Nice little video of some new CT D-55s
- Thread starter jazzmang
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The Guilds of Grot
Enlightened Member
bluepen
Member
Pardon my ignorance, but what's the difference between these guitars???
Frosty
Senior Member
It is subtle for sure. Might depend on your speakers and certainly whatever the conditions during recording. I thought, maybe, during the fingerpicking demo that the second 'burst had more midrange. But, really, youtube is not the best place to show of the sonic attributes of a guitar.
And, MHO, one of the reasons the Westerly D-55 sounded so good was the way they were built. So when this retailer disparages that characteristic and talks about the light weight of the CT guitars well... that's not a plus in my book. With such a significant change, the guitar can not sound like a Westerly.
Reminds me of talking to a vintage guitar dealer over the phone once... he offered to demo the guitar for me over the phone. Sounded awful. :wink:
And, MHO, one of the reasons the Westerly D-55 sounded so good was the way they were built. So when this retailer disparages that characteristic and talks about the light weight of the CT guitars well... that's not a plus in my book. With such a significant change, the guitar can not sound like a Westerly.
Reminds me of talking to a vintage guitar dealer over the phone once... he offered to demo the guitar for me over the phone. Sounded awful. :wink:
bluepen
Member
Sorry, I think you misunderstood. I think I can tell a subtle difference in the sound (maybe), but what's the difference in the guitars? Are they all D-55s? Am I missing something?
geoguy
Senior Member
I think that fellow was trying to demonstrate subtle sonic differences between three examples of the same-model guitar . . .
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They all sounded pretty darn good to me. 
It did kind of jump out at me in some areas. The differences at times are clear and are sometimes fairly subtle.
I definitely like comparisons like this. No 2 guitars are ever the same!
PS- I'm a fan of the 2nd one for fingerpicking and the last one for strumming.
I definitely like comparisons like this. No 2 guitars are ever the same!
PS- I'm a fan of the 2nd one for fingerpicking and the last one for strumming.
jcwu
Senior Member
Frosty said:
That was my thought exactly - I thought the build quality of the older Guilds was what made them desirable??
zplay
Member
The Guilds of Grot said:
Nice to see 'n hear the new Guilds turning up.
I liked this one even more than his D-55s, particularly fingerpicked. But then, I'm more drawn to this body style anyway.
jcwu said:
I wouldn't take the opinions of one dealer as truth. I believe that a lot of members here even commented before that the Tacoma Guilds were lighter, more responsive, and still sounded like a Guild.
I just think there is more of the same thing going on here. I'd like to hope that smarter brace design, usage of different woods for tailblocks, etc... can be done in such a way that the 'Guild sound,' is preserved.
Of course I'll reserve my own full judgment until I get some CT Guilds in my hands for an extended period of time, but I place at least an iota of trust in the people behind Guild to keep the things we all love about Guild alive and well.
Just my 2 cents.
-Jazz
Frosty
Senior Member
Yes, well it all adds up to how a guitar sounds and plays. You can't change the way a guitar is made without changing the sound. "Better" is subjective, but "different" is not!
This was my experience with two Tacoma D-55 guitars.
Actually, frosty, I think "different" is at least partly subjective as it applies here. Not everybody is equally sensitive to the same elements of tone that differentiate one guitar from another, particularly when even the experts concur that differences are subtle. That said, probably most of us here *would* notice the differences among the guitars we're talking about. For that matter, I'm not sure a single person here has compared one model of Guild guitar across the years/factories and concluded that they were all identical.
This is reminiscent of discussions that the Martin guys have about pre-war Martins. There is no concensus about desirability there, to be honest, but there does seem to be concensus that there is difference in the sound.
Interesting shtuff!
This is reminiscent of discussions that the Martin guys have about pre-war Martins. There is no concensus about desirability there, to be honest, but there does seem to be concensus that there is difference in the sound.
Interesting shtuff!
bluepen
Member
Okay...so all three of them were brand new, CT made D-55s?
I understand that every guitar is different, but GEESH! Is that a sign of inconsistency out of the factory?
Sidenote- over the last year I've come to realize that strings make WAAAAAAYYYYY more of a difference than I previously thought. Not only brand, but how many hours of playing they had under their belt. I think you could take three new guitars, all with the same strings, but one with a few hours of playing, one with a few days of playing, and one with a few weeks of playing, and they would sound substantially different.
So what's the real variable in this video?
I'm secretly hoping that someone will jump in with a conspiracy theory that the sunburst finish is making the tone difference
I understand that every guitar is different, but GEESH! Is that a sign of inconsistency out of the factory?
Sidenote- over the last year I've come to realize that strings make WAAAAAAYYYYY more of a difference than I previously thought. Not only brand, but how many hours of playing they had under their belt. I think you could take three new guitars, all with the same strings, but one with a few hours of playing, one with a few days of playing, and one with a few weeks of playing, and they would sound substantially different.
So what's the real variable in this video?
I'm secretly hoping that someone will jump in with a conspiracy theory that the sunburst finish is making the tone difference