beatcomber
Junior Member
Guild guitars have only recently gotten on my radar, and after lurking for a while I wanted to stop in to introduce myself and say hello.
Earlier this year I purchased a new X-175B Manhattan and have been extremely impressed by its ease of playing and terrific vintage-inspired tone. I have it strung with Thomastik Infeld .011 flatwounds, which sound and feel great on that guitar. I replaced the stiff Guildsby spring with one of those Reverend 'soft touch' springs, which not only made the wang-dang-doodle bar more usable but also made the overall feel of the guitar more slinky.
I was so impressed by the X-175B that I started taking a closer look at vintage Guild archtops, and came across a very good deal on a clean '64 Starfire III (with original case) as an early 60th birthday present for myself (I was born in 1964), which I received yesterday.
Like many vintage Starfires apparently, the bridge is bottomed out, but fortunately the action is as low as anyone would ever want. The frets are extremely low (the previous owner had them professionally redressed), which required some adjustment on my part because I am not accustomed to such low, fast action. I initially thought the guitar would require a total re-fret job, but I think I can quickly get used to it as is; it plays very cleanly up and down the entire neck, with no buzzes or dead spots.
The guitar came to me with .012 roundwounds on it. I inherently have no problem using fat strings (I have .012 flats on my '55 ES-125), but found them to hard to push against those low frets. After some experimenting with different gauges, I've settled on .010 rounds (and a lighter touch from my picking hand).
The Anti-Hum pickups sound wonderfully rich and clear in all three positions, and I am surprised by how much I like the out-of-phase middle position tone.
My impression thus far based on my S-III is vintage Guild electrics offer remarkable value on the current vintage market, and based on my X-175B, I feel that the modern reissue instruments are a fine tribute to the brand's rich legacy, at a very affordable price point.
Earlier this year I purchased a new X-175B Manhattan and have been extremely impressed by its ease of playing and terrific vintage-inspired tone. I have it strung with Thomastik Infeld .011 flatwounds, which sound and feel great on that guitar. I replaced the stiff Guildsby spring with one of those Reverend 'soft touch' springs, which not only made the wang-dang-doodle bar more usable but also made the overall feel of the guitar more slinky.
I was so impressed by the X-175B that I started taking a closer look at vintage Guild archtops, and came across a very good deal on a clean '64 Starfire III (with original case) as an early 60th birthday present for myself (I was born in 1964), which I received yesterday.
Like many vintage Starfires apparently, the bridge is bottomed out, but fortunately the action is as low as anyone would ever want. The frets are extremely low (the previous owner had them professionally redressed), which required some adjustment on my part because I am not accustomed to such low, fast action. I initially thought the guitar would require a total re-fret job, but I think I can quickly get used to it as is; it plays very cleanly up and down the entire neck, with no buzzes or dead spots.
The guitar came to me with .012 roundwounds on it. I inherently have no problem using fat strings (I have .012 flats on my '55 ES-125), but found them to hard to push against those low frets. After some experimenting with different gauges, I've settled on .010 rounds (and a lighter touch from my picking hand).
The Anti-Hum pickups sound wonderfully rich and clear in all three positions, and I am surprised by how much I like the out-of-phase middle position tone.
My impression thus far based on my S-III is vintage Guild electrics offer remarkable value on the current vintage market, and based on my X-175B, I feel that the modern reissue instruments are a fine tribute to the brand's rich legacy, at a very affordable price point.
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