Guild bracing designs

[kokotele]

One of the things I'd like to learn more about are Guild bracing designs. I've heard many times that Guilds are built like tanks, and my '81 D40 certainly is. The thing is far heavier than I'd expect an acoustic to be, yet it still manages to get an incredible tone. Most guitars that are so heavily braced simply can't project like this, and the tone is usually flat.

So does anyone know how to explain how their design achieves this? Or maybe there's a reference someone could point me to? I've been searching and haven't found anything.

Are they still bracing them this heavily? A good friend had a GAD dread that was not very heavily braced, and I thought that was an interesting difference.

 

[adorshki]

Hi Koko and welcome aboard! THis is gonna sound like scolding but it's just 'cause I don't have time to search and post a link for ya...there are some threads and even some great inside pics of the bracing of various owner's Guilds in the archives. With all sympathy I'll warn you the "Search function" here can be un-cooperative at times, but it's well worth the effort.
Have fun!

 

[wileypickett]

A luthier friend of mine said Guilds were "more like furniture than musical instruments," the conventional wisdom being the lighter the instrument, the better the sound projection.

Guilds certainly challenge that (mis)conception. Whatever their secret, the end results can't be argued with.

Glenn Jones
Cambridge, Ma

 

[GardMan]

Koko,
I have been involved in a number of dread bracing threads... but I can't find them with the search function. There have also been a number of discussions of the "heft" of Guilds. That has certainly changed over the years... my '72 D-35 weighs in at 4.25 lbs, which my '81 D-46 tips at an oz shy of 6 lbs. Comparing the weight of all my dreads suggest a design change in the mid-70s sometime. Clearly, Guilds don't follow the "light is better" philosophy!

While I didn't find the threads... you can see my bracing pics and a diagram of some differences in top bracing here...

Found one of the threads I started...

Here's another...
Dave

 

[poser]

Wow, thanks for posting the links to those threads. I just read the one on bracing for the first time ... (or maybe I did read it before but it seemed like the first time :roll: ) ... it's really fascinating information. I had never even imagined that one would tune the top of a guitar! Neat stuff.

 

[kokotele]

Dave, thanks so much for posting those links. Very informative.

Eric