Guilford Guitars Ty Tabor Model

I purchased this guitar new directly from Guilford guitars. John was a pleasure to work with. Definitely the best buying experience I've had. He worked with me on wood selection and kept me posted with pictures of the progress regularly. Very cool. This guitar does not at first seem that different than some other guitars out there but it actually is quite unique.

Neck:
The neck is a quarter sawn maple with some nice figure. It is finished with a proprietary process (Shed neck) for a beautiful worn in appearance and feel. It was hand carved to perfection to closely match Ty Tabor's personal guitars. There are black neck dots and a black X inlay at the 12th fret. The neck width feels good as does the string spacing. The nut is 1 and 11/16 inches. The thickness of the neck is thin but not too thin and has nicely rounded. It is not like an Ibanez wizard neck. The radius of the fingerboard is 12 inches. The guitar features a set neck design known for outstanding sustain. The scale length is 25.5 inches (standard Strat) for a tighter low end feel than what is typical of most set neck guitars. The guitar features the Buzz Feiten Tempered Tuning system which slightly alters the placement of the nut and some of the frets to allow the guitar to play more in tune than a standard guitar. The headstock is angled and features some hand finished touches that provide depth and are classy. The face of the headstock is finished in a clear, glossy nitro lacquer finish which sits in contrast to the shed neck. The truss rod is a dual action design to allow for more or less relief if needed.

Body:
The body is a one-piece, South American mahogany with Tone Vents. There are pics on the Guilford web page (building the Ty Tabor model) that show the neatly carved out mahogany back before the top is glued on. This is a feature that you can't see in the finished product but makes for a light and resonate guitar. The top of the body is a highly figured maple cap. The top edge of the guitar is beveled and has a forearm contour for playing comfort. The shape is most similar to the Ernie Ball Van Halen guitars from the nineties. My guitar features an expertly applied double stain that brings out the stunning quilt figure in the top. It is then finished with nitrocellulose lacquer. This is by far my favorite finish. The feel and beauty of a vintage type nitro finish is worth the extra effort and expense.

Electronics:
The pickups are two Seymour Duncan p-rails. The neck and bridge pickups are connected to a 3-way toggle that selects p-90, humbucker or single coil (single rail type) modes for both pickups. Each of these three sounds are exceptional. In addition to the mode toggle for the p-rails, there is a traditional three way selector on the upper bout (bridge, bridge+neck or neck). This makes for an incredibly versatile guitar with nine different sounds. Ty Tabor is able to use this unique setup to nail early King's X (the elite strats used active electronics with single coils that produced sounds similar to p-90), Dogman (hot single coil) and more recent humbucker tones. What is also exceptional about the guitar is how smooth and well voiced the volume and tone controls are. These are nothing like the tone robbing, heavy handed controls on most guitars out there. They are supper smooth mechanically and have a fantastic taper. Lowering the volume knob does not rob the high frequencies which is critical to Ty's sounds since he controls the level of distortion with the Volume knob.

Hardware:
The tuners are Schallers and the bridge is a Tonepros wraparound that allows for perfect setup and intonation as opposed to the original style wraparound bridges that most companies use. The guitar came with straplocks and a black Ernie Ball Strap - cool.

Case:
The guitar came with a nice gator case. These cases are nicer than I realized. The latches are slick and high quality.

This is one of the most resonant, most pleasing sounding guitars I've experienced and I've owned many high end guitars. The high frequencies are clear but not overly bright. The lows are punchy and clear as well. Overall, the balance and note definition is incredible. This is not even remotely typical! The guitar sustains well all over the neck with no dead spots. The guitar control cavity is shielded completely with copper foil and is completely quiet in humbucker mode. In p-90 and single coil modes there is some hum but not bad or atypical of single coil pickups.

As stated, this guitar is super versatile with the p-rails and well voiced volume and tone controls. You can get a variety of really excellent clean tones, semi-distorted tones and detuned, high gain madness. I would go as far as to say that this axe sounds better than most guitars with two p-90's or two humbuckers. It doesn't emulate a strat as faithfully due to the body wood and set neck design but the single coils sounds are fantastic. I've never had a traditional humbucker with a split coil feature that sounded half as good when set to single coil mode. In humbucker mode, the output is hot but does not sacrifice tonal quality. Some guitars out there will be better straight into an amp for lead playing but most of them are going to fall short in every other sound. The Guilford Ty Tabor will sound great for lead and rhythm playing. A boost pedal can be used to kick the leads into endless sustain territory if desired.

I've used this guitar with a variety of good tube amps with great results.

This guitar arrived set up to Ty Tabor's preference which is dropped D tuned down a whole step. The action was not too high or too low. There was no fret buzzing even with the low tuning. The feel is terrific. When the guitar is tuned up to standard tuning, it plays very well also.

The finish work and attention to detail is at the highest level. The quality of the fit and finish is on par with the best such as Tom Anderson and Suhr. What is different is the vibe and feel that is offered. This neck is a big part of this. There is a ton of character and aesthetic coolness going on. You won't find a neck that is more inviting than this. It feels broken in and comfortable from day one. It is smoother than a good satin finished neck.

The only problem that I had with the guitar was when it first arrived the volume and tone knobs were super stiff and difficult to turn. I didn't force them. After playing a while, I took the knobs off and adjusted their height. That solved the problem. The shafts are the knurled type and so there is a bit of play with the set screw type knob. They must have settled lower during shipping. There is a little metal ring that can be used on the shafts to have a more stable mount but I haven't had a problem since.

This guitar is of the highest quality. I have no doubts it will stay rock solid for decades. The finish on the bridge and tuners should also resist the unsightly tarnishing that can occur on some guitars. The nitro finish will continue to age and improve over time.

John Guilford is friendly and a pleasure to deal with.

Buying directly from the owner who is also a master builder ensures that you will get exactly what you want.

There is a one year warranty. I would expect a longer or even a lifetime warranty for a guitar on this level. Still, I wouldn't expect to ever have a problem because of the quality of the materials and fabrication.

This is one of my favorite guitars. First, this guitar has incredible tone. It features nine stellar pickup combinations that will work equally well with a variety of musical styles and amplifiers. The thing that takes this guitar over the top is the VIBE. The feel and appearance of this neck will make you pick it up again and again and again. I've had this guitar for a month now and have been able to evaluate it with a variety of gear and compare it to other guitars. I feel so strongly about the quality that I'm ordering another Guilford. After owning D'Pergo, PRS, Fender Masterbuilt, Gibson, Schroeder, Anderson, Suhr and other top guitars, I doubted there could be anything new that could possibly offer more. I was wrong. John Guilford has poured everything into his guitars and HAS something special to offer the discriminating guitarist.

Thanks John!