NGD: F-212XL Standard

[chazmo]

Here it is!! A day late and (many) a dollar short... Please feel free to visit the album on photobucket here: http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/cc47 ... 2XL%20STD/ . My pictures are kinda sucky 'cause it was dark last night in the music room when I took the pictures. Some with flash on and others with it off. But I didn't want to make you folks wait. Below are two from the album. And, yes, julian day 266 = Sept. 23, barely a week ago!! Also, note that the nut is precisely as spec'd (1-13/16" - see pix), which is a teenth narrower than my Tacoma F-512. Knowing the guys in New Hartford, there will be no variance in this at all unless they intentionally change the spec -- unlike what we saw from Westerly over time. I should note this is exactly the same spec as the F-512 currently, just FYI.

I also should note that this is a two-piece neck, seemingly bookmatched. That I didn't know about or remember from LMG2010. It's actually beautifully done, but I'm not quite sure what the process of building it is. We saw the incredible multi-axis cutter at the factory, but if I recall it was cutting solid necks (which I presume get cut in half and joined to the center, walnut strip on the high-end traditionals... This Standard series neck must be cut differently. Interesting!

I'll try to give you guys a verbal review of this beastie after I've had more time to bond with it. At the moment, I've decided I want to name this guitar -- my criterion is that it has to be clever and somehow related to what the guitar is or something in the backstory... Like when we named the G-312 "Franzz", which was after Scratch's "Hanzz"... That kind of thing. What do you think?

 

[BurstD55]

Wow! Thanks for the pics, it is a very nice guitar and I am sure very much worth the wait. What a nice serial# as well 001!

 

[Treem]

Congratulations Chazmo! Just Beautiful! 8)

 

[Christopher Cozad]

What a lovely guitar. Thanks for the photos. Any chance of a recording any time soon (Now I am longing to hear it).

Christopher

 

[chazmo]

Wow! Thanks for the pics, it is a very nice guitar and I am sure very much worth the wait. What a nice serial# as well 001!

Thanks, Burst. Yeah, my Standard is definitely an early one, but not the first...

Just for clarify, note that the "001" just refers to the first one on day 266 (Julian calendar), not the first one in the series. I think the LMG2010 folks played the first actual #1 F-212XL STD back in April along with the other prototypes in the room with us -- we were the lucky first people to see/play them. I don't know where those guitars ended up.

NN means New Hartford, 2010. The serial number scheme today started with Tacoma Guilds in 2005 ("TI") through 2008 ("TL") and resumes with "NM" last year (from New Hartford, obviously) There were some Guild protos built by New Hartford in 2008, but I don't know if they labeled them using the current system.

Oh, and thanks, Chris... Recording? No, not any time soon, I'm afraid. I do have hopes of building a recording studio in my music room, but right now I'm tapped out and gotta' face the music of my kids approaching college age. The collection will be shrinking, not growing. So be it.

 

[Brad Little]

Nice looking guitar, Chazmo. What's the balance like with those tuners? When I replaced the six in line Klusons on my 212 with mini-Schallers, I had to move the strap from the heel area to the headstock because of the added weight. I really like the open back tuners on the 512, especially how light they are.
Is that your new trumpet in the background of photobucket #2?
Brad

 

[capnjuan]

Congratulations Chazmo; looks like an example of the very fine work being done in NH! 8) 8)

 

[twocorgis]

It's a beauty Chaz! I love the elegant simplicity of the appointments. Enjoy this one for many years. 8)

 

[chazmo]

Thanks very much guys. I still bustin' at the seams over all this.

Brad, I think the balance (weight) is great. I'll note that this guitar (maybe all of the Standards) doesn't come with a strap button, so I'll probably be adding one on the neck heel soon. when I hold it at the neck heel it feels perfect; that might not be as perfect when I hang it over my shoulder, but probably will be fine... Bottom line, all my other guitars have heavy(er) tuners. Let me think about that a while, and when I have the chance to experiment between strapping at the headstock vs. a strap button, I'll let you know.

 

[taabru45]

Just beautiful Chaz....what kind of top? So nice to see Guild back in the 'saddle' again.... :wink: Steffan

 

[chazmo]

Just beautiful Chaz....what kind of top? So nice to see Guild back in the 'saddle' again.... :wink: Steffan

Thanks. It sure is.

The soundboard is a (silky, tight grain, quarter-sawn) Sitka spruce with CNC carved red spruce (Adirondack) scalloped bracing. I hope to get a camera inside the guitar when the strings are off in a month or so, Steff.

 

[adorshki]

I also should note that this is a two-piece neck, seemingly bookmatched. That I didn't know about or remember from LMG2010. It's actually beautifully done, but I'm not quite sure what the process of building it is. We saw the incredible multi-axis cutter at the factory, but if I recall it was cutting solid necks (which I presume get cut in half and joined to the center, walnut strip on the high-end traditionals... This Standard series neck must be cut differently. Interesting!

