Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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cdowens64
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Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by cdowens64 » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:30 am

Hi all -- long time reader, first time poster. I'm looking for something different while being stuck at home. I was curious if what the consensus is here on the Guild T-Birds. Reverb has some good prices on them. I'm sort of between the 200, and the blue w/ p90s.

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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by Mechanical Birds » Mon Mar 30, 2020 1:59 pm

Haven’t seen many NGD posts about these which is a shame because they look amazing. There was a lot of positive press for a while about these new Guilds but I saw a dealer video recently where the guy was talking about the ball being dropped/the guitars not selling very well.

I want one of the Tremar equipped ones real, real bad.

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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by Singlebladepickup » Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:23 pm

A user here is building me a 12-string T-Bird with a bolt-on neck. Should be a thread about it before too long. They look incredible, I just didn't have enough need for a six string with hb or p90's (not into hb, got p90 covered). The black one looks so awesome, I wish they had a baritone version.

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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by SAVEStheDAY » Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:43 pm

Aesthetically I've never been a fan, but Guild makes good stuff and I have no doubt that you'll enjoy the way they play.

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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by Embenny » Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:38 pm

The problem, for me, is that their pickups are an odd size of mini-humbucker that doesn't have a direct retrofit. The neck pickups also inexplicably have higher output than the bridge pickups, so many people are at least swapping their positions. Any pickup replacement would require at minimum a custom guard but probably routing too.

I've been keeping an eye on the Puresalem Tomcat, which sports P90s and therefore has a ton of easy retrofits if you ever want to change the electronics (every P90, mini-humbucker and firebird pickup can drop right in).

I need another guitar like I need a hole in the head, but the Tomcat is right up my alley.
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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by cestlamort » Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:00 pm

I am disappointed that the reissue doesn’t have the kick stand

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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by Jaguar018 » Tue Mar 31, 2020 7:44 am

They are the kind of guitars that I want to like because they look distinct, they are Guilds, and they never were all that popular-- but that's always where I leave it. They don't really look cool enough to push them into the 'gotta have it' category for me, in fact, quite the opposite; there are always like six or seven other random guitars new and old that I'd rather have that I'm sure I'd like more.

My semi-educated guess is that you'd lose quite a bit if you got one new and tried to resell it, so used or nothing.

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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by Larry Mal » Tue Mar 31, 2020 8:50 am

I've played one in Guitar Center, I liked it. Nice neck, seemed like good construction. Probably a fine, inexpensive guitar to add to a collection that would add some value there.

If I had $400 to spend I could certainly think of things I would want a lot more, though.
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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by Zork » Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:22 pm

I just learned about the Dearmond Bajo Jet and I'm pretty sure I need it in my life:
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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by cdowens64 » Tue Mar 31, 2020 4:28 pm

Thank you all for the helpful replies.

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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by CROSS_guitars » Tue Mar 31, 2020 6:16 pm

I never quite liked them but now I'm building one, I love the shape now!

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Re: Thoughts on the Guild T-Birds

Post by mondonegro » Thu Apr 02, 2020 4:10 pm

I have a Guild T-Bird. I like it quite a bit. It's usually the guitar I play out with. The playability is up there with my TVL Jazzmaster and my CIJ Jaguar. I love the pickups on the guitar. I mostly play the neck pickup on the T-Bird (on the Jazz and Jag as well). I am not a high gain guy. I pretty much play clean with phase and/or amp tremolo. For my sound, it's a great guitar.

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