As a Guild fan what would be your advice to the new owners of the brand?

dapmdave

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Would it be at all possible/realistic to find another, smaller, premises in the New Harford area, employ most/some of the craftsman who worked on the Guild guitars & continue to produce the quality instruments that were coming out of the NH facility? Hopefully whatever happens they take some of the "brains trust" with the acquisition. The iconic guitars & some of the improvements that have been made - 30' foot radius on tops, lighter guitars etc - hopefully continue as well as the Orpheum series.

Also I hope they keep the Newark Street line going & still coming from the same SPG factory in Korea & don't move them to China. They seem to be doing a good job so I'd like the continuity to remain there.

Would be almost a case of "deja vu" wouldn't it?
 

Zelja

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Would be almost a case of "deja vu" wouldn't it?
Not sure what you mean. I'm just thinking that some continuity would be a good thing as the products coming out under the Guild name in both the American made & MIK guitars have been great. Everyone seems to be laying the blame for the recent upheaval to FMIC's marketing & distribution, not the actual standard of guitar making. Maybe a smaller, cheaper to run facility would be viable, even if it initially meant paring down some of the models on offer until things get back on track - assuming Cordoba can fix the marketing & distribution side.

Still, they've probably got their own ideas & maybe they will expand their current facility. I just hope they don't change the type of guitars & the way they are made too much. If it just has "Guild" on the headstock & has little other connection to the past products then I'll be very dubious about the whole thing.
 

jazzmang

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Agreed with a lot of you here.

Kill GAD -OR- Rename it to something markedly different! Like: Guild Import
Kill ARCOS
Kill GSR series
Bring back classic models: DV-52 @$1250, D-25 @$1000
Spend some marketing dollars. Hire reps. Do business things...
???
Profit!
 

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Would it be at all possible/realistic to find another, smaller, premises in the New Harford area, employ most/some of the craftsman who worked on the Guild guitars & continue to produce the quality instruments that were coming out of the NH facility? Hopefully whatever happens they take some of the "brains trust" with the acquisition. The iconic guitars & some of the improvements that have been made - 30' foot radius on tops, lighter guitars etc - hopefully continue as well as the Orpheum series.

Also I hope they keep the Newark Street line going & still coming from the same SPG factory in Korea & don't move them to China. They seem to be doing a good job so I'd like the continuity to remain there.

On AGF, they quoted a worker who said that few, if any would relocate. Understandable, because some guys had already relocated to NH.
 

Default

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And FWIW, I think that the GSRs were good ideas. I like them and the exclusivity that came with them.
 

dapmdave

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Not sure what you mean.

It just struck me that the scenario you described is a bit like what took place in New York when Guild was founded. Not exactly, I know. But "kinda sorta".
 

Zelja

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^^^^
OK, understood. Looks like it won't happen anyway but it's a shame not to use the skill set of those people-the ones that, some say, made the nest Guilds ever. Just concerned if there is no continuity between the old scenario & the new.
 

SFIV1967

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I think that the GSRs were good ideas. I like them and the exclusivity that came with them.
I also would say that the GSR's were some of the best guitars they issued, an annual special is what almost every guitar manufacturer has (Remember like the Taylor Spring or Autum models), so to kill the GSR idea would be not a good idea. Every manufacturer wants to shine to show off what their luthiers are able to do. But certainly you need some baseline US production established first before you could even think about a new GSR.
Ralf
 

srickl

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Agreed with a lot of you here.

Kill GAD -OR- Rename it to something markedly different! Like: Guild Import
Kill ARCOS
Kill GSR series
Bring back classic models: DV-52 @$1250, D-25 @$1000
Spend some marketing dollars. Hire reps. Do business things...
???
Profit!
Yup - simplify, simplify, simplify.
 

Walter Broes

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And FWIW, I think that the GSRs were good ideas. I like them and the exclusivity that came with them.
Agreed. Although some of them had me scratching my head a little in a "how do they expect these to compete with recent second hand Guilds with almost the same specs" kind of way.

But the GSR's, to me, seem like a good way to offer guitars that have a big appeal to a limited number of people, like maybe some "reissue" things. The T-500 and T-400 are good examples of that IMO.
 

jazzmang

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I only say to kill GSR because I don't think the brand is at the point where specialty, limited-run guitars are the right places to spend your time and money.
Re-establishing a brand is tough work and they would need as few distractions as possible.
Go back to basics. Make solid guitars. Build models that were the top sellers. Re-inspire confidence in your brand. Simple points to start by.
 

jazzmang

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Also, I saw the post on AGF. One person asked 'I wonder why the employees didn't try and buy the brand from FMIC.'
This appealed to my idealistic views, but I know that there was no way they'd be able to pull that off.
Still makes you wonder what would happen to Guild when it is in the hands of people who love it.

