Gibson & Guild

[andrew]

Posting this photo because it seems relevant to the conversation. In addition to their carved guitars, both of these companies could make a mighty fine "plywood" guitar. These are hands down the two greatest laminate archtops I've ever played. And yes, "thunk" is a real thing and they both have plenty of it (especially the 175).

My '55 ES-175D and '58 X-500

[213Cobra]

Posting this photo because it seems relevant to the conversation. In addition to their carved guitars, both of these companies could make a mighty fine "plywood" guitar. These are hands down the two greatest laminate archtops I've ever played. And yes, "thunk" is a real thing and they both have plenty of it (especially the 175).

My '55 ES-175D and '58 X-500

Agree. I had a Guild X500 for 30 years and it had a lot of time out of the case. On the other hand I had an ES-175 with double humbuckers and hardly ever played it, unlike the same-construction ES-165s I have, which are great plywood guitars. The 175 just didn't engage. I'm not sure why, to me, the second (bridge) pickup kills the tone of a 175 compared to a 165, and doesn't murder the two-humbuckers Guild. -Phil

[Archie]

Posting this photo because it seems relevant to the conversation. In addition to their carved guitars, both of these companies could make a mighty fine "plywood" guitar. These are hands down the two greatest laminate archtops I've ever played. And yes, "thunk" is a real thing and they both have plenty of it (especially the 175).

My '55 ES-175D and '58 X-500

A 'ghost label’ X500? I drove 8 hours to buy one from a shop and when i got there, they told me it had sold the night before, even though they confirmed it was still there.
I ended up buying a 67 DE400 just not to go home empty handed.
The ghost label X500 is one of the best sounding guitars out there.

Both Benson and Smith played that version of the 500 at some point.

[andrew]

A 'ghost label’ X500? I drove 8 hours to buy one from a shop and when i got there, they told me it had sold the night before, even though they confirmed it was still there.
I ended up buying a 67 DE400 just not to go home empty handed.
The ghost label X500 is one of the best sounding guitars out there.

Both Benson and Smith played that version of the 500 at some point.

Yep, it's a Ghost Label alright! That plugged straight into a Tweed Bassman or Super is about as good as it gets. There's a pretty wild story about how I came to acquire it. I can share if you're interested, but I don't want to bore everyone else.

It is such a good guitar it inspired me to buy 4 other '50s Guilds with Franz pickups over the years. None of them have quite lived up the high bar this one has set and I've since sold the other ones. There was a '59 X-500 that was pretty darn close, but it had suffered the wrath of a modification-happy previous owner who stripped it, refinished it poorly, and routed it for a neck humbucker (among other things).

What's interesting is the necks on the X-500 and the ES-175 feel very similar. They both have 1-5/8" nut widths (fairly common for Guild, EXTREMELY unusual for a '55 Gibson).

... On the other hand I had an ES-175 with double humbuckers and hardly ever played it, unlike the same-construction ES-165s I have, which are great plywood guitars. The 175 just didn't engage. I'm not sure why, to me, the second (bridge) pickup kills the tone of a 175 compared to a 165, and doesn't murder the two-humbuckers Guild. -Phil

I know it's repeated often around here, but it's really just more proof that you have to judge each and every guitar on its own individual merit. You could have a batch of 5 identical guitars made in the same place at the same time and 3 will be okay, 1 will be amazing, and 1 will be a dog. I feel like the higher up the food chain you go, the more your odds of getting a good one increase, but it's still never a sure thing.

[Archie]

Yep, it's a Ghost Label alright! That plugged straight into a Tweed Bassman or Super is about as good as it gets. There's a pretty wild story about how I came to acquire it. I can share if you're interested, but I don't want to bore everyone else.

It is such a good guitar it inspired me to buy 4 other '50s Guilds with Franz pickups over the years. None of them have quite lived up the high bar this one has set and I've since sold the other ones. There was a '59 X-500 that was pretty darn close, but it had suffered the wrath of a modification-happy previous owner who stripped it, refinished it poorly, and routed it for a neck humbucker (among other things).

What's interesting is the necks on the X-500 and the ES-175 feel very similar. They both have 1-5/8" nut widths (fairly common for Guild, EXTREMELY unusual for a '55 Gibson).




I know it's repeated often around here, but it's really just more proof that you have to judge each and every guitar on its own individual merit. You could have a batch of 5 identical guitars made in the same place at the same time and 3 will be okay, 1 will be amazing, and 1 will be a dog. I feel like the higher up the food chain you go, the more your odds of getting a good one increase, but it's still never a sure thing.

Happy to hear about the acquisition but it's not my thread.

[2bornot2bop]

Good for you Phil, as I said before, you're a man of excellent taste, those Chet 400’s a beautiful.
I’ve been holding back a photo shoot I took a year ago of an AA, JSA, and a BJSA. I put out a couple of teaser shots from the first shoot but took a second better one. I was going to turn some into posters but time and workload get in the way.

I originally started out thinking the best looking archtops were Gibsons, and your Chet400 is one on my bucket list but as time goes on, I find the Guilds have that pure Americana look. There’s a grace a delicacy about them, very art deco. Some of the pics I took made me think of the great buildings of early 1900’s America.
One of my other passions is architecture. I have quite a collection of architectural books and I usually go for the modernist stuff but; sometimes I get a book on American stuff and I get the same feeling, I get from Guild Awards.

Attachment 127350

Nice shot! How many times did you have to adjust each guitar to get the necks aligned?