In praise of the "new" Guild.

Congrats!

My main guitar is a '76 D-35 from Westerly. The best place I've found to ask questions about Guilds is www.letstalkguild.com. A friendly and knowledgeable site - just like TDPRI!

 

I bought a Chinese D150 Guild second hand this summer and I love it. All solid- spruce top, rosewood back and sides. Really sparkly bright, but not in a Taylor type way. Great tonal contrast with my Martin D15, but big and boomy like a dread should be. Got it in open D for blood on the tracks Dylan vibes.

 

Guilds are the Teles of folk guitars: more twang and bite than a Martin, more warmth and expression than a Taylor - more like a good Gibson, but more consistent in quality and more user-friendly.

 

I have a D-55 Bluegrass Special. LOUD ! Love it very clear tones.

 

Played an old Westerly D-55 at a used instrument shop last week. To kill for.

 

The D-55 remains hands down the loudest acoustic I have ever gotten my hands on. While you hear folks refer to this or that guitar as a "cannon" they are all just pretenders to the throne when compared to at least a Westerly D-55.

 

I have a soft spot for Guilds. In the 1960s they occupied that sweet spot in price between a Harmony Sovereign and a Martin D-18 or Gibson J-45.

I finally got to play a new one yesterday - a D40. Seemed like a lot of guitar for the money. But as I need a another guitar like I need a second wife I passed. My wife, however, did buy a Schmidt Autoharp.

 

They'll out power a Gibson J-200. Found that out a few years ago at Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville.

I'd have to dig around online to see if he still works there, but Guild hired Ren Ferguson away from Gibson Montana about the time they moved to CA. Ren was the mastermind behind Gibson's acoustic guitar revival, and head of their Montana factory.

 

I think Ren is long gone. I believe he was actually hired by Fender, who either owned or distributed Guild at the time.

I’m not sure where he ended up though.

Cheers,
Geoff

 

Guild’s Newark Street electric guitars are great bang for the buck, too. They get good reviews from the crew at the ‘Lets Talk Guild’ forum.

 

I'm a big Guild fan! I have a 1972 D-35 and a GAD-25. The GAD is Chinese built, and while the two guitars are quite different (spruce/mahogany vs. all mahogany), I like the sound of the GAD better. It's build quality is right up there with its American siblings. The new Westerly series imported Guilds are amazing values!

 

TeleTex82....cool.

I'm elated to see a discussion about the new Guild acoustics.
I'd read (correct me if I'm in err) that some years ago they were having some significant quality issues for a few years.
Your comments are good to hear.

No...I don't have a new one but the acoustic in my avatar is a 1973 Guild D40 Sunburst that I purchased for 300$ in 1978.

My experience/subjective opinion when I compared playing my (3) options while at the music store:
Martin D35 - sorry, too dull/subdued over all the frequencies. Probably a great axe for bluegrass genre.
Gibson J200 - sorry, didn't care for the jangling, tinny sound especially on the high end.
Guild D40 - I played that dude and the frequencies overall had far more presence (loudness ), clarity of each string and more vibrant.
I just spent some bucks last summer on a fret job which was long overdue.
Plays beautifully and now easier on my damned arthritic fingers.
My luthier states confidently it's got some fair worth....but, I don't have clue....I'm keeping it.

Anyway....let us know which one you get as soon as you arrive home.

Back to it.....

 

I picked up a Bluesbird at a great price to scratch the Les Paul itch. It does that very nicely. I’d like to add a couple more Guilds to the stable.

 

I love my late '70's Guild D-40C. Warm, fat, and loud as hell. The chunky neck isn't the easiest to play but I think it contributes to the sound.