GUILD SURFLINER

12
GUITARIST SUMMER 2022
GUILD SURFLINER
GUILD SURFLINER
PRICE: £395
ORIGIN: Indonesia
TYPE: Offset double-cutaway
solidbody
BODY: Poplar
NECK: Maple, ‘C’ profile, bolt-on
SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”)
NUT/WIDTH: Composite/42.6mm
FINGERBOARD: Maple, black dots
(5mm), 254mm (10”) radius
FRETS: 23, narrow jumbo
HARDWARE: Guild tune-o-
matic bridge with through-body
stringing, Kluson-style vintage
tuners – chrome/nickel plated
STRING SPACING, BRIDGE:
51.5mm
ELECTRICS: Guild LB-1 humbucker
(bridge), 2x DeArmond Aerosonic
single coils (middle/neck), 3x on/
off pickup selector ‘rocker’ switches,
master volume and tone controls
WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.06/6.73
OPTIONS: No
RANGE OPTIONS: The Newark St
electrics above the Surfliner start
with the Jetstar (approx. £560)
LEFT-HANDERS: No
FINISHES: Catalina Blue (as
reviewed), White Sage, Sunset
Orange – gloss body, satin neck
Selectron UK Ltd
01795 419460
www.guildguitars.com
8
simply need to be lowered, and both the
2nd and 4th frets are slightly high on the
treble side, again a simple job to spot-level,
reprofile and buff up.
Sonically, what do you think a guitar like
this will sound like? You’re right, a Fender!
While not every Guild aficionado enjoys
the LB-1 bridge pickup, here it’s very well
matched both in output and style; it’s a
lighter, brighter ’bucker, for sure, with a
gritty edge but one that provides some
welcome girth. It can certainly jangle on
clean amp tones and has enough clarity to
work very well with a pedalboard, but it
also works very well with fuzzier gains that
you can easily file under late 60s Stones-y
garage-rock. It also plays well with the
Aerosonics, which might have a slightly too-
crisp edge and relatively trimmed low-end
– but, again, they sound pretty authentic if
you’re chasing more retro single-coil voices.
However, the rocker switch idea is
nowhere near as fast to use as a good ol’
five-way lever switch, which we’d prefer
with a simple pull-switch on the tone to
achieve the ‘seven sound’ mod. As it is, to
move from neck and middle combined to
bridge you have to mute each of the single
coils then switch on the bridge pickup. And,
c’mon, any guitar that you can accidently
totally mute in the heat of battle is a no-no
for any gigging musician, isn’t it?
Verdict
Clearly an attempt to broaden the audience
for its electric guitars in both style and
price, this now start-up Surfliner is going
to polarise opinion. It’s all a little oddball
but somehow manages to come together
to produce some good Fender-based old-
school sounds, which certainly match the
‘was it designed in the past?’ vibe.
While our sample did need a little
tweaking, and we have to question what
exactly those mini-rocker switches are
bringing to the table, particularly for the
gigging musician, this is a very affordable,
lightweight and stable instrument, and we
have to say we’re swayed by the sounds.
Something a little different? Definitely.
PROS Price; acceptable build
quality; lightweight, stable and
resonant with some retro-y voices,
notably the LB-1 bridge ’bucker
CONS The on/o rocker
switches aren’t as fast to use
as a standard  ve-way selector,
which could produce the same
seven selections with a simple
pull-switch; our sample needed
a little basic setup attention
The ‘G’ cut-out on the
neckplate echoes other
Guild hardware such as the
‘Guildsby’ vibrato or harp
trapeze tailpieces found on
numerous other models in
the Newark St range
It’s all a little oddball but
comes together to produce
some good Fender-based
old-school sounds
GIT488.rev_guild.indd 12GIT488.rev_guild.indd 12 07/07/2022 10:5407/07/2022 10:54