1.75" nut?

twocorgis said:

A BIG +1 to this. Unfortunately, 1.75" nuts was not something that Guild did very well IMO. I prefer wider nuts, and for my taste at least, nothing comes close to my Martin 000-17SM for great feel in that department. It also has a huge amount of projection for an otherwise small guitar (well, small to me anyway), but a lot of that is due to it being a 12 fret. It's the best finger style guitar I've played up to this point.

Click to expand...

Sandy, that's the guitar you let me borrow for the open stage at LMGIV, isn't it? That is a truly sweet guitar (even if I still feel slightly dirty for having played a Martin at a Guild gathering).

jeffcoop said:

(even if I still feel slightly dirty for having played a Martin at a Guild gathering).

Click to expand...

The real question would be, "Did anybody notice?"
layful:

jeffcoop said:

Sandy, that's the guitar you let me borrow for the open stage at LMGIV, isn't it? That is a truly sweet guitar (even if I still feel slightly dirty for having played a Martin at a Guild gathering).

Click to expand...

That's the one Jeff, and I just love it to death :cocksure:

BTW, no need to feel guilty playing a Martin at a Guild gathering. It's all good...

My dream Guild guitar specs:

Concert (OO) size
12-fret
Slot-head
1.75" nut
Mahogany
Spruce
Bling, just enough but not too much

I have, recently, purchased a great little (non-Guild) 12-fretter with a 1.75" nut that makes me smile when I open the case. It's a dream to play. So doggone comfortable.

P.S. Enjoyed your LMGIV open-stage session (with Sandy's sssssaaaawweeet Martin), Jeff!

ladytexan said:

My dream Guild guitar specs:

Concert (OO) size
12-fret
Slot-head
1.75" nut
Mahogany
Spruce
Bling, just enough but not too much

I have, recently, purchased a great little (non-Guild) 12-fretter with a 1.75" nut that makes me smile when I open the case. It's a dream to play. So doggone comfortable.

P.S. Enjoyed your LMGIV open-stage session (with Sandy's sssssaaaawweeet Martin), Jeff!

Click to expand...

How about an all hog with a different headstock? Ted at LA Guitar Sales does a lot of custom Martins. And at very good prices.

https://www.laguitarsales.com/pages/5165/Martin_Custom_00-15SM_2305.htm

JohnC said:

How about an all hog with a different headstock? Ted at LA Guitar Sales does a lot of custom Martins. And at very good prices.

https://www.laguitarsales.com/pages/5165/Martin_Custom_00-15SM_2305.htm

Click to expand...

Just a word of warning before you order a custom from Ted at LA Guitar Sales is to make sure that's what you want before you order it. Try to find at least a 00-15m to play before you buy. Ted won't accept returns on customs, and I found that out the hard way after receiving and not bonding with one of his Martin customs. FWIW, Jon at My Favorite Guitars has the same policy. JMO of course, but I'm not a big fan of the all hog small bodies. I like the brightness extra headroom of a spruce top much better. See if you can find a 000-17SM to play, and you can thank me later

Neal said:

The only New Hartford-made Guilds that I know of with the 1 3/4 nut are the F-30 Standard and F-30R Standard. The other Standards (D-40, D-50 and F-50) are 1 11/16.

Click to expand...

Don't forget all the US made Guild Orpheum 6 string guitars which even have a 1.80" (45.72mm) nut! http://www.guildguitars.com/custom-shop/#orpheum

ladytexan said:

My dream Guild guitar specs:...

Click to expand...

Toni: I guess this Orpheum with natural top would fit you! http://www.guildguitars.com/instruments/details/?partno=3876000837
Ralf

Hi, John. I get a deep, tight, well-articulated bass note out of the F-30, much bolder down low than I had anticipated. Not sure if it is the red spruce top that accounts for that or not, but it is definitely there. Not D-50 "there", but close, for a smaller F-bodied mahogany, compared with the larger rosewood dread.

Measurements: The '07 F-30 Aragon is 4 1/4" deep and 15" wide at the lower bout. The '77 D-50, is 4 3/4" deep and 15 3/4" wide at the lower bout.

