GUILD SURFLINER
T
he past couple of years
has seen quite a few
changes for Guild’s
Newark Street Collection
of electrics. The main
one is price with guitars like the
Starfi re I thinlines and the
chambered Aristocrat HH and P90
dropping into the mid £450-700
area and resulting in an upturn in
sales. While those guitars still
plunder Guild’s past, a surprise
new entry earlier in 2022 is this
Indonesian-made Surfl iner,
a bolt-on off set that can’t quite
decide if it’s retro or modern. One
thing is for sure, at under £400 it’s
the most aff ordable Guild electric.
The Surfl iner is also completely
unique to the Guild range in that
it’s an original design and, for the
most part, a pretty good one at
that. Based around a Fender-style
25.5 inch scale length the Surfl iner
sports a lightweight poplar body;
our sample is a four-piece spread
and you can see some light grain
through the transparent Sunset
Orange gloss fi nish, one of
three currently off ered.
We’ve seen the distinctive,
back-angled headstock on guitars
like the Jetstar and Starfi re I Jet 90
but not the logo which Guild tell
us is based on a font used back in
the 80s. The bright white truss
rod cover looks rather generic
and, yes, if you’ve counted the
maple fi ngerboard, it has 23 frets
instead of the much more normal
22 or 24.
This off -kilter design style
continues with the hardware and
pickup array. For example, bearing
in mind Guild’s heritage, we get
a tune-o-matic bridge but the
strings anchor through the body
– a set-up more usually seen on
more progressive, modern guitars;
likewise the HSS pickup
confi guration that’s more 80s
than 60s. That said the LB-1
mini-humbucker at bridge does
date back to the 60s, while the
more generic-style Aerosonic
single coils have no historic
reference aside from the
DeArmond brand name.
While you’d expect an HSS
guitar like this to use a regular
fi ve-way lever pickup selector
switch, Guild again takes
a sideways turn by fi tting three
on/off ‘rocker’ switches – the sort
of thing you’ll see on numerous
electrical devices rather than
the slide switches you’ll see on
a Jaguar or Jagstang. Thankfully,
there’s just a regular master
volume and tone, the output
jack being on the guitar’s face
which means a right-angled
jack lead is recommended.
However, this dizzying mixture
of styles actually all comes
together in terms of feel and
sound rather well. That poplar
body ensures a light weight of
approximately 6.7lbs and hangs
very well on a strap. Guild spec the
neck profi le as a ‘C’ but the quite
full shoulders give it a bit more
meat, the fi ngerboard radius is
10” – like a PRS – and the frets,
although quoted as ‘narrow
jumbo’, aren’t particularly tall:
we’d call ’em medium jumbo
– the sort of size you’ll fi nd on
a PRS SE. Comparing the Surfl iner
with a new PRS SE Silver Sky,
which shares the same body wood,
but a price that’s nearly double,
GUILD SURFLINER
Old, new, borrowed and, er, orange.
Let’s introduce the Surfliner!
1
2
3
BODY: Poplar
NECK: Maple, ‘C’ profile,
bolt-on
SCALE: 25.5” (648mm)
FINGERBOARD:
Maple/10” radius
FRETS: 23, narrow
jumbo
PICKUPS: Guild LB-1
humbucker (bridge), 2x
DeArmond Aerosonic
single coils (middle/
neck)
CONT ROLS: Master
volume, tone, three on/
off pickup selector
‘rocker’ switches
HARDWARE:
Tune-o-matic-style
bridge, thru-body
stringing, vintage-style
tuners – chrome/
nickel-plated
FINISH: Sunset Orange
(as reviewed), Catalina
Blue, White Sage
CONTA CT:
Selectron (UK) Ltd
www.guildguitars.com
AT A GLANCE
A DIZZYING MIX OF STYLES
THAT COMES TOGETHER WELL
1
BRIDGE
Stick ‘surf’ into a guitar’s
name and you immediately
think of vibrato and twang,
don’t you? Well, you don’t get
that here, just a generic
tune-o-matic-style bridge and
through-body stringing. In fact
the name comes from the
Pacific Surfliner train service
on the California coast.
2
PICKUPS
The three pickups here are
made by Booheung Precision
Co Ltd in Korea. The LB-1
humbucker uses an Alnico V
magnet with a relatively low
output. The Aerosonics’ flush
rod magnets are also Alnico V
plus they have partial covers
which provide some shielding.
While the LB-1 is hum-
cancelling, so are the neck and
middle pickups and all-three
together when combined.
3
SWITCHING
There are some
advantages to the three on/
off rocker switches. Firstly,
you can switch on and
combine the neck and bridge
pickups for a wider-sounding,
more Telecaster-like mix. Then
you can voice all three
together for seven sounds.
Photography Phil Barker
£395
REVIEW
81
SEPTEMBER 2022 TOTAL GUITAR
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