Guildedagain
Enlightened Member
For some that have been watching the S-50 Special saga with any interest at all might remember that I thought it was the cat's pajamas after switching over to 009's, old person syndrome... and while fast it lost a lot of Mojo going from 10's to 009's, let's just say 10's ring the guitar's bell much better.
And so I had been thinking about that for a while, how limp it felt and sounded, bigger can better.
And as cabin fever has really set in now, I was also contemplating if the guitar's somewhat woofy natural tone would pair well with the [unbelievably shrill] Guild Tweedy Bird micro marvel amp which came my way from previous Guild fever.
And yes, the combination of the S-50 Tweedy Bird is truly sensational.
The tiny but cute amp is just simply on/off, very free from defects like battery drainage or any issue and actually loud, as in noisy, as in raspy and potentially unpleasant, and this is where the S-50 comes in.
The volume/treble pots are the most sensitive and interactive I've seen, which is a good thing, maybe even a chicken and egg thing, like would I even know or care they were they interactive had I not been stuck with one pickup? Necessity is indeed a mother.
So, rolling the volume back to 7 or lower gets you some clean tones, if too bright, roll back the tone. I've never seen a guitar get more "woman tone" than this Guild, some tone cap.
Never bothered to look at it because the pickguard screws have never been turned, and I don't turn things that have not been turned before, if I can help it, so I do have to live with the guilt of self inflicted butchery to a Guild.
Now we get into the "Heavy Mods".
The silly trem arm was just incredibly in the way of the knobs, and it's tight never used condition makes for less than easy rotation, so I removed the arm!
In the case pocket it goes.
Easier said than done though, with the screw as new I did not want to booger it up, so I tried a few coins, an old penny is a decent fit, but somehow a souvenir WWII pfennig made of Zinc was better - metric? - so I used that to undo the very very tight screw, to the point of removing this troublesome arm, screw back down tight, the little collar makes the nicest handle for the delightful Tremar, which is truly a work of art in more ways than one.
One way is restringing, the ease of restringing is beyond compare, compared to the more ubiquitous Bigsby, stringing the Tremar makes you feel like you could tackle open heart surgery, whereas stringing a Bigsby feels like you're trying to roll a cigarette with rubber gloves on your hands.
And so I was sick of the ice brewed GHS Cryo Steels .009's that were on there and switched them out one by one - the right way - for a set of these amazing GHS Brite Flats .010's, and the S-50 really came alive with the big strings. Flats have more tension than roundwounds of the same size, so more tension, feels more like a Fender and in fact twangier with a much stronger fundamental note, really rings. This Alder bodied guitar really has an impressive ringing quality, great natural sustain, very clear tone.
Strings have gone up but they cheaper by the 6 pack.
Biggest mod on this guitar in 50 years, taking the trem arm off. Speakes volumes that Guild don't need messed with to sound good. An SG from the same era would not be this untouched, very very rarely.
Now I have full access to the very sensitive knobs ;] The volume really cleans up but also gets some whacked out rasp on 10, the trick is to find the breakup point and use touch sensitivity to bark out notes, basically goes into Marshall Plexi mode from 8 to dimed.
No need for 11 on this baby.
The treble is as equally sensitive, capable of rolling back from bright to neutral to the darkest woolly mammoth tone, has a distortion all it's own it's so blatantly bassy, basically a toneful fart, which can be modulated to a lesser extreme for some very vintage Blues tone a la John Lee Hooker, early electric player who sounds a lot like Canned Heat but 20 years before.
Amp is turned as to not blast yourself out but give your audience the joy of a 2" speaker running on a 9V battery, but it's all vintage Japan analog and actually has great tone.
The other side of the Tweedy. This little guy is great for troubleshooting also.
The brilliant Tremar. The little stub arm works perfectly to quaver notes and looks cooler than operating the arm the regular way. I may never put the redundant arm back on.
At this precise angle, operation is very natural. The Tremar must be worthy of a Nobel, in the guitar world.
The screw is still pristine as if never screwed.
And so I had been thinking about that for a while, how limp it felt and sounded, bigger can better.
And as cabin fever has really set in now, I was also contemplating if the guitar's somewhat woofy natural tone would pair well with the [unbelievably shrill] Guild Tweedy Bird micro marvel amp which came my way from previous Guild fever.
And yes, the combination of the S-50 Tweedy Bird is truly sensational.
The tiny but cute amp is just simply on/off, very free from defects like battery drainage or any issue and actually loud, as in noisy, as in raspy and potentially unpleasant, and this is where the S-50 comes in.
The volume/treble pots are the most sensitive and interactive I've seen, which is a good thing, maybe even a chicken and egg thing, like would I even know or care they were they interactive had I not been stuck with one pickup? Necessity is indeed a mother.
So, rolling the volume back to 7 or lower gets you some clean tones, if too bright, roll back the tone. I've never seen a guitar get more "woman tone" than this Guild, some tone cap.
Never bothered to look at it because the pickguard screws have never been turned, and I don't turn things that have not been turned before, if I can help it, so I do have to live with the guilt of self inflicted butchery to a Guild.
Now we get into the "Heavy Mods".
The silly trem arm was just incredibly in the way of the knobs, and it's tight never used condition makes for less than easy rotation, so I removed the arm!
In the case pocket it goes.
Easier said than done though, with the screw as new I did not want to booger it up, so I tried a few coins, an old penny is a decent fit, but somehow a souvenir WWII pfennig made of Zinc was better - metric? - so I used that to undo the very very tight screw, to the point of removing this troublesome arm, screw back down tight, the little collar makes the nicest handle for the delightful Tremar, which is truly a work of art in more ways than one.
One way is restringing, the ease of restringing is beyond compare, compared to the more ubiquitous Bigsby, stringing the Tremar makes you feel like you could tackle open heart surgery, whereas stringing a Bigsby feels like you're trying to roll a cigarette with rubber gloves on your hands.
And so I was sick of the ice brewed GHS Cryo Steels .009's that were on there and switched them out one by one - the right way - for a set of these amazing GHS Brite Flats .010's, and the S-50 really came alive with the big strings. Flats have more tension than roundwounds of the same size, so more tension, feels more like a Fender and in fact twangier with a much stronger fundamental note, really rings. This Alder bodied guitar really has an impressive ringing quality, great natural sustain, very clear tone.
Strings have gone up but they cheaper by the 6 pack.
Biggest mod on this guitar in 50 years, taking the trem arm off. Speakes volumes that Guild don't need messed with to sound good. An SG from the same era would not be this untouched, very very rarely.
Now I have full access to the very sensitive knobs ;] The volume really cleans up but also gets some whacked out rasp on 10, the trick is to find the breakup point and use touch sensitivity to bark out notes, basically goes into Marshall Plexi mode from 8 to dimed.
No need for 11 on this baby.
The treble is as equally sensitive, capable of rolling back from bright to neutral to the darkest woolly mammoth tone, has a distortion all it's own it's so blatantly bassy, basically a toneful fart, which can be modulated to a lesser extreme for some very vintage Blues tone a la John Lee Hooker, early electric player who sounds a lot like Canned Heat but 20 years before.
Amp is turned as to not blast yourself out but give your audience the joy of a 2" speaker running on a 9V battery, but it's all vintage Japan analog and actually has great tone.
The other side of the Tweedy. This little guy is great for troubleshooting also.
The brilliant Tremar. The little stub arm works perfectly to quaver notes and looks cooler than operating the arm the regular way. I may never put the redundant arm back on.
At this precise angle, operation is very natural. The Tremar must be worthy of a Nobel, in the guitar world.
The screw is still pristine as if never screwed.
Last edited:
