Guild Bluesbird

I don't see any special features other than this one has P90 pickups and really thats why I bought it. Ididn't have a guitar with these in both positions . But I am very glad that this is the one I got.
The finish is glossy tobbaco sunburst with a stunning AAA flame top that blew me away the first time I saw it. The neck is a fifties style big neck. This is the only thing about the guitar that I might change but I feel like the big neck has something to do with the way this guitar sounds so even if I could i wouldn't.
The body is Just a Bit larger than a Les Paul. (Not Much)
Tuners Grover.
The scale is a 25 1/2" witch I would have thought I might not have liked as much on this type of guitar but this has turned out to be something else that is great on this instrument.
Nice Hardshell case (Gibson Type). 1 Tool I bought it used so I don't know what else may have come with it.
Frets I would say medium.
Rosewood fretboard, mahogony neck and body chambered.
Lite weight, Very nice on the back when your 51 years old.
I've tried to look up how old it is but the serial number does'nt make any sense from what I got on the Gretch website. I think maybe the info I have is just for there now acoustic lines.

This thing lites up the room with tone either warm or brite depending on your settings. The sound is astonishing. Anyting from B.B. King to ZZ Topp this thing kicks but.The sustain is incredible.
Lets just this is for sure a keeper.

Set-up is perfect action vary nice and smooth even though I'm not use to the big neck.
The front like I said before is AAA flame and matched to perfection. The nut has one tight spot on it when tuning the G string. I'll have that fixed this weekend at tha studio. Though I bought it used it is in mint condition and I dopn't think it was played hardly at all. Other than that this guitar is Beautifully crafted and there is not anything about it that I would change.

Live Playing, I'm already using it. I don't know about anyone else but I load my own guitars and I see no problem with almost any guitar being used live unless your going to do something stupid.
Don't get drunk and don't slam it into the floor or the amps like Your Hendrix (because your not) (remember your doing a job and all the employers I know don't want someone drinking or on drugs) and it should last 100 years.
The finish is not a lacquer,and that is really a good thing. It should almost hold up forever. I don't believe that a thin lacquer finish makes a guitar sound better.
Strap buttons have been changed to the american fender type. I still have the old ones and don't care.
Very dependable,
I never go to a job without a back up everything. Even the mixing board. If you are proffessional you won't either. But yes I feel like if I had to this guitar would do fine with no backup. As dependable as any Les Paul.

No repairs yet. The only thing I think it needs is the filing of the one place on the nut. (Simple fix)
I wasn't givin a warranty
Never delt with the company

I'm 51 years old and started playing when I was 13.
I have an ES335 custom shop, Standard Les Paul, Studio Firebird, (I went with the studio for the pickups),a Strat Texas Special HSS, Custom Shop Classic Strat, and a Delux Strat. all American, 1 Standard Tele, 1 James Burton Paisley Custom Shop Tele, 1 G&L Asat Bluesboy, the Guild Bluesbird and 1 Ibanez Acoustic. I'm not much on playing acoustic guitar I like electric Blues and Blues Based Rock.
My Amps are 1 Twin amp, 1 Hot Rod Delux (the white one), 1 Super Sonic, 1 57 Twin Reissue, all Fenders. 1 Top Hat Club Royalle 18 watt.
If it were lost or stolen I would definitly try to find another one, and I would pay more than I did for this one. I happened to stumble up on this one when the guy really needed some money.

This guitar features a mahagony back / neck with carved maple top. One very unique aspect is the fact it has a chambered body - and for this reason I purchased my bluesbird! The tonality extracted from the Seymor Duncan pickups (one of the best pickup manufacturers) is stunning, but more on this later. Other features are the same design cues as a Gibson Les Paul - 3 position toggle switch, 2x volume and 2x tone controls (one for each pickup)... Grover tuners (another highlight of this guitar).
These come in a variety of colors, but mine features a beautiful tobacco-burst flame top - very remeniscient of Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page's "#1" Les Paul. Also, the scale is 25 1/4" (this is the length from the nut to the bridge saddle - the "working length" of the string if you will)... Like a Strat. This is another item that sold me. I've got big hands and... in my early years I preferred the shorter scale but realized it was limiting me, becuase it keeps the frets width workable above fret 12. I dont have little elf fingers and I need the extra space. I rate this a 8 (instead of a 10) because the only thing I wish it had was push/pull pots for pickup options. This can be, however, added without too much trouble. Otherwise I'd give it a 10 since the features that ARE on this guitar are executed with top notch craftsmanship and quality materials.
Another thing I love about this guitar is the shape - I actually like it better than the Les Paul shape.

