When it rains it pours ;] '66 S-50 x 2 Beauty and the Beast

[Guildedagain]

Just got a Silvertone with tuners like that in the mail yesterday, and the slotted screws that hold the gear actually set the tension, so screws down tight mean very stiff tuners, but loose screws fall out. Maybe a bit of mild Loctite, or heavy grease to keep them in place.

 

[matsickma]

Wow! That was perfect timing.

I would like to know if your red guitar is Mahogany or Alder?
It's been almost 50 years and I was pretty close to a novice about guitar wood but I thought my red S50 was Alder. The guitar wasn't heavy, very resonant when strummed acoustically and got "ding'ed" pretty easily indicating the wood was a little softer than what I expect of mahogany. I also seem to remember that when the pickguard was removed the wood was light in color and I could see the coloring in the routing and areas where their wasn't color but noticable clear lacquer.

Mine was an earlier model with the simple 3+3 black headstock.

Just curious if red S-50's were Mahogany or could be Alder.

M

 

[mavuser]

Wow! That was perfect timing.

I would like to know if your red guitar is Mahogany or Alder?
It's been almost 50 years and I was pretty close to a novice about guitar wood but I thought my red S50 was Alder. The guitar wasn't heavy, very resonant when strummed acoustically and got "ding'ed" pretty easily indicating the wood was a little softer than what I expect of mahogany. I also seem to remember that when the pickguard was removed the wood was light in color and I could see the coloring in the routing and areas where their wasn't color but noticable clear lacquer.

Mine was an earlier model with the simple 3+3 black headstock.

Just curious if red S-50's were Mahogany or could be Alder.

M

my cherry 65 3x3 is mahogany. i previously owned a 66 cherry burst 6x0 that was alder. i currently own a 66 cherry burst 6x0, that the jury is still out on (prob alder)

 

[Guildedagain]

I was guessing the one that's on the was was Mahogany, but Alder wouldn't hurt my feelings at all. Maybe it's a 1 piece body?

 

[spoox]

In the close ups of the '66, it doesn't appear to have the figure or grain of mahogany. Usually even with a grain filler some pores should be visible, but of course the photos may not be detailed enough.

 

[Guildedagain]

Yes, it is not showing any kind of grain. Could be that the Cherry finish isn't very translucent?

What would the neck wood be on the Alder model, Maple?

 

[spoox]

Yes, it is not showing any kind of grain. Could be that the Cherry finish isn't very translucent?

What would the neck wood be on the Alder model, Maple?

The neck is mahogany on my alder bodied Polara, but it's a '63.

 

[Guildedagain]

The neck on SA-134 looks to be of exactly the same wood as the body, but probably Maple. it's much too light to be Mahogany.

I suppose I'll get Polara fever next ;]

Which would be fitting as I had a raft of Polaras in the old days, a red '66 four door 383/727, a green/woody '66 9 passenger wagon with three gas tanks 383/727, a '64 Petty Blue 4 door wideblock 318/pushbutton 727, others I can't remember.

 

[spoox]

The neck on SA-134 looks to be of exactly the same wood as the body, but probably Maple. it's much too light to be Mahogany.

I suppose I'll get Polara fever next ;]

Which would be fitting as I had a raft of Polaras in the old days, a red '66 four door 383/727, a green/woody '66 9 passenger wagon with three gas tanks 383/727, a '64 Petty Blue 4 door wideblock 318/pushbutton 727, others I can't remember.

And we had a 1960 Polara wagon when my parents opened the antique shop in Redondo in 1960. Fond memories of rolling around in the back
on curves--child safety seats? Balderdash! Our last Dodge with push button automatic...the '65 Dart wagon merely had the selector on the column...

 

[mavuser]

i never planned on getting Polara fever, 4 Jetstars deep, still own 3 of them...that kickstand on the back and switches on the top would drive me absolutely crazy. well, more absolutely crazy anyway. Then, I found a Polara without the kick stand, and without any extra switches. watch out...the fever is contagious!

 

[Guildedagain]

Beauty to be here today. Excited!

Here's a pic of a '63 Duo Sonic on the Bay this morning that's a good example of a truly awful early 60's Fender burst, and all for the low price of $4700... Makes me feel lucky to be one of the few, one of the proud, a Guilder ;]

 

[GGJaguar]

We call that "Maroonburst". I've had a couple with that finish and it's not that horrible. I think Fender's Antigua was worse.

 

[spoox]

I like their '60s pedal steel bursts however:

Almost bought one like this from Blackie Taylor back in the early '70s--he talked me out of it:
"Those Fenders use cables instead of rods--you don't want that!"
Sneaky Pete did alright with his however...

 

[Guildedagain]

Not a lot of love for the NGD for the '65 above, I guess there's not need to rush into a NGD Day for the '66, but it got here yesterday, and wow, I've never seen a more neglected corroded guitar, but like the other, 100% original, even the pickup poles screws have never been turned.

It got here at 4pm and I was up til midnite fussing with it, paying the price this morning, that's like 3 hours past my bedtime.

