Conference napalm::guitar

    
    Solid?  Wow, all the ones I ever played were semi.... nice guitars.
    
    
    Guy (A closet Guild fan).
    
    

    Guild's current version of the Bluesbird is called the Nightbird--a
    semi with carved spruce or maple top--and is a better design and
    probably better quality than the original Bluesbirds, which were also
    called M-80's, M-75's and a few other things.
    
    A solid version is currently called The Bluesbird, and the first
    Nightbirds were called Bluesbird GG, after George Gruhn, who designed
    them.
    
    These are readily available at $600-$800 depending on features and
    condition. Most vintage dealers will have an original Bluesbird in
    stock.
    
    Danny W.

    I'm currently putting bucks aside for a Gibson ES-335 (not quite there
    yet) is a Guild Nightbird (or a used Bluebird) something worth looking
    into?  Anybody out there played both and have an opinion?  I'd be using
    it mostly for blues, I am studying blues and jazz after playing
    folk (and a little classical) for awhile.
    
    - Evan

    I had one of the first Nightbirds made. It was a pretty, generally
    well-made instrument, with a very good sound for its size. It was very
    light and had good playability. The best sounds out of it were a nice,
    midrangy blues sound and an equally nice funk bite. The jazz sound was
    too nasal for my taste. 
    
    There were a few other things I didn't like. The hardware was terrible;
    the Gotoh imitation Klusons were actually worse than the real thing,
    the imitation vintage TOM didn't have enough adjustment range, and the
    black anodizing was badly done. The neck was too flat (for me) at the
    12th fret--I would have liked to have a little more wood there. The
    mahogany neck was fine for the light gauge strings that it was shipped
    with, but when I installed a LTHB (.010"-.052") set, it lifted quite a
    bit. This is normally not a problem, but combined with a very shallow
    neck set and limited adjustment on the bridge, I could not achieve the
    low action with these strings that I could with the lighter set,
    despite readjusting the truss rod.
    
    This guitar was a prototype, so it is possible they have fixed some of
    these problems since then.  Still, compared to most of the original
    Bluesbirds I have played, this was a much higher quality, more
    versatile instrument.
    
    Overall, whether this is a better choice than a 335 depends on how much
    you value the smaller body size. If, like me, you are comfortable with
    larger guitars, then I think there is no contest--I'd pick the 335.
    
    Danny W. 
    

    Danny, thanks for the information.  As I have no experience with electric
    guitars and both my acoustics have relatively small bodies (OOO sized
    steel string and an Alvarez-Yairi Classical), I suspect I'm going to
    need to play one or more of each type and see how they fell and sound.
    
    Does sound like you can't go to wrong with a Gibson, though the Guild
    is a definite maybe (light weight sounds good for long practice
    sessions).  I ought to take the Staten Island Ferry to go visit
    Mandolin Brothers and try both out -- their catalog seems to invite
    this sort of shopping.
    
    Any thoughts on what a fair price is for a used (not vintage or
    necessarily collectable) ES-335 or Nightbird?
    
    - Evan

    Not to get too off the subject, but I seem to recall guild making a
    solid body instrument that was VERY similar to a gibson SG, around the
    mid 70's I believe.  Anybody know what they were called, what one might
    expect to pay for one?

    
    Re: .6
    
    I seem to recall the model as an S-100.  The bass, which looked like an
    EB-3 was a JS bass.  They also made these things in their Madeira
    (import) line, I owned the EB-100 bass (guitar was EG-100) for awhile.  
    
    Oh yeah, they also made a few of these which had an oak and acorn
    design carved into the top of the body (why??).  The husband/wife
    guitar/bass team from the Worcester MA band "Creatures of Habit" used
    to have a matched pair of these....
    
    Price? Who knows?  I wouldn't pay over $200 myself.
    
    							Brian
    

    re; -.1, -.2
    
    There were also S-90 and S-50's and probably a few other, in-between
    models. 
    
    The "Natural Finish, Handcarved" versions were in response to all the
    hippies sanding down their custom color Strats and refinishing them
    natural, usually after carving peace symbols into the face. The Guilds
    were just pre-mutilated. Kinda trendy, don'tcha know.
    
    I agree with the estimate of value expressed previously. Maybe less.
    Dealers generally ask $200-300, but they ask that much for Silvertones
    these days.
    
    Danny W.

    Sounds to me like these would be a pretty decent buy for that kind of
    $$$s.  My recollection (which might admittedly be a bit warped after
    all these years, is that they were pretty close to the SGs of the day
    both in sound and quality, and weren't cheap either.