This is where this instrument shines, plain and simple. The internal sound chambers are sized just right to "open up" the tone a bit from a standard solid body Les Paul and give it some more definition - but the tone is still balanced and full. This guitar doesnt have the feel of a cheap, hollow shell, either - I've never dropped mine but if I did I'm sure it'd be just fine. At any rate, using the switch offers significant tonal variety, but always well-defined, balanced, and dripping with harmonics / overtones. One very small grip is the notes bend very easily so it requires or rather demands that equal pressure is applied on all strings when playing, although this is probably due to my sometimes clumsy playing. The duncan pickups are a good choice for this guitar. I give it a 9 because it "sounds great". I'd take this guitar over a Gibson any day. You could play a high variety of music with this - blues, jazz, metal, etc.

I've studied the guitar up close and personal and examined everything. I simply cannot find a flaw anywhere on this guitar. The neck joint is perfect. Surfaces line up with respect to eachother. The nut is aligned and even. There simply aren't any factory blemishes. The neck is laser straight - no twist / warpage, etc. the action is lower than my Heritage H-150 CM, which is really saying something since I thought I had the lowest action setup known to mankind prior to buying my Bluesbird.
this particular bluesbird is basically in new condition - no belt rash, no dings, scuffs or even fretwear. the previous owner probably bought this and kept it in the closet its whole life.

So far nothing has broken and I wouldnt expect it to under normal use.

Never dealt with customer support. Fender purchased Guild a while back and these guitars are no longer made. I personally think Fender WILL NOT BRING THESE BACK becasue of the politics (or pride maybe) involved in cloning their biggest competitor (Gibson). Not surprisingly, these are also going up in value. These used to go for around $600 on ebay but recently it looks more like $1000+.

I've been playing for a while. I've owned many guitars both low and high end. If it were stolen I'd be sad because I dont think I'll find another in this good of condition in the color I like.

Oooh, well I have one of the OTHER 35 holoflake Bluebirds. Let me see the features. Um, basically it is just like the others. Shocking finish, but I am a magpie, drawn to the glitter. Chambered mahogany, maple top, rosewood fretboard with pearly dots. Big 50s style neck. Great case. Grover tuners, SD 59 (SH-1) pickups. 3-way switch. Stupid weird Guild strap button at butt end that can't be swapped easil for the Dunlop straplocks I like. All the usual guitar parts, nothing cheapo. Features... hmmm. I don't WANT lots of "features" so...

Sound is at once really predictible (it's a plank of wood with PAF-style pickups screwed in, so how weird can it be?) and a little different. Pretty much a Les Paul sound. There. Maybe a bit brighter than how people expect a Lester to sound, and what is cool is that it can get really controllable feedback. Low-gain, high-gain... let it ring and aim toward the speaker and it slowly builds. I think the maple is not SUPER-thick on these Holoflakes, though the Bluesbird cap is supposedly much thicker than the Nightbird spruce top. I think the sound chambers really work on this thing to give it a hint more "raunch" and feedback than a titally solid instrument might have. Makes me wonder how it'd be with P90s.

Though it was made in July 2002 and I bought it in February 2007, I don't think anyone played it for more than a few minutes. The neck was TOO straight, having a hair of reverse bow, the bridge saddles were "pretty all in a row", the plastic as on the control covers, and the warranty card, manual, and wrench were in the spotless case. So I was disappointed in the setup. Maybe it just hung at a NAMM display (they were made in a run of 20 to 40 for the Summer 2002 NAMM). I let the enck relax, got the intonation on, and set the action up pretty easily. Workmanship is just astionishing. Falwless. The binding, inlays, thickness of the rosewood, the clearcoat, just impeccable. Frets polished like glass, bullet ends. Dang!

