NGD- 1953 Guild X150!

[die Bullen]

Although I am new to LTG, I had actually been searching for just the right 1950's Guild cutaway for many months. Now I've found one- a 1953 X150 in sunburst- very nice condition!!! It will be even nicer though when I get some flat Thomastik 11's on this baby- I think it has round 9's now and they really feel chintzy to me.

Pictures of the X150 sitting next to a friend's x50 that I have been borrowing for some time.

dB

 

[littlesongs]

Congratulations!!! I'm having trouble seeing any pics. My guess is that AxeTalk doesn't allow cross posting. So far, only my mind's eye is in lust. :wink:

 

[die Bullen]

any other way I can post images?

 

[littlesongs]

Congrats dB!!!

 

[die Bullen]

thanks littlesongs for posting these for me!

I really like the simplicity of these guitars- nothing fancy- just TONE.

I can also see already that I am going to be looking for a 50's blonde soon!!!!

 

[AlohaJoe]

Very nice X150!

There's hardly anything that compares to the simple beauty of a 1x4... 1 pickup, 1 volume knob, 1 tone knob and 1 tube amp = music heaven! 8)

Try the flat Thomastik George Benson 12's sometime. I like the Thomastik 11s on my old Starfire but I like the 12s on my X150 a little better. They have a slightly higher polish and the feel is incredibly smoooooth.The next time I change strings on the Starfire I'm going to 12s.

 

[twocorgis]

SWEET! Congrats, dB!

 

[die Bullen]

thank you for the well-wishes!

Just a question on the 12's- don't you find 12's are a bit stiff for the old "professional scale" guitars? I've never played 12's myself so I really don't know.

I tried 14's on a (Verri?) jazz archtop and I found them unpleasantly stiff to play. I'm not really doing bends so I don't care so much about bending but I didn't like the 14's- maybe I am just not macho enough!

This guitar is not set up for my own strings yet so I could move to 12's- do really you see that much of a difference in tone/ feel/ playability?

One thing I can say is that this guitar is awful with round 9's (not the guitar's fault!). I am actually playing the x-50 with 11's because I can't bear the feel of these lighter strings until this thing is properly set up.

And BTW the '63 Reverberocket is super-minimalistic too. Only one tone knob- I LOVE it!!! My favourite amp by far!

 

[AlohaJoe]

don't you find 12's are a bit stiff for the old "professional scale" guitars? I've never played 12's myself so I really don't know. I tried 14's on a (Verri?) jazz archtop and I found them unpleasantly stiff to play. I'm not really doing bends so I don't care so much about bending but I didn't like the 14's- maybe I am just not macho enough!

14s would probably kill me, :lol: but 12s strike a good balance for me in the tone vs comfort battle, especially if you're not too bendy. The Bensons are 12-53 and the 11s are 11-47, so there's a bigger difference on the bass side.

This guitar is not set up for my own strings yet so I could move to 12's- do really you see that much of a difference in tone/ feel/ playability?

Yes, all of the above. I wouldn't replace new strings though, but next time give them a try and see what you think. If I remember correctly. the scale length on the older X150 is longer than the newer ones.

And BTW the '63 Reverberocket is super-minimalistic too. Only one tone knob- I LOVE it!!! My favourite amp by far!

Minimalist is good!

 

[die Bullen]

This guitar is not set up for my own strings yet so I could move to 12's- do really you see that much of a difference in tone/ feel/ playability?

Yes, all of the above. I wouldn't replace new strings though, but next time give them a try and see what you think. If I remember correctly. the scale length on the older X150 is longer than the newer ones.

Normally I'd agree with you on this one, play the heck out of the 9's and then change them when they are dead but honestly the 9's make me not want to play the guitar. I just don't like the way they feel at all- sometimes I am fingerpicking bass and rhythm at the same time, which works great with flat 11's but falls on its face completely with 9's- the tension is just way too low.

I'll kick around 12's vs 11's- I guess one factor is whether I can actually find TI 12's- I have one set of 11's left so if I can find a set of 12's locally maybe I'll give it a try. Otherwise I'll just use 11's now and maybe step up to 12's next time. The Thomastik strings ain't easy to find!

Alternately, the X-50 needs a refret anyway so once those strings are dead I will refret and maybe have it set up with 12's.

 

[Frosty]

What a gorgeous old Guild - congratulations!

Thomastik strings... my favorite.

 

[Thunderface]

Holy Moly Mother of Guild Goodness! Congrats and way to make a splash with that introduction.

 

[die Bullen]

hey I like to get started off on the right foot!

 

[capnjuan]

Hi db; that's quite a duet of Guilds 8) 8) Welcome to LTG!

 

[Walter Broes]

Beautiful guitar, congratulations!

 

[MojoTooth]

beautiful guitar...and I WANT an X-50 so badly!

 

[die Bullen]

The X-50's are definitely out there! I don't know about the later ones but the ones with the Franz P-90 sound magical!

 

[zizala]

Wow.....what a great looking early X-150. Congrats!

I like the New York era 25.5 scale necks.....and the proportions of the older cutaway bodies.

I use round wound 12's on mine......but all this is a matter of personal preference.

As for the X-50.....probably one the best buys in vintage electric archtops.
My long scaled '55 is plain and simple and comfortable to play, but has a sound that stands right up with the fancier models.

Enjoy!

z

 

[die Bullen]

agree there- the X-50 is totally underrated. However the X-150 is nice because of the cutaway- sometimes I do need to get up past the 14th fret easily...

 

[die Bullen]

Just got this back from the tech last night- after adjustments to the bridge, saddle, change of strings and gluing down a loose block inlay, this guitar is a-screamin'. Actually plays much better than the x50 (but that needs a fret job as frets are separating everywhere on the board). They both sound very similar, but after all they are very similar guitars!

The strings are everything on this guitar- there wasn't one guy who saw those 9's and asked me what the heck is with the strings. In the end I used TI flat 11's because I had them lying around. Would have tried the 12's but couldn't really find them locally and didn't want to wait another week to set it up.

dB