Guild Custom Shop M-70

This was a model introduced after Fender purchased Guild. It's a small bodied top bound single cutaway semisolid (i.e. hollow but no F holes) guitar loosly based on the old Aristocrat. It has a Starfire style tailpiece, TOM bridge and two DeArmond white bobbin "Dyna-Sonic" type pickups. A toggle switch on the upper bout and a single volume and tone control. A rosewood fretboard with real MOP block inlays, MOP Guild "G" on the headstock and grover tuners. The body and neck are mahogany. Mine came in Fiesta Red (a Fender color...) and is finished in nitro. The finish covers the entire body and neck except for the headstock. The neck is reasonably large and comfy. It also came in black and a light blue. It has a clear pickguard underneath the pickups. If memory serves they made this from 1999 to around 2001. The listed for over 2K and sold for between $1200 and $1600. It's a simple and very well made instrument.

I'm not sure who they were marketing this guitar to. It sounds like a brighter chimier Gretsch Duo Jet with Dyna-Sonics. It's very articulate and clear and sounds wonderful for straight clean/mildly overdriven rhythm work. Great for chimey power-pop (think Big Star...). For clean sounds it would make a fine "cowboy jazz" guitar ala Jimmy Bryant or rockabilly guitar. The hollow body definitely adds to the overall sound and it doesn't sound like the solid body instrument it would appear to be. It sounds a little on the thin side if you try using it as a hard rock lead guitar. The volume and especially the tone controls are very well voiced. The tone control is useful for the entire sweep of the potentionmeter. The pickups are closer to true '50s era DeArmonds and are nothing like the P-90 in Dyna-Sonic clothing pickups found in the MIK DeArmond brand guitars.

Guild Custom Shop (if it still exists, I think it was based in Nashville when the guitar was made) has their stuff together. This thing is flawless. Light weight but not neck heavy. High quality componants and an excellent finish. It comes with a genuine alligator Guild Custom Shop case.

I've used it for several studio and stage gigs over the last five years with no problems. Kudos to Guild for outfitting the guitar with Schaller style straplock buttons.

Never needed it. I bought the guitar from E.M. Shorts in Kansas. Guild had stopped supporting the guitar (the guitar shop couldn't send it back to Guild for rerouting to other customers) and gave the shop a very good deal on it. They stuck a $100 on to the price they paid and charged me for shipping. I paid a whopping $625 for a custom shop instrument.

Great guitar, but who did they make it for? I've never come across any advertising for it. It's a Custom Shop instrument but they hide virtually all of the wood used on the guitar. I don't see that too often. It's great for roots rock stylings, country, jazz/swing, etc. but it's only sorta retro-styled (in part from those old-school looking pickups). It seems nowadays most guitar companies make a guitar look like something it's intended audience would like (you know-marketing...). This thing doesn't look like it's aimed at anyone in particular and it certainly doesn't sound like it. It's a remarkably well made guitar that fits well for a lot of different stuff but isn't exactly the "jack of all trades" the Telecaster is. A wonderful "odd duck" of a guitar. Good luck finding one.