Page 8 contains a variety of different guitars, the solid body Jet-Star bass, the semi-solid Guild M-75 guitar and M-85 bass, and the D-35 Bluegrass flattop acoustic.
The Guild Jet-Star bass shared the same body/headstock design of the Guild S-200 Thunderbird shown on the previous page, and like the Thunderbird, its quirky looks were perhaps too much to induce large-scale patronage. It is shown here with its Hagstrom tailpiece and Hagstrom Bisonic pickup; a feature of the earliest (circa 1965) examples. By 1966, the pickup had changed to a Guild Mickey Mouse single coil (similar to those used in many Guild six string electrics) and the headstock became single sided, very much like the headstock of a Gibson Thunderbird, though this configuration was never shown in a Guild catalog *this is the final catalog appearance of this model). The Jet-Star bass was described as follows:
A solid body bass inspired by the lines of the Guild Thunderbird. Comfortable to hold, easy to control, as responsive as a lead guitar. Body is 13 1/4" wide, 19 1/4" long, 1 9/16" deep. Has a specially designed bass neck reinforced by an adjustable steel rod. Lightning-action rosewood fingerboard has a 30 1/2" scale and 10 inlaid position dots. Equipped with Guild's Anti-Hum Pick-Up adapted especially for bass. Functioning on the humbucking principle, it is hypersensitive to the complete range of string vibrations while filtering out all hum and other interference. Has separate tone and volume controls, two hand rests, and fine quality strings.
The M-75 Aristocrat had been deleted from the Guild line in the early 1960s, last appearing in the 1962 Guild catalog. But like the visually similar (and also discontinued in the early 1960s) Gibson Les Paul it was back for 1968, this time updated as (ultimately*) the Guild Bluesbird, and accompanied by two bass models, the single pickup M-85 and dual pickup M-85-II Bluesbird bass. This was the first catalog appearance of these really nice guitars. Sadly they were insufficiently popular to remain in production for too long, with all Guild Bluesbird models officially deleted in 1972.
* Neither the name Bluesbird nor Aristocrat is used on this page, and although from 1969 or so Bluesbird is the firmly accepted name, the June 1968 price list refers to the M-75 as the Aristocrat guitar, and the M-85 the Aristocrat bass!
June 1968, US prices for these guitars were as follows: Jet-Star bass $245; M-75 Aristocrat guitar $395; M-85 Aristocrat bass $350; M-85 II $420; D-35 Bluegrass $215 (sunburst finish), $225 (Natural Spruce top).
$6095
$5995
$5499
$2999
$1500
$1495
£5500
€2100
£1500
€499
£299