Hello again, LTG friends,
Please bear with me for a moment. Just sit back in your favorite chair and enjoy the reverie...
Isn't it mysterious (and sometimes hilarious) how "life works?" A year or two ago, hostage to insomnia in a no-star hotel in some very far-flung, obscure land, I found myself viewing YouTube videos of guys and gal's jamming on acoustic guitar covers of famous songs. Well...one video led to the next, and the next, and...(well, you get the idea)...eventually, I stumbled across this:
(You'll appreciate this post MUCH more if you actually watch the linked video!)
Although transfixed by both the heartfelt performance AND by the stunning instrument, and despite viewing the video 3-4 times in wide-eyed, looped-succession, I still somehow managed to eventually navigate away from that link without bookmarking it, and soon, I had only the memory of that very inspiring 4 minutes 53 seconds which the author/player, Mr. Mark Turner, shared with the world...shared with MY world. I thought about that stirring, dimly lit video, the moving performance it rendered, and that impossibly beautiful sounding guitar many, many times over the weeks and months that followed (the particular song also evoked some warm memories of my childhood, when first I heard it), but alas, I was unable to relocate it on YouTube, despite numerous searches over the course of more than a year of intermittent effort. Insufficiently motivated (I suppose), I eventually gave up hope of ever finding it again, and I just hoped the nagging "itch" [to figure out what kind of guitar Mr. Turner was playing] would soon subside.
Well, it didn't! Quite the contrary: a few months ago, while riding in an Avis Rental Car shuttle bus back to yet another airport terminal, what song comes over the radio? The same one from the YouTube video, of course! ("Wildfire"). Naturally, I was instantly transported not back to the airport terminal, but instead, back to that amazing-yet-vexing YouTube video (linked, above) which had eluded me for so long. My motivation renewed, I flew home and immediately (without even unpacking!) redoubled my efforts, determined to locate that YouTube video -- and ultimately, identify that unbelievable guitar in the video -- once and for all! I scrolled through page after page after page of bloody "Wildfire Cover" video's, before finally, hidden deep beneath a mountain of chaff, I hit paydirt! Thus began my (as yet, unrequited) love affair with the Guild F-512!
Fast-forward to today. I've conducted due diligence, attempting to learn as much as possible about the Guild 12-string acoustics in general and the F-512 in particular. A key part of that education and information gathering process has been studying various threads here on the LTG Forum and becoming a member! After yet another round of fruitless and frustrating searches across the USA (primarily in the Northwest) to locate a "New-Old-Stock" (NOS) New Hartford F-512 hidden away or forgotten about in some darkened corner of a warehouse somewhere, I began reaching out to Authorized Guild Dealers, seeking timely and reliable information about the prospects and timeline for new F-512 production from the new Cordoba-Oxnard production facility. As I reported in the thread concerning Ren Ferguson leaving Guild ([URL="http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?190257-Ren-leaving-Guild&p=1737345#post1737345"]http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?190257-Ren-leaving-Guild&p=1737345#post1737345 and subsequent replies to this posting), information has been scant and wildly variable. Until now, that is. I just received this email from Cordoba Music Group/Guild Guitars:
I gleaned a few insights from this response which I'd like to very humbly highlight to the LTG community:
1. With patience, Cordoba/Guild Guitars will respond to direct email inquiries from customers (or even potential customers, like myself);
2. The beloved Guild F-512 IS slated to re-enter new production as the very first Guild 12-string produced in the new Oxnard, CA facility;
3. The estimation for availability of new production F-512's at U.S. Authorized Guild Dealers is "early-to-mid 2017";
4. An "estimation" is a forecast/educated guess/target, not a guarantee;
5. "Early-mid 2017" means (to me) anytime between January 1st and September 31 (assuming a "trimester" logic implied by the language: the year broken into THREE equal parts: "Early" (e.g. Jan-to-Mar) "Mid" (e.g. Apr-to-Jun) and "Late" (e.g. Jul-to-Sep) 2017. Again, though, the reliability of any dates or date range must be moderated by the previous global qualifier: "estimation."
I hope LTG readers interested in the subject matter (the long-awaited return of the Guild F-512) find this post as useful and informative as it is entertaining and encouraging. As for myself, I'll be placing an order for a new Oxnard F-512 (Rosewood) forthwith, at a local Seattle Authorized Guild Dealer. Like many others here and elsewhere, my excitement is almost uncontainable, as is my faith and expectation that the (largely) new people and the (entirely) new facility at Cordoba/Guild Oxnard can and will produce the next generation of the F-512 to the same standard of breathtaking excellence in form, function and sonic performance (or...dare I say it...perhaps even surpass it?!) as that achieved with the previous NH and TAC made examples of this venerable, peerless guitar.
So, with just a little bit of luck and perhaps some fortuitous celestial alignment, it's only a (relatively short) matter of time now before a magical, new Guild F-512 finds its way into my loving hands and arms. The only question remaining, then, is whether or not Mr. Mark Turner (the player on the YouTube video, above, who is clearly and entirely responsible for my whole "Guild-F-512-Envy syndrome" in the first place) should be required to help shoulder a portion of the financia burden of my acquiring this magnificent axe? Any hungry litigators in the house...?
