Show me your favorite NON-Guild guitar!

AcornHouse

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Not the most exciting, but the only non-Guild, non-AcornHouse guitar in regular rotation is my '94 G&L Legacy. When I got it I had an American Standard Strat. which was fine, but not overly exciting. I saw the CL listing for the G&L and the price was too good to pass up so I grabbed it. In less than a month, the Fender was gone. It just fit. So, when I want that Strat sound, I eagerly grab it.
10154084_640642911024_155977040306060166_n_zps8tjyd0st.jpg
 

Walter Broes

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Right now, it's probably this :

Kay%20Hot%20Rod_zpsv1wuwouv.jpg


It's a mid 50's Kay-built Silvertone 1365 model guitar. I got it on Reverb, and the previous owner had the neck reset (to a better angle than stock) and refretted with medium jumbos. I had my luthier friend add the Kay "Kleenex Box" pickups, the Bigsby, and the Embie Concepts melita-like bridge. I also added the Supro Kluson tuners to it because I love the way they look and they dropped right in. It's really sort of my Kay Barney Kessel on a budget. It's a lot of fun, plays pretty well, and goes from deep smoky Jazz tones to snotty twangy Rockabilly with most points in between.

A couple of years before I'd put this partscaster together with a swamp ash body I finished myself, and another pair of those Kay pickups.
IMG_5537_zpsuhks1h9o.jpg


There's some spectacular guitars on this thread, love the tele and the Huss and Dalton especially!
 
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CA-35

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OK. I'll play. '11 Huss and Dalton 12-fret 000

image.jpg2_zpsamnjt2jh.jpg


image.jpg4_zpsm7y3j6gp.jpg

Wow. Beautiful guitar. Love the color of the top and I like the tight grain lines on the back, phenominal. Really like how the pick guard is almost tear drop in shape and doesn't ride high up on the sound hole. I dig the design on the larger center rosette too. Stunning acoustic instrument. I can only imagine the sound.
 
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Neal

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Wow. Beautiful guitar. Love the color of the top and I like the tight grain lines on the back, phenominal. Really like how the pick guard is almost tear drop in shape and doesn't ride high up on the sound hole. I dig the design on the larger center rosette too. Stunning acoustic instrument. I can only imagine the sound.

It sounds like angels singing at the top of their lungs.
 

Jeff Haddad

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69teleassembled2-2.jpg


I bought this ca. 1970 Tele body from a friend and had him age some hardware for me. I put on an MJT neck, voodoo pickups and some decals on it and play it all the time.
 

GAD

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I generally do not like darker bursts, but that is a damn fine good-looking Les Paul!

Here's one that I had for a while, but I sold it. I've never seen another like it in that it had a one-piece top! If you look closely there is no seam in the top. Sadly I sold it because it was a 2004 Historic R9 and for the money I had in it I could own four Guilds, which is pretty much what I did. :applause:

I still have the pickups, though. They were WCR Goodwoods and they changed my entire perception of what pickups could be and led me down the dark path of trying to understand them.

_B0Z3354_800.jpg
 

guitarslinger

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Right now, it's probably this :

Kay%20Hot%20Rod_zpsv1wuwouv.jpg


It's a mid 50's Kay-built Silvertone 1365 model guitar. I got it on Reverb, and the previous owner had the neck reset (to a better angle than stock) and refretted with medium jumbos. I had my luthier friend add the Kay "Kleenex Box" pickups, the Bigsby, and the Embie Concepts melita-like bridge. I also added the Supro Kluson tuners to it because I love the way they look and they dropped right in. It's really sort of my Kay Barney Kessel on a budget. It's a lot of fun, plays pretty well, and goes from deep smoky Jazz tones to snotty twangy Rockabilly with most points in between.

OK, I know it's a bit twisted but I've always loved the Melita look. The Embie Concepts (EC) has me intrigued. Are they any good beyond being Melita-ish? What bridge material do you use? Would you be inclined to use this on any other type guitar?
 

Walter Broes

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Hey Guitarslinger, they're better made than the current Gretsch "synchrosonic" bridges. And they have the low profile intonation screws, which is a must to make a Melita playable, those huge thumbscrews are a joke. I like it on this guitar so far, but I don't have enough playing time with it yet for a definitive answer.
 

shihan

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This is a great thread. I'm loving all the different non Guilds. I wish they all had sound samples!
 

guitarslinger

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Hey Guitarslinger, they're better made than the current Gretsch "synchrosonic" bridges. And they have the low profile intonation screws, which is a must to make a Melita playable, those huge thumbscrews are a joke. I like it on this guitar so far, but I don't have enough playing time with it yet for a definitive answer.

What saddle material didn't you choose? Appreciated.
 

shihan

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Bluespicky, it would require major surgery to get that Goldtop. After 45 years, it's part of me.
From that video, you are not in need of another LP! That one looks and sounds fantastic. Great playing (as always!)
 

Quantum Strummer

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I had an Embie on my Teisco ET-300 for awhile.

0D55219C-2245-425D-93D7-1477A8A1E3BA_zpsej7rx4mh.jpg


I went with metal saddles. The bridge allowed me to intonate the guitar properly, though I later went back to the original bar bridge after finding I could relocate it and get much better intonation than the factory setup allowed.

The Kay Kleenex box pickups are terrific. Made by Gibson. Not sure if they're just P-90s with different covers or slightly different in design too. Got a set waiting for the "right" guitar.

-Dave-
 

Walter Broes

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Dave, I've heard the theories they were made by Gibson, but I haven't really seen any real proof of that. It's not a P90 with a different cover.

The basic design is P90-like in that there are two bar magnets under the coil, and it has steel screw poles. But that's where the similarity ends : the average DC reading on a Kay "Kleenex" pickup is 12K which has almost got to point towards thinner coil wire than a Gibson P90 pickup. The poles are strange in that the part that goes through the bobbin to the baseplate is about "regular" pole thickness, and the part that sits on top is a lot bigger in diameter.

Pretty unique pickups, very loud, and fat, huge bass. I went to very high potentiometer values on both the guitars I have them in to get enough treble out of them, they can be a little dull on top otherwise.
 

Quantum Strummer

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In the LP vein, here's a pic (taken by its previous owner) of my Burny Super Grade RLG-50. Made in 1982 or '83. This was their plain-top version. I really like its character. The guitar is fairly lightweight too and plays real nice. It also now has gold knobs, and I'm looking for a cream switch tip that fits properly to replace the amber one.

89486848-0168-40A3-A171-840A5E196AC3_zpsg7paw2yl.jpg


-Dave-
 

Quantum Strummer

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Walter, that's good info to know re. the Kleenex box pickups. I've never taken a good look at mine but I have heard 'em (in a Kay Jazz II guitar). They are indeed darker and thicker than a typical P-90. I've read enough accounts of 'em being made by Gibson to just assume the accounts were accurate…but I should know enough by now, especially when it comes to Gibson, not to ***-u-me anything. :)

-Dave-
 
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