D 50 D50 bluerass

[mclkar54]

recently ,was involved in a conversation about D 50,s. Namely ,was there a difference between the two?? D 50 traditional,D 50 Bluegrass

From what information i had gleaned ,.. i found that the bluegrass was built with a red spruce top, wheras the Traditional was a sitka spruce top. Now, then the conversation shifted to adirondack was red spruce , but not all red spruce is considered adirondack. Now im fairly new to guild guitars and im researching guilds a lot. So ,, there are more knowledgeable people out there concerning guilds . would love to hear , is there a real difference in the two ??

 

[adorshki]

recently ,was involved in a conversation about D 50,s. Namely ,was there a difference between the two?? D 50 traditional,D 50 Bluegrass

From what information i had gleaned ,.. i found that the bluegrass was built with a red spruce top, wheras the Traditional was a sitka spruce top. Now, then the conversation shifted to adirondack was red spruce , but not all red spruce is considered adirondack. Now im fairly new to guild guitars and im researching guilds a lot. So ,, there are more knowledgeable people out there concerning guilds . would love to hear , is there a real difference in the two ??

A: The D50 was named the "Bluegrass Special" when introduced in '63. At that time Guild customarily gave all models a name. The practice gradually fell off in the early '70's and by mid-to-late '70's the names weren't used in marketing lit any more.

All those guitars got sitka tops, there's no evidence Guild used Adi at the time, in fact, it wasn't readily available in sizes suitable for guitars due to over-harvesting in WWII and didn't recover until the early '90's.

In Tacoma, in '05, Guild used Adi (Red Spruce) for the first time and the "D50 Bluegrass Special" name was revived and denoted the fact they had "Adi" tops. Tacoma only made Bluegrass Specials, the sitka-topped D50 Traditional was revived in New Hartford ca 2011.

So it's correct to refer to '63 to ca '76 D50's as "Bluegrass Specials", but ONLY the "Bluegrass Specials" made in '05 or later have Adi tops.

Re difference between Adi and Red Spruce? Wikipedia has the 2 as being the same: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picea_rubens
"Picea rubens, commonly known as red spruce,"

 

[SFIV1967]

Adirondack Red Spruce Guitar Wood — Old Standard Wood

www.adirondackspruce.com

Ralf

 

[twocorgis]

In Tacoma, in '05, Guild used Adi (Red Spruce) for the first time and the "D50 Bluegrass Special" name was revived and denote the fact they had "Adi" tops. Tacoma only made Bluegrass Specials, the sitka-topped D50 Traditional was revived in New Hartford ca 2011.

Al, that's actually not correct. The "Standard " series D40 and D50 in New Hartford had sitka tops, the "Traditional" D40 and D50 had Adirondack tops. See LTG thread here.

 

[SFIV1967]

I don't think Al said something incorrect as the talk was only about the D-50 "Bluegrass Special". The only thing "incorrect" was 2011 as New Hartford started right from the beginning in 2009 with both the D-40 Bluegrass Jubilee and the D-50 Bluegrass Special and both used Red Spruce for the top as Tacoma did as well. And both belonged to the Traditional Series.
And yes, the Standard series models used Sitka tops.

Ralf

 

[adorshki]

I don't think Al said something incorrect as the talk was only about the D-50 "Bluegrass Special". The only thing "incorrect" was 2011 as New Hartford started right from the beginning in 2009 with both the D-40 Bluegrass Jubilee and the D-50 Bluegrass Special and both used Red Spruce for the top as Tacoma did as well. And both belonged to the Traditional Series.
And yes, the Standard series models used Sitka tops.

Ralf

Thanks buddy, didn't recall the Bluegrasses were part of the Traditional series too, and I get @twocorgis 's point too, but what I was really trying to point out is that Tacoma didn't actually make a sitka topped D50.

 

[twocorgis]

Thanks buddy, didn't recall the Bluegrasses were part of the Traditional series too, and I get @twocorgis 's point too, but what I was really trying to point out is that Tacoma didn't actually make a sitka topped D50.

Actually, that's correct. I just looked back on photos of the New Hartford D40 Traditional that I owned for a while (one of the rare sonic duds from the New Hartford plant, although it may have just needed more time), and it doesn't say "Bluegrass Jubilee" on the inside label like the Tacoma builds did. The D50 Standard series labels looked like this.

 

[adorshki]

Actually, that's correct. I just looked back on photos of the New Hartford D40 Traditional that I owned for a while (one of the rare sonic duds from the New Hartford plant, although it may have just needed more time), and it doesn't say "Bluegrass Jubilee" on the inside label like the Tacoma builds did. The D50 Standard series labels looked like this.

Right, but it was called "Bluegrass Special" in the '11 catalog (for mclkar54's benefit):

And we've seen D40 Bluegrass Jubilees from New Hartford both with and without the designation too, preserving the proud Guild tradition of inconsistent labeling.

 

[wileypickett]

Hey, at least they're consistent in their inconsistency.

 

[mclkar54]

recently ,was involved in a conversation about D 50,s. Namely ,was there a difference between the two?? D 50 traditional,D 50 Bluegrass

From what information i had gleaned ,.. i found that the bluegrass was built with a red spruce top, wheras the Traditional was a sitka spruce top. Now, then the conversation shifted to adirondack was red spruce , but not all red spruce is considered adirondack. Now im fairly new to guild guitars and im researching guilds a lot. So ,, there are more knowledgeable people out there concerning guilds . would love to hear , is there a real difference in the two ??

Thanks for clearing that uo for me. The last thing i want to do is pass on incorrect info