New X-175B In The House

Cordoba just sent me a brand new X-175B for review, and I have been impressed with the guitar. The first thing you notice, of course, is the satin blue finish, which is strikingly sexy (a direct quote from my review, BTW). I mentioned that this is not your father's boring old jazz box, and that the color immediately gives this guitar a vintage rock 'n roll vibe. The playability is quite good, the fret work superb, and I quite liked the DeArmond Dynasonics. The bridge pickup in particular has a lot of bite and presence, and breaks up nicely with overdrive added. With slap echo, you'll conjure up the ghost of Scotty Moore.

Price is $1499 street with hardshell case. And yes, I will ship it back next week when I'm done, but I was sorely tempted to keep it. Cordoba would give me artist pricing, but funds are low right now.

Good info, Bob, thanks! I wish they would send me one!

When and where can we find the full review?

walrus

walrus said:

Good info, Bob, thanks! I wish they would send me one!

When and where can we find the full review?

walrus

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It should be in the June issue of Vintage Guitar, which goes to subscribers in April

DrumBob said:

Cordoba just sent me a brand new X-175B for review, and I have been impressed with the guitar. The first thing you notice, of course, is the satin blue finish, which is strikingly sexy (a direct quote from my review, BTW). I mentioned that this is not your father's boring old jazz box, and that the color immediately gives this guitar a vintage rock 'n roll vibe. The playability is quite good, the fret work superb, and I quite liked the DeArmond Dynasonics. The bridge pickup in particular has a lot of bite and presence, and breaks up nicely with overdrive added. With slap echo, you'll conjure up the ghost of Scotty Moore.

Price is $1499 street with hardshell case. And yes, I will ship it back next week when I'm done, but I was sorely tempted to keep it. Cordoba would give me artist pricing, but funds are low right now.

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If the new DeArmond Dynasonics are made the same way as the Korean ones 20 years ago, I never minded them then, just they don't sound like real DeArmonds.

The new X-175 Manhattan is a beautiful instrument.

I might be able to afford artist pricing. Does that include people that draw stick figures? I’m on the fence for the next guild. I did place an order for a star fire 3 from a store in canada, but they apparently lost count of their inventory and don’t have one to sell. So I considered this instead. But i have a gretsch hot rod and was concerned it was too similar.

I've seen a couple video demos over the last week of Guilds with the new "Dynasonic" pickups. One by John Bohlinger for Premiere Guitar (blue X-175) and the other for Guitarist mag (SF-II ST). Gotta say I think they sound great. Nice clarity, lotsa character. I'm tempted by the SF-II. Might also just get a set of the pickups if/when they're available separately.

-Dave-

THAT guitar seems so nice, that if I ever got one - I just might get over for once acting foolish and selling my -63 DE

B~ E~ A~ U~ tiful!!!

So, I shipped the guitar back, but if I wanted one, Cordoba would have sold it to me one at artist pricing, one of the nice perks of establishing a relationship with an MI company. I did not inquire what that price might been, because I have another guitar priority right now; something that begins with RIC.

In the end, I liked the X-175 quite a bit, but didn't have an absolute burning desire to own one. It's a very well made guitar, but I'm 5' 5' tall and it looked huge on me, just the way a Gretsch looks. I would recommend the X-175 to anyone looking for a high quality archtop at a reasonable price point.

I'm 6' 2" and still feel an X-175 is on the large size. ☺ I do have an X-170T, though size-wise I prefer my hollow Bluesbird and NS Aristocrat. But I like those DeArmond-ish pickups on the new X-175…

-Dave-

DrumBob said:

So, I shipped the guitar back, but if I wanted one, Cordoba would have sold it to me one at artist pricing, one of the nice perks of establishing a relationship with an MI company. I did not inquire what that price might been, because I have another guitar priority right now; something that begins with RIC.

In the end, I liked the X-175 quite a bit, but didn't have an absolute burning desire to own one. It's a very well made guitar, but I'm 5' 5' tall and it looked huge on me, just the way a Gretsch looks. I would recommend the X-175 to anyone looking for a high quality archtop at a reasonable price point.

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Enjoyed reading your review in the new Vintage Guitar. I'm also in that 5'5" club (actually more like barely 5'4" these days with a couple of compressed vertebrae) but actually have a X175B. It's big for sure, but actually very comfortable to play sitting down.....now standing up is another story; I look like a little kid playing his Daddy's guitar. Speaking of short guitar players, I always get a kick out of seeing pictures of the late Malcolm Young at 5'3' and skinny playing a big ol' Gretsch White Falcon or 5'2" Nils Lofgren with a Black Falcon strapped on. Didn't seem to effect them though.....

