Learning to Love my F50

So I picked up this Tacoma F50 a while back. It's been somewhat abused but not in any sonically problematic way. Got it at a pretty good price and I have gigged it a few times, but just never bonded with it.
Yesterday while reading some non music / non guitar material I realized that "bonding" (at least in my case) has more to do with me than the guitar.
I've been picking up "the guitar I am not bonding with" and trying to like it or at least appreciate it.
So yesterday I decided to pick up this quite high end Guild and see how It sounds. This thing is very nice and adds something to my acoustic lineup. It's amazing how not going in with a preconceived idea makes all the difference in the world.

We humans can talk ourselves into or out of damn near anything.

Glad to hear you are going into it with an open mind. For me personally, if I didn't feel an immediate bond or at least an attraction of some kind the first time I picked up a guitar then it in most cases wasn't for me. Granted I have guitars that I have grown to love more over time than others but there was always a connection with the ones I have kept to begin with. Best of luck and that is one fine looking F50 for sure!

That looks great with the black finish.

Love the look of the black finish with the ebony fret board and bridge! Good to see you on this forum in addition to the Reverend forum, Portsider!

ronbo said:

Love the look of the black finish with the ebony fret board and bridge! Good to see you on this forum in addition to the Reverend forum, Portsider!

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I'm compulsively brand loyal, Guild acoustics and Reverend electrics.

Sounds like the makings of self help seminar.. "It's not you, it's me": A lesson in bonding with your guitar.
Kidding aside, I have had a couple that creeped up on me over time.. Kind of gratifying when that happens..

When I first played my dad's F-50 (now mine), I didn't really love it. I mean it sounded good, but it didn't have the bass of a Martin D-28 for example -although it has very deep bass, just not as loud.

Then as I got older and became a better player, learned to pick notes more uniformly and harder or softer when desired and that's my favorite sounding acoustic guitar ever. It may not be the best guitar to strum chords and sing with, it's a full sounding guitar and probably best off for playing more guitar forward music.

I would strongly recommend DR Veritas strings (I use 13s). They have pronounced mids and a slight roll off in highs that are perfect with the guitar.

I would say my F55 was a very focused bass sound - not as boomy as a dread. Not sure if that is common for Guild jumbos. The few I have played have had this characteristic. When I bought the JF65 that is being worked on, Brett Morrison had an old F-50 in there. Pretty toasty in terms of condition, but it wasn't particularly boomy. JF65 while newer had a much sweeter sound. Again, plenty loud and nice bass, but very focused.

D30Man said:

I would say my F55 was a very focused bass sound - not as boomy as a dread. Not sure if that is common for Guild jumbos. The few I have played have had this characteristic. When I bought the JF65 that is being worked on, Brett Morrison had an old F-50 in there. Pretty toasty in terms of condition, but it wasn't particularly boomy. JF65 while newer had a much sweeter sound. Again, plenty loud and nice bass, but very focused.

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My experience with Guild maples is that they are more focused than mahogany or EIR and are less forgiving of sloppy picking. My 45th anniversary demands me to play with a lot of consciousness and exactitude, resulting in better practice skills and mindfulness of my playing.

Rich Cohen said:

My experience with Guild maples is that they are more focused than mahogany or EIR and are less forgiving of sloppy picking. My 45th anniversary demands me to play with a lot of consciousness and exactitude, resulting in better practice skills and mindfulness of my playing.

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I can see that Rich. Is it safe to say that maple colors tone less than hog or RW - allowing more the top to come through? IDK. I am relatively new to maple beyond the arched back variety. The F47M is the first flat back / braced maple B/S I have owned for any amount of time.

When I compare my F50 maple to my F40 Traditional, I hear more mid-range and fundamentals in the F40's sound. The maple jumbo to me sounds somewhere between mahogany and rosewood, more scooped than the F40. The treble on the F50 really sounds lovely.