Guild ST S-200 T-Bird & Hagstrom H-III

111
november 2016 Guitarist
review GUILD S-200 T-BIRD & HAGSTROM H-III
1. The two smaller
knobbed controls are
a volume and tone
for the neck-pickup-
only ‘rhythm’ mode.
The larger knobbed
controls are volume
and tone for the twin
pickup ‘lead’ circuit
2. Hey, it was the 60s!
But this short-lived
headstock design
doesn’t help the
tuning stability of
that vibrato…
3. …and neither does the
standard tune-o-matic,
shown here
4. Pickups here are
two Guild LB-1
chrome-covered
humbuckers, which
feature on a number
of other models in the
Newark St range
5. Clearly inspired by the
Jaguar, the chromed
switch panel houses
on/off sliders for each
pickup, plus a usable
bass-cut for more
single coil-like voices
nut slots of the splayed G and D strings –
and still feel a little unconfident taking it
on stage. The Hagstrom’s system seems
more sorted; its roller saddle bridge is an
omission on the Guild.
Sounds
The sounds here are as diverse as the looks.
The Hagstrom’s voice is quite biting though
Strat-like, simply because of its three
pickups. We get the added all-three-on
and Tele-like neck and bridge, of course,
while the Master Tone and Mute switches
simulate rolling back a conventional tone
control quite a lot and a little respectively.
The Top switch thins the sound a little too
much perhaps, with these biting single
coils. That said, there’s plenty to experiment
with and there are some pristine cleans
that sound nicely sustaining through our
Yamaha THR Dual head, or more piercing
through a Vox AC10 where the H-III does
off; the fourth switch down, Master Tone, is
a preset tone roll-off; the next down, Mute,
does the same but with less high-end cut;
while the lowest switch, Top, is a bass-cut.
The H-III is smaller-bodied than the
T-Bird and there’s quite a difference to
the strapped-on or seated playing feel: the
H-III feels more conventional bolt-on; the
T-Bird is more like the elongated ‘long neck’
feel of an SG. Both share a slightly plinky
acoustic response, no doubt in part due to
their vibrato design. As we said, the Tremar
does feel stiff, and while that’s fine for a
light waggle, any bigger bends can land you
in trouble. Not only do you feel like you’re
struggling with your gear stick on a slippery
corner, but tuning stability is at best just
about okay on the Hagstrom and of the ‘get
sacked from your band’ type on the Guild.
Aside from the usual string stretching, we
spent some time on the T-Bird filing and
smoothing the saddle grooves and the
4
5
The Rivals
More conventional but still out there in
the switching department are Fender’s
Jazzmaster and Jaguar. Try the
Classic Player Jazzmaster and Jaguar
Specials (both £989); the Johnny Marr
Jaguar (from £1,709) makes sense of
the design’s original idiosyncrasies.
Eastwood’s retro restylings include the
Ichiban (£649), which, says Eastwood,
“started as an upside-down Teisco
Del Ray wall clock and became one of
[the company’s] best playing guitars”.
It’s out-there and comes with dual
mini-humbuckers and slider on/off
switches. Italia likes the leftfi eld: how
about the Imola 6 (£699) with three
split single coils controlled by two
three-way lever switches? Inspired!
GIT413.rev_guild.indd 111 28/09/2016 16:00