AcornHouse
Venerated Member
Most of you know the story from the Reverb post; this is an ‘87 F-45ce that was listed at a very low price, then reduced even more, leaving me no choice but to buy it. After waiting for New Year’s closings, and another week so he could ship on a Monday, it got delivered Wednesday. I left it overnight in the box in the office for the obligatory (and torturous) Winter acclimation. Broke it open Thursday and found almost everything as advertised.
Scale is, as I thought and hoped, 24-3/4” with a lovely skinny 1-5/8” nut. Perfect for my taste (and hand), contrary to current Guild management. Strings were nicely old and crusty, but it still felt great to play. Her I discovered the first little issue; the binding on the neck near the nut had come loose. An easy fix, no need to make a fuss. I plugged it in to test the electronics, and everything worked perfectly. Classic ‘80s Fishman; not spectacular, but in a band situation (which is where I’ll be playing it most), no one’s going to complain. Acoustically, it sounds pretty darned good, having a 4-1/2” body depth, rather than the shallow F4ce (for example) which sounds like poop.
Today I got the binding glued back and put new strings on, and found another minor issue: a crack coming off one side of the fingerboard into the soundhole. It doesn’t really affect anything, and being on the cutaway side, I don’t think it’s going to be a worry. For the price I paid, it’s not worth making a stink.
The non-Guild applause (by Ovation) case is a piece of junk. Aside from the disclosed broken latch, it’s a little too deep, and the other latches barely work. I have a Guardian case coming in that should work. (What is with case manufacturers and retailers these days?!? Why can’t they list the case dimensions? Guardian was the only one that actually provides a chart for their cases. TKL has bupkis.)
Its very easy to play, fits my hand even better than my F-30. I think I’ll keep it for now. I was going to post a video, but managed to skewer my fingering finger trying to unwind the old strings off the tuners. No pics either, for now, it’s been a grey, wet, day (to be read in Sandy’s thickest ancestral brogue.) Plenty Of Pics in the seller’s ad. https://reverb.com/item/8319086-guild-f45-1987-burst-near-mint
Scale is, as I thought and hoped, 24-3/4” with a lovely skinny 1-5/8” nut. Perfect for my taste (and hand), contrary to current Guild management. Strings were nicely old and crusty, but it still felt great to play. Her I discovered the first little issue; the binding on the neck near the nut had come loose. An easy fix, no need to make a fuss. I plugged it in to test the electronics, and everything worked perfectly. Classic ‘80s Fishman; not spectacular, but in a band situation (which is where I’ll be playing it most), no one’s going to complain. Acoustically, it sounds pretty darned good, having a 4-1/2” body depth, rather than the shallow F4ce (for example) which sounds like poop.
Today I got the binding glued back and put new strings on, and found another minor issue: a crack coming off one side of the fingerboard into the soundhole. It doesn’t really affect anything, and being on the cutaway side, I don’t think it’s going to be a worry. For the price I paid, it’s not worth making a stink.
The non-Guild applause (by Ovation) case is a piece of junk. Aside from the disclosed broken latch, it’s a little too deep, and the other latches barely work. I have a Guardian case coming in that should work. (What is with case manufacturers and retailers these days?!? Why can’t they list the case dimensions? Guardian was the only one that actually provides a chart for their cases. TKL has bupkis.)
Its very easy to play, fits my hand even better than my F-30. I think I’ll keep it for now. I was going to post a video, but managed to skewer my fingering finger trying to unwind the old strings off the tuners. No pics either, for now, it’s been a grey, wet, day (to be read in Sandy’s thickest ancestral brogue.) Plenty Of Pics in the seller’s ad. https://reverb.com/item/8319086-guild-f45-1987-burst-near-mint
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