I don't know if this will benefit anyone, but I felt motivated to add my impressions of the Guild Bluesbird. I have owned a 1974 left-hand Bluesbird for about ten years now, and I'm very happy with it. I owned a similar vintage Gibson ES335 before that, and while I sorely miss it, the Guild is close to it in terms of sound and playability. For the price (used), these are great accessible instruments which are well-made and easy to maintain. The pickups are easily equal to Gibson (as I see it, it's not really hard to get good tone from electronics as long as they're from a quality manufacturer) and the neck is neatly shaped, especially if you are into involved chord formations. The hardware is not very sexy, and the design lacks some of the refinement of the prestige brands, but this is what you'd expect from a 'second-line' maker anyway. The important thing is that it's a great studio instrument (very dynamic and full signal through a direct line) as well as a dependable axe on stage, staying in tune under duress.
If you see one, try it out... much cheaper than a Les Paul, but quite the same sort of guitar.
1 Comment
1974 M-75
Submitted by Jeff B. (not verified) on
I don't know if this will benefit anyone, but I felt motivated to add my impressions of the Guild Bluesbird. I have owned a 1974 left-hand Bluesbird for about ten years now, and I'm very happy with it. I owned a similar vintage Gibson ES335 before that, and while I sorely miss it, the Guild is close to it in terms of sound and playability. For the price (used), these are great accessible instruments which are well-made and easy to maintain. The pickups are easily equal to Gibson (as I see it, it's not really hard to get good tone from electronics as long as they're from a quality manufacturer) and the neck is neatly shaped, especially if you are into involved chord formations. The hardware is not very sexy, and the design lacks some of the refinement of the prestige brands, but this is what you'd expect from a 'second-line' maker anyway. The important thing is that it's a great studio instrument (very dynamic and full signal through a direct line) as well as a dependable axe on stage, staying in tune under duress.
If you see one, try it out... much cheaper than a Les Paul, but quite the same sort of guitar.