Guild X-175 Manhattan

102 Guitarist October 2013
GUILD STARFIRE IV & X-175 MANHATTAN £1,006 & £862
ElEctrics
that is), and it’s the kind of
sound that begs for stabbing
blues licks from the pre-
Satisfaction Stones catalogue.
Play down near the bridge with
a hard pick for best results.
If your tastes are altogether
smoother, keep it pretty clean
and the X-175 has a real
authenticity in the context of
jazz, gypsy jazz and Western
swing, and we’d bet that the
rosewood bridge is a significant
contributing factor. There’s
something deliciously primitive
about the ‘Frequency Tested’
single coils, too.
If you need something a little
more mid 60s to handle the torn
speaker sound of The Kinks or
Pacific North West garage
bands, that’s where the Starfire
IV comes in with its spruce
centre-block and humbucking
pickups. The Starfire’s
Anti-Hum Dual Coils aren’t
voiced like PAFs, but neither do
actually the only thing stopping
this guitar being damn near
perfect straight out of the box.
Like the X-175 Manhattan, it
feels like a proper guitar with a
personality, is neatly and
attractively finished and
features some pleasing retro
details such as the scratchplate
logo. Given the choice, we’d
replace the custard-yellow
pickup selector switch tips. Off-
white would be a better match
and more in keeping with the
otherwise pristine appearance
of both instruments.
Sounds
It might look like a pure
jazzbox, but during recording
sessions with the X-175 we
managed to unearth a secret
rock ’n’ roll and R&B voice that’s
to die for. Dial in some suitably
bright EL84 break-up, add
lashings of spring reverb and
take it to the bridge (pickup,
Collect them all
The rest of the Newark St Collection from Guild
A150 Savoy
£958
With a DeArmond 1000 floating
pickup this is about as old-school
as the electric guitar gets.
X175B Manhattan
w/Bigsby
£958
Like our review X-175, but with a
Bigsby and an adjust-o-matic
bridge. Less jazz, more rockabilly.
Starfi re III w/Bigsby
£862
The fully hollow single-cut Starfire
was a favourite of Kinks guitarist
Dave Davies and Grateful Dead
frontman Jerry Garcia.
M75 Aristocrat
£910
This classy single-cut is another
hollowbody, while its pickups are
‘Frequency Tested’ single-coils
like those on the X-175.
S100 Polara
£742
Kim Thayil likes them, and so
should you. This solidbody is
Guild’s rock machine.
S t a r fi r e B a s s
£958
There’s even a bass. More for retro
thumpers than funk slappers, we
suspect. Super cool.
The X175 might look like a pure
jazzbox, but we unearthed a secret
rock ’n’ roll voice to die for
The X-175’s ‘Frequency Tested’ single coils are wonderfully retro and authentic
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GIT373.rev_guild.indd 102 9/5/13 11:47 AM