If this won't withstand live playing nothing will. No corners were cut at any point making this thing... Fender custom shop, baby!

My other electric guitar is a 70s Hagstrom Swede. I play sort of indie-power-pop-retro-glam stuff... like T Rex meets Sloan? If stolen I'd have to get another Bluesbird I think, as it is such a solid, balanced, sounds-like-dadgum-rawk guitar and I like big necks and chambered bodies. But I'd never find another holoflake! I wish the dot markers on the side of the neck were bigger... that is the biggest "d'oh!" And wish it had normal strap buttons. Since Fender has sent Guild back to being a high-end acoustic maker (sensibly) I doubt we'll see more Bluesbirds.

This is a '97 standard Bluesbird, chambered body, dual Seymour Duncans, stop tail-piece, grover tuning pegs. The usual set-up. Much has been written, so I won't duplicate the details.
Each pick up has its own volume and tone controls--which actually affect the sound. I'm not a tech-head, so I can't recite the run numbers and country of origin of each transistor and capacitor. What I can say is "Holy crap! What a guitar!"
Not a lot of bells and whistles, but I'm a minimalist. I like to use my guitar,my amp, and my technique to make my sound. This guitar has everything I need.

I play a lot of different music, and a lot of what I play is influenced by the people I play with and the instrument I use. When I play a Strat I've been told I sound like Clapton (yeah, right), when I play my 335 I've been told I sound like Larry Carlton (as if). The Bluesbird brings out the Santana and Gary Moore in me. In the bridge pick-up position with the tone pegged, this guitar will smoke any Les Paul in a sleepwalk. Roll of a little treble and, voila! 335 ala Justin Hayward (Moody Blues). Kick it over to the bridge pick up and roll just a touch of treble off and the jazz tones just ooze out of her. Of course, a lot of what I say is directly tied into the amplification I use with it. More on that later.

The sound is definetely not bright, but it's also not dark. It's just not "single coil" harsh. I'd compare it to a G&L Legacy Special in character.

This is the ine guitar in my arsenal that I have problems putting down. Even if a song calls for a tele or a strat, I find I can locate what I need in the Bluesbird. The rest have been relegated to back-up status. Sad, but true.

I love thi sguitar, and I can truthfully say there is nothing I dislike about it. I especially enjoy the fact that my shoulder isn't falling off after a night of kickin' out the jams. I wish I could give higher score than 10. This guitar is me.

I bought this used on e-Bay, but still got for a song. It was set up well enough. I always tweak for my tastes. She had her share of dings and dents, since she was a player, but the hardware, finish, and neck set are all solid.

It's a '97 that been played mucho, and it's still kickin' like new. Longevity has a lot to do with how a person treats their instrument, so thi squestion is relative. I would never play without a back-up, but that being said--I've NEVER had to use my back ups. I have never even broken a string on stage with this--after three years! That's unusual, to say the least, but it's one of those little miracles that adds to my adoration of this ax.

Who? What? Guild? Never had to ask, so I can't say. Bought it used. No warranty.

I've been playing for more than 35 years. I have my Bluesbird, a '73 hardtail Strat, a '72 Tele, a Gibson Dot (with Kent Armstrongs), various acoustics and acoustic/electrics (this isn't about them, though). Important stuff is here: I play the Guild through one of three amps. 1) Fender Cyber-Champ. All you bare-bones tube guys should give this amp a work out. I near crapped my pants when I started playing through this thing. A few bells and whitles, but I just use the Fender Bassman and Tweed sounds. It kicks ass--seriously folks. 2) my beloved '67 Deluxe Reverb. It takes a real guitar man to master on of these. It certainly keeps me honest. I use it mostly for jazz now, since I've fallen in love with the Cyber Champ. 3) A Dean Markley hybrid amp. 112 solid state power amp with a 12AX7 in the pre-amp phase. It's another kick-ass amp that I found on e-Bay. Cheap, but oh so sweet. It has a removable amp section that can be used in a rack. If you ever see one, pick it up. You won't be sorry.

