Another Guild Electric Question

Dr. Hook

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Hi guys- I am about to order some knobs for my 1964 Polara- someone had put some early 70s Gibson SG looking knobs on it at some point. I have a chance to get some vintage knobs that were reissued when Fender owned Guild, and I was curious if anyone knows whether the original pots Guild used in the early sixties Hoboken era were domestic products or are they SAE/metric sizes. The knobs are a tad pricey, so I want to make sure they'll fit before I buy them.

Thanks!
Jeff
 

GAD

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US-made in the '60s and the term "Metric" don't really go together. :)
 

Nuuska

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US-made in the '60s and the term "Metric" don't really go together. :)


HAH - I still remember, when I first saw that huge sign at 494 in MPLS in summer 1975.

It was :
"Think metric - one mile equals 1609 meters"

Nothing else !!!


I remember thinking - "Great - everybody must be thinking - oh - so simple, just multiply or divide by 1,609 and that´s it..."


So - how far in metric are you these days?

How many gallons to 1 cubic furlong ???
 

adorshki

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:) I hear you, but if the parts are imported? Which is really my question, not whether they are US made and metric

They weren't.
CTS, Allen Bradley, Switchcraft, all US-built. I can't recall an imported maker having any significant presence in 1960's US electronics, not even in the mid-to-late '70's when I sold components and IC's..
but I think the real question might not be whether pot shafts are or were metric, but if the actual shaft diameters have varied over time, whether metric or not.
 

Dr. Hook

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They weren't.
CTS, Allen Bradley, Switchcraft, all US-built. I can't recall an imported maker having any significant presence in 1960's US electronics, not even in the mid-to-late '70's when I sold components and IC's..
but I think the real question might not be whether pot shafts are or were metric, but if the actual shaft diameters have varied over time, whether metric or not.

Thanks for the reply and hmmm . . . you're right, that is probably the question. The only way I guess I'll find out is by buying the things and hope they fit. $70 is a lot for plastic knobs but they look like what originally came on the guitar so . . .
 

GAD

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Thanks for the reply and hmmm . . . you're right, that is probably the question. The only way I guess I'll find out is by buying the things and hope they fit. $70 is a lot for plastic knobs but they look like what originally came on the guitar so . . .

I replaced the pot in a '60s S200 and it was US: http://www.gad.net/Blog/2014/05/20/the-fascinating-guild-s-200-thunderbird/

Guild-S200-Thunderbird-Guts-800.jpg
 

GAD

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HAH - I still remember, when I first saw that huge sign at 494 in MPLS in summer 1975.

It was :
"Think metric - one mile equals 1609 meters"

Nothing else !!!


I remember thinking - "Great - everybody must be thinking - oh - so simple, just multiply or divide by 1,609 and that´s it..."


So - how far in metric are you these days?

How many gallons to 1 cubic furlong ???


As a tinkerer it's infuriating having to have metric and UAE tools. As an American born in the '60s, why should WE change? As someone with an interest in science, metric is the only way and UAE is dumb. What can I say? I'm complicated.

I can go back and forth pretty well having spent a fair bit of time in Europe and having experience with bike parts which have been metric forever, but what REALLY kills me isn't the use of UAE - it's the use of fractions with UAE. Fractions suck.
 

adorshki

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Thanks for the reply and hmmm . . . you're right, that is probably the question. The only way I guess I'll find out is by buying the things and hope they fit. $70 is a lot for plastic knobs but they look like what originally came on the guitar so . . .

Yee-owch that is a lot, but I'm not nearly as "up" on electrics and their parts as I am on acoustics.
Any chance of asking the seller to measure the inside diameter of the mounting holes?.
 

Dr. Hook

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Great article GAD, thanks for posting that. There are lot of similar things there to my guitar, including the silly built in stand, but I just have a simple three way switch. The two knobs with the silver on that Thunderbird look just like the reissues I want to purchase. I reckon I'll pull the trigger on them. I haven't had the guitar plugged in almost a decade, so I am hoping I don't have any work to do on the wiring!

I saw the bridge saddles on the Thunderbird. Mine does not have them, as apparently someone before me (I bought mine in 1986) had taken them off, and the tremolo system is missing a plunger and spring, as well as the arm. It frankly looks like a crap system to begin with and one I can't see myself ever using, so I am in no rush to reconstruct it. I would like to have the bridge saddles though. Not having them doesn't seem to matter, as I used the Polara for about 10 years as a gigging instrument and never had any problems with it, but it would be cool to have the original parts as much as possible.
 

Dr. Hook

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Yee-owch that is a lot, but I'm not nearly as "up" on electrics and their parts as I am on acoustics.
Any chance of asking the seller to measure the inside diameter of the mounting holes?.

Yeah, I'll send him a message and see if he will, the posts on the pots seem to be 1/4 inch at least my measuring skills, but for $70 sale he shouldn't mind :)
 

GAD

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Great article GAD, thanks for posting that. There are lot of similar things there to my guitar, including the silly built in stand, but I just have a simple three way switch. The two knobs with the silver on that Thunderbird look just like the reissues I want to purchase. I reckon I'll pull the trigger on them. I haven't had the guitar plugged in almost a decade, so I am hoping I don't have any work to do on the wiring!

I saw the bridge saddles on the Thunderbird. Mine does not have them, as apparently someone before me (I bought mine in 1986) had taken them off, and the tremolo system is missing a plunger and spring, as well as the arm. It frankly looks like a crap system to begin with and one I can't see myself ever using, so I am in no rush to reconstruct it. I would like to have the bridge saddles though. Not having them doesn't seem to matter, as I used the Polara for about 10 years as a gigging instrument and never had any problems with it, but it would be cool to have the original parts as much as possible.

If it's any consolation, the original bridge sucks. It's like six tiny little knife blades pushing into your palm if you palm mute. I'm an not a fan of the Hagstrom vibrato, either, so any advice I give there will be tainted. :barbershop_quartet_
 

Dr. Hook

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If it's any consolation, the original bridge sucks. It's like six tiny little knife blades pushing into your palm if you palm mute. I'm an not a fan of the Hagstrom vibrato, either, so any advice I give there will be tainted. :barbershop_quartet_

I do mute a lot playing slide, but not far enough back on the strings where that should be an issue. But, hell, it played fine without the saddles for years, so depending on the cost to replace them (Hans thinks he might have something), I'll leave them off. I don't like vibrato systems at all, never have used them, probably never will, but I was interested in restoring it just for the sake of getting the guitar back into original configuration. It will also be played regularly, so if I never get around to the tremar tremolo, I'll live :)
 

Quantum Strummer

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Photography is a good way to get into the metric swing of things. Lenses and filters are measured in millimeters, and while focus distances are often marked (when they're marked) in both meters and feet I don't know anyone who thinks in feet when guesstimating distance. I have a couple old lenses with distances marked in feet only, made pre-WWII for export to the US, and it's really annoying to set approximate focus with 'em. :)

-Dave-
 

DThomasC

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Almost all engineering in the US is done in metric, at least the engineers that I deal with speak metric as a first language. Physical sciences too. When I was a student in the early eighties chemistry and physics were all metric all the time. Biology too. I don't know first hand about the earth sciences, but I'd be seriously surprised if they don't think in meters and kilograms.

Stuff on the shelf at the grocery store almost always has both metric and imperial on the label. Volumes more often are metric with imperial in parenthesis. Weights tend to be the other way around. Many Americans already have some sense of metric units. They all could easily learn to be comfortable with it since we're given so many measurements in both systems. But why pay attention?
 

GAD

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We were all indictrinated when soda started coming in two liter bottles.
 
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