Guild M-75 BluesBird Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1968)
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Guild M-75 BluesBird Model Thinline Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1968), made in Hoboken, NJ, serial # DD-184, sunburst top, dark back and sides finish, laminated mahogany body and neck, spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, period hard shell case.
This played-in but striking guitar is an early re-issue Guild M-75 BluesBird from 1968. These were actually very similar to the original 1950's M-75s, distinguished mostly by having 1960's Guild humbucking pickups instead of Franz single coils. The cosmetics were also updated with '67-style headstock and pickguard stylings, a brighter sunburst finish and the tuners were now stock Grover Rotomatics. All hardware is gold plated with a multibound top, block fingerboard inlay and the engraved "harp" tailpiece, all of which made for a fairly upscale model.
Guild had discontinued the original small hollow-body M-75 in the early '60's, an unfortunate decision in retrospect as the design is one of the company's most distinctive instruments. While sales must have lagged early in the decade by the mid-60's Guild apparently noticed a renewed demand for the model thus triggering a 1967 re-appearance. Company lore states that blues players especially in the Boston area had latched onto the older M-75, prompting the name to be switched from the generic "Aristocrat" to the more colorful "BluesBird" when the updated model was re-introduced.
Through the late '60s the "new" M-75 underwent a fairly rapid evolution, eventually by the 1970's morphing into a solid body guitar more like a Les Paul. This early model still has a mostly hollow small body with a laminated maple top built from the original '50's patterns. Only 99 of these shipped in 1968, and less than 300 in the entire late '60s. This one dates to the middle of the year and is one of the first hundred of the new models built.
Despite its small size this is quite a deluxe little guitar; very resonant, a light and handy player with a lively sound. This is one of the rarer and cooler mid/late '60's Guilds, a very unique sounding guitar in any era.
Overall length is 39 1/2 in. (100.3 cm.), 13 5/8 in. (34.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 1/2 in. (622 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This is a somewhat played in but original guitar optimized for playability. The finish some general wear with dings, dents and scratches overall but no really large areas of loss. Some scraping under the bridge feet and chipping around the edges of the treble pickup are the most noticeable, and there are a few lamination checks around the top edges. The back of the neck has some small dings and scrapes. The plastic headstock veneer has shrunken up somewhat and is a bit puckered around the tuners but is not lifting appreciably.
These guitars as built often had a questionable neck angle; this one has had the neck reset and refretted so is an excellent player, with a much better neck angle than any other of this model we have seen. This is a somewhat complex procedure on these and some touchup is visible around the heel.
All hardware remains original and complete except for new adjustment wheels on the original wooden bridge (the originals were lost long ago) and the saddle was previously lowered to achieve a better action before the neck reset. The original bridge mounting cups are intact; these are hard to replace if missing. The original pickup covers, tailpiece and tuners have some fairly heavy wear to the gold plating.
The fingerboard was trued and the guitar refretted, and the result of all this work is an excellent player with quite a low action for one of these, a light, handy and super friendly little guitar with a great sound. It lives a somewhat worn period HSC, fitted decently well but appearing slightly earlier than the guitar itself. Overall Very Good + Condition.
This played-in but striking guitar is an early re-issue Guild M-75 BluesBird from 1968. These were actually very similar to the original 1950's M-75s, distinguished mostly by having 1960's Guild humbucking pickups instead of Franz single coils. The cosmetics were also updated with '67-style headstock and pickguard stylings, a brighter sunburst finish and the tuners were now stock Grover Rotomatics. All hardware is gold plated with a multibound top, block fingerboard inlay and the engraved "harp" tailpiece, all of which made for a fairly upscale model.
Guild had discontinued the original small hollow-body M-75 in the early '60's, an unfortunate decision in retrospect as the design is one of the company's most distinctive instruments. While sales must have lagged early in the decade by the mid-60's Guild apparently noticed a renewed demand for the model thus triggering a 1967 re-appearance. Company lore states that blues players especially in the Boston area had latched onto the older M-75, prompting the name to be switched from the generic "Aristocrat" to the more colorful "BluesBird" when the updated model was re-introduced.
Through the late '60s the "new" M-75 underwent a fairly rapid evolution, eventually by the 1970's morphing into a solid body guitar more like a Les Paul. This early model still has a mostly hollow small body with a laminated maple top built from the original '50's patterns. Only 99 of these shipped in 1968, and less than 300 in the entire late '60s. This one dates to the middle of the year and is one of the first hundred of the new models built.
Despite its small size this is quite a deluxe little guitar; very resonant, a light and handy player with a lively sound. This is one of the rarer and cooler mid/late '60's Guilds, a very unique sounding guitar in any era.
Overall length is 39 1/2 in. (100.3 cm.), 13 5/8 in. (34.6 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 1/2 in. (622 mm.). Width of nut is 1 5/8 in. (41 mm.).
This is a somewhat played in but original guitar optimized for playability. The finish some general wear with dings, dents and scratches overall but no really large areas of loss. Some scraping under the bridge feet and chipping around the edges of the treble pickup are the most noticeable, and there are a few lamination checks around the top edges. The back of the neck has some small dings and scrapes. The plastic headstock veneer has shrunken up somewhat and is a bit puckered around the tuners but is not lifting appreciably.
These guitars as built often had a questionable neck angle; this one has had the neck reset and refretted so is an excellent player, with a much better neck angle than any other of this model we have seen. This is a somewhat complex procedure on these and some touchup is visible around the heel.
All hardware remains original and complete except for new adjustment wheels on the original wooden bridge (the originals were lost long ago) and the saddle was previously lowered to achieve a better action before the neck reset. The original bridge mounting cups are intact; these are hard to replace if missing. The original pickup covers, tailpiece and tuners have some fairly heavy wear to the gold plating.
The fingerboard was trued and the guitar refretted, and the result of all this work is an excellent player with quite a low action for one of these, a light, handy and super friendly little guitar with a great sound. It lives a somewhat worn period HSC, fitted decently well but appearing slightly earlier than the guitar itself. Overall Very Good + Condition.