After languishing through the 1970s with unremarkable solidbody guitars, Guild surprised the guitar world with an eye-catching “flying star” model in 1981.

The X-79 Skyhawk was one of four Guild models with the stretched, four-point body shape. It was soon joined by the X-80 Skyhawk (soon to be renamed Swan), the X-82 Nova (soon to renamed Starfighter), and the X-88 Motley Crue model, plus three more variations with bolt-on necks.

Guild equipped the X-79 with all the right features, including humbucking pickups (two or three), a coil tap or phase control, an optional Kahler vibrato, and an array of finishes ranging from traditional sunburst to black sparkle to purple.

As Guild had discovered with he Thunderbird-style solidbodies of the 1960s, guitar buyers thought of tradition rather than innovation when they thought of Guild guitars. By the time a new ownership group acquired Guild in 1986, the flying stars had proven to shooting stars, and they had all frizzled out.