Look what I've got here - Nightbird X-2000 lefty

ruedi

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Hey there

First of all let me apologize for the ****ty photos and my poor English!

Having said that, let's get straight to the point:

As of thoday I am the proud owner of a wonderful Guild Nightbird X-2000 lefty and I would like to share my first impressions with you. It has a nice burgundy-red finish and is in almost mint condition (don't let the photos fool you, there are some reflections from the flashlight that look like dings but are not). Only the covers of the pickups have lost a bit of their shine.

As you can see the guitar has the serial number CL000059, which is interesting since in GAD's Guide to Guild Nightbirds the series seems to end with #54. At this point many thanks and shootout to GAD, your work has been incredibly helpful and there's still so much more to dig in.

Now here's what the previous owner told me: He has ordered this guitar in the early 90ies, he doesn't remember the exact year. The order was placed in a Guitar shop (that does no longer exist) in Zurich, Switzerland, and forwarded to the Guild Factory. After almost a year, the instrument arrived from the USA and was finally his. He has left it unmodified, besides the occasional string change of course, and treated it respectfully and with care.

It is conceivable that the guitar was made as a kind of post-series production for this exact customer, which would explain the high and seemingly nowhere recorded serial number.

As you can recognize on the picture, this model comes with master volume and tone, three way switch and coil split. The pickups seem to be HB1 but I'll admit I haven't removed for inspectation yet. If you wish I can give you an update on that in a few days. Tuners, knobs and switches seem in very good condition as far as I can tell.

Playability is subjectively great, I feel very comfortable and connectet with the guitar. I also like the sound of it a lot, though I am looking forward to experiment with it a lot more. I currently play it through my Strymon Bluesky Reverberator and my ToneKing Falcon Amp, which seems to be a nice setting and seems to do justice to that beautiful instrument. I also play it through my motuM2 - iPad - BiasFX/Bias Amp - Addon T14 speakers. Kill me now you purists :witless:

I'm looking forward to joyful hours of experimenting and getting lost playing that guitar.

If you have questions, please let me know, I'll do my best to answer them.

Rock on

i7osQ8tr5zRjmt6v7
 

SFIV1967

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Welcome to LTG Ruedi! Nice entrance! Google Photos are always tricky to show, I try to help out.
Also our Guild guru Hans Moust might have your guitar in his records already, he has correct records beyond what was published so 54 was most probably an error and there are more.

sXaH5CW5Zn607Bh1Ae3tn83xG7Om-6JdHeHwMx8D5gcWh-WL8C7J-WudNM22goWi_tIR2Q0VOuI9fHkY4xqHX7bTeqI8f0dd-W8j7X91vDmMw-oj4Qpz9pPBn7haS0055rX8jpm5L-I=w1440-h1080-no


Ralf
 
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SFIV1967

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You know what's funny? That guitar has a TRC for righthanded guitars and is mounted upside down (the wrong way), but for that left handed guitar they probably never made a lefthanded TRC version and it is actually correct as one can read the X-2000 the correct way.
Ralf
 

GAD

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You know what's funny? That guitar has a TRC for righthanded guitars and is mounted upside down (the wrong way), but for that left handed guitar they probably never made a lefthanded TRC version and it is actually correct as one can read the X-2000 the correct way.
Ralf

Now my head hurts.
 

ruedi

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Well thank you everybody for your kind reactions to my post, I appreciate!

Thanks Ralf for fixing that photo issue for me.
The Truss Rod Cover subject indeed is funny, I didn't think of that detail! Had to read your post twice to understand... :) So the true destiny of this cover was to fit on a left handed guitar all the time as it seems.

Fun fact about me: Actually I'm all the way right handed, but when I was a kid I broke my pinky on my left hand on all three joints and it healed kinda badly, I am not able to bend it smoothly, it is crooked and it hurts when I push too much with it, so right handed guitars are not an option for me and I have to go through the struggle of finding me decent left handed instruments, which is not easy.

All the more I am super excited having found that beauty!

Have a good day
 

davismanLV

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Firstly, welcome to LTG, ruedi! And secondly, what a beautiful guitar!! Very interesting story of how a righty wound up playing lefty. It sounds painful, but we are determined animals and it seems you've solved your issues in a very clever way.

