X160 Rockabilly Corona vs Westerly

Century Bob

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I just purchased a Blue westerly x160 and planned on selling my black Corona to finance it. Well I cant do it now because they are not the same guitars. The hardware is the same but the bodies are very different. The Westerly is large at 16 3/4 by 3 3/8. Corona 16 by 3. The frets are small vintage on the Westerly and medium on the Corona. They sound similar but the westerly is very loud unplugged. I think the Westerly my be lacquer by its feel and gloss but I`m not sure (someone please let me know). The quality is about the same. The binding is loose on the first 2 frets and the strap button is too close to the neck on the westerly. Corona has one tuner not installed in line like it should be and the metal bridge plate fits poorly. Over all they are both really cool so I hope I can afford to keep both.
 

Walter Broes

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Thanks for confirming something I thought was the case : I'd always thought the X150-alikes "got smaller" with the move to Corona from seeing pictures.

Congratulations in any case, and hope you can keep both.
 

taabru45

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Maybe my mother owned it before you.................she could shrink anything :oops: :lol: :lol: :lol: Steffan
 

matsickma

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Hi Centry Bob.

Interesting point on the body sizes. I thought the Coronas were the larger guitars. One thing I heard about the Corona X160s was that the necks had a bump somewhere along the length. I don't know what fret it was near.

What are X160 Rockabilly's costing these days?

M
 

Century Bob

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I have not noticed any abnormal humps. Maybe the usual little hump near the 12th fret that is so common on Archtops. Prices on Guild electrics have jumped up recently. X500ts have really moved up. X160s can be had 12-1600.00 depending on condition and how bad you want it. Still very much in line with most pro line Gretsches. The x160s have a very unique voice. If I get to keep my Black one, I want to try GFS P90s in it and see if it leads me into Dave Gonzales/Seatsniffer/Cousin Harley territory ( aside from my lack of talent).
 

Walter Broes

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Oh, I don't know about Guild prices having gone up - you can't really generalize IMO.

The X500T's were never cheap, relatively few were made, and I think the people buying them might be Paladins fans, or people who really want a big box with single coils, but are wary of buying vintage guitars.
As for the X160's, $1200 to $1600 is still affordable for a full body U.S. made electric hollowbody, isn't it? (I actually think it's downright cheap compared to Gretsches and Gibsons)

But the real deals are still the vintage guitars IMO - look at these : (the Starfire isn't all original, but I bet it's a really nice guitar, that I'd take over a $3000 Gretsch with cheesy pickups any day!)

single coil SFIII

Hoboken -made Manhattan
 

gusto

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weird. from where to where do you measure to get the body length? my x-160 is way louder acoustically then my setzer gretsch and has a thicker body than a 6120.
 

wright1

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Hi Gusto, does your Setzer 6120 have trestle bracing? These are braces that join the top and back to help reduce feedback and that maybe the reason it is quieter acoustically. They run under the bridge up to the neck pickup. Setzer's original Gretsch had them and he wanted his signature models to have it too.
 

gusto

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ya its got the trestle bracing which makes it not resonate as much but the difference acoustically is stagering. Like over 2 times louder.
 

RussB

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An outstanding X-160 sold on the 'bay a few weeks back. I was drooling all over that one! It went for about $1575 IIRC. That was out of my range :(
 

gusto

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thats the one he bought. check the fender forum, there was one listed there a few weeks ago for 1400 obo.
 

RussB

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COOL!

Good for you, Century Bob 8)

Got any good pics of it? The ebay photo's were a bit "lacking"
 

Century Bob

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Thanks Russ. So far I like it a lot. It was not as mint as described however. Next week it goes in for a binding repair. Until then I`m leaving it alone so I dont make it worse. How do I do pictures here?
 

Guildmark

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gusto

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sweet, i love these guitars. how much difference is there in the sound?
 

RussB

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I personally know the seller of that guitar, Rick. (who also sold a few more sweet Guilds) He's a good friend and I have taken lessons from him, and I've repaired and restored a few of his amps. Too bad about the binding. Did you guys work something out?

I only gave that Rockabilly a quick once-over, as I was much more interested in the red Blues 90 he was selling. I did buy a '00 Bluesbird from him for $800. This one was used, and had a kinda make-shift Bigsby installed, which I quickly removed.

here's my Bluesbird,

wallguits2003.jpg
 

Century Bob

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Gusto, They are quite similar in sound, the Blue is louder unplugged and better balanced between the pickups. The black one has had a sound post installed to stop feedback so it has a slightly more refined tone that is really sweet.
Russ, after some pretty negative emails with the selling agent, I got a hold of Rick on the phone. He is out of town so he cant see the pictures for another week. He was just fine to talk to so I`m keeping a positive outlook on the situation.
 
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