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:
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.
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.