Guild X160 HollowBody - Thoughts?

[maxabillion]

Hey, so I have the opportunity to buy a Guild X160 Rockabilly Hollowbody (orange finish) from a dude off of craigslist, and I played it today and it felt really good. I've been wanting a 24 3/4 scale (small hands) hollowbody for way too long, and had my heart set on a Heritage H575, but this came up so I might go for it. Does anybody own one/ has played one extensively? Any problems? What about resale value - they only made them for two years, and as a result they are NOWHERE online (there is only one on ebay - and one on frethouse - but NONE anywhere else) which seems like a good thing because they might be collectible-ish but I don't know much about Guild's reputation. What are your thoughts on the subject? By the way, he's asking 1600 for it (apparently they go for 2500 new on fret house: Guild X160 Rockabilly w/ Tennessee Orange Finish) so it seems like a pretty good deal, but I still might only be able to offer him like 1300 for it. Anyway, just wanted the opinions of people more experienced in hollowbodies than me...

[stevieb]

Just in general...
Sometimes, a rare guitar is rare because it didn't really "work." Of course, with enough playing time, you can determine if that is the case, but I'd want to spend at least an hour noodling on the thing to be sure.

Almost all gear sells, use, for about 50% of what it sold for, new. I would not pay a cent over $1300, and being the cheap bastard I am, I'd want to get that guitar for under a grand. Just me, but I thin 1600 is way too much. When I experiment, I want to be sure I won't get hurt if I decide it's not for me and I decide to re-sell.

[maxabillion]

Yeah those were kinda my thoughts too. Thanks for the input man, its much appreciated

[stevieb]

Glad I could help.

[Milnoque]

The Heritage H-575 is a fine guitar indeed. Only you can decide if you will be happy with the Guild (I have no experience with the Fender made Guilds).

A couple of questions occurred to me:
Are those DeArmond pickups the same dimensions as standard humbuckers? I ask this because it would be nice to be able to swap out the pickups if your needs change in the future.
Would the Bigsby be useful to you? If not, be advised that Bigsbys do not make tuning your guitar any easier.

Only time will tell, but I imagine the Heritage will beat the Guild in re-sale value. Neither one is going up in any great hurry and there are an awful lot of great guitars out there. I expect it to be a buyers market for the near future. It's more likely that we will all just have to be satisfied with instruments holding their used value. The real vintage Fenders, Martins, And Gibsons Etc. will likely keep going up but the rest of them, not so much.