and then I calmed down. There's still one available if you wanna cash in on that whole "less than $400" thing. Then YOU can review it for ME!! (y)
Hah, we shall see. That blue one does look good 😊
 

HeyMikey

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totally disagree. get a good amp and u can gig Giant's stadium with one of those tonight. in fact u could get away with even less
Mav is spot on. For 80% of players all you need is a solid platform and the modern electronics manage the tone. As long as it is comfortable, stays in tune, has good pups and doesn’t start falling apart then it’s good to go.

I can see a ton of these being sold because of the cool factor and price point. This is the kind of electric that can become a great inexpensive platform for upgrades and customization like many did decades ago when the focus was on playing and not collecting.

I would not be surprised see these retailing for $100 more once the initial run costs are covered.
 
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