I'm buying a lottery ticket this week. Who else is in?! :)
 

markus

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Bring back classic models: DV-52 @$1250, D-25 @$1000
That price points seem too low to me if we want them to deliver handmade US Guitars of the same quality NH did.
I would not think twice if a new DV52 was offered to me for 60% more.
(I dreamed of that scanario 'til two weeks ago … )

Markus :smile:
 

Default

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I only say to kill GSR because I don't think the brand is at the point where specialty, limited-run guitars are the right places to spend your time and money.
Re-establishing a brand is tough work and they would need as few distractions as possible.
Go back to basics. Make solid guitars. Build models that were the top sellers. Re-inspire confidence in your brand. Simple points to start by.

Actually, the GSRs fit in with Cordoba's business model. They have four luthiers building highend guitars and they have the lower-priced guitars imported from Spain, Portugal and that other place.
 

john_m

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"As a Guild fan what would be your advice to the new owners of the brand?"

Don't F (ender) it up.
 

bluesypicky

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That price points seem too low to me if we want them to deliver handmade US Guitars of the same quality NH did.
I would not think twice if a new DV52 was offered to me for 60% more.
(I dreamed of that scanario 'til two weeks ago … ) Markus :smile:

Yup.
Funny thing is the $1250 price Jazzman suggested, is exactly what I sold my vintage DV-52 locally a year or so ago...
Let's not forget the DV52 (in the unlikely but oh!.. so appealing case scenario where it would come back) needs to be placed next to the HD28, competition wise.....
However, a $1250 D25 would sound pretty kewl, but probably still kinda tough to pull with profitability in mind.
 

shot put

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Hi- I remember back in 1971 when I first started looking at "good" acoustic guitars; I thought $250 would be sufficient and my dad wouldn't kill me. My brother told me Martins were the best and I noticed Cat Stevens playing a Gibson. I never had played a decent acoustic-my Sears Silvertone was used as my frame of reference. A friend of mine got a Gibson as a birthday present- don't remember the model but it was dreadnaught shaped and made of mahogony. He let me play it in the locker room (good acoustics) and I couldn't believe the tone and action. Then I went out for my search-went in to sticker-shock at Wallach's Music City as I played Martin D-18's and Gibson J-200's priced at near a grand even back then. My quest was over-Then I noticed John Denver's Guild 12 on Poems, Prayers and Promises-never heard of Guild-I noticed a couple on the wall at The Fret House in Covina, Ca. acouple years later. I played a d-55 and a d-44m -at $490w/case. It sounded soooooo much better than the Gibsons and Martins at less than half the price. I bought the d-44 and my dad did try to kill me at the dinner table when my younger brother hug me out to dry. Guild was the poor mans Martin and Gibson in those days-that is why they were so successful.IMHO The boutique was a flawed concept from the beginning. They should build the m-20, d-25, d-44, d-55, f-30,f-50 ,212,412 and 512 and special order the 612 and sell them at below Martin,Taylor and Gibson prices. Then they will succeed again.
 

Westerly Wood

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Hi- I remember back in 1971 when I first started looking at "good" acoustic guitars; I thought $250 would be sufficient and my dad wouldn't kill me. My brother told me Martins were the best and I noticed Cat Stevens playing a Gibson. I never had played a decent acoustic-my Sears Silvertone was used as my frame of reference. A friend of mine got a Gibson as a birthday present- don't remember the model but it was dreadnaught shaped and made of mahogony. He let me play it in the locker room (good acoustics) and I couldn't believe the tone and action. Then I went out for my search-went in to sticker-shock at Wallach's Music City as I played Martin D-18's and Gibson J-200's priced at near a grand even back then. My quest was over-Then I noticed John Denver's Guild 12 on Poems, Prayers and Promises-never heard of Guild-I noticed a couple on the wall at The Fret House in Covina, Ca. acouple years later. I played a d-55 and a d-44m -at $490w/case. It sounded soooooo much better than the Gibsons and Martins at less than half the price. I bought the d-44 and my dad did try to kill me at the dinner table when my younger brother hug me out to dry. Guild was the poor mans Martin and Gibson in those days-that is why they were so successful.IMHO The boutique was a flawed concept from the beginning. They should build the m-20, d-25, d-44, d-55, f-30,f-50 ,212,412 and 512 and special order the 612 and sell them at below Martin,Taylor and Gibson prices. Then they will succeed again.

this is one of the best Guild stories I have heard. Because of it, I am going with your Guild line-up.
 

fronobulax

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Perhaps relevant, but when I talk to players who are younger than some of my guitars they tell me they care about the brand and the price but don't seem to give a rat's tootie whether a guitar was made in the USA or somewhere else. So if they represent the wave of the future to come, Cordoba has no economic incentive to produce higher volumes at lower prices in Oxnard. If I believed that and was running the company I would therefore keep Chinese made guitars with the Guild badge in the lineup and position my US production capability for high quality, high priced, limited or low production instruments.

Of course maybe those kids are messin' with me because I sometimes ask them to get off of my lawn or at least "turn it down".
 
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