Guild Pilot bass club?

[EWH]

I already have a blue one just like this and a maple body "foot" headstock in a teal color or I'd be all over this.

...still considering it cause, you know, gasssssss

First of all, we others need you to immediately share fotos of your two Pilots or they didn't happen...

Secondly, blue and teal is not red - you do not have a red Pilot...Here's your chance to get one for peanuts and start a serious Pilot collection...

Don't think, just buy...

 

[FRoss6788]

Ok...Ok....

Here's a couple of crappy photo's, bought both of these gem's used and they've been played and are not perfect.

However, they play perfect

 

[deepender]

Ok...Ok....

Here's a couple of crappy photo's, bought both of these gem's used and they've been played and are not perfect.

However, they play perfect

Nice

 

[EWH]

Ok...Ok....

Here's a couple of crappy photo's, bought both of these gem's used and they've been played and are not perfect.

However, they play perfect

An AWESOME pair, FR - love that they both have Hipshots on them...! I'm already wanting to buy your "teal" Pilot because I don't have that color in my collection yet...! Please let me know if you ever want to sell it as I'd like a chance...!

 

[EWH]

A sample of the random thoughts of a Pilot collector any given time, in no particular order...

- My WG Pro 5 has a "strange" SN - have only seen one other like it...
- My "Natural" Pro 5 was never offered as a color option and it isn't a refin as far as I can tell...
- Of all my Pilots only 4 have poplar bodies, the rest are flame maple...
- One of my Amber 602's has a factory added, after paint bass boost - 4 knobs...
- I need a 602 with a bass Kahler...
- I think "pickguard Pilots" are hideous. (But I have seen 3 that I would like to own and 2 of them have maple fretboards, which means I need a pickguard Pilot with a maple fretboard.)
- Where did Alec John Such's "pink burst Paisley" Pilot ever get to...?
- I have only one Pilot that I would sell or trade - because it makes me crazy...
- I need trans blue 602M...
- I need a 602 with a hockey stick headstock...
- I need a 602 with a "Ray" paintjob...
- @RyanOh is so bloody quiet, I wonder who's winning atm...
- I have two "Absolute Pilot Holy Grail" basses on my Wish List - both are ALL maple, all natural and fretless...Sadly, I will likely never own either of them.
- What the heck am I going to do with all these Pilots...?
- I swear I'll stop at 20.

 

[RyanOh]

@EWH I think you already won if there a quantity competition. I only play 5 strings on gigs, also got into live sound and spend all my money on PA gear

 

[InkCow]

A sample of the random thoughts of a Pilot collector any given time, in no particular order...

- My WG Pro 5 has a "strange" SN - have only seen one other like it...
- My "Natural" Pro 5 was never offered as a color option and it isn't a refin as far as I can tell...
- Of all my Pilots only 4 have poplar bodies, the rest are flame maple...
- One of my Amber 602's has a factory added, after paint bass boost - 4 knobs...
- I need a 602 with a bass Kahler...
- I think "pickguard Pilots" are hideous. (But I have seen 3 that I would like to own and 2 of them have maple fretboards, which means I need a pickguard Pilot with a maple fretboard.)
- Where did Alec John Such's "pink burst Paisley" Pilot ever get to...?
- I have only one Pilot that I would sell or trade - because it makes me crazy...
- I need trans blue 602M...
- I need a 602 with a hockey stick headstock...
- I need a 602 with a "Ray" paintjob...
- @RyanOh is so bloody quiet, I wonder who's winning atm...
- I have two "Absolute Pilot Holy Grail" basses on my Wish List - both are ALL maple, all natural and fretless...Sadly, I will likely never own either of them.
- What the heck am I going to do with all these Pilots...?
- I swear I'll stop at 20.

Is there an SB603 in your collection?

 

[EWH]

@EWH I think you already won if there a quantity competition. I only play 5 strings on gigs, also got into live sound and spend all my money on PA gear

But, you are my unofficial competitor...!
PA gear - what the heck, do you want to be a soundman...? Of course these days soundmen are making more money than the bands, so I kinda get that...

Have I got a 5 string for you - I'll send you a pm in the next couple of days...

 

[EWH]

Is there an SB603 in your collection?

Yes there is, InkCow...

