guildman63
Senior Member
Yes, 25.5.
What is the value of a near perfect 2012ish T500 Blonde
- Thread starter rshinn32
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I will personally handcraft a Squier Telecaster out of chocolate and waffles in exchange for your T-500. Gonna have to wait 'til winter to ship it, though.
Jeff Haddad
Senior Member
I think new they sold for about $4000. I don't remember exactly what I paid for mine, maybe closer to $3500.
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Anybody have any input/opinion on how the T500 compares to an L5 CES in terms of quality of sound, playing enjoyment, etc? Would I be "that much happier" if I waited to find an L5 at around $6k than if I paid $3500 for the T500? I've never played an L5 but my guitar teacher has a Super 400 which definitely has a lovely "bellow" that the T500 doesn't have. Trying to figure out if the incrementally improved "bellow" would be worth the wait and double the price. Plus, I do like just holding a bigger guitar (like my ES-150). Thanks again for all the good input.
powerwagonjohn
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I paid $3500.00 out the door for my GSR Starfire new. I don't know what it would sell for but I would guess $2500-3000. I really wanted a GSR T-500 too! It may have been a good thing Willies didn't have one.
Thanks John
Thanks John
txbumper57
Enlightened Member
There are 3 still new GSR T500's for sale on Gbase from Bing at Guitars of Montana and they are all priced at $3999.99 New. As far as on the open market if they are Used in like new condition I have seen them sell for between $2000-$2500. If they are listed between $2000-$2250 I have seen them sell within a few weeks of the ad posting date. The one's listed for $2500 and higher seem to hang around for a much longer time. Here is the link for the new ones from Guitars of Montana.
https://www.gbase.com/gear/guild-gsr-t-500-2012-natural-1
https://www.gbase.com/gear/guild-gsr-t-500-2012-natural-1
Walter Broes
Enlightened Member
That's a little bit like asking someone else if you'll like a certain type of food you've never had, no?
It's different : L5's and Super 400's have solid tops. The T-500 is a laminated guitar, an L5 is solid wood.
Quality of sound is something subjective, and it all depends on what kind of music you want to play on it.
It's different : L5's and Super 400's have solid tops. The T-500 is a laminated guitar, an L5 is solid wood.
Quality of sound is something subjective, and it all depends on what kind of music you want to play on it.
parker_knoll
Senior Member
Weren't the T-400s listed at $4,000 odd but were actually selling for $2,500 new out the door? E.g. Fullers
This pic reminds me that some of them were selling with plain large old-style scratchplates, and some were selling with the small new-style ones
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txbumper57
Enlightened Member
The GSR T-400 had chrome hardware, Guild Chesterfield Headstock, Block inlays, and LB-1 pickups with an MSRP of $4799. I have seen them listed new as high as $3800 when they first came out and as low as $2699 on sale. The T400's I have seen had the small Guild labeled scratch plates from what I remember.
The GSR T500 had Gold Hardware, Classic Guild "G" shield Headstock, Triangle in Block inlays, and Duncan Made "Franz" styled pickups with a MSRP of $4999. I have seen these listed new as high as $4000 when they first came out and as low as $2999 on sale. The T500's I have seen had the Plain Large style scratch plates from what I remember.
Granted these were made in 2012 and some may have sold new for more or less than what I have listed as this is just based off of what I have seen over the last few years. The T500's I listed at Guitars of Montana are the only ones left "New" that I know of and I believe there are still a few T400's scattered about "New" in shops with 8th street music being one of them in the Philly/Jersey Area and possibly Fuller's Vintage guitar in Houston having one.
Hope this helps!
TX
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8th street is located just across the river from Philly, just to pick nits.
krysh
Guildarist in the mod squad
i paid US$2600 for my new T-400 @ fullers last year
txbumper57
Enlightened Member
Thanks for catching that Default, My mind mixed up 8th Street in Jersey and B Street music in the Bay Area.
TX
AcornHouse
Venerated Member
Yeah, good point. A lot of this depends on what you want to do with the guitar. Those T-500s always looked pretty thin to my eyes and I'd expect them to have a different sound than a deeper archtop, like an X-500. If you really want acoustic jazz sound, you'd be much better off with an L-5 (or an Artist Award!). If you want electric jazz, well, you can play that on anything, even a Telecaster, so it just depends on what sort of sound you're after. You mention "bellow" and it makes me wonder if you want that big, woofy, tone-rolled-off humbucker jazz sound. If so, you might be happier (and save a few bucks) finding a used X-500 from the '70s-'90s.
Oh, Wow! I thought the T500 WAS a carved top and NOT laminated. I guess I'm wrong about that? Are the back and sides also not carved?
Well, I'm actually more into vintage country/rockabilly. So, I really love the 'country' twang that I'm hearing from my instructors Super 400. My '39 ES 150's got it in spades and I absolutely love it. But, the T500, though not quite as nice a sound, is more playable (just feels easier to play and it has the wider fret spacing) and versatile (the 150 feeds back badly as soon as the volume is turned up even a little bit). I guess the 150 just has a certain "depth" of quality (sounds like I'm in a huge hall) whereas the T500 is just a bit more "shallow". Guess that's what I mean by the "bellow". Not sure how much that has to do with carved top vs laminated (maybe not so much since the 150 is plywood all around) or if it's mostly just due to the box size. Yeah, maybe I'll look into an X-500
Well, I'm actually more into vintage country/rockabilly. So, I really love the 'country' twang that I'm hearing from my instructors Super 400. My '39 ES 150's got it in spades and I absolutely love it. But, the T500, though not quite as nice a sound, is more playable (just feels easier to play and it has the wider fret spacing) and versatile (the 150 feeds back badly as soon as the volume is turned up even a little bit). I guess the 150 just has a certain "depth" of quality (sounds like I'm in a huge hall) whereas the T500 is just a bit more "shallow". Guess that's what I mean by the "bellow". Not sure how much that has to do with carved top vs laminated (maybe not so much since the 150 is plywood all around) or if it's mostly just due to the box size. Yeah, maybe I'll look into an X-500
Walter Broes
Enlightened Member
nope, the only Guild electric that has pickups built into the top (as opposed to a floating pickup) that has a carved top is the X700.
But for Rockabilly you really don't need a carved top. In fact, a laminated top is more practical because it doesn't feed back nearly as fast as a carved top guitar.
And yes, what you're experiencing between the ES150 and the T-500 is most likely body size/depth.
But for Rockabilly you really don't need a carved top. In fact, a laminated top is more practical because it doesn't feed back nearly as fast as a carved top guitar.
And yes, what you're experiencing between the ES150 and the T-500 is most likely body size/depth.
I believe the only carved top Guilds are Artist Awards (floating pickup jazz guitars) and the short-lived X-700, which has two HB-1 humbuckers mounted in a carved spruce top, but is otherwise identical to an X-500 (which is laminate). Not sure anything but the Artist Awards have carved backs. As far as electric playing goes, you're likely better off with laminate anyway, as it tends to feed back less. With what you're playing, you'd probably be happiest sticking to single coil models. They did make a handful of P-90, full-depth X-500s, but they seldom come up for sale. As for the T-500, I think it'll have a barkier sort of sound, due to the thin body, and would still be excellent for T-Bone Walker, Eddie Cochrane, etc. style stuff. Woodier than a solidbody, for sure, but more immediate, with less of the elastic sort of ropy response you get from a deeper body (might help w/ feedback, too).