NAGD

munckee · June 2023

The story behind this new acoustic day is that a couple of years ago I tried a J200 and a J100 walnut in a guitar shop, theJ100 was nicer sounding and when talking to the owner he said he had an old guild at home which was better than both of them. I ended up buying the J100, had it for a year and decided it was too much money to have invested in an acoustic when I'm a hobbyist and play electric much more than acoustic.

What the J100 had which I liked was just a great bassy cellolike full sound. What it didn't have was punch for want of a better word. We bought my daughter an acoustic years ago and tried every guitar under £500 in PMT and ended up with an ugly but really punchy sounding washburn, doesn't have the beautiful sound of the gibson but is great.

I've tried loads of mid priced guitars since selling the gibson, the new epiphone inspired by gibsons, the G series gibsons, cheap Martins, Taylors, Sigmas, Yamahas but nothing really grabbed me apart from a J45 studio but was over my budget.

I asked the guy from the shop about the guild he had mentioned to me, he said he bought it in 1989 ex demo. It's had a hard life there is a repair on the side and there is damage on the top where he wears a heavy bracelet that has indented it. He doesn't do much acoustically anymore so said I could try it.

As soon as I played it I knew I was buying it it has most of the full sound of the J100 and the punch of the washburn just sounds brilliant and due to the condition hasn't cost me much for a US built acoustic. It's a 1988 D25 spruce top rather than the normal mahogany top just immensely enjoyable to play.

https://i.imgur.com/dlqjhC9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/SrmTHZc.jpg
https://imgur.com/K08tAEo
https://i.imgur.com/7KZjcrG.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/1w48lvq.png?1

Choivert · June 2023

That's a lovely guitar. Sounds like a proper keeper. I believe that the quality of (some) martins and Gibsons dropped in the 70 and 80s but Guild seemed to continue to make high quality guitars. I had a D25 mahogany and it was really lovely. Your guitar looks real great. It is a round back model or a flat back one?

munckee · June 2023

It’s a round back I read it’s 3 pieces of mahogany pressed together like a posh laminate but there’s not a lot of info about construction for them.

TheMadMick · June 2023

Always liked Guild. I was foolish enough to sell one to a friend. Big Dread sound and he won't let me buy it back even though he rarely plays it - bummer.

I also have a Maple backed jumbo which is bright and loud. Very good for single note lines. Nice guitar but not used often as I play with a 12 string mate and they sound similar.

Soupman · June 2023

That looks nice. At 34 years old you'd expect some wear & tear, but it's not evident from your photos.
If it sounds that good for you, why worry.
A great purchase, now go & play it instead of writing up its history

Nice one.

Tannin · June 2023

US-made Guilds are wonderful guitars, better in my book than Martins (and I like Martins). They can be very dear new, but used ones can be found at decent prices now and then. This looks like a corker! A great choice!

Jalapeno · June 2023

Lovely ! Good score !

Wazmeister · June 2023

Gorgeous. Love the aged look on it, which is natural.

I've never played a 'higher' end Guild, but even the cheaper ones sound good and have a lovely neck...

Congrats

earwighoney · June 2023

Generally Guilds go under the radar, or used to, so there isn't as much info on them.

From what I remember they are something along the following. Your one has solid sides but a 3 ply Mahogany back, which was pressure moulded. It cost Guild more to the laminate back ones than their solid wood ones. I can't remember exactly, it was a while since I played one but they don't have back braces right? The arched laminate back adds something unique for projection.

I think they are remarkable guitars. I prefer the Guild sound to the classic Gibson/Martin ones. Old Guilds used to be quite cheap but they seem to have risen over the years, rightly so.

munckee · June 2023

Wazmeister said:

Gorgeous. Love the aged look on it, which is natural.

I've never played a 'higher' end Guild, but even the cheaper ones sound good and have a lovely neck...

Congrats

I had a guild westerley which was really good but was an om and didn’t have the volume I wanted.

This one doesn’t have any electronics but I don’t think I’ll need to plug it in.

thomasross20 · June 2023

Nice once and happy NGD, great you played the lot of them!

munckee · June 2023

earwighoney said:

Generally Guilds go under the radar, or used to, so there isn't as much info on them.

From what I remember they are something along the following. Your one has solid sides but a 3 ply Mahogany back, which was pressure moulded. It cost Guild more to the laminate back ones than their solid wood ones. I can't remember exactly, it was a while since I played one but they don't have back braces right? The arched laminate back adds something unique for projection.

I think they are remarkable guitars. I prefer the Guild sound to the classic Gibson/Martin ones. Old Guilds used to be quite cheap but they seem to have risen over the years, rightly so.

That's right no back bracing. The benefit of which will be ease of getting plectrums out when they drop in!

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

NAGD

Comments