dlenaghan said:
Well I think we've all had a look at the pair of 'GSR SF' basses,
Nice to see you back.
I'm not sure where your question is going so I'm going to make a few comments, shotgun style, and hope something connects.
GSR instruments are by definition limited edition. Part of the pricing is that people will pay more because the supply is limited. Looking at some of the acoustic guitar GSRs there is a couple thousand dollars difference in MSRP. Let me guess that somewhere between 50% and 75% of that is due to materials and retooling and the remainder is the GSR premium. Bottom line - don't spend any time comparing these prices to the prices of instruments made in "production quantities".
A second point is that the GSR electrics all have their roots in a project that was started and stopped several years ago. From a bottom line standpoint the choice was to take some bodies and necks to the bandsaw (and stop paying for storage) or make them into guitars. Guild chose the latter but the fact that they did so really says nothing about their long term interest in electrics or their ability to produce them.
The Hew Hartford factory is producing about 3,000 guitars of all models annually. That is still a pretty small number compared to the production runs of many other companies and at some point it is just not rational to compare Guild to Gibson or Fender.
My opinion is that Guild is positioning itself to be known as a maker of high end acoustics competing in the boutique market. I think the next step for Guild electrics, to include electric basses, will be to introduce something that is completely made in New Hartford. My guess is that electrics will continue to be GSRs rather than multi-unit production runs and that Guild will continue to mine historical designs rather than break new ground. My guess is that all of this is reasonable for boutique acoustic guitar company that has an electric heritage.
So did any of that even come close to your question?
Tangentially, I liked the GSR SF I but not enough to even consider selling my Starfire or JS to make room (sonically) in the stable. Through my amp, it sounded more like my JS than my Starfire.