Guildadelphia said:

Enjoyed reading your review in the new Vintage Guitar. I'm also in that 5'5" club (actually more like barely 5'4" these days with a couple of compressed vertebrae) but actually have a X175B. It's big for sure, but actually very comfortable to play sitting down.....now standing up is another story; I look like a little kid playing his Daddy's guitar. Speaking of short guitar players, I always get a kick out of seeing pictures of the late Malcolm Young at 5'3' and skinny playing a big ol' Gretsch White Falcon or 5'2" Nils Lofgren with a Black Falcon strapped on. Didn't seem to effect them though.....

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Thanks for the kind words. I hear you. I used to have a couple of Gretsch 6118 Anniversary guitars, the ones in two-tone Caddy Green. They were great guitars (except for the skinny necks) and I loved the way they sounded, but I also looked like a little kid playing them. Guys our size look good with Les Pauls, Strats, Teles and so forth. Yes, Nils looks like a kid with a big-bodied Gretsch, but if I was earning the kind of money he makes playing rhythm guitar for Springsteen, I'd play a Gretsch if that's what Bruce wanted.

DrumBob, I recall you attempting to sell one of those Gretsch Annies on the Gretsch Pages forum.

Your guitar may not have sold there, but that thread was hands-down the funniest thing I've ever seen on-line. You may be relieved to know that the thread (among many others) was lost several years ago, when the forum's database crashed (and the forum owner had failed to back it up).

geoguy said:

DrumBob, I recall you attempting to sell one of those Gretsch Annies on the Gretsch Pages forum.

Your guitar may not have sold there, but that thread was hands-down the funniest thing I've ever seen on-line. You may be relieved to know that the thread (among many others) was lost several years ago, when the forum's database crashed (and the forum owner had failed to back it up).

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Not that we ever have experienced that in the past...

DrumBob said:

Thanks for the kind words. I hear you. I used to have a couple of Gretsch 6118 Anniversary guitars, the ones in two-tone Caddy Green. They were great guitars (except for the skinny necks) and I loved the way they sounded, but I also looked like a little kid playing them. Guys our size look good with Les Pauls, Strats, Teles and so forth. Yes, Nils looks like a kid with a big-bodied Gretsch, but if I was earning the kind of money he makes playing rhythm guitar for Springsteen, I'd play a Gretsch if that's what Bruce wanted.

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My Gretsch 6116 PTV Power Tenny at a bit under 16" wide looks small compared to the X175B. If I could design my own Guild it would be the Aristocrat body size/spec's but with a taller neck set angle to accommodate a floating bridge base (which would also create enough string break angle for a non-roller Guildsby like a B3 or B6). Cordoba, are you listening? (and while you're listening, how about a Starfire 3 w/ D'Armonds).

Please, no more new guitars called "Aristocrat." It's bad enough that they're calling new solidbody instruments Aristocrats, they're even calling 70's Bluesbirds Aristocrats.

https://guildguitars.com/ac-newman-talks-about-his-m-75-aristocrat-to-premier-guitar/

C'mon CMG, show some respect for the brand.

This reminds me: I met Nils Lofgren in late October or early November 1999 while getting ready to board a flight from LA to Detroit that stopped off in Minneapolis. He walked up and stood next to me just before the boarding line formed. He had a gig bag slung over his shoulder, no other carry-ons. I would've guessed his height at ~5'5". Anyway I recognized him and said something like "Hi, love your guitar playing." He smiled and said "Hey, thanks!"

We boarded and it turned out Nils was sitting in the aisle seat across from mine. After the plane took off and reached cruising altitude I pulled out my laptop and started doing work stuff. After awhile I finished and closed the laptop. I noticed Nils was looking in my direction so I met his gaze. He was curious about the laptop and so we talked about computer stuff for a few minutes. Then I asked him about the gig bag. "That's my Strat. My other guitars travel with the [E Street] band's gear but the Strat stays with me." So then we talked about guitars & such for a few minutes. He'd been on tour with Springsteen and was near the end of a short break before the next show, presumably in Minneapolis. And that was about it. After we landed and deplaned into the terminal he looked back at me, waved and then off he went.

Edit: looked up Springsteen's 1999 touring schedule. They played in Minneapolis on November 28 & 29, so the flight must've been a few days before the first show.

-Dave-

geoguy said:

DrumBob, I recall you attempting to sell one of those Gretsch Annies on the Gretsch Pages forum.

Your guitar may not have sold there, but that thread was hands-down the funniest thing I've ever seen on-line. You may be relieved to know that the thread (among many others) was lost several years ago, when the forum's database crashed (and the forum owner had failed to back it up).

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That thread was the reason I quit that stupid forum. It wasn't funny at the time. Those idiots hijacked my for sale thread totally, preventing me from attracting a buyer. I had to sell it on Ebay and pay their fees. By the time that happened, I was already getting fed up at the level of juvenile humor on that board. I switched to gretsch-talk after that and left that forum after awhile also, because I realized I had nothing more to discuss about Gretsch guitars.

At this point, I have finally realized there are several styles and brands of guitars I like that work for me. I also know what I don't like anymore, and that includes Gretsches. I experimented a lot over the years and wasted too much money on crap that didn't suit me.