Electric newb needs help!

brian f

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Hi folks, I spend most of my time in the acoustic forums here at LTG, but I've got GAS for an electric and I need some quick knowledge. The Dallas guitar show is coming up and I intend to walk out of there with something...or grab something off ebay in the near term.

I used to own an LP studio but I didnt care for the neck. I learned on acoustic, and that guitar just never felt "right" to me. I think I've got a pretty heavy pick hand, maybe from playing only acoustic, but the LP felt like an alien in my hands. Then I had a MIM tele that I liked the feel of a lot, but it needed fretwork bad, and I had to toss it into a group of gear that I sold to get my D25. That guitar felt really good in my hands.

I want something versatile that I can play classic rock, blues, country, whatever on. I'm keen on getting a Guild but not sure what I should focus on. My budget is only about $600, so not sure if I can even get a decent guitar for that. I don't mind some buckle rash and some dings on the body. I'd rather not need to do any work to it initially. So long as its playable and its not been trashed. Some fretwork is fine, but I'd rahter not need a refret. You know what I mean, character is good so long as its not junked up.

So, I really like the look of the S-60, S-70, and S300 guitars. Very very cool. Looks like the S-60 has two single coils, the S-70 three like a strat, and the S300 two HB's. Not sure what the D, A, or AD stand for after the model designation?????

Can I get into any of these for $600? What are your thoughts on how they compare to Tele's, Strat's, and LP's.
If I know I like the Tele "feel", will I like any of these? Are the necks similar??

Any other helpful knowledge is greatly appreciated. Oh yeah....any other guild elecs i should be looking at?
Thanks!
Brian
 

coastie99

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Hey Brian !

Don't know a damn' thing about any of those guitars, but welcome to the club !

I'm sure there'll be lots of help along real soon.

All the best from Newsyland.
 

Default

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Taco Bell guitars have a lot of fans here. BreederCreature, Horuss, Uberthrall (and Grot :lol: ) all have one. Someone should be checking in tomorrow, I expect, since they're all gigging musicians.
jam_on.gif
 

Volt

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I own a 1978 S-300 and it is a great guitar. It plays easy and the humbuckers are very clear sounding.
I doubt that there are very many "good" Guild electric guitars for $600. The S-300 was Guild's most popular solid body guitar and seems to be the least expensive of all the Guilds I've seen. Under $1000 is a definite possibility.
S-300 (like mine) has a mahogany body and neck.
S-300A has an ash body and a maple neck.
S-300D has DiMarzio pickups.
S-300AD is the same as the S-300D but with ash body and maple neck.

I used to own a '73 Guild Bluesbird. Also an excellent solid body guitar.

IMO a semi hollow body guitar like a Starfire is the most versatile kind of guitar there is.

You can get a fairly good new electric guitar for $600, but not a Guild. I love my Gretsch G5120, but it's a full hollow body and wouldn't be as versatile as a semi hollow body. It's great for rockabilly, blues, and jazz.
 

Guildmark

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Welcome aboard, Brian!

Good luck with your search. I'm starting to get a little GAS for an electric, too. Yesterday california loaned me a beautiful Aria Pro II ES-335 clone for the summer. I'm planning on testing it against my daughter's Squier Strat and her LP clone. I figure that will at least give me a good idea of what type of electric will work for me.

Keep us posted on what you come across. I might be interested in your leavings. :D

Post well. Post often.
 

BreederCreature

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As Default said, I love "taco bell" guitars (and taco bell period)! I have a s-70 and s-300 and love them both. My band kinda fuses some of the styles your looking for together (some blues and classic rock sounds with harder indie rock) and these work real well for that.

I agree with Volt in that you may not be able to get one for $600, but you should be able to for less than $1,000.

The only other guitar I've played or owned is a Gibson SG. For whatever reason I couldn't get the right tone out of it or get a good feel for the guitar. I was also around 16 and real dumb, so I'm not sure if it's any help haha.

My guess is try and find a good deal on a s-300 for a tele feel. I've never played one though (tele), so I can't really say for sure.
 

Horuss

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brian f said:
Looks like the S-60 has two single coils, the S-70 three like a strat, and the S300 two HB's. Not sure what the D, A, or AD stand for after the model designation?????
Hi Brian: You are right about S-60 having 2 single-coils and S-70 3, but the "D" designation means DiMarzio pickups. The S-60, S-65, S-70, and S-300 models had the "D" option. S-300s also had "A" and "A-D" variations. "A" stands for ash body. The "A" and "A-D" models had maple necks.

