Guild Acoustics?

Creed_Clicks · May 2023

Guilds fly under the radar I think. Or maybe I am wrong. They seem pretty solid and have a decent reputation. Even the cheaper M120 and M240 seem solid. Any players?

bobacco · May 2023

Very nearly bought one years back - went to see a guy about a Marshall half stack, nearly left with his Guild acoustic. Played and sounded brilliant - though probably not ideal for my metal band at the time!

Still think about it from time to time…GAK have a pretty reasonably-priced one in their secondhand listings currently. Tempted…

Wazmeister · May 2023

I've got a Guild DS 240.

Now, I've always owned high end stuff, and my (learner) mate bought one of these. I played it, mainly to be kind and encourage him, and I was blown away. I owned a beautiful Atkin The 43 at the time.

I ordered one of these DS240 from Merchant City Music. Arrived in tune, and perfect out of the box.

https://www.guitar.co.uk/guild-ds-240-memoir-slope-shoulder-dreadnought-vintage-sunburst-gloss

I sold the Atkin after a couple of days. Banked the nearly £2000 and still have the Guild as my only acoustic. Incredible really, and I love it.

Here's the proof;

Creed_Clicks · May 2023

@Wazmeister The Memoir, I forgot about that one. I am tempted due to the shorter scale. But I do like the cut of the smaller body ones as well. I spied a Memoir for cheap used near me. Mint. €300

Winny_Pooh · May 2023

I had a MIC all solid GAD30. Lovely guitar that sounded great and would have kept it if I didnt need to funds to upgrade to a dreadnought Gibson.

Recording of it playing all the guitar parts here:

https://open.spotify.com/track/1ThrepaRk2XpOvZUhDDKTN?si=AZKxO9u-Tp2HbAPy_P-VHg&utm_source=copy-link

tomjax · May 2023

Love Guilds, and currently have an all mahogany 12 string model that sounds and plays beautifully. If I had need of a dreadnought a D55e would be high on my list!

Strangefan · May 2023

My all time favourite acoustics , always consistent never had a bad year ,
The necks are brilliant ,and they sound great

Teyeplayer · May 2023

I’ve a d20, great value for money guitar. Seems pretty well made, sounds good and can be had for a very competitive price.

bluenile · May 2023

Wazmeister said:

I've got a Guild DS 240.

Now, I've always owned high end stuff, and my (learner) mate bought one of these. I played it, mainly to be kind and encourage him, and I was blown away. I owned a beautiful Atkin The 43 at the time.

I ordered one of these DS240 from Merchant City Music. Arrived in tune, and perfect out of the box.

https://www.guitar.co.uk/guild-ds-240-memoir-slope-shoulder-dreadnought-vintage-sunburst-gloss

I sold the Atkin after a couple of days. Banked the nearly £2000 and still have the Guild as my only acoustic. Incredible really, and I love it.

Here's the proof;

Those DS240s look great, would love to compare one to the new Eastman 1SS

jellyroll · May 2023

I have a small bodied, all mahogany, made in China, varnish as thick Diane Abbot model. (M20,I think? Now called M120?). I never play it.

Creed_Clicks · May 2023

You can almost touch the varnish through the computer screen on the M120. The one with the sound hole pickup looks like it’s not that thickly finished.

Vinny · May 2023

I’ve a D55 and it’s really good. Had another one years ago (Tacoma) and traded it, but managed to find another (New Hampshire) just as good eventually. The New Hampshire made models I’ve played were all very good. New prices are steep.

Vinny · May 2023

Vinny said:

I’ve a D55 and it’s really good. Had another one years ago (Tacoma) and traded it, but managed to find another (New Hampshire) just as good eventually. The New Hampshire made models I’ve played were all very good. New prices are steep.

Oops! New HARTFORD, Connecticut.

Tannin · May 2023

All the US-made Guilds are excellent. New Jersey, Rhode Island (both original Guild factories), Tacoma (the Tacoma factory), New Hartford (the Ovation factory), Oxnard (the new Guild factory since Cordoba bought them) - all great quality. Even at Cordoba (the Fender factory) they seemed to do OK. Amazing company to have had all those moves and all that Fender mismanagement and still pull through with quality Martin and especially Gibson would give their eye teeth for.

Bloody dear though. A bit rich for my blood. For the price of a nice Guild I can have something luthier-built to my precise requirements.

As for their "Westerly" range (named after their old Rhode Island plant), it is made in China and probably no worse than a lot of Chinese stuff and better than some.

goldtop · May 2023

Never played one, but would like to try a D55. There's an Acoustic Letter YT video with that and a couple of competitors, and there was a real 'growl' from the D55's bass strings that I'd never heard on an acoustic before. So much definition and not just a 'round' bottom end.

Epsilon · May 2023

Difficult to generalise. As with many other makers, they have their import, US and custom shop ranges. Prices between a few hundred and a few thousand.

