Topic: Guild Guitar fan club

[Rivers]

I'm very impressed with what Guild are putting out these days. I already have a GAD-30RE that I play in preference to anything else I've got and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that (apologies to Steve Earle & Townes Van Zandt). Mine is a particularly fine example though, all the others I've played were not even close.

On the weekend I went into a store and glanced at a small body, OM-ish but very Guild-shaped, new model hanging on the wall. Not a GAD, this was a full price model, rosewood b&s, made in USA. I continued scanning the goodies. Anyway I was chatting with the owner later and he said I really might like to try playing it.

Not being one to turn down an offer to play a guitar I sat down with it. Whoa! That thing was incredible. It's not even up on the Guild website yet, so far as I can see. That's all I'll say for now but GAS has now set in so watch this space.

In other Guild news the owner told me that they will also be putting out a new mahogany 12 for NAMM and the specs look really good, similar to the 60's F212. I put my name down in the little black book for a test drive.

[Rivers]

Yeah Toby I was tempted by the GAD 12. I haven't played one (and so have avoided temptation) and I'm going to wait until Guild reveal what they have planned at NAMM

I found the model I was raving about in the first post on the store's website, it's a standard F30R apparently. I've said this before about other guitars and will probably say it again, but what a superb finger picking instrument.

Looks can be deceiving though, and I hated the tuners (easily replaced with something befitting the guitar), which is why I passed it by on first sight. Body depth seemed to me a tad deeper than an OM Martin: http://www.guitarrez.com/aginventory/guif30rstd.html

Funny thing is I am a mahogany guitar player for any other brand than Guild. Country blues sounds like I want it to on Guild rosewood guitars, and jazz standards really pop. They are extremely versatile instruments.

[Rivers]

I just realized it's not a new model, it's an update of one of their more successful models. Whatever, I was seriously impressed. Formerly known as Aragon, the guitar MJH favored.

[Rivers]

The Connecticut-built F30R I was gassing for is now all mine.

Great for everything and particularly Big Bill Broonzy stuff since the bass end is is so together. Well actually all the tonal ranges are together, but the bass is strikingly free of mush and that's rare in my experience.

Very versatile instrument, good for jazz comping and whatever else I throw at it. No pickup and that won't change, I wouldn't want to risk losing what it's got. Setup was perfect, as was intonation. Volume-wise it's loud as hell.

Aye, the over-engineered Gotohs suck but they're good quality and do the job. At this point it's great to have a guitar I can expand into, my playing has already improved a bit, can pull-off stuff I've been attempting for ages. Highly recommended.

[Mr.OMuck]

Congrats! Post a sound sample!

[Rivers]

Yikes... I'd better do that. Give me a while, my gears are all in pieces on the garage floor.

[unezrider]

congrats rivers!
it's such a great feeling to get your hands on an instrument that you don't want to put down. & more over, like you said, lets you get to places you've been wanting to go.

[Rivers]

Yes indeed. It's very conducive to hammer-ons and pull-offs so ragtime licks I've played for years (or since last week) are getting those few extra syncopated notes that bring them to life.

[Michael Cardenas]

I have to agree about the Guild necks they have a certain bounce, but the balance they work into their bodies is also choice.

[uncle bud]

Haven't been able to find any of these Guild models around here, though I must admit they pique my interest. I would like a guitar I don't mind being tossed around in a luggage hold but that has a less modern neck than my low-end Larrivee. Love the Larrivee but the low profile neck pisses me off.

[Parlor Picker]

Haven't been able to find any of these Guild models around here, though I must admit they pique my interest. I would like a guitar I don't mind being tossed around in a luggage hold but that has a less modern neck than my low-end Larrivee. Love the Larrivee but the low profile neck pisses me off.

Try and find a Guild GAD 30 or 30R. I tried a 30R and it was exceptional - and a fraction of the price of a high-end North American guitar.

[Rivers]

Status report @ 3 months: Still in love with my Guild F30R

[Doc White]

I bought a GAD30 which I am giving to my daughter for her birthday and a CV2 which I am keeping. These are both factory re-furbished guitars which I got on Ebay for $699 and $799 respectively. These are really good instruments. I agree with the comments about the bottom end.
The necks are great and the workmanship is exceptional. The CV2 has a red cedar top, maple back and sides and just sings. Every note is apparent with no wolf tones and the set up out of the box was just right.
I'd get 'em while they last.
I'm gonna hunt down a 12 string.

Doc

[Mister Steve]

Congrats on those great guitars!

Recently I helped a friend of mine get 2 sweet deals on Guilds GAD's at a local shop.  He picked up the GAD-25 and a classical GAD-C2 ...he couldn't be happier and has already gigged with both guitars.  The Guild GAD classicals are way underappreciated even among Guild GAD fans...

[Rivers]

Status report @ 9 months: The Guild F30R gets better. I've tried various strings on it and went back to the ones it was shipped with, D'Addario XR light gauge. It was shipped with 80/20 bronze but I couldn't find any so it's now on PBs. I don't obsess about the alloy ratio in strings, finding they all settle down to a similar quality after a couple of days, or maybe my ear just adjusts.

I never thought I'd be stuck on a rosewood back & sides guitar with coated strings (that are expensive but last much longer BTW) but there you go; if it works it works.

I'm using the Guild for pretty much everything I do, which at this point is black & white country blues, ragtime and cherry-picked showtunes, klezmer & standards that appeal to me.

I did get to try the new standard series mahogany Guild 12 based on the Guild 12s of yore I mentioned earlier. It was not for for me, I couldn't coax any blues mojo out of it in my admittedly two brief sessions. As we know you really need to reconfigure the strings and go to tunings and lower pitch to get to something close to a satisfying country blues 12 string sound. I just didn't think it was going to get any louder if I took the time to do that, natural volume out-of-the-box being very high on my list of things that will tend to make a guitar a keeper.

Anyway, back to the F30R, it's nice to have a guitar that I initially raved about and am still raving about 9 months later. Doesn't happen often. I love my USA-made Guild.

[Rivers]

Rats. My Guild F30-R has developed a crack right up the center of the back starting at the tailpiece. It's adversely affected the loudness, which in turn has killed the tone, since good tone is hard to achieve without amplitude, IMNSHO. Alongside that, it just feels dead to play. Very sad.

It lived for a few months in very dry conditions in Denver with no humidification, got trucked all over the country last year, and I believe that these things have lead to this sorry state of affairs.

Luthiers and owners who've had similar problems, would you care to comment on how hard/easy might it be to fix such a back crack? I can post a pic if it helps the diagnosis and treatment.