**Sold**

[Archie]

Hi all

I've got this on eBay so thought I'd put it up here too.

I bought this guitar for RnD purposes and it's now ready to move on.

These guitars have a design flaw that means after many years and some movement, the break angle over the Guildsby bar, becomes too shallow. People often then take them off as is the case here. I have seen other examples too. Action however is very good and it plays incredibly well, which is typically Guild.

The silver lining is that what was a DE-400, now becomes a 1960's 'thin-line' X-175!
So for jazz enthusiasts, an interesting prospect. Who hasn't wondered what a thin-line X175 would be like?

The closest model to this would be a Gibson ES-350T but from my recollection, the has a deeper tone.

A comfortable guitar that's a joy to play.

Neck is bang on, frets no need for attention, toss rod works with plenty of room to tighten. OHSC + Warranty card and case key

I assume the neck is Brazilian rosewood so UK sales would be better however it's not impossible to ship. Just more paper work! Lastly the pick-guard is a Guild repro from the 1980's.

It's not a collectors example but it's a nice addition to the vintage jazz guitar ecosystem.

Any Q's let me know.

Price £2,299

[Hammertone]

...These guitars have a design flaw that means after many years and some movement, the break angle over the Guildsby bar, becomes too shallow. ...

Please explain how this happens.

[WahmBomAh]

AND it has those incredible pickups !

[Archie]

AND it has those incredible pickups !

Did I forget to mention the incredible pick-ups?

BTW is has incredible HB-1 Mini hum buckers.

[Archie]

Please explain how this happens.

It's the same phenomena that happens to the Gibson ES125's and essentially all 'thin-line' archtops.
If you see the example below, it has almost no break angle over the bridge.

One could if they want, put a Guildsby back on it with the metal bridge and sell it as a more original example for over 3K.
As it is the guitar plays great.

[guitarcarver]

Yep, the Guilds had a fairly shallow neck angle straight out of the factory, so it doesn't take much settling to soak up the range of adjustment at the bridge.

[Archie]

Yep, the Guilds had a fairly shallow neck angle straight out of the factory, so it doesn't take much settling to soak up the range of adjustment at the bridge.

Whilst true, in this case the addition of the Guildsby and the strings coming over the top of the bar, means that even with good neck angle, there never was much, if any break angle.

The neck angle on this is very good. It's just a design floor. The Guildsby was too high the arch wasn't high enough to compensate and the neck angle would have had to be pretty steep, to square that triangle.

As it stands, in a more straight ahead format, the thing practically plays itself. Low action, straight neck, no buzzing and I've got a heavy thumb. There is more room to adjust the bridge down. I tried to show that in one of the pics.

[Hammertone]

Short form:
-shallow neck angle to start;
-age-related convex direction distortion of the body;
-fairly high roller on Bigsby B-6.

Of course, you could always simply string the strings around the roller the other way, so that they exit underneath the bar. The string angle over the bridge would vastly improve, the guitar would be dead stock, and Bigsby would work fine, just in the opposite direction - pull up to lower the pitch, push down to raise the pitch.

Another option, perhaps preferable, is to remove the pins in the roller and make it a string-through-roller, which most players prefer (much easier to string up the guitar). This would somewhat lower the height at which the strings exit the Bigsby, improving string angle over the bridge, possibly enough to be fully functional. I have used this solution when working on 1960s Bigsby-equipped Hofner Verithin guitars, which have the identical issue.

[guitarcarver]

I've never minded the shallower neck angle as long as the action is nice. They actually feel good this way to me.

[Archie]

I've never minded the shallower neck angle as long as the action is nice. They actually feel good this way to me.

I always thought it was part of the reason Guilds play so well. Shallower neck angle, shallower break angle over bridge

I’ve not yet measured the difference between the average Guild and Gibson. I might do it tomorrow but if I had to chose a system based on playability, Guild would win hands down.