The US range is complicated by the multiple factories and owners Guild have been under over the years. As others have said, they're all good. New Hartford was basically a custom shop in all but name, and is my favourite period. Very small scale and high quality. Nitro finish, premium tonewoods etc.

Others rate Westerly (US factory, not Westerly Series) highly. Also good, but somewhat more mass produced and heavily built in my experience. The main selling point of these was the great value for money. Unlike Martin and Gibson, Guild didn't really experience the dip in quality in the 1970s. They remain a relatively affordable entry point to the US vintage guitar market.

Their 12 strings have a well-earned reputation as the best of the best.

On the import side, I thought the GAD series was the best value out there. The GAD M20s were all solid wood, bone nut and came with a hard case. The M120s made today seem to be roughly equivalent specs (albeit nu-bone nut and gig bag), and I'm sure are also excellent.

earwighoney · May 2023

Epsilon said:

Difficult to generalise. As with many other makers, they have their import, US and custom shop ranges. Prices between a few hundred and a few thousand.

The US range is complicated by the multiple factories and owners Guild have been under over the years. As others have said, they're all good. New Hartford was basically a custom shop in all but name, and is my favourite period. Very small scale and high quality. Nitro finish, premium tonewoods etc.

Others rate Westerly (US factory, not Westerly Series) highly. Also good, but somewhat more mass produced and heavily built in my experience. The main selling point of these was the great value for money. Unlike Martin and Gibson, Guild didn't really experience the dip in quality in the 1970s. They remain a relatively affordable entry point to the US vintage guitar market.

Their 12 strings have a well-earned reputation as the best of the best.

On the import side, I thought the GAD series was the best value out there. The GAD M20s were all solid wood, bone nut and came with a hard case. The M120s made today seem to be roughly equivalent specs (albeit nu-bone nut and gig bag), and I'm sure are also excellent.

+1

The New Hartford OM's were superb.

I have a GAD F212, which is a lovely guitar.

Creed_Clicks · May 2023

Some of the electric Westerly Guilds are made in Korea. I’m not sure why some are made in Korea and some in China (electrics and hollow bodies etc) , but assume all the import acoustics are MIC. Well, an American made guitar is an import guitar to me officially !

Vinny · May 2023

The GAD made in China series came in two guises. The earlier versions had two digits in the model names, and were higher spec as per Epsilon They had bone nut, saddle, wood binding, hard case, etc.
The best Guilds I’ve played were all New Hartford made. I like my D55 better than any Martin D28 I’ve ever played but it’s all subjective, isn’t it?

Lozboy · May 2023

Ren Fergusons involvement. New Hartford era I think
http://www.vintageguitar.com/21567/guild-in-the-post-fender-era/? Info Info of Guild post Fender Interesting insight to changes

earwighoney · May 2023

Vinny said:

The GAD made in China series came in two guises. The earlier versions had two digits in the model names, and were higher spec as per Epsilon They had bone nut, saddle, wood binding, hard case, etc.
The best Guilds I’ve played were all New Hartford made. I like my D55 better than any Martin D28 I’ve ever played but it’s all subjective, isn’t it?

The New Hartford Guilds seemed to be a cross between classic Guilds with a few built as lightly as some old Martin's. They were expensive to begin with but they sold some of the OM's at around £2k when they were end of line. I regret not buying one at the time.

Smellyfingers · May 2023

I had a 2017 USA solid mahogany Guild D20 which I regret selling.

In retrospect it was’my guitar’

It was relatively lightly built but very resonant. At the time it was cheaper than similar Martins etc.

Maybe the reason people don’t rate Guild as a stable premium brand, is because it has had a number of ownership incarnations and factory relocations etc. But maybe that means it has to try harder.

OnTheHunt · May 2023

I've been playing for over 30 years now (not that you'd know it!) and having had maybe 100 or so electrics in that time I've had one acoustic, a Guild. Bought it maybe in 1998 or thereabouts - wanted an acoustic and without all the pre-conceived notions I had about all things electric I decided to try as many acoustics as possible and have the right one let me know it was the one regardless of make/model/spec. That ended up being the JF-100NT-CRV, a rare-ish bird which was considered to be the peak of the jumbo build from Westerly RI in 1993/94. It's a 'fancy' looking beast, abalone and purfling all over the show... as much as some folk like that it's a tad OTT for me, preferring all things plainer myself. But man, does it play and sound good!! Few minutes with it back then I knew that was that, been with me ever since.

Think Guild only made 30-40 or thereabouts. Saw a couple for sale over the years and been offered a hefty wedge for mine, which was tempting.... but alas I think it's one of those 'for life' guitars. Brian Adams has one of the others, maybe Clapton too from memory. Chap from the Corrs has one, played it on their Unplugged session (that's it on the cover of that album). Great, great guitars.... if not somewhat on the 'tart' end of the cosmetic spectrum!

Honkycat · June 2023

Any chance of a picture of this beauty?

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