I'm wondering if that's also to help resist twisting torque of uneven string tension, especailly 12 of 'em. Even on guitars like my F65ce, I suspected the 3pc construction was to ensure extreme durability/straightness, beyond any simple cosmetic reasons. Whole thing sure is pretty in any case! :mrgreen: (This time Mr. Green really does mean "Green".... with envy! :lol: )

At the moment, I've decided I want to name this guitar -- my criterion is that it has to be clever and somehow related to what the guitar is or something in the backstory... Like when we named the G-312 "Franzz", which was after Scratch's "Hanzz"... That kind of thing. What do you think?

"Connie". For "Connecticut".

 

[chazmo]

Connie.... Good... I like that.

Al, your theory about the neck is interesting and might be right on. A bookmatched neck is almost certainly stronger than a one-piece.

I gotta' go back to Union and look carefully at the other Standards and see if they did the same thing on the 6-strings.

I'll also see if I can ask the Guild guys ... My other thought was simply that this requires narrower boards of mahogany to cut the neck than a one piece...i.e., cost and material savings.

 

[taabru45]

I don't know if its standard practice, but many years ago I briefly worked for a small guitar maker, and he would reverse the pieces of mahogany for the neck, slice the wood and reverse one piece before gluing them together...so stress of the wood cancelled out each other...is this the way its always done? Steffan

 

[chazmo]

I don't know if its standard practice, but many years ago I briefly worked for a small guitar maker, and he would reverse the pieces of mahogany for the neck, slice the wood and reverse one piece before gluing them together...so stress of the wood cancelled out each other...is this the way its always done? Steffan

Steff, I don't know exactly what you mean, but this neck is bookmatched, length-wise, all the way from the heel through the crown.

What I think we saw in NH was one board of wood cut roughly into the shape of a neck / crown by the multi-axus cutter. You should see that machine; it's incredible!

What I'm guessing for the Standard neck is that one board was bandsawed width-wise down its entire length and then glued together to create the bookmatch board first. And then this bookmatched board was shaped in the cutter. I'm totally guessing.

Maybe the necks have always been cut from bookmatched board, but in the Traditional series the walnut strip is glued in between the halves first. Honestly, I don't know.

 

[adorshki]

Connie.... Good... I like that.

Al, your theory about the neck is interesting and might be right on. A bookmatched neck is almost certainly stronger than a one-piece.
I gotta' go back to Union and look carefully at the other Standards and see if they did the same thing on the 6-strings.

I'd be kinda surprised, for the Standard series anyway. I think they'd reserve it for the highest end 6 strings, due to cost. F65ce was top of the line, for example, and I can only remember ever seeing it on a couple of other Westerly 6ers, D30 I think, 'cause it was all maple, and an early Starfire we saw here recently. I think a few archtops have 'em too. And DV7- series too?

I'll also see if I can ask the Guild guys ... My other thought was simply that this requires narrower boards of mahogany to cut the neck than a one piece...i.e., cost and material savings.

I suspect any savings in material would be outweighed by the extra labor and not worth having two sizes of neck blanks. But you never know 'til ya ask..

 

[taabru45]

Chazmo...I'd love to have seen that....and what I meant was you rip a mahogany board lengthwise, then flip one piece end over end so rather than have a,a & b,b....if the ends were together you would flip one to have a,b & a,b.......kind of like adding the two halves of a sine wave together to produce a straight line.... I was told this tends to keep the neck straight....Steffan

 

[adorshki]

What I'm guessing for the Standard neck is that one board was bandsawed width-wise down its entire length and then glued together to create the bookmatch board first. And then this bookmatched board was shaped in the cutter. I'm totally guessing.

Oh yeah that would be the way to do it.

Maybe the necks have always been cut from bookmatched board, but in the Traditional series the walnut strip is glued in between the halves first. Honestly, I don't know.

If you mean "always" to include pre-NH production, absolutely not. BUT my D25's neck for
example is one piece of wood which I realized shortly after I got her is pretty unique in the guitar world. Virtually everybody else has a glued on heel block and peghead. You can get 3 necks out of a blank that way, Guild only got two. This was detailed in the first Guild Gallery in an article titled "The Construction of a D55, Part 1" It DOES mention the D55 got two wings glued to the headstock area...it's got the wide headstock! But it was still a one piece neck on the D55. The entry level JF30-12 got the 3 piece treatment however. Probably 'cause it was a 12er.

 

[chazmo]

Chazmo...I'd love to have seen that....and what I meant was you rip a mahogany board lengthwise, then flip one piece end over end so rather than have a,a & b,b....if the ends were together you would flip one to have a,b & a,b.......kind of like adding the two halves of a sine wave together to produce a straight line.... I was told this tends to keep the neck straight....Steffan

My new guitar has wings too, Steffan. That's just speaking to the width of the cut board...

I think what you're describing is similar to what I see here, Steffan... bookmatching is just unfolding the two halves from the cut then joining them. What you are talking about is the same cut, but flipping one of the boards end-to-end before joining the two halves. You wouldn't get grain matching in that scenario.

Does anyone know if their NH neck (from Traditional Series) is bookmatched (with or without walnut center strip)? Just curious.

 

[charliea]

That XL is a really nice guitar. Maybe in a year or so? Who knows. Anyway, laminated necks have been standard in the banjo biz for a long time. The halves are glued with opposing grains to prevent warping. The center strip of different wood, if used, just adds icing to the cake.