adorshki
Reverential Member
Some of you may be familiar with my epiphany about the importance of Guild's "Grand Auditorium" body in the brand heritage, after my realization that my F40-derived F65ce was the most comfortable-to-play guitar I own, even with the narrow 1-5/8" nut and 25-5/8" scale.
The basic F40 outline (16" lower bout "F" body, also known as "Grand Auditorium" in Taylor-speak) has yielded more variations on a theme in terms of body and top wood combinations, depth, scale lengths, and as the basis of an ongoing evolution of a cutaway electric line than any other body in the flat-top line.
There may be just a few more dreadnought models but there's a lot more repetition of the traditional hog/maple/rosewood-with-sitka top combinations that really vary more by "bling" than variety of back styles or scale lengths.
The importance of that F40 heritage has been my primary gripe about Oxnard's F40:
It's not even a Grand Auditorium body, it's a 17" lower bout F-body and is even based on the original F48 by their own admission!
So I'm willing to cut 'em some slack on that if they'll revive what became the F40's first variant: the F47, which boiled down to an F40 outline with a flat 'hog back instead of arched maple.
Over the years the F47 went through its own metamorphoses, yielding once again to the F40, and then to the Gruhn-designed F42/44/F46's.
Read between those lines: When it was time to revamp the line where did they start? With dreadnoughts and F40's.
Ultimately those Gruhn designs evolved pretty quickly into the GF series and that, in my opinion, was the golden age of Guild's Grand Auditorium offerings: In the GF's all 3 back woods were available as well as both flat and arched backs, and concurrently we saw the introduction of a cutaway electric line with an alternative scale length in the F45ce.
1989 F45ce:
Yeah that's what my F65ce looks like.
What's not to like?
Eventually we saw Westerly offer F47ce's in 'hog, maple, and rosewood bodies, and F47's survived even into New Hartford, by which time they were calling the original F47 formula (flat-back 'hog body) the F40.
2001 F47rce:
2014 F40:
So maybe that threw Oxnard off and sent 'em down the wrong tracks.
IN the meantime I'd been realizing my pipe dream guitar would be virtually identical to the original F45ce with one little exception I've only ever seen offered on the first generation of F65ce's, if I can trust the specs I've seen over the years:
I'd like a 24-3/4" scale with a 1-11/16 nut. (All the reports I've seen on F45ce's show the 1-5/8 nut on that special 24-fret/double-octave neck)
I'm getting old and I think that's what my hands want now, and I think it'll also sound mellower than my F65ce with its arched maple back.
F45ce was originally arched maple back but I'm flexible there, too.
I'm thinking flatback 'hog or rosewood, only because I need to get some rosewood into my collection, but I've discovered the flatback 'hog sound from my D40 continues to grow on me, and voila, all we really need is a revived F47.
So how about it Oxnard, how about digging out and dusting off those old 16" body bucks and offering some special order options like a short scale with 1-11/6 nut.
I couldn't even buy one used if I wanted to, and I actually tried a Taylor GA a couple of weeks ago that just didn't do it for me.
What say ye, merry gentlemen, should Guild revive the F47 in all its body woods and return to leadership of the Grand Auditorium niche?
If they did would you try one, maybe even buy one?
Remember, they monitor the action here so make your vote count.
Early and often.
:tranquillity:
The basic F40 outline (16" lower bout "F" body, also known as "Grand Auditorium" in Taylor-speak) has yielded more variations on a theme in terms of body and top wood combinations, depth, scale lengths, and as the basis of an ongoing evolution of a cutaway electric line than any other body in the flat-top line.
There may be just a few more dreadnought models but there's a lot more repetition of the traditional hog/maple/rosewood-with-sitka top combinations that really vary more by "bling" than variety of back styles or scale lengths.
The importance of that F40 heritage has been my primary gripe about Oxnard's F40:
It's not even a Grand Auditorium body, it's a 17" lower bout F-body and is even based on the original F48 by their own admission!
So I'm willing to cut 'em some slack on that if they'll revive what became the F40's first variant: the F47, which boiled down to an F40 outline with a flat 'hog back instead of arched maple.
Over the years the F47 went through its own metamorphoses, yielding once again to the F40, and then to the Gruhn-designed F42/44/F46's.
Read between those lines: When it was time to revamp the line where did they start? With dreadnoughts and F40's.
Ultimately those Gruhn designs evolved pretty quickly into the GF series and that, in my opinion, was the golden age of Guild's Grand Auditorium offerings: In the GF's all 3 back woods were available as well as both flat and arched backs, and concurrently we saw the introduction of a cutaway electric line with an alternative scale length in the F45ce.
1989 F45ce:
Yeah that's what my F65ce looks like.
What's not to like?
Eventually we saw Westerly offer F47ce's in 'hog, maple, and rosewood bodies, and F47's survived even into New Hartford, by which time they were calling the original F47 formula (flat-back 'hog body) the F40.
2001 F47rce:
2014 F40:
So maybe that threw Oxnard off and sent 'em down the wrong tracks.
IN the meantime I'd been realizing my pipe dream guitar would be virtually identical to the original F45ce with one little exception I've only ever seen offered on the first generation of F65ce's, if I can trust the specs I've seen over the years:
I'd like a 24-3/4" scale with a 1-11/16 nut. (All the reports I've seen on F45ce's show the 1-5/8 nut on that special 24-fret/double-octave neck)
I'm getting old and I think that's what my hands want now, and I think it'll also sound mellower than my F65ce with its arched maple back.
F45ce was originally arched maple back but I'm flexible there, too.
I'm thinking flatback 'hog or rosewood, only because I need to get some rosewood into my collection, but I've discovered the flatback 'hog sound from my D40 continues to grow on me, and voila, all we really need is a revived F47.
So how about it Oxnard, how about digging out and dusting off those old 16" body bucks and offering some special order options like a short scale with 1-11/6 nut.
I couldn't even buy one used if I wanted to, and I actually tried a Taylor GA a couple of weeks ago that just didn't do it for me.
What say ye, merry gentlemen, should Guild revive the F47 in all its body woods and return to leadership of the Grand Auditorium niche?
If they did would you try one, maybe even buy one?
Remember, they monitor the action here so make your vote count.
Early and often.
:tranquillity:
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