Guild M-75 Aristocrat

[Stefan Eff]

One's looking for a 15" lower bout guitar this could be a contender
It's fully hollow with parallel bracing
I tried one a few years ago (the new ones) and it's was really dynamic, and the pickups are something.
The neck was really well made. The frets are oversized, and are kind of unique feeling.

Yes, frets are high and not really comfortable (for my liking). I‘ve sanded them down to a more usual height. After that the neck felt great.



I’ve also swapped the metal tuner buttons for „vintage correct“ plastic ones. Another fault is the too high bridge pickup- it sits too close to the strings and loose much potential for that reason. I‘ve routed the pickup cavity to get the pkup ~ 1mm lower, big tonal difference. And yes, those Franz pkups are something else. To me they sound like DeArmond/P90 hybrids. Great and unique.

[johnbrodie]

Let‘s see pics when you‘ve got her!

I'm loving my M-75 aristocrat!!

[johnbrodie]

Sorry to keep asking questions but where do you get the plastic buttons from as I see they are not standard and need a spindle

Yes, frets are high and not really comfortable (for my liking). I‘ve sanded them down to a more usual height. After that the neck felt great.



I’ve also swapped the metal tuner buttons for „vintage correct“ plastic ones. Another fault is the too high bridge pickup- it sits too close to the strings and loose much potential for that reason. I‘ve routed the pickup cavity to get the pkup ~ 1mm lower, big tonal difference. And yes, those Franz pkups are something else. To me they sound like DeArmond/P90 hybrids. Great and unique.

[burchyk]

Those Korean Guilds are great.

My T-50 has better fretwork than my CS Gibson.
I've swapped the magnet for A2, which softened it a bit.
Replaced the bridge with ABM brass TOM.

[johnbrodie]

Those Korean Guilds are great.

My T-50 has better fretwork than my CS Gibson.
I've swapped the magnet for A2, which softened it a bit.
Replaced the bridge with ABM brass TOM.

I had a look at the ABM website. I can't see bridges labelled metric?

[burchyk]

Mine is "2500n-RE". I had to thread the studs into it, but now there is no slop which is a plus in my opinion. The radius on T-50 is less than 12", filed the saddle notches a bit, no biggie.

Maybe there is a better fitting one right out of the box, dunno.

Edit: Fabers are just as good in my opinion.