@Blues&BebopFan - I have been fantasizing about buying a vintage Aristocrat for almost 20 years now, and all I can say is I would absolutely recommend picking one up if possible. The vintage ones are super expensive (relatively - it it said Gibson it would be $15k at this point), and have doubled in price over the last 15 years or so. In the Guild world of collectibility and future value it is one of the best by far, and with people like Joe Bonamassa/St. Vincent/Jack White picking one up and promoting it I would only expect the price to go up. They are truly unique, and purely a Guild invention, made for the gigging jazz guitarist in NY in the 1950's. Lightweight, and they sound incredible, super easy to play! It projects well acoustically so you can spend hours just noodling on the couch unplugged without even noticing, and 4.5 lbs (give or take) means that it won't break your back on a gig.
I would even recommend picking up a used Newark Street one from 2014-present just to get a feel for it. They are a fraction of the price, almost the exact same build, and they too are light weight and sound really killer for a MIK guitar. My 57' is woody and warm, and the Franz pickups break up in the best kind of way because they are low wound so you can crank the amp up to its sweet spot and the guitar can live right there without too much breakup. Or get the amp hot, and let your fingers create the dynamics! The ONLY downside is that it will feed back if turned up high enough as it is fully hollow. The MIK is very similar, but the lacquer finish and slightly brighter Franz reissue pickups are not as warm/woody/vintage sounding and it needs to be broken in a bit. I got around this by adding flat wounds and a wooden bridge similar to the ones from the 50's. Semi-flats will probably do the trick as well. Also the bridge on the new ones is pinned to the top unlike the vintage ones which float and can scratch the top if not handled properly. You can see the bridge wear on the top of my 57' for instance.
This is my 2015. I added Kluson vintage tuners with cream buttons (nothing wrong with stock tuners, just an aesthetic choice), a Guild ebony arch top bridge, and a toggle switch plate that matched the vibe. Its a killer guitar. Also for the record, the new ones have plastic inlays similar to a Rickenbacker. Oddly enough, there was an era of Aristocrats that had clouded plastic inlays in the 50's, my 57' is one of them! They tend to shrink and fall out over time, and you should always look to see if they were replaced (its a good thing if they were since it is an expensive job, but it technically decreases value - whatever that actually means in this Guild underworld). Im pretty sure most of the later 50's-early 60's models are all block pearl. Also, if you are seriously considering making the 5K purchase, make sure it comes with its original brown Lifton case as they are also valuable ($400-$500 ish)!
@SFIV1967 Ralf I forgot about those! Wow, i remember trying them out somewhere before the Cordoba acquisition and not liking them at all. Maybe because there were a handful of vintage D-40's and D-55's next to them! I had no idea they released brand new models with the same script logo! My vintage one has a much better inlay in that it is an actual inlay and not a graphic, and I purposely sought out the script logo on this particular model as it is rare and rad. I hope the new Guilds are better that the ones from the 2010's era. My experience may have been a bit skewed.
There were many logo changes in the first 5 years of the company, and they landed with the “peak” logo and chesterfield inlay in late 57’, and around 64’ went with the now recognized ‘domed’ headstock instead of the open book Gibson-style.
