I'll belabor everyone with this story one more time. I was just out of the Navy, newly employed, and went looking for a real guitar. I had Martin and Gibson on the mind, I really wanted a Martin or a Hummingbird. Had never really heard of Guild. The store had all threee brands. And after playing them and looking them over carefully, I walked out with the D-25M, and never looked back. It was my only guitar for 25 years. Then I found my DV-52 about 8 years ago, its the last (acoustic) guitar I'll ever need.
My friend owns a music store and used to deal Guilds. He's a Taylor freak. He had a NOS JF-30 that I was playing a few years ago, he walks up and puts a high-end Taylor in my hands and says "Here, try this." I tried it and handed it back to him. He asked "What do you think?" I said "Nice, but it's no Guild." He wasted a lot of breath trying to convince me that the Taylor was clearly the superior instrument. I played them both again and I was still hearing a deeper, richer tone coming out of the Guild, so we agreed to disagree. I wonder if everyone's tone range is a little different, maybe that's why some of us just resonate with Guilds?
In the end, yes I've played many Martins and Taylors that I'd love to own, but not at that price. When you can still get a vintage Guild acoustic for under $1,000, and it sounds equal or superior to other brands at 2-3X the price, what else is there to say? I love some Martins, Jimbow, but I can't afford one, and because of Guild, I don't have to.
My friend owns a music store and used to deal Guilds. He's a Taylor freak. He had a NOS JF-30 that I was playing a few years ago, he walks up and puts a high-end Taylor in my hands and says "Here, try this." I tried it and handed it back to him. He asked "What do you think?" I said "Nice, but it's no Guild." He wasted a lot of breath trying to convince me that the Taylor was clearly the superior instrument. I played them both again and I was still hearing a deeper, richer tone coming out of the Guild, so we agreed to disagree. I wonder if everyone's tone range is a little different, maybe that's why some of us just resonate with Guilds?
In the end, yes I've played many Martins and Taylors that I'd love to own, but not at that price. When you can still get a vintage Guild acoustic for under $1,000, and it sounds equal or superior to other brands at 2-3X the price, what else is there to say? I love some Martins, Jimbow, but I can't afford one, and because of Guild, I don't have to.