It had real heavy strings on it, .57 low E! Under the strings on the headstock, lines of heavy corrosion from the strings. Hours and hours of elbow grease with the Meguiars.

It cleaned up good, and here is the amazing part. "Beast" may actually be in better shape than "Beauty". It has no finish checking, none, Beauty is covered in it. Very few pick scratches, Beauty has some of the worst I've seen on a guitar.

At some point while polishing the back, it dawned on me, it's Mahogany, whereas the other is Alder. I think its a little heavier than the other one, which only weighs 6lb 6.6oz, 666 ;]

I did put some rather heavy Monels on it, Martin MM11, .011-.52, and this is a bit challenging with the low E tuner, not a lot of room for string winds, almost none.

The tuners are so stiff, incredible.

It's really resonant, so is the other, it sounds gorgeous, big notes, sustain. I plugged it in through headphones just after midnite, wow! Pots dead quiet, killer volume on tap, very active tone control.

I tightened the Tremar adjusting screw to get the handle up. What a fantastic trem, couldn't ask for better.

The easy way to clean the bridge is a toothbush and baking soda, vigorous scrubbing, dry it of with Scott towels, and voila, pretty again.

The case is actually in much better shape than on Beauty, go figure, but blue interior to the other's maroon.

 

[GGJaguar]

The tuners are so stiff, incredible.

Same on my '64 S-50. Next string change I'll have to disassemble, clean and lube them in hope for smoother operation.

 

[Guildedagain]

Maybe some of the coolest guitars I've ever had. Not even hankering for a Polara, too much money and more weight.

Not really after the Tremless model, even thought it's more minimalistic, and probably a tad lighter. The trem is my only vice when it comes to guitars now, gotta have at least one vice, like coffee.

Gotta take pics of this '66, it's really beautiful.

I'm leaning towards keeping the red one if I kept only one, the other probably has higher resale anyway. I really bonded with this one just by way of cleaning it, bringing it back from the mummy state it was in.

Or have a 2 Jet Star band. We could do a really wicked version of Apache ;] Why can't I ever get that song out of my head?

Something I've noticed is that it's really hard to find any case candy for a '65-'66, like a sales brochure, etc. More stuff from the 70's survived, or more stuff was printed in the first place.

My analysis of the 1st gen S-50; The fanciest entry level guitar I've ever laid my hands on, the build quality is mindblowing.

Something else, both guitars have their original nut, with a red line of finish painted halfway up to match the line created by the overlay.

That's mindblowing as well.

 

[Guildedagain]

I was fiddling with the '66, lowering the bridge that was way high - I love these burly screws with flats, such nice machine work - raising the trem back up a hair so that it doesn't go "clank" on the bridge plate because of too little clearance, which involved re-tuning a lot, and I realized "Hey, these have locking tuners" ;]]] I mean you can tune down, and they stay in place perfect. I think I'm seeing some ancient dried grease around the gears, part of the reason for the stiffness. A good clean and libe might be highly beneficial. The amount of torque required to turn the D string tuner up in pitch in fantastical, like I said "locking tuners" ;]

Pics coming after din din.

 

[Guildedagain]

Here is the Beast, before and after. Maybe I deluded myself that a little dusting would do it. This thing got rode hard and put away wet, more than once.

Most tarnished latches I've ever seen but a really clean unabused case.

Nice to see this guy actually paid attention to the packing instructions, odd choice of paper, credit card bills.

.57 Low E string!

The level of hardened grime and corrosion is off the charts.

Thx to this forum I discovered Gorgomyte and its equivalent, Fret Not. This is the nut that Guild made and cut.

That was last night, this is today.

Basically like a resurrection.

 

[GGJaguar]

A little elbow grease went a long way. Looks great!!

 

[Guildedagain]

A little or a lot ;]

I've never seen corrosion on the headstock like that. It's absent where the G string was missing, so that string was broken for decades, By looking at the grime level on the fretboard, somebody played the dog out of it, but then they quit, why?

Vietnam?

Anyway, it's loud and proud, acoustically. With those big strings - not totally sold on those - it's very loud acoustically, it's a bit like an acoustic guitar, but with a trem.

It is inspirational. A bunch of cool riffs poured out of it last night, but then I started getting that "it's 10 o clock" kinda thing that means pay me some attention...

Sucky thing about the big strings is that I can't do an honest comparison between the two, so the other stays in it's case.

Interesting thing about Tremar equipped guitars is that when you lower the case lid, the guitar goes flat by a semitone, probably not enough to hurt the spring even long term.

The upside of this is that it keeps the guitar from bouncing up and down in the case, or at least it's cushioned by the trem arm & spring.

How odd is it that these student guitars sold with really good hard cases?

I have a feeling they came from the same Guild dealer, as both guitars were within 3 hours of each other with Bakersfield in the middle, and maybe this dealer was good at upselling a good case, wise investment.

The northern guitar from Clovis is checked throughout, more temp variations?

The southern guitar from Arcadia, 13 miles northeast of LA, only 27 miles from the ocean at the foot of the San Gabriel mountains, accounting for the rust and corrosion.