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That's a beautiful guitar! I love Guilds!
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12-22-2015 01:31 AM
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Congrats. Guild made some of the best archtops of all time....
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I have a '78 little brother to that (X-175, same body, less fancy, rosewood vs ebony fingerboard) and it's surprisingly loud on strummed chords.
Always good to see another Guild archtop around here.
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That's a beauty! Guilds are great guitars, and their vintage guitars are a tremendous value.
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That is nice! I think I want one. What's the scale on that?
I'm relatively new round these parts so I guess I missed whatever the tiff was with Jack & whomever. I sure value his posts and am eternally grateful for the introduction of the Kemper Profiler too. I'd never have considered laying out that kind of dough for a little box before seeing his demos. It's the best sounding amp I've ever had.
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It's the Gibson type scale @ 24.75". It has a 17" lower bout and a depth of 3-3/8". The nut is 1-5/8".
Originally Posted by geoffsct
Here's the catalog from that range of years:
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I love Guilds !!! X500's are great axes. Congrats !!! Jack off'd another great one.
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That is nice. Out of curiosity, what is the nut width? Congratulations, and play it in good health!
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1-5/8" Originally Posted by citizenk74
That is nice. Out of curiosity, what is the nut width? Congratulations, and play it in good health!
…and thanks!
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I've noticed that Guild X-500's (which are laminated) tend to be found for $3000-5000+, where as the more labor intensive X-700's tend to go for $2000-3000 (all of this varying by age/condition). Do X-500's have a "mojo" of some kind that commands the big$$$ ?
I confess that Mr. Henry M. Johnson & Guild X-500 = Great Tone!
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May I beg to differ? That has not been my observation. Guild X-500s tend to trade about about 15% to 20% lower than the X-700s. Originally Posted by helios
Where an X-700 would sell for about $2995, for example, an X-500 would sell for between $2250 and $2500. That doesn't mean it is not a great guitar. This is how the market is trending.Last edited by Jabberwocky; 12-29-2015 at 05:30 AM.
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Hi Jabber--Do you ever sleep?
I see X-500 prices On Reverb: 8 X-500's ranging from: $2195-4750
On Gbase:7 x-500's ranging from: $2755-4495
On Ebay: 2 X-500's ranging from: $1996-3599
X-700 On Reverb 1 X-700 @ $3737 *Excluding Artist Award Customs* $5995
OnEbay: 1 X700 @ $2450
On Gbase 1 X700 @ $2750
The Music Zoo X-500 looks awesome BTW ! Jeff
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1. It depends on the vintage
2. Asking price and sale price are very different.
A Hoboken made X-500 will list for 4k+, and may sell for that, or may sell for less. Those with Franz pups or DeArmond pups sell for the most. The 60's mini buckers will sell in the 3-4k range. Those from the 70's through the mid 90's (Westerly with HB-1 pups) can be had for 2-2.5k, and mid 90's to early 00's Westerly (Fender pups) along with those from the Corona factory less than 2k.
Also, the asking price for X-500's is usually much higher than the final sale price. I have bought and sold many Guilds over the years, including several X-500's and X-175's, so i am pretty knowledgeable about their value. They are great guitars and those from 1970 on are way undervalued. There are also no bad years like with other brands, so nearly all you find, if properly cared for, should be excellent guitars. Hoboken models will be lighter, but are hard to find, and X-175's are a much better value as it is essentially a less ornate X-500.
I hope this helps.
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Older guilds have a fretboard extension which isn't as elevated as on other archtops, which I find to be a better neck angle. Plus the 24 3/4 scale length, making a sweet playing axe.
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Guilds from the 70's are fine guitars. Gibson archtops made between 1965 and 1981 often suffer from design flaws:
1 9/16 nuts (1966-1969)
ugly as sin volutes (1972-1981)
plain woods on high end models (flame maple was available, but the corporate penny pinchers did not want to pay for it.)
Guilds from the Fender era have pickups that are not as good as earlier Guilds, and with some exceptions, most are painted with poly...
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I dunno, I think his tone on the high strings is too plinky for my tastes. This is the Achilles heel of guitar tone- getting the plain and wound strings to both sound good. I've never managed it to my satisfaction and notice it frequently in the sounds of others. Jonathan Kreisberg and Pete Bernstein seem to have solved the issue. Originally Posted by helios
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Once something gets popular the price goes up real quick. X-500's have become more popular and thus prices have shot up accordingly. They are over cooked right now imo so I would wait or find a more local deal and better price. I'd pay $1750-$2000 for a good one but not much more.
Luckily I bought a 63 for $500 :-)
You can get a better model called the X700. I had one for sale here for like £1500 no one bought it. Sold it on ebay in a heart beat for more.
So if you like guild L5 types, there are some great options just not the X500 which is the one picking up heat. X-175's are also a little over priced imo (stateside of course).
A good X-500 though imo is as good as any Gibson and maybe even better plugged in. Thats why they are popular.
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I picked up a 76 X500 for $2k USD this month. From what I saw on the Guild forums and elsewhere, that is about right for my vintage.
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I'm with those that say the X-500 can be bought for $2000-2500 depending on condition.
A bargain for the price, imo.
Agreed that the X-175 is an even better value.
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Can resist replying to an X-500 thread! Mine is an '81 made in Westerly. I had a love/hate relationship at first because of the 1 5/8 nut width and it seemed awfully boomy. I have small hands so I eventually got used to it, although I'd love to try one with a 1 11/16 nut width. I fixed the boominess after forum suggestions to lower the pickups. It sounds great now.
Here's a youtube I made a few years ago which I feel nicely captures its sound. It's tonally very balanced but has a nice sweet midrange. And it does NOT sound like a Gibson - it's its own thing, which is cool.
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I've seen plenty of X-500's listed for $2k and below.
Just years ago my first purchase of a 17" archtop with "name recognition" was an X-500 for $1500...the guitar was "mint"....craigslist in Georgia.
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Originally Posted by VinceMGuitar
Hi Vince,
Thanks for sharing the great video! I have a better idea of the sound now, and I like it! I'd like to hear your impressions of how the guitar/neck plays, aside from the 1 5/8" nut you commented on. I agree, it's not a Gibson, but it's still all good in it's own vibe kind of a way. Jeff
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Glad that was helpful! The maple neck and ebony fingerboard is really smooth and fast - the skinny neck makes it play way different than the guitar looks, if that makes any sense. But it's not a thin neck like a strat. It's kind if like a baseball bat! Also the 1 5/8 nut width makes it not very well suited to playing fingerstyle in my opinion. But for picking chords and jazz lines like in the video, it's awesome. Originally Posted by helios
So you'll have to decide if you can deal with the feel. It's just personal preference. Like I said, I struggled with it for years. One thing that has helped immensely is a recent string switch I made to TI bebop 14s. Those strings seem to alleviate the playability issues I was having. And they are not that heavy feeling at all. I've never tried strings lighter than 12s on it.
Since it is such an unusual feeling neck I would strongly recommend you play it before pulling the trigger!
Good luck!
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i have one of each , both fixer uppers though so will be a while before I can play them (note to self: have enough projects now until 2020) Originally Posted by snoskier63
sorry for the phone pic
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i sold a '76 for $2000. You can routinely find them in that range or less.
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