My Guilds - B401-A and B402-A

Bobby B

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The first Guild I bought was in 1981, after my '72 P bass was stolen, and I collected insurance on it. This is the only photo of it I am aware of:

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It was stolen too :( and I looked and looked for a replacement, to no avail. Either people didn't know what I was talking about, or they showed me a 300 series, mostly had no idea. I played other basses and went on without thinking about it for many years, but started wondering about it again, and found the B401-A. It was like being reunited with an old friend and quickly became the only bass I played. The MusicMan Stingray, Gibson Thunderbird, Fender Jaguar, Gibson SB-300 started gathering dust. Then the B402-A came along, and the 401 became a backup. I think they play like a dream, and while they do have a little neck dive, so does every bass I've really liked, so I've just learned to deal with it. Tone and the wide range of different sounds I can get out of these (especially the 402) between passive and active, and tweaking the pup mix, I can get just about every sound I would ever want. It's really too bad these never caught on. The 401 is S/N 278 and the 402 is S/N 302. Sometimes I feel a bit like a Guild Bogart, but there don't seem to be that many that really love these basses.

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The Guilds of Grot

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Bobby, you shouldn't worry about being a Guild bass bogart. I think I might have you covered on that front!

Here's a few of my Guild basses.

Basses.jpg


(I really should redo that collage with the new photos!)


Here's a larger photo of my "Stained" B-402;

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I hated the neck dive problem so I fastened a dog clip to the lower end of my strap and would hook it to a belt loop on my pants. That held it in place, the only problem then was when I got to jumping around it would pull my pants up into my crotch! :shock: Although, that did help me hit those high harmony notes! :lol:

Once I strapped on a Pilot I never played a B-anything again. Light weight and perfectly balanced! You can get them off of ebay for under $500! (Did Graham sell his yet?)

Oh yeah, and welcome to the club!
 

Bobby B

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Wow, that's a really nice collection! Great basses there, and I'll never get close to that, hahaha.

What is that X702 like to play? It always looked to me like it would be incredibly heavy and the body would make it difficult, even though it's really a wild design. For the day, as wild as they came.
 
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