New Bluesbird Owner

Mr. P ~

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I finally joined the ranks of Bluesbird Owners!!

I won this beautiful natural flame maple example on Ebay after missing several earlier ones.

I will be glad when it gets here.
:shock:

[img:300:400]http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid203/p8c8e7c5d866204fc1710027b07cd2488/efa7c56d.jpg[/img]
 

hansmoust

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Mr. P ~ said:
I finally joined the ranks of Bluesbird Owners!! I won this beautiful natural flame maple example on Ebay after missing several earlier ones.


Congrats Mr. P.,

Looks like a nice one.

Hans
 

Mr. P ~

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Hans,
According to the seller/owner, he bought the guitar for a friend who was supposed to pay him back. The (former) friend did not pay and it has been in storage in his home under controled environment since with esentially no play time. I have not touched it yet but I believe the guy. I will post again when I get it.

Do you know approximately how many of the clear coat finished Bluesbirds were made?
 

hansmoust

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Mr. P ~ said:
Do you know approximately how many of the clear coat finished Bluesbirds were made?

Mr. P.

Guild didn't keep records on how many of each color they did, but I've seen a lot of 'natural' finished ones from the 1998-1999 period (from which your guitar is as well) and it looks like that finish was quite popular at the time.

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

Stevo

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Another new bluesbird owner

Hello there,

I am new to this forum and also another new Bluesbird owner. I was in the market for a US made semihollowbody (already have an Epi Alleykat) and answered a private ad for a "2002 Bluesbird, mint condition" two days ago. The guitar was indeed mint, not a scratch, and beautiful transparent red finish. Standard AA cap. I fell in love with the look, sound and feel and gave the guy $900 Canadian (about $760 US), perhaps a little too much, he was very happy to take that!
Something about the guitar did not look only four years old. Although it had obviously been played very little, the pu covers were tarnished. The owners manual said "Made in Westerly" and the serial no. is CL000545. Could anyone tell me what year this was made?
Well, must go and play it, it makes a wonderful sound through my Traynor YCV20-WR!

Cheers
Steve
 

hansmoust

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Re: Another new bluesbird owner

Stevo said:
The guitar was indeed mint, not a scratch, and beautiful transparent red finish. Standard AA cap. I fell in love with the look, sound and feel and gave the guy $900 Canadian (about $760 US), perhaps a little too much, he was very happy to take that!
Something about the guitar did not look only four years old. Although it had obviously been played very little, the pu covers were tarnished. The owners manual said "Made in Westerly" and the serial no. is CL000545. Could anyone tell me what year this was made?

Hello Steve,

The guitar is indeed a couple of years older than the seller said. Serial number CL000545 makes it a Bluesbird from 1997. so that's 5 years older. If my database is correct then your guitar should still have the black pickup surrounds and black knobs. Is that correct?

Even though the seller was a little off with the dating of the instrument, I don't think you payed too much. That is, if the guitar was in the condition the seller said.

Enjoy!

Hans Moust
 

Stevo

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Hi there Hans,
Thankyou for your help. The knobs and pickup surrounds are indeed black. The other thing that struck me as odd was that while the handbook said made in Westerly, the contact address on the back is Scottsdale Arizona. I think that I am even more pleased with it being older than advertised.

The guitar has polished up really well. The maple top is a lovely subdued flame which complements the transparent red finish and it sounds very rich indeed. I can't imagine being happier with a Gibson costing much more, this has a certain unique quality that makes it stand out from the crowd.


Cheers
Steve
 

hansmoust

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Stevo said:
Hi there Hans,
Thank you for your help. The knobs and pickup surrounds are indeed black. The other thing that struck me as odd was that while the handbook said made in Westerly, the contact address on the back is Scottsdale Arizona.

Hello Steve,

Yes, the guitar was made in Westerly but since FMIC bought Guild in 1995, the manual gives the address for the Fender offices and they are in Scottsdale.

Hans
 

Mr. P ~

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That is a pretty one!!

You say it plays well with the Traynor too? I have been considering one of those.8)

I find another thing interesting......I have that exact same rug in my house! LMAO

:lol:
 

Stevo

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Hi Darryl,

I can take no credit for finding a nice Bluesbird. In fact the guitar found me! I knew nothing about Guilds, but something made me jump in the car to check out a classified ad. Maybe it was the ultra-cool name. Of course, once I saw it I was smitten, call it fate maybe!!

Cheers
Steve
 

Darryl Hattenhauer

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I don't have my Hans book right here (aka the bible--small b, second most important book). But I think they were hollow without f holes until the 60s, and chambered after that. I think the chambers all looked like honeycombs, right Hans? And I don't think any were totally solid or semi-hollow."

I use the word "bluesbird" to cover all Guild Les Paul shape guitars, and "aristocrat" to mean a kind of bluesbird.

I got a feeling the above is all wrong.
 

dklsplace

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Darryl, my '71 is fully hollow. Think it was sometime that year or '72 they started using solid/chambered for all of them. Somewhere in there (early 70's) I seem to recall a solid slab flat top model, which is where the DeArmond M-72 came from.
 
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I see...I thought Guild Bluesbird were made just like gibson les pauls with solid bodies.

Do you have an idea on what type of pickups were typically used in Guild Bluesbird, especially the newer ones?

Thanks.
 
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