Here's a recap:
S-300: mahogany body and neck, two Guild humbucker pickups
S-300D: mahogany body and neck, DiMarzio PAF and Super Distortion humbuckers
S-300A: ash body and maple neck, two Guild humbucker pickups
S-300A-D: ash body and maple neck, DiMarzio PAF and Super Distortion humbuckers

With a $600 budget, you are limited. S-65 models (1 humbucker) are usually in that price range, though.
 

Default

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Besides the obvious (fleabay) don't forget craigslist. There are a couple of s300's floating around Philly at the moment. Might be one near you on a local craigslist.
 

danerectal

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I've played an s-60 and a multitude of teles and other fenders. I'd say if you're pretty well acquainted with your d-25, the neck shape of the s-60/65/70/300 would be pretty nice. I don't really like jumbo frets, but they still feel really nice. I, of course, am quite the proponent of the s-100/90 which are easier to find with standard fret sizes without a refret job, but it sounds like you really like the body style of the s-300. If you're mainly an acoustic player, there's a good chance you'll be happier with a Guild electric than a Gibson. My experience with Gibsons is pretty limited, but I've played a LP studio with which I wasn't very impressed. As far as teles go, they have a narrower fretboard than on any Guild I've played, though I haven't gotten into any of the 80s models (liberator, detonator, etc.). As far as the thickness of the neck, they measure up pretty well. I don't know if this will be helpful or only raise further questions...
 

brian f

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Interesting...
Is that a reasonable BIN for an S-300D in that shape?
Are those the original tuners?
On the S-300, do you have a 3-way PUP selector, and then what is the other switch...a coil tap?

B
 

Horuss

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brian f said:
Interesting...
Is that a reasonable BIN for an S-300D in that shape?
IMO that price is too high, considering how beat up the guitar is.

brian f said:
On the S-300, do you have a 3-way PUP selector, and then what is the other switch...a coil tap?
It's a phase switch.
 

danerectal

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Yeah, I was able to buy one for $550 with shipping in about that shape with the addition of a sticker on the back. Problem is the seller was getting close to a month before shipping it. I told him if he offered some discount for his tardiness, it would be excusable. He misunderstood and I was left with the money... :cry: You may be able to talk the seller down. If it's been listed for a while he may bite (not to say he'll let it go for $500, but he may give an inch or two).
 

Horuss

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Here's two more cents from me on this subject.

There have been a bunch of S-300s of various types on ebay lately. They seem to have a pretty big variance in terms of prices they sell for. In general the "D" models go for more money. Keeping your $600 price range in mind- you may still be able to find one for that price, but it's less likely now than it was, say, a few months ago.

My S-300A is a guitar that you can use for all the styles you mentioned, and the ash body gives it something of the "Tele feel" you also mentioned. A really nice looking S-300A sold for $600 BIN on ebay about a week ago. There are still going to be a few sellers who don't realize that they can get more money than that for their S-300s, I think.

S-60/S-60D models don't seem to be going up in price much at all. I think you have a better shot at getting one of those in your price range.

The difference in sound between the humbuckers (LP) of the S-300 and single-coils (Strat) of the S-60 is pretty significant. The phase switch on the S-300s gives you an interesting change in tone but IMO it's not a "single-coil" tone the way a coil splitter would be. Anyway, you are going to have to decide which you prefer. You said you owned an LP at one point, but have you ever owned/played a solidbody guitar with Strat-style single-coil pickups?
 

Horuss

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danerectal

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Horuss said:
S-60D with a somewhat messed-up pickguard
http://cgi.ebay.com/Guild-electric-guit ... dZViewItem
I predict the final bid will be very close to $600. Maybe slightly more, but I'm betting slightly less.

I'd look out with this one. 0 feedback, maybe try to get some good contact out of him before proceeding. Everybody's got to start somewhere.
 

Horuss

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If you are okay with a guitar not being stock, New Hope (http://guildguy.com) has an S-70 for sale for $625 that was modified for a humbucker in the bridge position. It has the 2 single-coils and the humbucker (you can see pictures of it on the site). You'd have a really versatile guitar.
 

brian f

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I guess I would prefer no mods.
The s-60D with no feedback did scare me off. Looked like the final on that was $415

The s-70 w/o the case looks great, but how hard is it to find an original case for that guitar?
 

danerectal

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brian f said:
I guess I would prefer no mods.
The s-60D with no feedback did scare me off. Looked like the final on that was $415

The s-70 w/o the case looks great, but how hard is it to find an original case for that guitar?

I accidentally bought one trying to get a case for one of my S-100s. I sold it to Dreamlander because he had an S-60D that needed a home. I don't really know how often they come up, it was just by chance that I found one. We also tried a TKL after-market case for it with no results. By the way. Jay Pilzer is a pretty good guy with whom to deal. Dreamlander bought a set of Fender-era Guild humbuckers, and King_Pizza bought a D-40E from him, and both were quite happy with the outcome.
 
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