Guild F55e Maple GSR Natural

[NOVALIS]

Moin Moin from Hamburg,

I'm new here and this is my first post.

I was lucky enough to do a Guild F55e Maple GSR in Nature, not the Oxblood get. But find no information about the beautiful guitar on the net. Does anyone know?

Thanks

 

[chazmo]

Yeah, there was the oxblood red one... I don't know about this one (awesome, though). Maybe @SFIV1967 has heard something about it

 

[tommym]

Novalis,

Welcome to LTG!!!

Offhand the only thing that I see different from the standard Oxnard F55E Maple is what appears to be a larger 12 string bridge with 6 pins and custom inlays on the wings of the bridge.

There must be an older Westerly R.I. employee working at Oxnard now.

Tommy

 

[GGJaguar]

Welcome to LTG and thanks for sharing your beautiful guitar!

 

[NOVALIS]

Thanks for the welcome and feedback. I didn't even notice the bigger bridge, just the extra inlays. Serial No. C217099.

 

[tommym]

The larger 12 string bridge on a 6 string gives a little more breathing room for inlays; especially if you want vine inlays below the pins.

Tommy

 

[HeyMikey]

Very nice Novalis. Congrats. I can’t recall seeing bridge block inlays like that before. Pretty special.

 

[NOVALIS]

I saw the guitar at Musikhaus Hermann in Germany and bought it straight away. Was looking for a normal F55e maybe an Oxblood. According to the dealer, it should be a special model that has only been distributed to selected dealers and is otherwise only available in the USA. The guitar itself is the best in terms of sound and playability that I have ever had in my hands.

Oliver

 

[chazmo]

That's wonderful, Oliver. The GSR models are usually ordered by a dealer with some special features for the run. Looks like the bridge is custom for your batch.

 

[SFIV1967]

Hi Oliver, welcome to LTG! CongratuIations to this outstanding guitar!

I somehow missed that one, I bought a few nice guitars from Hermann in the past (I live not too far, so can just drive there) and get their newsletter but that model somehow totally escaped my attention. Looks like it was the only one they got.
Yes it's a "strange" (and I mean "nice"!) model as GSR model! Just with a very few additions to a standard production model.
I have my own list where I try tracking the Oxnard GSR models but this one was so far not in my list. It's the newest serial numer in my list, the last I have is C217097 which was a GSR F-40 made for Chicago Music Exchange.

So I just checked the Hermann page, the two special features vs. a standard F-55E mentioned were the V-Block inlays made from Mother of Pearl and Abalone on the bridge and handmade pickguard!

The label is as odd as always with Guild, now they wrote F-55 on a F-55E guitar...





Ralf

 

[chazmo]

Well, I really like the inlayed bridge! The pickguard looks like a guild pickguard, but perhaps a little thicker than normal? Anyway wonderful axe!!!!

 

[SFIV1967]

Here's a normal F-55 from Oxnard, you see the shape of the normal pickguard is a bit different especially on the neck (and yes, thinner) and also the bridge looks smaller. The GSR model looks more vintage!



Ralf

 

[NOVALIS]

So I was in the right place at the right time. In retrospect, the Oxblood is too extravagant for me. It was this classic beauty that made the difference. Thanks for the a lot of information, I will now regularly take a look at this great forum.

Best Regards from Hamburg

Oliver

 

[SFIV1967]

Comparing the GSR F-55 bridge to a F-512 bridge and a normal F-55 bridge:



Ralf

 

[Cougar]

The guitar itself is the best in terms of sound and playability that I have ever had in my hands.

I'm not surprised. Guild jumbos are special! I've got the rosewood version in a 6-string and the jumbo arched lam maple version, like yours, in a 12-string. I guess I've got to get me one of those jumbo arched maple back 6-strings!

Welcome to the forum! Gorgeous jumbo you've got there!

 

[fronobulax]

Abalone on the bride

Ralf

Some days all I need is a good typo to amuse me.

 

[walrus]

Some days all I need is a good typo to amuse me.

+1. When I am reading student papers, a good typo can ease the tedium!

walrus

 

[Brucebubs]

Wow, I think it looks fantastic - I'd love one!

 

[valleyguy]

Very nice, what a find, congratulations.

I assume that the maple back is braced, not arched?

 

[NOVALIS]

The bottom, like every F55 Maple, is arched and not braced. I guess that's why the arrangement for a jumbo is so good. I put on a new 011 Gibson Masterbuilt and improved the string position slightly / sanded off 0.2mm saddle. No loss of sound due to the 011, and fantastic playability.