My USA Made Guild D 50 ,Love at first chord,one of the nest acoustics I have heard,although it does prefer to be strummed..
Nice low action,,although I love it so much I do get worried..
My cousin has a Herringbone,,Vintage Style etc Martin D 28,,really expensive compared to the standard D 28..
It does sound good but a bit different..The D 50 is much easier to play....
Then my Chinese made Guild M120,,all solid wood still...
My ear bought this one again...Good for fingerpicking,I have dead strings on it just now..I like the sound..
I'm going to try Martin Monel strings when I buy from somewhere that has them so I don't have to pay so much postage..
24.75 Scale length on this one..<a href="
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Comments
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A good old American Guild is a wonderful instrument, I think they go under the radar.
My Experience of American Guild Acoustics is that they are often the best sounding acoustic in the shop that aren't extra premium range...I played a Standard Martin D28 the day I got the D50..The D50 sounded straight off the record...
Guess what,it records beautifully too..
Red Spruce top, mahogany back, sides and bolt-on neck, ebony fretboard and - almost unique to the Guild CO-2 - a remarkable carbon fibre neck block. .
This was a very interesting innovation. The idea was to provide a precise, exactly repeatable neck block to allow the consistent production of a quality guitar, in the USA, at a very reasonable cost.
Commercially, the CO-2 was not a success. By this time, Fender's mismanagement of the Guild brand had reached its zenith and morale at the factory was very low. Quality control went out the window and there was a high defect rate with a lot of returns, mostly to do with faulty necks. These returns were simply stacked up and new CO-2s shipped out as warranty replacements. When Fender closed down Tacoma and shifted Guild production to the Ovation factory, all the faulty CO-2s, together with a lot of unsold new ones, were stamped "USED" and sold off cheaply, with no warranty. The model earned a lousy reputation in consequence.
Fast forward 15 years, and it's a different story. Any CO-2 you see today is either one of the many good ones, or else has long since been fixed. They are excellent guitars - and very likely the cheapest US-made Guild you'll see.
Are they any good? Hell yeah. But the CO-2 has its own particular voice, so they are not for everyone. Whether it is the carbon fibre neck block or the Red Spruce (aka "Adirondack") top, a CO-2 is very loud (louder than most dreadnoughts and it's only a 00 size), very crisp, and has that clarity and purity of tone characteristic of Red Spruce. If you play it exactly right, it rewards you with something very special. And if you get it just a little bit wrong, it bites! It has a very crisp, almost savage attack, and needs concentrated accuracy and control, especially with the right hand.
I had a hot and cold, love-hate relationship with the CO-2. In the end, I decided it was too damn fussy for a sloppy player like me. I couldn't bear to sell it, so I gave it to my brother - mainly an electric player - for a big round-number birthday.
He loves it! He likes to play loud (and the CO-2 is very loud) and he plays simpler things than I do and gets a great sound out of it. (I always play stuff which is too hard for me so I need a forgiving guitar or I sound awful. He plays more sensibly and makes the CO-2 sing.)
PS: On my advice, my other brother, the 12-string fingerstyle player, after 40 years with the same guitar, lashed out and bought a late-model used Guild F-512. Now I reckon the F-512 Maple is the best 12-string I've ever played, and one of the finest half-dozen instruments I've ever met. But he liked the rosewood one, and he is very pleased with it. He lives a long way away so I haven't seen it yet.
My 12 String is a Taylor, 150 e,huge sounding,,Walnut ply back and sides,,pricey for a not all solid wood,but it sounds great..
That is pretty much my entire acoustic collection..<a href="https://imgur.com/XTKsEv5"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/XTKsEv5.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
(left) 1988 GF-30, Westerly built.
Sitka top, arched maple laminate back, solid maple sides, maple neck, RW board and bridge, 1 11/16 nut, 25 5/8 scale.
I always fancied trying the 'grand folk' format with 16" lower bout and narrowly missed out on a 70's F-40 (same body shape) a few years back. Took a chance on this from a Reverb seller with no feedback and no clue. I got lucky - frets will need replacing in a few years but low action and more saddle left than you could hope for.
I looked at them like a J-185 with a long scale but it's so much more than that. An incredibly versatile and balanced guitar. Bass is there but not boomy like a dread, lovely mid bark with choppy rhythm parts, round sustaining tone for lead work with a flatpick and also beautiful for fingerpicking. It also takes a mic better than any other acoustic I've had with the arched back focusing the mids and offering feedback resistance.
(right) 2010 GSR F-30, New Hartford built.
Adi top, AAAAA maple b&s, mahogany neck, ebony board and bridge, 1 3/4 nut, 25 5/8 scale.
Couldn't resist snapping this up - a limited run (20 worldwide) of an F-30 made to original specs before they changed to mahogany in 1959. A gorgeous build; very light and repsonsive with a shocking amount of bass for a small maple guitar. Gets loud too with a clear, strong and thick voice. It's got a crisp edge but never brittle or over-bright. Fingerpicker's dream but sounds surprisingly good when strummed with a pick too.
I'd still love a 70's D-40 one day and regret selling my Oxnard D-55... but I have a love / hate relationship with rosewood.
(Anyone who hasn't owned a maple-back acoustic hasn't lived.)
I've got 4 acoustics and 3 of them are maple! People seem to think maple guitars are too bright but that hasn't been my experience at all, especially Guilds. I love their fast attack for snappy strumming, yet all have plenty of sustain when needed. Strong fundamental tone makes them easy to record, they mic well live, and they don't fight with vocals when accompanying.
I know how you feel about narrow nuts but the GF-30 doesn't feel cramped to me at all coming from the F-30 - it has a chunkier neck so the hand still feels nicely filled, slightly wider spacing at the bridge too.
One thing about Guilds I love is the playability with their 12" fretboard radii. Both guitars came with a really low action and no fret buzz at all, despite the frets being quite worn on GF-30. The F-30 is almost too easy to play with the 11s it was set up for. Will be getting it fitted for 12s as I prefer the feel and tension.
I've got a D4 NT from the 90s. Easy to play and very loud.