I'm currently looking for a few other Bluesbirds. Perhaps the P-90 to start.

I like this guitar because, first--it's a Fender. A lot of people poo-poo Fenders but will go out and spend a grand on a Ibanez. Whatever. I'm a Fender guy, and it's just logical that my favority humbucking, Les Paul type ax would come from Fender. If it were lost or stolen, I'd inform the police, give them the serial number, and start looking for another Guild Bluesbird.

Bluesbird is a Steve Marker Holoflake I don't know who the heck he is but he must be cool. gloss sparkle over black all over the whole guitar minus the fretboard which has grain to worship.two S-
D humbuckers.Grover tuners. A case I dream of being stored in.What else could a hippie want?

Sometimes I can't believe it is me playing it sounds so good.Crate tubedriven 70 is being pushed too the limit, will upgrade I promise!!!Metal zone pedal makes the fish tank start to foam.Love both pickups with the knobs to 10 that equals 40. The "glow" is still happening ,haven't had any dislikes yet.

received from Cream City in Milk.,WI set up like a dream (or I just don't know better) Action is set lowere than my DeArmond The pickups are earning their keep. no buzzes Plastic was still on pickups and backplate.Three years old and still brand-spanking new.The finish is so cool,and thick so much that the serial number is almost filled in(had to do a rub reminding me of my youthful graveyard adventures).Cream City made a fuss out of a finish flaw I never would have seen and I am a picky housepainter. Relax everybody its beautiful.

It has.It will.The sprkle will hopefully hide the bangs and bumps I have given every guitar I have owned for 20 yrs.When I grow up I am going to invent useful Guild strapbuttons.I will depend on it.I would do pretty much anything without a backup.

Lifetime commitment,I have heard that before.

This is the guitar John Lee Hooker would have played if he was playing the Acid tests of the 60's.It plays like butter(thanks mom and dad for the big hands) for such a wide neck.Was happy with my DeArmond M-75(that tailpiece woud rock on this guitar) but this thing is in a different class. I understand only 35 of these were made I feel lucky and sad at the sametime.Anybody can play a figured top I figure.

1969 Bluesbird - Hollowbody. Shape of a Les Paul, but hollow without F-Holes. Mine actually has F-Holes cut into it, I got it that way. The pickups are about the same vintage Gibson Humbuckers. Maple Neck, Grover Tuners, dont know waht the body is, very well made though?? Had a floating bridge but I put in a fixed, also has the Stop Tail Piece with the little "G". The neck is top heavy with the solid Grovers. The guitar is very light over all. As far as features, TONE is everything and this has it!

I play mostly classic rock, jazz, blues. I have put it through an Ampeg V4, Musicman RD112, Fender Siverface, 66 Fender Princton, Mesa Mark II, Mesa Studio 22, Mesa SubwayRocket to name a few - sound graitthrough all!! Quite a range of sounds to dial in all fat.

It has been refinished with a mongrol paint job - nice brush strokes.

Guild are very nice, I called up about 10 years ago when I got the guitar and they gave me the year no problem.

I bought this in 1989 and it is my favourite guitar of all and I have had many in 20 years! I would never sell this one and I have sold many great guitars! The sound is sweet as it gets for anything - Rock, Jazz, Blues. If you can ever find an old one of these GET IT!! I dont know about cutting F holes in like mine - it has a lot of sustain with them, Id imagine it would kick ass without the F Holes too. Very warm sound. I have always liked smaller hollowbodies, and when I saw this - I got it. It was butchered a bit, but if it wasnt I probably wouldnt have been able to afford it back then. I have never seen another one? Very will made guitar, I have played it hard and it has held up very well, some loose electrics, got it serviced and it is fine. The one thing as I said before is the Guitar is Neck Heavy, but it is very light otherwise and this has never presented a problem in how it plays, as I usually put my hand on the neck when I play. ;-)
I would definitely look at a newer bluesbird too, as I thick Guild guitars in general are excellent guitars, irregardless of the money.

