This Guild X-350 was made in the original Guild factory in Manhattan, largely by craftsman who had come over from Epiphone following a strike at the factory there. Guild was founded near the end of 1952 and this guitar was made in 1954, the first year of this model. This was so early in production that it comes before some of the custom logo parts were in place which is why the original pickguard on this guitar consists of multi-ply black-white plastic rather than the solid black Guild logo version later used. This is also the style of plastic used on the original truss rod cover. These early versions have the super cool ice cube control knobs shown here and typically white plastics, although some have some black plastics. The tuners on this example also appear original to the guitar, as does the bridge.
The X-350 has some obvious similarities to some late (pre-Gibson) Epiphone models that were made to compete with Gibson's ES-350, having three pickups with master volume and tone controls, as well as push-button selector switches. This bank of switches occasionally sticks a little, but is fully functional. The Franz pickups in this example sound beautiful, giving a wide range of tones from full and warm to downright twangy, depending on the pickup selection chosen. Like those late Epiphones and the ES-350, this is a laminate construction, parallel braced archtop.
The guitar has recently been professionally refretted and plays beautifully, newly set up with Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Swing strings. The neck angle is great and the bridge has plenty of room for adjustment either up or down as the player prefers. The neck is almost C-shaped with just the slightest hint of a V and feels remarkably comfortable, likely also due in part to the nicely rounded fingerboard edges from many hours of play.
The guitar has a modern reproduction tailpiece and the switch tips are newly added. The original switch tips are included, but have become somewhat fragile with age and use. The finish shows extensive checking over the body and much of the finish is worn off of the neck. The binding shows areas of shrinkage with an area pulling away from the body in the waist area of the back, as pictured. Fortunately though, it does not show any of the crumbling binding that affects some Guild guitars.
Weight - 7.5 pounds
Nut width - 1.74 inches
1st fret depth - 0.91 inches
9th fret depth - 1.02 inches
Scale length - 25.5 inches
Comes with the original Lifton case which is in very good, functioning condition.
Ships free in the United States and for reasonable rates worldwide.