I bought a new used Guild on Friday

samdjr74

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Hi All,

So I've been drooling over this guitar for a while now and I had a chance to play it on Friday and decdied to take her home. It's a Guild X-170T in orange and I think it was made in 2003. It plays great but the pick-ups don't do much for me, they sound fine but there's nothing great about them, any ideas?

Thanks,
Sam

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Walter Broes

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That looks very pretty, congratulations.

Why did you get it if you don't like the pickups? Play around with pickup and polepiece heights a little before you decide against them.
 

samdjr74

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Good question, I bought it because the neck is perfect, it plays great, looks great and it gives me that gretsch look without being made over seas and at half the price. There is nothing wrong with the pick-ups, they sound good but there's nothing special about them. I figured that I can take a guitar that plays and feels great and turn it into something that sounds great with some new pick-ups.
 

caveman

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Great looking axe. Very gretschy but very nice. I also bought a non-vintage guild (1997) and think about changing the pickups too. Anyone suggestions on a bucker-sized P 90 ?

If you like to see my new starfire she had Ebay nr. 7351484439, bought out of Germany.
 

bobgoblin

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hey, guys, congrats on the new guitars, very pretty. i, too, bought a recent guild & was un-impressed w/the pickups, i mean, they sound nice, but i was looking for a different sound. w/that in mind, i replaced them w/some seymour duncan phat cats, i really like them. i posted a review in another thread, maybe the one about modifying the hell out of a hollowbody...again, cheers on the new guits!
 

bobgoblin

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hmmm, just noticed this, sam, what are the 2 switches for, which one switches pickups, is the other a coil tap? do tell...
 

Squawk

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samdjr74 said:
It's a Guild X-170T in orange and I think it was made in 2003.

Are you sure it was made in 2003? The X170 was replaced with the X180 in the 2003 catalog - possibly earlier as I don't have a 2002 catalog.
 

samdjr74

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Well that's what the store told me, the serial number is AK171457, at least that's what's written on the recipt. I need to verify this tonight
 
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:D The Guid X-170T you have in the pic looks like the special run made for MARS Music. They had one or two in each place & I was told they had them made for them as a SR, This was due to the extra toggle switch on the treble bout. The regular X170/x170T only has the toggle for switching the pups.

It has to be an earlier made guitar than 2003, I would say 20001 or below from this above info, IMO.

It is a beautiful guitar! I wanted one but decided to order one in Blonde & also w/ the Bigsby. The Park Ave X180 did replace the X170 & lasted for a couple of years before Fender/Guild dc'd it.

I love my X170 & also the sound from the pups aint bad either. I have mine strung w/ flats. I jammed w/ a friend Sun. using my X500 & he using my X170 & Princeton & '65 DRRI & all sounded great IMO.

Ya got a great one there!!!

Peace,
Jake
 

samdjr74

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Hi Jake,

Thanks for the info, yeah it looks incredible and the neck is perfect. So you are thinking it's a 2001, cool but here's something a little strange, the label in the f hole says Westerly RI and not Corona CA, is this just a left over label or did Guild make them in RI until very recently?

Oh and that extra toggle is a phase switch or sorts but I don't here much of a difference with it, but it looks cool :)

Thanks,
Sam
 

Squawk

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samdjr74 said:
Well that's what the store told me, the serial number is AK171457, at least that's what's written on the recipt. I need to verify this tonight

I'm sure Hans will help you with the serial # when he returns home. Regardless, that is one beautiful guitar! I don't what sound you're searching for, but I, like many old-timers, use flats on archtops. And I find a good sound range with the original pups. Then again, my X170 has the standard rosewood compensated bridge - this also affects the sound.
 
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samdjr74, I'm probably wrong on the date now that I think of it. I bought mine in early 2000 or 2001 & it was one of the last out of Westerly. Yours is probably a liitle earlier. Post trhe serial number to Hans & he will get it right. Also have the phase switch checked out. I have heard somewhere that it could be not connected, faulty or just may very subtle. Many of the Guilds were famous for a "freaky" switch.

Peace,
Jake 8)
 

samdjr74

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I'm going to play around with the pick ups a little more before I change them, they may just need some adjustments.

The serial number is AK171457

And as far as the phase switch, it does work but it's such a slight difference that I can hardly here a change, this may also be corrected by adjusting the pick-ups. But I do know that the pick up selector switch was shot and it needed to be replaced, it worked but the spring wasn't holding the selector in position so it flapped around.

The more info I can find on this the better, so any help you guys can give me would be great.

Thanks,
Sam
 

hansmoust

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X-170 with serial # AK171457

Hello Sam,

Still on the road but I should be able to answer this off the top of my head.
Your guitar is from the year 2000 and at that time there were no Corona-made Guilds yet, so it's definitely a Westerly-made instrument.
And, as Jake suggested, it is indeed part of the 'limited run' that was done for Mars Music with the extra coil tap switch.

Hope this helps.
Sincerely,

Hans Moust
 

samdjr74

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Hi Hans,

Thanks for the info.

So am I supposed to hear a sutble differnce or big difference when I flip the coil tap? And will it only work if the pick up selector is in a certain position?

Last question, what did this sell for if any one knows new, just curious on that one.

Thanks,
Sam
 

hideglue

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Also, I believe the gold, knurled knobs were part of that limited run.

Anyway, nice guitar.
 

dklsplace

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samdjr74 said:
So am I supposed to hear a sutble differnce or big difference when I flip the coil tap? And will it only work if the pick up selector is in a certain position?

Assuming these are the medium output (jazz) HB-1 Guild pickups, it will be a subtle difference. What you're doing is grounding out half of the humbucker, basically turning it into a single coil pickup.
Not sure about the selector switch...I installed a push/pull pot to split the neck pup on my X-150D.
 

samdjr74

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hi hide,

Actually in the case was 4 black guild knobs, I'm thinking they are the originals and the former owner swapped them out to get more of a gretsch look to the guitar.
 
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