Any D 40 Fans Here?

[bunuel]

I've played every generation of D-40 from every factory over the last 40-plus years and have found them quite consistent, aside from a slump decade or two starting around 1970, when overbuilding and -finishing produced a muffled sound--an opinion not much shared hereabouts, I know. Both the Corona and Tacoma factories produced D-40s that sounded like my '65 to me, with the Tacomas in particular having the characteristic Guild sound (slightly nasal and not as boomy as, say, a Martin). Build quality of the Tacomas also struck me as excellent. I haven't come across samples from the new factory yet, but if they keep to the design formula there's no reason they shouldn't retain the Guild character.

Yep, I definitely don't share that opinion about 70-90s Guilds. Many of the very best acoustic axes I've ever played were Guild's made during that timeframe. My late '80s D-40 is antithesis of overbuilt & muffled. It can drown out 95% of similar martin's from any era & tonally it is almost too rich & lively for some of my uses-just drips with harmonics. Same for my late '70s F412--any livelier and louder & I'd have to sell it.

The build quality on the Tacomas was undeniably quite good, but they ones I've played didn't have near the tonal complexity & vibrancy of the many '70s-mid 90s Guilds I've played. (Also makes one wonder why Fender would have ceased production there once Tacoma had obviously gotten it down, if, for a minute one believes that F3nd$r cares about quality)

 

[dogberry]

This may be one of the best swiss-army guitars out there. Very well balanced, and excels at everything. It strums like a tornado (no compression here), flatpicks like a D-18, and fingerpicks beautifully.
Mike

I love that description -- the D40 really is a swiss army guitar. There may be better guitars for fingerpicking, or for flatpicking, or for strumming along, but not many that do all of them as well as the D40. Indispensable. If I could only keep one of mine, that'd be it.

Dog