Just joined the GUild club! 1962 X-50 archtop electric

[tremelo68]

Love this thing. VERY solid feeling for an archtop. Heavier than my '49 Gibson L-50. Sweet tone from the P90. Anyone know, are these DeArmonds? Has a nice acoustic tone as well. Action and intonation better than expected, especially since the bridge is not even compensated. All original from what I can see. Has seen some damage in it's 48 years. Two small cracks in the headstock along each side in line with the tuners. A small chip off the top of the back of the headstock that was not very well repaired but can't be seen from the front at all. And what looks like a hairline crack along the neck but might be wood grain. Really hard to tell and the neck shows no signs of weakness. All in all, a great guitar for the money.

I am totally psyched to be a Guild owner. Maybe one of these days I'll find a nice flat top too.

Here is a pic from my phone. Hopefully better pics coming soon (if I can stop playing it enough to take the time to photograph it! :wink: ):

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Welcome! Nice entry to join the club with!

What you have there is the much heralded "Franz" pick-up. Pretty much everyone that has them, loves them!

 

[walrus]

A beauty!! X-50's are a blast to play, you will enjoy it!

walrus

 

[zizala]

Very nice X-50. I love it!

This past year I've become infatuated with old Guild archtops like this.

X-50, T-50, T-100, CE-100, X-100, X-150, M-65....all Franzified.................my oh my.

Such great sounding and playing guitars.....they made it easy to sell an ES-125 and the ES-300 stays in the closet these days.

z

 

[twocorgis]

Welcome! Nice entry to join the club with!

Welcome Tremelo68, nice axe!

What you have there is the much heralded "Franz" pick-up. Pretty much everyone that has them, loves them!

My '59 has two of 'em, and I love the both. 8)

 

[dane]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Guild. That’s a great looking X-50 and I’m sure you’re going to get a lot of joy from it. :mrgreen:

 

[AlohaJoe]

Great choice, and welcome... love the sunburst!

 

[AlohaJoe]

they made it easy to sell an ES-125 and the ES-300 stays in the closet these days. z

Is that the ES300 as your avatar?

 

[zizala]

The avatar photo is a '54 X-100.

Its most like an early X-150 Savoy but without a cutaway....
The 17" body is the size of an ES-300, post-war ES-150, but proportioned more like an Epiphone Triumph.

z

 

[krysh]

congrats and welcome!

 

[tremelo68]

Did the X-50 come with a simple straight bridge or a compensated bridge. I have a friend with a 1961 T-50 and he has the compensated bridge, but I don't think his is original. What says you all?

Mine has the straight bridge and it looks original.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

It might depend on the year.

The earlier models might have had a straight bridge while the later ones were compensated.

My '66 is compensated;

As is the bridge on my '68 A-50;

And my '66 T-50;

 

[tremelo68]

Interesting. My friend's T-50 is a year older, but I think he may have the later bridge. Maybe the original owner got the upgrade added on at a later date. I have been thinking about adding one to mine, but really, the intonation is actually quite good as is.

If I do get one, I might get the Fishman archtop bridge so I can have acoustic and electric amplification.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Jeff Haddad]

Nice "starter" Guild! It looks to be in good shape. Welcome to the club. I usually prefer natural-finish archtops, but the Guild sunbursts are real pretty. The Franz pickups are my favorite.

 

[Thunderface]

Welcome tremelo. You're amongst friends here, especially when you're joining up with such a sweet sunburst X-50 in your possession. Way to make a great first impression.

 

[Walter Broes]

the much heralded "Franz" pick-up. Pretty much everyone that has them, loves them!

And that's almost an understatement!

 

[guildzilla]

Nice guitar. Love the X-50's, plugged or unplugged.

You should check out Walter's links and hear what he can do with a Franz-equipped Guild archtop.

Welcome to LTG.