Guild X-175 Manhattan

October 2013 Guitarist 99
GUILD STARFIRE IV & X-175 MANHATTAN £1,006 & £862
ElEctrics
pair, these instruments
represent one of the most
significant transitions in the
history of not just the guitar but
popular music – a sea-change
that was in itself brought about
in part by the evolution of
electric guitars and
amplification. The X-175
Manhattan is absolutely a child
of the 50s; this is a six-string
with few mod cons and no
obvious safety net. The floating
rosewood bridge seems arcane
in 2013, but intonation
compensation and
thumbwheels for height
adjustment at least allow some
degree of adjustment. Straight
out of the box, it’s a handsome
beast, but tough to keep in tune.
That said, even played
acoustically, that bridge
definitely imparts a woody
character of its own and if you
aren’t hitting the guitar too hard
it’s possible to make it work.
At the headstock end, Grover
Sta-Tite tuners stay tight and
look the part, but we’d have to
either pin the bridge base or use
the Brian Setzer carpet tape
method to keep it in place
before we’d risk the X-175 in a
live environment. A careless
right hand or even an extreme
string bend can make it wander
slightly, which tends to throw
intonation and tuning out
beyond acceptable tolerances.
We can’t help wondering why
features such as jumbo frets
have been incorporated to
appease modern players only
for the bridge to be left
unpinned. That said, the
combination of a 9.5-inch
(241mm) fingerboard radius, a
vintage soft U-shaped neck
profile and big frets make for a
really inviting playing surface –
just be prepared to allow this
guitar to dictate the way you
play to some extent.
Another pragmatic departure
from the original 1950s spec can
be found in the shape of the
peghead. For almost the first
decade of production, Guild
used an ‘open book’-style
headstock silhouette very close
to that used by Gibson and
Epiphone. It’s no great surprise
given that many members of
Guild’s early workforce and
indeed co-founder George
Mann were formerly on the
Epiphone payroll. The only
exception to this rule in the
1950s was the Johnny Smith
Award Model in 1956, which
included a raised section at the
The Rivals
Gibson’s ES-335 (from
£1,699) is the king of centre-
blocked electric guitars, but is
in danger of looking pricey next
to the very reasonable Starfire
IV. Meanwhile, Godin’s 5th
Avenue is
the happening
place to be for great value
hollowbody thrills. The
Composer GT (£999) has a
single humbucker and is from
the old school. Also, be sure to
check out the Hagstrom and
Eastwood catalogues for an
abundance of retro guitars
The Starfire’s ‘Anti-Hum’ pickups were reverse-engineered from originals
The ‘harp’ tailpiece is a striking visual motif on both guitars
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GIT373.rev_guild.indd 99 9/5/13 11:46 AM