GUILD SURFLINER

10
GUITARIST SUMMER 2022
GUILD SURFLINER
make up the body spread, and there’s a little
striped grain poking through, too.
The distinctive back-angled headstock
is spliced on at the 2nd fret and is already
featured on the Jetstar, along with the
Starfire I Jet 90 – the only other three-
pickup Guild electric in the current range
– and apparently the Guild logo here is
resurrected from the 1980s. To be honest,
the head looks a bit oversized, and that logo
a little lonely on the expanse of plain maple,
not helped by the bright white truss rod
cover. Another oddity is that we have 23 frets
– pretty unusual for any electric, old or new.
While the actual name might come from
a train, the surf bit suggests a vibrato, which
is missing here in favour of a tune-o-matic
bridge and strings that pass through the
body and are anchored in recessed ferrules
on the back. It’s the sort of setup you see on
much more progressive-style guitars (see
the Manson ORYX, for example, later on in
this issue). The HSS pickup complement is
more modern, too, even though Guild pairs
its original small-footprint LB-1 humbucker
(a design that dates back to the early 60s) at
the bridge with two new-design DeArmond
4. Part of the Newark St
range since 2013, the
contemporary LB-1
‘Little Bucker’ revisits
the original Guild
humbucker that first
appeared in the early
60s. It uses an Alnico V
magnet with a measured
DCR of 5.03kohms
and is a good match,
output-wise, for the
single-coil Aerosonics
1. Recalling plenty of
two- or three-pickup
guitars from the 60s,
these modern mini-
rocker switches simply
turn each pickup on
or off, providing seven
selections and the
ability to totally mute
the output
2. Whatever your thoughts
on this oversized
headstock, it offers
straight string-pull from
the nut to the tuners and
is back-angled, meaning
you don’t need string
trees. The split-post
tuners are perfectly
functional, and it’s very
stable, tuning-wise
3. Guild’s owner, the
Cordoba Music Group,
also owns the DeArmond
brand and already
produces a modern
version of the Dynasonic
as used on the X-175
Manhattan Special.
These new Aerosonics
are the only Fender-style
single coils used on the
Newark St guitars. They
have a measured DCR of
6.57kohms (middle) and
6.31k (neck)
Aerosonic single coils in their partial metal
covers. Because the tune-o-matic sits quite
high on the body, all three pickups have to
be raised some way from the scratchplate.
We’re on safer ground with the rear-
mounted volume, tone and output jack,
which are standard stuff, as are the ‘G’
logo Guild knobs, but the pickup selector
switches throw another curveball. These
are neat little on/off ‘rocker’ switches, one
for each pickup, and the sort of thing you
might see on a modern table lamp. As well
as the ability to completely mute the guitar
you get the standard Strat-like selections,
plus bridge and neck and all-three together
– seven combinations in total.
1
2
3
The neat little on/
off ‘rocker’ pickup
selector switches
throw a curveball
GIT488.rev_guild.indd 10GIT488.rev_guild.indd 10 07/07/2022 10:5307/07/2022 10:53