My first Guild.   I was impressed by its simplicity and its lightness yet it really played.    In fact a very bluesy little guitar.    Quite an Icon this one.    Real campus Rock n Roll from the '60's.  

Now:    Long gone.

Gorgeous!

Now:    It went to an enthusiast in N Ireland.

I bought this over the internet from a music shop in Maryland. USA.    I was really attracted to the amazing sunburst.    When I opened the case it was another of those guitars saturated with the rich aroma of fresh tobacco leaves (not tobacco smoke)  rich, pure, sweet tobacco.   Intoxicating!   Great for playing the Blues!

It was a one owner guitar who, at some time, had changed the pickups  (the original Guild humbuckers were in the case).    I haven't yet identified those 'buckers' but the tone is pure Johnny Smith.     I love this guitar.      

Now:      

I discovered this one in Ontario.    Another one owner guitar with an amazing faded sunburst.

Truly Mint, it was a jazz guitar through and through.   Better than any ES-175 in its day!    

Now:    Being loved in The Hague. 

This is the thinline Manhattan and, again, I managed to buy it from its original owner, an accomplished jazz player in Sarasota who needed to pay his bills.    It came with an unwound 3rd string which I found I liked and still use.

This is truly gorgeous and is still Mint.      

Now:     Bopping in Bromsgrove.

This was an early Corona guitar, made by the team that transferred from the Waverley Plant and it was well made, using good woods.    It had great tone.    The 150 is a really nice simple guitar and holds its head up alongside a single pickup ES 175.

Now:    Swinging in Stoke on Trent. 

These are legendary  -  a special series of just 50 guitars  (as are the X-700's) and finished in Opulent Brown.    Oh, a real work of art but a big, heavy guitar.    With the passing of time I feel much more at home with thinlines and with slightly smaller bodied guitar.    What they loose acoustically my Polytone Mini-Brute II puts right

Now:  With a new owner who is so, so pleased!

I love these Vintage Guilds.    They are much better guitars in my view than their Gibson counterparts.    Great presence,  great tone and a great joy to play.  

This had been used regularly but very well cared for when I bought it and it has mellowed to become a delightful,  sweet instrument but still with that typical Guild "punch" when you want it.

Complete and original with its original case.

Now:    Making sweet jazz in France. 

I just had to include an X-700 in my collection and after all those gorgeous Sunbursts I couldn't  resist this perfect Blonde.

Another one owner guitar that was a sheer joy to hold and to play!

Now:    Harvey is taking good care of it.

The old Johnny Smith Awards have such a reputation, somehow the Artist Award didn't quite match up.

I have looked for an original JS for quite a while and probably will go on looking.     But when this Benedetto came up I was hooked.    I had a Benedetto Masterbuilt Stuart a while back and it was such a great guitar that I knew Benedetto's  re-working of the JS would be special.     After all,  everybody else says so!

Now:    It is stunning!

A CE-100 has been on my list for a long while.   A nice uncomplicated,  well-made, working musicians Guild.

This one plays so well.   It is all original, down to its Stove knobs and Ghost label.    It even has its original case.

Now: