guild information-aviator

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hey, i aquired my guild about 2 years back and i cannot for the life of me find out any information as far as i know it has somthing to do with aerosmith. ive looked on various websites and cant track down the model number

anyway its a guild aviator in complete black, emg humbucker and two single active pickups

on the head it says HG100502 which i assume is the model

hope you can help!
 

The Guilds of Grot

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Hello jimyg and welcome to LTG.

I think I can help with some information about your Aviator.

First off the Model Number is "S-284". The Serial Number is HG100502.

You can see from the following chart that your guitar was from 1986.
(The numbers are the last made from each year)

S-284-003.jpg


Here is a picture from a Guild Catalog;

S-284-002a.jpg


Here is the write-up that goes with the Catalog picture;

S-284-002b.jpg


And here is a blurb from the Beesley book;

S-284-001.jpg


I'm sure that Hans Moust, (our resident, and world authority on Guilds) will be along to correct any errors I have presented.

I'm not so sure this guitar was associated with Aerosmith. They did use an X-100 Bladerunner for a while like in this video;

Walk This Way
 

hansmoust

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The Guilds of Grot said:
I'm sure that Hans Moust will be along to correct any errors I have presented.

Hello Grot,

Well, jimyg asked for some information on the Aviator and that's what he got, so that's all good.
There is a possibility that the version he has is a little different from what is described above because there were so many different variations during the 4 years that the instrument was produced. It's just too much going through all the possibilities that I've seen and there might be even more.

It's interesting that you're still using a copy of that '80s serial number list. That's the one that started all the confusion in Guild 'serial number' land. It looks like it was compiled by somebody in the Guild office who didn't have the slightest idea what the different models were. It contains so many mistakes, which were repeated in subsequent serial number lists, only adding to the confusion.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
 
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thanks for the help guys! bit more clearer on what it is now

few other features it has are grover tuners and kahler tremelo

on the aerosmith front a few years back when i was researching my guild i discovered a website that said the guild aviator was joe perrys signiture guitar that he helped with the development of. although ive never been able to find this information again so wether its true or not i dont know!

are these guitars quite rare? i bought it for a little under £250 or $500 and was offered just under £1000 for the guitar not long back
 

hansmoust

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jimyg said:
i bought it for a little under £250 or $500 and was offered just under £1000 for the guitar not long back

Hello jimyg,

You should have sold it for a thousand pounds and for that amount you could have bought 2 other ones!

jimyg said:
on the aerosmith front a few years back when i was researching my guild i discovered a website that said the guild aviator was joe perrys signiture guitar that he helped with the development of. although ive never been able to find this information again so wether its true or not i dont know!

I'm not sure if that was correct but it is true that during the '80s the Aerosmith guys used at least 4 different model Guild guitars on stage.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

The Guilds of Grot

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hansmoust said:
It's interesting that you're still using a copy of that '80s serial number list. That's the one that started all the confusion in Guild 'serial number' land. It looks like it was compiled by somebody in the Guild office who didn't have the slightest idea what the different models were. It contains so many mistakes, which were repeated in subsequent serial number lists, only adding to the confusion.
Guilty as charged! Although I'd like to beg forgiveness of ignorance if I may.

When I started chasing Guilds this is what the Westerly office faxed me.

Hans, you have mentioned on these forums that there where some errors but I didn't realize the whole thing was bad.

What later list do you recomend?
 

hansmoust

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The Guilds of Grot said:
Guilty as charged! Although I'd like to beg forgiveness of ignorance if I may. What later list do you recomend?

Hey Grot,

It's not your fault! And really, after that list no better list has been published so far. Nobody at the Guild office ever took the trouble of going back to the original material, which were the official production ledgers down at the Guild plant. All the later lists repeated the same mistakes.

By the way, did you make those corrections in the X-79 serial numbers?

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

The Guilds of Grot

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Oh, I see now.

I corrected them on my collection list, but have failed to reinstate them on the serial number list.

Thanks for pointing that out.
 
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The aviator was pretty much the top of the Guild superstrat models from the 80's. Set neck, really nice woods, some high end but sometimes horrific hardware (particularly the locking wanker setups). I had one that sounded and felt incredible, really sweet resonant body, but the bubble gum color (i.e. hot pink) that was badly chipped and worn and hockey stick head made it hard on the eyes. I sold it a while back, perfect for a glam-drag-twisted sister cover band. I once saw a Joe Perry signature model that had twin EMG hummers, Kahler and all hardware was gold with a black body. Really nice, sold on ebay a few years ago for a bit over $400, which was high at the time for an aviator.
 

bastarddarsh

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I posted a while ago trying to figure out about my aviator! They are an elusive breed! Anyone selling a Thunderbird? I'm looking to aquire one any info would help! Price range etc....
 

matsickma

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There is a Thunderbird on ebay this week.

It had been a while since any Thunderbirds were on ebay. Then two showed up three to four weeks ago. One sold for around $2900 and the other around $3500.

M
 

bastarddarsh

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I know ive been stalking them both but I wish i could just find a buy it now for a reasonable price or a local one i can just buy!
 
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hansmoust said:
jimyg said:
i bought it for a little under £250 or $500 and was offered just under £1000 for the guitar not long back

Hello jimyg,

You should have sold it for a thousand pounds and for that amount you could have bought 2 other ones!

im not sure why i was offered this much! as far as i know theres very few of them over in england and the guy said he has not seen a single one apart from mine! its in mint condition as well no scratches or chips and i intend to keep it that way! ive looked on ebay most months since i bought the guitar 4 years ago and not a single one has come up only ones in the usa for sale at around $500 but with import tax, most of them have scratch plates as well where as mine is just smooth. someones offered me a swap for a jackson soloist but i dont think ill be taking them up on that offer
 
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