As far as the truss rod cover goes,

Now my head hurts.

I'm with GAD, but Ralf is (as usual) right. I wonder which rule the factory decided to follow when they first put it on? Bigger at the top, than at the bottom (which mimics the older paddle style headstock, which this guitar does not have) or the way you currently have it which makes it readable while you're playing it? This is what's called the snakehead style headstock which is narrower at the top than where it flares at the bottom (near the nut). Not that it truly matters either way, but you kinda have to wonder how they solved this dilemma originally.

Great first post and thanks for the photos!! :encouragement:
 

wdboland

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Nice way to walk into a room! God, I love the red!! Congrats, enjoy every minute with it
 

adorshki

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I wonder which rule the factory decided to follow when they first put it on?
Actually we've seen other guitars where there wasn't enough clearance between the tuning post bezels to allow the traditional TRC orientation, so they just went ahead and put it on "upside down", suspect that's all that was going on here.
They cut those inscriptions in house so no big deal making an "oddball" TRC.
Bigger at the top, than at the bottom (which mimics the older paddle style headstock, which this guitar does not have) or the way you currently have it which makes it readable while you're playing it?
No, the point is that he can't read it from the player's perspective (Ruedi that's a running joke about inscribed TRC's which are mounted upside down, which should be self-evident to whoever installed it); it's not only "technically" upside down but printed backwards, too!

This is what's called the snakehead style headstock which is narrower at the top than where it flares at the bottom (near the nut).
And which Gruhn introduced with the original Nightbird prototype, story here:
https://www.vintageguitar.com/3275/1985-guild-nightbird-prototype/

Great first post and thanks for the photos!! :encouragement:
OK ya got me, can't argue that one.
:glee:
Welcome aboard Ruedi!
 

davismanLV

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No, the point is that he can't read it from the player's perspective.....
Al, so the AUDIENCE CAN READ IT while he's playing it!!! Is there no one else on this forum you can bother today?? Jeeze....... :jaded:

Ruedi, don't worry. We get like this sometimes. We'll make sure he's better medicated tomorrow, okay? :devilish:
 

ruedi

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Don't worry davismanLV, sometimes a dispute opens an interesting perspective! And both of you do have a point: you look at the issue more from an aesthetic point of view, whereas adorshki argues more from a pragmatical viewpoint, both is fine and justified imo. And btw i don't actually care what it says on the headstock and if it's upside down or not, as long as the instrument sounds, feels and plays like it does :) The nightbird is without exaggeration the best guitar I have ever played. I am in love.

And: music is the best medicine :smile-new:

I see the sun outside, will take the guitar out today and shoot some better pictures to replace the original in the middle of the night with flashlight shots.

Have a good day!
 

hansmoust

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This is what's called the snakehead style headstock which is narrower at the top than where it flares at the bottom (near the nut).

And which Gruhn introduced with the original Nightbird prototype.

Not correct! The 'snakehead' style headstock was introduced on the 6 flat tops that Gruhn designed for Guild a year before that!

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

davismanLV

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Hans, I know it's been stated before but I promise to commit to memory and make a notation somewhere, what year was it that the snakehead style headstock first was produced for sale. I want to say 1985, but is that correct? Is it '84? Please clarify as I believe the Nightbird first came in 1985...... :encouragement:
 
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hansmoust

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Hans, I know it's been stated before but I promise to commit to memory and make a notation somewhere, what year was it that the snakehead style headstock first was produced for sale. I want to say 1985, but is that correct? Is it '84? Please clarify as I believe the Nightbird first came in 1985......

It was during the second half of 1984 that the first 'snakehead' style headstocks were used on Guild instruments.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

walrus

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Tom, I'm with you! This is one of the very few "Guild things" I remember correctly, but only because I had a 1984 D-64 with the snakehead. Otherwise, no way I would remember!

walrus
 

davismanLV

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Tom, I'm with you! This is one of the very few "Guild things" I remember correctly, but only because I had a 1984 D-64 with the snakehead. Otherwise, no way I would remember!

walrus
That's such a beautiful guitar. I'm sure you miss it at least a bit, but I'll bet the F30RCE gets a lot more playing time and it's a beauty as well!! The back and sides on that D-64 tho....... wowza! :encouragement:
 
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