I work at home, and try to rotate a new guitar onto the stand beside my desk daily (for breaks, or whenever I hear a cool song on Pandora that I want to learn. (Brutal working conditions, I know.) I do this to enjoy all of them in turn, for what they have to offer, and partly this time of year to limit the amount of time they spend in 25% humidity. Yesterday was the D-50's turn, today the F-30. Both have beautiful, distinctive voices. The overtones I am getting out of the F-30 are unreal. And it doesn't sound the least bit "thin" or "small" after playing the D-50. But my shoulder sure does feel better!

Neal





Neal

Neal said:

Hi, John. I get a deep, tight, well-articulated bass note out of the F-30, much bolder down low than I had anticipated. Not sure if it is the red spruce top that accounts for that or not, but it is definitely there. Not D-50 "there", but close, for a smaller F-bodied mahogany, compared with the larger rosewood dread.

Measurements: The '07 F-30 Aragon is 4 1/4" deep and 15" wide at the lower bout. The '77 D-50, is 4 3/4" deep and 15 3/4" wide at the lower bout.

I work at home, and try to rotate a new guitar onto the stand beside my desk daily (for breaks, or whenever I hear a cool song on Pandora that I want to learn. (Brutal working conditions, I know.) I do this to enjoy all of them in turn, for what they have to offer, and partly this time of year to limit the amount of time they spend in 25% humidity. Yesterday was the D-50's turn, today the F-30. Both have beautiful, distinctive voices. The overtones I am getting out of the F-30 are unreal. And it doesn't sound the least bit "thin" or "small" after playing the D-50. But my shoulder sure does feel better!

Neal





Neal

Click to expand...

Thanks for the measurements Neal. What you describe relative to the deep, well articulated bass is how I would describe my 00-18 T.O. It too has an Adi top and I kind of thought that was what gave it the added bass. For a 00 it's loud with a great bass but still has the overall balance and clarity in the mids and highs like you would expect with a hog body. It's truly the best of both worlds. It also has a long scale which is not usually common to that size.

twocorgis said:

Just a word of warning before you order a custom from Ted at LA Guitar Sales is to make sure that's what you want before you order it. Try to find at least a 00-15m to play before you buy. Ted won't accept returns on customs, and I found that out the hard way after receiving and not bonding with one of his Martin customs. FWIW, Jon at My Favorite Guitars has the same policy. JMO of course, but I'm not a big fan of the all hog small bodies. I like the brightness extra headroom of a spruce top much better. See if you can find a 000-17SM to play, and you can thank me later

Click to expand...

I didn't know that about Ted's customs. My 00 is from him but I actually went to his shop and got to try them. To me, the 1.75 nut was the only real reason to go with the custom. I played a lot of the 15 series Martins everywhere and liked them all. IMO, I think they are pretty consistent with their sound. If you can live with the 1 11/16 nut one can save themselves some money.

I like the spruce/hog as well. I just see it as another flavor. It's what caused me to buy the 00-18 TO.

I recently tried the 000-17SM elsewhere and they are a real treat too. No need for custom as they come with the 1.75 nut. But they are 000 and not 00.

Neal said:

So, Joe. Obviously a new bridge and nut were required to convert a 12 to a 6, along with an adjustment to the truss rods to compensate for less string tension. But how in the world did you fill 6 holes in the head stock so I can't tell they were ever there?

Click to expand...

New nut and saddle.
Six holes in the head plus six holes in the bridge were made to disappear using birch dowels. Filling in all twelve holes made for most of the work involved in the changeover.
I replaced the original 6-on-a-plate tuners with Grover Rotomatics (I think Pascal has the plates now).

It was a learning experience. :tranquillity:

Joe

Nice, Joe. And the F-112 is a perfect candidate for such a transformation, I would think. Now you have an orchestra-sized six-string with a really wide nut and really wide spacing at the saddle.

I suspect that the process is thoroughly covered in an older thread, so please redirect me.

Neal

Neal said:

I suspect that the process is thoroughly covered in an older thread, so please redirect me.

Click to expand...

I'm sure it's here somewhere, but I'd have to dig to find it, so stay tuned. :tranquillity:

Joe

does anyone know if any of the d-40, d-50 d-55 or f-47 ever came with the 1 3/4" nut?

