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The definition of insanity is… NG(uild)D


polara

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I’ve been going to St Louis a lot for work, and for a break after work I went to GC. Strummed some unremarkable guitars, including a beat-up Chinese Hamer that played GREAT. But in the premium room saw a 90s-2000s-era Guild Bluesbird. I have a bigger weakness for these than anything ever made. I think ‘97 to 2000 they were made in Rhode Island, then when FMIC bought Gulld they were made for a couple years in Corona. 
 

I’ve owned one RI Bluesbird and two CA ones. The RI was great, the CA phenomenal. But I sold them because I managed to buy them pretty cheap and could always turn a profit, until prices started going up recently. 
 

This one is a 2002, in pretty much new condition EXCEPT for a little-fingernail-sized chunk of clear coat gone on the back edge. But had the plastic on the control cavity, no scuffs, no fret wear, no tarnish. Still had the papers and Fender cable sealed in a bag in the immaculate case. I wonder if the chip happened in a store? 
 

Anyway, it’s the usual mahogany chambered goodness, flame top, SD59s, comfy neck and great construction. Just a snapshot when I brought it home. Anyone else dig these? 

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1 minute ago, tomteriffic said:

They did one (some?) in a multicolor metalflake that i loved for the short time I had it in the mid 90's.  Great guitar.

 

My brother had one of the first run of that edition.  Great guitars!  As I recall, it was only a small handful made in the Holoflake finish, and either the same number or less of a single pickup version and a silver sparkle edition.

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On 10/4/2022 at 12:30 PM, polara said:

Anyone else dig these? 

Yes. I have a '96 or '97 Starfire II burst which is awesome. For some reason, the first lick that comes out of it whenever I pick it up is Stranglehold, or Cat Scratch. They had a Bluebird of the same year (both were on consignment) which I wanted to grab too, but it was gone before I could recover from the Starfire. Congrats!

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This one’s going back tonight. It’s lovely but the neck makes a bit of an uphill angle around the 15th fret. It’s not that uncommon, and you can’t fix it with tightening the truss rod: the angle remains, and you just put back-bow on the part of the neck with the first 15 frets. It’s playable of course, but I have to almost bottom out the bridge to get medium action. When you’re in guitar center you tell yourself a setup fixes everything. But not always. 

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1 hour ago, WorstBandName said:

Too bad.  That looks like a beautiful one.  Would some fret leveling solve that sort of thing?

To a degree, but the issue was that with the bridge about 3mm off its lowest adjustment (totally into the guitar) the action was… okay. But because the neck was at the correct pitch from the neck pickup to where it left the neck pocket… and then tilted a degree or two, staying straight to the nut…

…it meant the action was great the first few frets, surprisingly high at the 12th fret, then “normal” again at the 21st. Imagine a bridge over a wide, shallow v-shaped valley. I could have kept it but the other three Bluesbirds I’ve had didn’t have that issue, and while it was totally playable, I’ll wait for one that is more straight. 

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This was the silver sparkle version from the early 2000s - I believe they made 12.  

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This is the flyer I snagged at the ‘02 NAMM Show when they unveiled this one…

 

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