This is not a review but an important notice.
If you are planning on buying a Bluesbird be sure to get a case with it.
They are impossible to find.
After much searching I gave up and bought the next closest thing to a Bluesbird case.
An SKB case for a Gibson ES-335.
It would have been nice to have the correct case.

I have a very rare 1986 or 87 Guild Bluesbird which I think is solid maple with Active elctronics, two single coil EMGs and one EMG humbucker in the bridge. I has a ltach locking Kahler stringlock and a Kahler trem, black grovers, ebony fretboard w/ beutiful MOP/abalone inlays and a bound neck. It has a very different six inline tuner headstock. It has tone and volume controls and coil split for the hum. It gets a ten because what else is there in an electric guitar.

How does it sound. This guitar KICKS A%&!!!!!!!!! This is the greatest electric I own. I have sold numerous strats, LP's, and even a newer Bluesbird and would never sell this axe, unless some real hard times were stirred up. It goes from crystal clear clean tones I use for JAZZ to huge powerful distortion and thick metal tones, and of course the BULES BIGTIME. Played through solid state Marshalls the metal tones are more than achievable, and through my vintage tube amps this thing is so SWEET.

This guitar plays like butter. the action is low and the medium jumbo frets play nice and were perfectly setup!! NO BUZZ, intonation GREAT, . Thsi finish is a polar white and it looks pretty durable, but I dont bang her around, she is too good. I only issue I had was the locking string mech. Which is the older Kahler deluxe with locking latches instead of a Allen key. Much easier to use and effective, but a little more delicate too, so I must give a 9. I replaced it once to to a broken pin, an easy fix but I has to find the part to keep it to Specs. It is a smaller body than a new Blues bird and it is slim and comfortable. Craftsmenship top notch, after approx 20 years the neck seam is still invisible. SOLID

I have not gigged with it and this is a solid guitar, no worries, again the string lok and trem can be tricky if you are not accustomed to keeping them conditioned. Otherwise they are very functional and the tremelo is smooth keeping nice tuning. Finish still shines, few very small marks. Strap buttons Solid and it is in general a reliable and extremely well built guitar

No contact and I am pretty sure there will not be a need

This is my main and favorite electric guitar and I have had probably over 100 of them. (STRATS< LP< JACKSON) I have played for about 20 years and this Guild is a perfect guitar for me plugged in. I mostly play acoustic now a days (6 old Yairi's, Guild 78 F40CE, MARTIN H-42, Gibson J-45 ri, BOZO Bell western). I have numerous old and new Jazz boxes too. One notable is the tone and looks of a Richard C. Allen all flame 17 inch archtop it sounds better than an older L5 I had.

If lost someone wold truely PAY DEARLY!! I would absolutely buy again and will if I see another out there again. They are obviously tough to find. They look feel and sound like a handmade custom guitar and interestingly a lot of the newer customs are looking alot like this one with the EMG s/s/Hum config. It is just BAD to the BONE!!!

My Bluesbird was - I think - a new instrument that had been gathering dust somewhere, as the strings were rusted when I got it. My best guess is that it's a 2002. It has two SD-1 pick-ups ('59s, in other words), 22 frets, semi-hollow chambered body with a killer red flamed top. Two volume, two tone controls. Nice Grover tuners that put the factory-issued ones on my Gibson SG to shame. Though some might find the neck to thick and wide, I think it feels perfect. Made at the Guild factory after Fender took over. Nice hardshell case included.