Not that I know of. The only one I'm not completely sure of is the F-47.

Neal

I was a bit leery of the 1.80 inch nut/neck on the Orpheum when I first considered it as I prefer 1 3/4" but since the guitar had everything else I wanted in a 12 fretter (including the short scale) I went for it. After playing it for a couple of weeks now I find my Guild to have about the most perfect and fastest neck of any guitar I own. I can only just barely discern a difference in width from my 1 3/4" guitars, which is as it should be. I'm not a fingerstyle guy but one of my bandmates is and he keeps trying to buy this guitar off of me. I made the mistake years ago of selling him my Santa Cruz Vintage Jumbo so I ain't going there twice.

Joe, that conversion is just fantastic! Great job and looks beautiful. The only reason I no longer play my great sounding and road-worn '72 F-30R is the neck width, which at less than 1-11/16 at the nut has become uncomfortable with my aging hands. I'd love to put a wider neck on it, but that would be next to impossible and maintain the same headstock. Oh well. Again, that converted 112-6 is great!

DC

Neal said:

Not that I know of. The only one I'm not completely sure of is the F-47.
Neal

Click to expand...

Agreed. Highly doubtful unless it was shown as an available option. Guild was much more flexible about accepting "special orders" in the 60's/70's, even had a special order form with a checklist for the available options but I don't know if nut width was one of 'em.
F47 btw was "Just" an F40 with F50 "bling" .

I always wanted a Westerly (or Hoboken) made Guild Jumbo 6 string. I've had my 1979 F212L NT for over 30 years now and the sound was just fantastic. I wanted a 6 string to replace a terrific Breedlove one of my nephews (a luthier) loaned to me but I preferred a Guild and definitely wanted a 1.75" nut. I did not want a foreign made Guild and my searches came up with nothing that worked. And then Hans Moust. I wrote to Hans asking if he new of a Westerly made Guild Jumbo 6 ever came with a 1.75". If anybody would know, he would. Here was his response...

***
As far as a six string models with a 1-3/4" nut is concerned, there were not a whole lot of models that Guild did in earlier years with that nut size, other than some D-40s and D-50s before 1965, which are very hard to find and a couple of small bodied models that were called the A-25 and the A-50 during the mid-'90s. Those last ones were OK as fingerstyle guitars, but as far as strumming is concerned, they might not deliver what you would expect from a Guild.

The only way to get something close to that neck size is to look for a JF-55 from the first half of the '90s.
The necks on those tend to be a tad wider than the average Guild, sometimes very close or actually 1-3/4" wide.

You also might want to look into the rather recent Orpheum models that were done by Guild not too long ago. Some of those had a wider nut, but these are not produced right now, so you have to look for a shop that still has one for sale or try the used guitar market. A Google search might help you locating one for sale.
***

I started contacting sellers on numerous sites but everyone came back with 1 11/16" but no 1.75". Finally I received word from a seller in Brooklyn w/ pics of a 1996 JF-55. He assured me it was 1.75 by way of e-mail. I called to double check and sure enough it was just what I was looking for. I've never bought a guitar without playing it first but is was a special case. It arrived Monday 2/1/2016. Sounds great. The guitar is 20 years old and not in perfect condition... but I can work with what is there. I never thought i would find what I wanted but thanks to Hans... it now sits next to my F212XL.

My oldest nephew brought out his 1976 Guild D55 and played that as well as my JF55. He noticed the wider nut immediately.

Couldn't happier. Thanks again Hans!

Great Story Algionfriddo! Hans is the man and the final word pretty much on all things Guild. Glad he was able to help you find what you were looking for. Let me be the first to say Welcome to LTG! Feel free to start a New Guitar Day thread in the Acoustic section for your JF-55NT and Please post some photos of that Lovely Guild! Every one here will agree that photos are definitely encouraged as we all love to drool over some Guild Goodness. You will have to host the photos on an image hosting site like imageshack or photobucket and then paste the URL's here. There are lots of Great folks on this site with a wealth of information to be shared. Look forward to hearing more from you and once again, Congrats on a Great Guild Guitar!

TX