GGJaguar's Guitarium and Ampeteria 1986 Guild Nightbird GG

All images and text copyrighted and property of Greg Gagliano.

FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

Introduced in 1985, the Nightbird model design was conceived by vintage guitar expert George Gruhn and realized by master luthier Kim Walker. The basic idea was to use a semi-hollow Les Paul type body with a carved spruce or maple top and a Maccaferi style cutaway. The headstock is the "snakehead" style that Gruhn specified for several acoustic models introduced the previous year. According to Gruhn, this style headstock has a straighter string pull for better tuning stability. The ornamentation is fancy with the headstock sporting 5-ply binding and G-shield inlay and the fingerboard inlaid with Epiphone inspired notched diamond markers. The Nightbird GG was fitted with three different pickups -- Guild HB-1 humbuckers, Kent Armstrong humbuckers, or EMG active humbuckers. The early Nightbird GG guitars from 1985 through about mid-1986 did not have a phase switch, but was added by the end of 1986. The Nightbird line is confusing and the best overview can be found in GAD's Guide to Guild Nightbirds. The most basic progression of the model would be Nightbird GG, Nightbird II, Nightbird CU and, arguably, the X-2000 all of which led to the re-imagined Bluesbird of the 1990s and early 2000s. The differences are relatively minor (fingerboard inlays, top wood) and the confusion is mainly a result of unnecessary name changes. This Nightbird GG is an early example without the phase switch. The pickups in this guitar are Lollar HB-1 replacements.

GUILD NIGHTBIRD GG (1986)

Body: Semi-hollow; 1-piece mahogany back and sides with 2-piece carved flame maple top, 8-ply bound top