This is simply the best-sounding electric I have ever played. I can't believe these things aren't selling like crazy. I play mostly classic rock-sounding stuff, from Zeppelin to White Stripes to Def Leppard. My set-up is simple...plugged through a Dunlap Crybaby - and occassionally a Boss flanger or Ibanez digital echo unit - into a F-50 MesaBoogie tube. Before I bought this, I had played Les Pauls, fat Strats, PRSs; just about everything with two 'buckers. But the sound of this guitar just floored me: a huge, bright, full sound that sparkles. Though called a Bluesbird, this could just as easily be called "RockBeast", because I play with a fair amount of distortion and this baby just sings. Even when wound up, it maintains its sparkle, and never gets muddy or dull, which is what I found with some of the Pauls I played. Some people have said this bridges the sound gap between a Paul and a ES-335, and I think that's a fair assessment. People who are looking for the sound of a Strat or a Tele should run and hide from this thing, because it can play a mean Jimmy, but not the best Jimi.

Pretty good, but not perfect. Like I said, I think this guitar had been sitting around a while before I bought it off some big,I-sell-everything-type guy off Ebay. Still, some problems - while small - are still annoying. For instance, after a couple of weeks, the "G" decal on one of the volume knobs just fell off, exposing a half-assed Superglue job. Amd while the maple fingerboard feels great, it looks a little lacking, with a couple of imperfections. Having said that, the flame top is perfect, and the guitar itself feels like Gibralter. Action is very fast, and to me, the guitar is the perfect weight and feel, again somewhere in size and weight between a Les Paul and a ES-335.

I am band-less right now, but I play often at home, and I think this thing will last at least as long as I will; probably longer. The Seymour Duncans prove just why SD is such a popular choice, and the wood and tuners are all great. Very solid. I would have no problem depending on it and just bringing an extra set of strings to a gig. And bring glue to glue the stupid decals back on to the knobs.

No dealing yet.

I have been playing for about 17 years. I still own the Kramer Pacer I got for my 16th birtday, but sold the SG Standard after I got this guitar, because the SG seemed...irrelevant. If it were lost or stolen, first I'd go give Fat Tony a couple thousand and a mugshot of the suspect, then I'd be out looking for another Bluesbird. This thing is not only a tone monster with increbile brightness and fullness, but it feels awesome. I played Les Pauls (expensive, somewhat muddy at times, varying degrees of quality) PRSs (the best Strat I ever played) and ES-335s (nice, but not rocking enough) before I found this machine. I still would like a LP Custom for the chutzpah as much as anything else, but this will always be my favorite. If you are looking for a Les Paul but can't afford it, buy this and you will probably forget about the Paul unless you are obsessed with having the "Gibson" logo on the headstock. These are a relative bargain to boot. No excuse me while I plug in and let the chambered body sing. My girlfriend will have to wait.

Just like the other reviews. LP shaped but a little bigger with a much lighter chambered body. USA made. Two SD humbuckers, 3-way switch, 2 vols, 2 tones. Tune-o-matic like bridge w/ LP like bar tailpiece. Grover tuners. This one has a pretty flamed top. 24 3/4 scale, with 22 frets. For my own personal taste, this is a comfortable size and weigh guitar. A 335 is too heavy and big, a Les Paul is too heavy. It has a fairly meaty neck--which suits me because I have big hands and I think a bigger neck enhances the tone.

No guitar can do it all, but this covers a wide tonal spectrum. Excells in fatter, rounder, warmer tones. I use a Peavey Classic 50, 1966 Tremolux, or a Hot Rod DeVille. All sound mighty fine.

Above average for a mass produced guitar. I do my own set up anyway, so as long as a guitar is reasonable, I can tweak it to my specs.

It's solid and well made, though not finished like a PRS, it is in the better Les Paul class, and a better value. I play it in 2 bands--it's versatile for my country club band (country, pop, whatever) and my jazz/blues band. I don't play without a backup. I usually take a Tele or Strat along because different guitars inspire me to play different ideas, and I don't get bored.

never dealt with them

Been playing gigs since I was 11 and I'm 59 now and still doing it. I have owned very many guitars from Les Pauls, 330's, 335's, PRS, Teles, Strats, blah-blah. This ranks with the best and is the best value. A Les Paul in this catagory would cost you $1350, a PRS $1700.
(used prices) There's no doubt a PRS will out class it, but all that counts to me is what comes out of the amp and how well it plays--- in that order. Beauty is in the ear.......