Guild Newark Street, A-150 Savoy Hollowbody - Blonde Review

Guild A150 Savoy

I have vintage Guild guitars from the 60s. As good as any Gibson from that era. I was looking for an acoustic archtop but thought I would try the Savoy as I had never tried a floating pickup guitar and I did not want to spend big money to get one. I have other expensive archtops in my jazz guitar stable and wanted a utilitarian instrument I could take anywhere just for casual playing.… read more This guitar surprised me. It actually has a very nice acoustic tone and the pickup is clean and clear, yielding the expected sound. It is not low on the treble side and fits level. The guitar is very well made with excellent fit/finish. It took set-up very well and I have the neck dead straight with no twist and very low action. Very easy to play. This is not a custom made archtop costing $$$. However, it is an excellent buy for the money and a competent tool for the working jazz guitarist looking for a good playing and sounding jazz box that looks good. Thanks to Ryan Sloan for his help getting this.

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Beautiful archtop guitar

The Savoy A-150 archtop guitar is a beautiful instrument, the fit and finish are great. The neck feels perfect in my hand and the acoustic sound is perfect for playing without an amp. I have not played this yet through my amplifier as I purchased it more for acoustic than amplified playing but I will get to that shortly. Sweetwater did a wonderful job setting up the guitar, action… read more and intonation are spot on. This is a keeper, you won't be disappointed.

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Guild A-150

Top shelf wood selection [especially the spruce top and neck] on a mid priced jazz box, will only warm up further with time and playing. Simon always pleasant and prompt with requested information. I've purchased many guitars, amps and accessories from Simon and others at Sweetwater; invariably pleasant experiences. Bruce

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Loud Acoustic Guitar

I have had this Guild A-150 for 3-1/2 years now. I want to amend my first review about how loud it is. I was playing the no. 12 Flatwounds with my bare fingers when I wrote that it's not the loudest guitar. I have a 12 string and 2 steel string and one Spanish guitar. If I use a pick while playing my Guild A-150 it is in fact the loudest acoustic guitar or at the very least it is… read more as loud as my 12 string, which is very loud. So the way to make your Archtop A-150 sing acoustically is to simply use a quality guitar pick! Remember Archtop guitars were invented so a guitarist could play with an orchestra or band and still be heard, especially if there were several guitarists. They are designed to be the loudest acoustic guitar. So yes this is in fact an acoustic guitar that is louder than most acoustic western style 6 string guitars. The fact that it also has a very high quality pickup mounted off of the end of the fingerboard and floating above the guitar top plate means it in no way muffels the volume and of course once you plug her in then it's just a question of what amplifier and how loud you need to play that day/night. Not counting the "F" holes, the only hole in this guitar is the one for the output jack which is installed in the usual place. So this instrument is electric and a genuine 100% acoustic body. You will love it forever! No batteries, just a volume knob mounted on the "scratch plate/pick guard" to allow for electronic amplification of the actual tone produced from thsebody.

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Beautiful tone, great feel!

I bought this from Sweetwater a couple years ago and thought I'd share my 2 cents. The vintage look and sound of a great jazz box is 100% supreme coming from this axe. There's just one little issue you need to be prepared to deal with: feedback. I play this through a Fender twin '65 reissue and a ZT Club, both of which sound utterly fabulous! BUT you'll have to be very careful how… read more you set up on stage to avoid a feedback nightmare. You need to hear yourself playing, but if an amp is pointed directly at this guitar with any volume at all it will start to howl. We're dealing with an acoustically superb box that is excruciatingly sensitive to its own overtones even when it's not plugged in, which is in large part why it's the most beautiful jazz tone I've ever had. But if you're too close to the drums or in front of the bassist's amp it will also resonate with them and start feeding them back, as if your own feedback wasn't bad enough already. I recommend buying this honey sweet music box and using it for smaller, quieter jazz gigs and be prepared to isolate the feedback issue in louder settings and you'll be glad you spent the money.

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