 

[InkCow]

Yes there is, InkCow...

View attachment 5160282

Maple fretboard!

 

[EWH]

Maple fretboard!

The best kind...

 

[InkCow]

Yes there is, InkCow...

View attachment 5160282

Interesting, yours has a foot headstock, whereas mine has a cake knife. I was under the impression that very few SB603s were made, but this would imply that they must have been made over multiple years.

 

[EWH]

Interesting, yours has a foot headstock, whereas mine has a cake knife. I was under the impression that very few SB603s were made, but this would imply that they must have been made over multiple years.

There were reportedly only 50 SB-603's ever made - I have seen only 3, including my own...You original foot headstock neck has perhaps been exchanged for a cakeknife headstock neck due to damage, personal taste, usw. from a previous owner...?

Please share your SN and some fotos of your 603...!

 

[EWH]

Interesting, yours has a foot headstock, whereas mine has a cake knife. I was under the impression that very few SB603s were made, but this would imply that they must have been made over multiple years.

Okay @InkCow, I went back to the post (Nr. 1150) where you shared fotos of your SB-603 back in okt.22. and had another look at your bass - I'm pretty sure your bass has had it's original neck changed out because your cakeknife neck's SN BE102765 dates to 1988 using this dating tool:

Source: How to Date a Guild Guitar

The big problem with THAT dating tool is that the 602 and 603 SNs are the same for 1984-1986 - a big mistake...

 

[EWH]

Here's another SB-603 - it was described as a 1986 by the seller on Reverb 2 years ago and it's SN is BE101322..(Mine is supposed to be from 1985 and it's SN is BE100636)

(Notice that both this white one and mine have OEM Guild-branded tuners)

 

[EWH]

The big problem with THAT dating tool is that the 602 and 603 SNs are the same for 1984-1986 - a big mistake...

View attachment 5160695

After thinking about this for the past couple of hours, I'm realising that there may be no mistake after all - if the ca. 50 SB-603s were produced sporadically from 1983 through to the end of 1986 at the latest, and were sharing the same "BE" serial numbers as the SB-602s, then it makes perfect sense...

As a 603 was produced, it received the next BE serial number in line, wherever that was in that year's production run - for three years...

Of course, the 50 603s aren't numbered consecutively "01" to "50" - but they are in numerically sequential order, meaning that the lower the SN, the earlier the bass and the higher the SN, the later the bass...

So, the 50 SB-603 Pilots are spread out over 3 years production and have BE serial numbers from between 100001 and 101726 - 1725 basses.

That's one SB-603 made after 34.5 SB-602s were made...The 603 SNs could differ from each other from only a few numbers to double-digit numbers, depending on how many were produced at one time and when.

 

[InkCow]

Okay @InkCow, I went back to the post (Nr. 1150) where you shared fotos of your SB-603 back in okt.22. and had another look at your bass - I'm pretty sure your bass has had it's original neck changed out because your cakeknife neck's SN BE102765 dates to 1988 using this dating tool:

Source: How to Date a Guild Guitar

The big problem with THAT dating tool is that the 602 and 603 SNs are the same for 1984-1986 - a big mistake...

View attachment 5160695

It’s certainly possible. I bought my Pilot in 1990, so that would have been two years to swap out the neck. Although I’m struggling to think of a motivation for doing it. Like I understand swapping necks on Fenders because there are millions of them available. Maybe it originally had a maple fretboard like yours and the original owner wanted that neck on a p/j? Possibly, but still feels like a bit of a stretch.

This thread has some other theories: Guild Pilot with Swirl Paint? Info needed!
Notably that 603s were an “off the menu” model: “The P only version was available 'though not in the catalog pretty much throughout the Pilot life.” Guild Pilot with Swirl Paint? Info needed!

At the end of the day, I couldn’t care less about the provenance or if it’s numbers matching. It’d be interesting to know if it has a story before it came into my life, but I assume that’s lost to time and it won’t change the fact that it’s my #1 bass and has managed to satisfy any GAS urges for another 4 string, fretted, solid body for over 30 years.

 

[InkCow]

That said, I ran across this yesterday and I think I must own it: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[InkCow]

 

[EWH]

Let us know if & when you get it, @InkCow...