Brilliant masterstroke or zenith of mongoloid reasoning?

[theflyingturtle]

First off the "zenith of mongoloid reasoning" is from Woody Allen so I cannot take credit for that one. Regardless, since I recently joined the forum I have intended to get a Guild. I wasn't sure which one but I knew I could do some research on this site to help me make up my mind. After scouring through this site and checking online reviews it became clear that just about any Guild I could find would probably be a good guitar. There might be "duds" out there or models that were generally disliked but I didn't come across any. Admittedly I did have my eye on a JF-55 since that was the guitar John Denver use to play but that wasn't set in stone. So come across a DV-52E comes up for sale locally on CL. The online reviews are glowing so I go check it out. It has a partial crack at the neck that has been repaired, it is strung with 13s, the action is high but everything appears stable, it has the ugly pick up knobs but the price is right, and it sounds heavenly! My first impression is how loud it is and how elegant it sounds compared to what I am use to so the next day after I go to the bank it comes home with me and I am happy. But then I take it to my luthier for a set up and while I am there he has some consignment guitars so I pick up a couple of them to kill time. The Martin HD sounds great but V necks and I don not ever get along. The Gibson Gospel is nice but no better than my J45 but feels familiar. I pass up trying the Fender since Fender, to my knowledge, has never made a fine acoustic. Yes I know they own Guild but... Well you know what I mean. Then my luthier tells me that I really should try the Fender. He says he thinks that might be perfect for me? Well... O.K. I pick it up and play and everything that comes out of it is beautiful. Not good, but beautiful. All of a sudden the price is not important anymore. It doesn't matter if I bought another guitar two days before, this is "the one" that I have been looking for. I thought the wife would be bothered but no. She knows that when the "the one" shows up, it shows up. The timing could be a little better but it is what it is. It is a SB-35 whatever that is but it looks like a Guild with a Fender headstock. Fingerpicked it is very rich sounding and generous and it strums better than I had hoped. The DV on the other is a cannon. It is going to make me a better singer since I have to push harder to keep up with it. Here is the shot.

 

[krysh]

congrats, great story, maybe you should try an F-50 then, too? :mrgreen:

what about the amps on the picture, I know the koch, but the rest?

 

[theflyingturtle]

Well, on the far left is a Lil'Dawg 5 watt "Mutt". It is basically a handwired 5 watt Champ power section with a 5E3 preamp for more control and variety and a 15 inch EVM15L. I like EVMs for the clarity. The tan colored head is a Reinhardt 18 w/out powerscaling. According to Bob the builder the power scaling makes them more versatile but robs a little tone. Next to that is a 1X8 and a 1X12 that I was playing around with to see if I could get a decent sound out a small speaker or a single 12 inch speaker with the Reinhardt. The 8 in. speaker made the 18 watts bearable in the small room but most of the magic that happens with more/bigger speakers was lost. An 8 in speaker just doesn't push enough air. The 12 in didn't work either because I don't want to go deaf so now it sits. 18 watts is too much in a room the size of my studio. On the far right is a Cordovox. Cordovox was an organ company and inside the speaker cabinet is a 1X8 with a Leslie rotating speaker! It goes from a low Robin Trower "Bridge of Sighs" throb to a full chorus effect. Since it is the real thing and not a pedal it make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I can't believe you know what a Koch is. Most don't.

 

[FNG]

Is that one of those Fender Spring Hill guitars? Those are supposed to be nice. Some sort of custom build/shop deal, I've heard.

 

[theflyingturtle]

Yes it is a Tenn. made guitar but I have no idea of what that might entail. I suspect that there might be more than a passing resemblance to a Guild since it dates to when Fender bought Guild. It seems similiar to a J30 or F30 or JF30. I haven't figured out all of the model specifications but differs in the wood specifications. The top, I was told, is red spruce as are the bracings and the back is solid, not an arched backed laminate. Also, fetboard and headstock are ebony. I imagine an executive in his office thinking," We just bought Guild. How can we profit from this ? I know, we'll have the boys put together a Guild but we'll use different woods, charge an arm and a leg for it, and take an early lunch!" It's a nice story even if it isn't true.

 

[FNG]

I think the Spring Hill guitars were handbuilt for only a couple years in some sort of small shop concept by Fender. Not much info out there, but they look great, and from what you say, sound great too.

Any pics of the back of yours?

 

[bluesypicky]

Any pics of the back of yours?

That's a tad fast on a newbie Effin...... :shock:
Nice pair you got there, flying one! I don't need convincing on the DV, and I'm inclined to believe the Fender sounds as good as it looks.
Thanks for the happy man's tale and pics!
Oh, and a pic of the back of that guitar would be great...

 

[alpep]

what's up with the cordovox?

 

[plaidseason]

The one Fender Spring Hill guitar I played was awesome. If I didn't already have a maple mini-jumbo, I'd have bought it in a second.

It's my understanding that that (some of) the Spring Hill luthiers became Guild Custom Shop guys.

 

[theflyingturtle]

what's up with the cordovox?

It is just a 1X8 cabinet with a rotating Leslie speaker that I run my amps through when the mood strikes me.

 

[Bill Ashton]

If I recall correctly, from back in the day, the Cordovox was an electric/electronic accordian, and yes the cab should be like a Leslie...if I remember right they were a two piece thing, kinda connected in the middle with a hinge arrangement (like those old Bogen PA speakers) with one cab holding the amp and the other the rotating speaker...

I remember an Italian kid who had one in the 8th grade...big umbilical cable connected the accordian to the amp.

Am I close?

 

[theflyingturtle]

O.K., you wanted to see my backsides so "shudder" here they are.

The Fender:

The Cordovox:

And the scematic inside the back panel:

Hey Bill is this how you remember it?

 

[FNG]

Nice!!

 

[alpep]

I have one of those cordovox leslies also they are really cool I often thought of putting a jbl 208 in there.

 

[bluesypicky]

You're such a teaser flying..... now I want that tele with the rosewood fingerboard!!! :evil:
Purdy backside BTW....

 

[Bill Ashton]

Pascal, I will arm wrestle you for the tele... :lol:

The more I think about this, it may be that the Cordovox "amp" half was like
the tone generators and amp of an organ, with perhaps one speaker (?), and the adjacent cab had the rotating baffle. Note how the notation on "bass..." is cut off on the diagram. It would make perfect sense that the treble frequencies went to the rotating cab and the bass stayed at the "amp cab."

Just guessing here, really racking the brain... :?

 

[Bill Ashton]

Sometimes I scare myself...

http://cgi.ebay.com/1950s-tube-accordia ... 230cdb31d5