Guild X-500 Stuart Model Arch Top Hollow Body Electric Guitar (1964), made in Hoboken, NJ, serial # 30550, sunburst lacquer finish, laminated maple body and neck; spruce top, ebony fingerboard, black tolex hard shell case.
This is a lovely full-body Guild from the mid-1960s, A well-played example of one of their best period instruments, but also one of the less well remembered. The X-500 is a high end model, roughly equivalent to Gibson's L-5CES although the 17" wide, full depth body is built with all-laminated woods instead of with a carved top. Still, this was one of the Hoboken factory's most prestigious offerings at the time, topped only by the fully carved Artist Award model.
The X-500 has multiple binding on the body, neck, and headstock, and the fingerboard inlay is the elaborate split block Epiphone style used only on top-line Guilds. The body is lamented maple as is the neck, with an ebony fingerboard. All hardware is gold plated and includes Grover Imperial tuners, two of the then-new Guild humbucking pickups with a standard 4-knob, 1 switch wiring rig and the back-painted Lucite pickguard. The bridge is a later replacement. This guitar also has the truss rod cover replaced with a gold Mono-plak, a period accessory engraved with the original owner's name: Bob Sturtsman. A period Guild-logo Bigsby was also added when the guitar was fairly new.
The guitar has a decent amount of wear overall but appears structurally unaltered, except for the Bigsby which looks to have been in place for most of the guitar's life. Production figures for this model in any era are very low; Guild was having far more success with the thinline Starfires in 1964. While production figures for this year are not known, from 1965 through 1969 less than a 150 were sold. Well-loved but not abused this remains a great-sounding and fine-playing instrument, quite suitable for straight-ahead jazz as well as (especially with the Bigsby) more aggressive-sounding electric styles.
Overall length is 42 in. (106.7 cm.), 17 in. (43.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.). This guitar shows general playing wear overall but no notable damage or repair except a jackplate added in the typical spot. The finish has clouding, checking, chipping, dings. dents and scrapes overall with noticeable wear from play along the sides of the neck. There are some noticeable chips in the finish on the back of the neck closer to the heel. Areas around the electronics show some runs in the finish, almost certainly caused by some sort of cleaner used repeatedly to renew the contacts. This is not overly conspicuous but noticeable on close inspection.
The hardware remains original except as noted the more recent bridge and period additions of the Mono-Plak on the headstock and the Bigsby. All the plating shows fairly significant wear; this guitar was PLAYED back in the day! It has had a pro refret sometime back with slightly-larger-than-using '60 wire, without much subsequent wear. While well-worn overall this remains a fine playing and sounding guitar with a great vibe, a genuine relic housed in a later HSC Very Good + Condition.
