Guild Bluesbird Holoflake

GAD 2 Comments

Here’s another rare Guild from the vault, this one being a 2002 Guild Bluesbird in limited edition Black Holoflake finish. When this guitar with its fairly divisive finish is listed for sale it is often accompanied with a fair bit of inaccurate information, all of which is easily believable due to a seeming lack of hard evidence to the contrary. Read along while I examine this rare beauty and attempt to set the record straight on this incredibly iridescent Guild Bluesbird Holoflake guitar.

Fair warning: this is a long review, and while there’s no math, prepare to be dazzled with science while being dazzled by the guitar.

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Guild Nightbird DX (Deluxe)

GAD 4 Comments

Today’s Guild rarity is the über-rare Guild Nightbird DX, and when I say über-rare, I mean it! They made only 20 of these guitars which means that I currently own a significant percentage of the global supply of Guild Nightbird DX guitars.

Is it worth the hype? What’s it like owning such a rare guitar? Did it cost one million US dollars? I’ll answer these questions and more in this, the only detailed review of a a Guild Nightbird DX that you’re ever likely to find. Let’s take a look at this rare guitar and see if it lives up to the Guild Nightbird name.  (more…)

Guild Tweedy Bird MM500 Micro Mini Amp

GAD 1 Comment

Here’s a fun little bit of Guild history from the 1982 Guild Accessories Catalog: The Guild Tweedy Bird MM500 Micro Mini Amp, and yes, that’s the name, though it depends on where you look as to whether it’s the Tweedy Bird, MM500, or Micro Mini Amp. What are the features? What do all the controls do? How’s it sound? Can you use it as a recording interface?  Does it take micro-SD cards? Is it USB-C compatible? Some of these questions might actually be answered in this riveting review, so let’s take a look at this tiny transistor amp from the early 1980s. (more…)

Guild Newark St. X175 Manhattan Special

GAD 5 Comments

Today’s Guild is a Newark St. X175 Manhattan Special from 2020, and I gotta say that as soon as I saw this guitar announced I knew that I had to have one. From the killer blue finish to the DeArmond pickups, this guitar looks like everything I’d ever want in a guitar. Is it? Read along while I take a look at this gorgeous Malibu Blue Newark St. Guild guitar right down to my comments about the ground wire leading to the tailpiece. And yes, I have comments about that wire.

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My Quest for Guild HB1 Adjustment Screws

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This page outlines my madness in the seeminly endless search for replacement adjustment screws for vintage Guild HB1 humbucker pickups. I have spent WAY too much time investigating these little screws, and decided to put everything in one place to make sharing this information simpler when talking to manufacturers in an effort to recreate these machine screws.

I mean, they’re #4-40 1 1/8″ pan-head machine screws. How hard could it be?

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Guild Newark St. Starfire I SC Review

GAD 8 Comments

Here we have a 2020 Guild Starfire I SC (single cut) in Seafoam Green that I absolutely had to have based on the color alone.

There is a fair bit of stir in the online guitar forums about these Starfire I guitars, most of which revolves around the question, how is Guild making these for such a low price? This guitar has a street price of $599 new! In 2020! Hell a similarly equipped Newark St. Starfire III (which is sort of what this should be called – more on that later) has an MSRP of almost double that of this one ($1,555 vs. $835 in May 2020). So how are they doing this? Cheaper parts? Cheaper wood? Cheaper labor? There are only so many ways to lower production costs, so grab a cocktail while I tear this guitar open to see how they made it so inexpensive in a world where the price of everything is soaring.

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3D Printing a Guitar

GAD 25 Comments

If you’ve read any of my posts or even books, then it should come as no surprise to find that I am an immense nerd. As a nerd, I find anything having to do with technology or engineering to be quite fascinating, and to that end I got myself a 3D printer. As a guitar-playing nerd, one of the first things I wanted to print was a guitar.

Clearly I did just that, but does it play well? And how’s it sound? Read on while I take you through all the details of how I 3D printed this colorful and very ’80s looking plastic Strat that — spoiler alert — plays and sounds just like a Strat!

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Guild S300AD

GAD 14 Comments

Behold the beauty that is the sunburst Guild S300AD guitar. I have bought and sold far too many Guild S300AD guitars with varying degrees of success in my quest to recapture the glorious days of my youth when the S300AD was all I needed in a guitar, but this one is special.

Read along while I regale you with everything I know about these great guitars including why it still may just be everything I need in a guitar along with the reason for me now owning a fifth sixth seventh copy.

I may have a problem.

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1983 Guild X175

GAD 5 Comments

This big ol’ thick piece of blonde jazz box goodness is a 1983 Guild X175 guitar. I scored this gem from a user over on the Let’s Talk Guild forum who thought I might appreciate it and write it up. How could I say no, especially for the nice price he offered and the excellent condition of the guitar?

Follow along while I give this guitar the full review treatment right down to the wiring inside this big ol’ hollow box o’ jazz.

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Identifying DeArmond 200, 2000, and 2K Pickups

GAD 9 Comments

Originally a part of my review of a Guild X160 Rockabilly guitar. I felt that the subject was asked about enough to warrant its own aritcle.

The pickups in Guild X160 Rockabilly guitars are DeArmond 2000s, and yes, this is about to get very confusing. If you’ve done even a little bit of reading about this topic, then your head is no doubt swimming with 2000, 2k, the other 2000, the vintage 200, and maybe that other company that’s making a 2000. Oh, and let’s throw the word Dynasonic in there for good measure.

Let’s talk some history.

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