Please bear with me for a moment. Just sit back in your favorite chair and enjoy the reverie...
Isn't it mysterious (and sometimes hilarious) how "life works?" A year or two ago, hostage to insomnia in a no-star hotel in some very far-flung, obscure land, I found myself viewing YouTube videos of guys and gal's jamming on acoustic guitar covers of famous songs. Well...one video led to the next, and the next, and...(well, you get the idea)...eventually, I stumbled across this:
(You'll appreciate this post MUCH more if you actually watch the linked video!)
Although transfixed by both the heartfelt performance AND by the stunning instrument, and despite viewing the video 3-4 times in wide-eyed, looped-succession, I still somehow managed to eventually navigate away from that link without bookmarking it, and soon, I had only the memory of that very inspiring 4 minutes 53 seconds which the author/player, Mr. Mark Turner, shared with the world...shared with MY world. I thought about that stirring, dimly lit video, the moving performance it rendered, and that impossibly beautiful sounding guitar many, many times over the weeks and months that followed (the particular song also evoked some warm memories of my childhood, when first I heard it), but alas, I was unable to relocate it on YouTube, despite numerous searches over the course of more than a year of intermittent effort. Insufficiently motivated (I suppose), I eventually gave up hope of ever finding it again, and I just hoped the nagging "itch" [to figure out what kind of guitar Mr. Turner was playing] would soon subside.
Well, it didn't! Quite the contrary: a few months ago, while riding in an Avis Rental Car shuttle bus back to yet another airport terminal, what song comes over the radio? The same one from the YouTube video, of course! ("Wildfire"). Naturally, I was instantly transported not back to the airport terminal, but instead, back to that amazing-yet-vexing YouTube video (linked, above) which had eluded me for so long. My motivation renewed, I flew home and immediately (without even unpacking!) redoubled my efforts, determined to locate that YouTube video -- and ultimately, identify that unbelievable guitar in the video -- once and for all! I scrolled through page after page after page of bloody "Wildfire Cover" video's, before finally, hidden deep beneath a mountain of chaff, I hit paydirt! Thus began my (as yet, unrequited) love affair with the Guild F-512!
Fast-forward to today. I've conducted due diligence, attempting to learn as much as possible about the Guild 12-string acoustics in general and the F-512 in particular. A key part of that education and information gathering process has been studying various threads here on the LTG Forum and becoming a member! After yet another round of fruitless and frustrating searches across the USA (primarily in the Northwest) to locate a "New-Old-Stock" (NOS) New Hartford F-512 hidden away or forgotten about in some darkened corner of a warehouse somewhere, I began reaching out to Authorized Guild Dealers, seeking timely and reliable information about the prospects and timeline for new F-512 production from the new Cordoba-Oxnard production facility. As I reported in the thread concerning Ren Ferguson leaving Guild ([URL="http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?190257-Ren-leaving-Guild&p=1737345#post1737345"]http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?190257-Ren-leaving-Guild&p=1737345#post1737345 and subsequent replies to this posting), information has been scant and wildly variable. Until now, that is. I just received this email from Cordoba Music Group/Guild Guitars:
Thank you for your interest in Guild Guitars!
Please accept our apology for the delay in responding. We have been experiencing a very high volume of inquiries and we are doing our very best to respond to each and every email as quickly as possible.
Thanks again for your patience!
Great question! Our current estimation of when the new F-512 will be available is early to mid-2017! This will be the first 12 string produced out of our new USA Guild Factory in Oxnard!
If you would like to provide your current location, we'll be happy to add you to our USA Guild Database to provide you with further updates on the release of our new models!
If you have any additional questions, feel free to respond directly to this email and I'll be happy to address them - please do not modify the subject line of your email reply, as our system will not recognize it. Please do not resubmit another inquiry through our website as it will open another issue.
Have a great day and thank you for choosing Guild!
Best regards,
Xxxxx Xxxxxx | Service Department
Cordoba Music Group
1401 Stellar Dr, Oxnard, CA 93033
P 310-857-1709 | F 310-857-1690
Cordoba Guitars | Guild Guitars
HumiCase | Aquila | Savarez
I gleaned a few insights from this response which I'd like to very humbly highlight to the LTG community:
1. With patience, Cordoba/Guild Guitars will respond to direct email inquiries from customers (or even potential customers, like myself);
2. The beloved Guild F-512 IS slated to re-enter new production as the very first Guild 12-string produced in the new Oxnard, CA facility;
3. The estimation for availability of new production F-512's at U.S. Authorized Guild Dealers is "early-to-mid 2017";
4. An "estimation" is a forecast/educated guess/target, not a guarantee;
5. "Early-mid 2017" means (to me) anytime between January 1st and September 31 (assuming a "trimester" logic implied by the language: the year broken into THREE equal parts: "Early" (e.g. Jan-to-Mar) "Mid" (e.g. Apr-to-Jun) and "Late" (e.g. Jul-to-Sep) 2017. Again, though, the reliability of any dates or date range must be moderated by the previous global qualifier: "estimation."
I hope LTG readers interested in the subject matter (the long-awaited return of the Guild F-512) find this post as useful and informative as it is entertaining and encouraging. As for myself, I'll be placing an order for a new Oxnard F-512 (Rosewood) forthwith, at a local Seattle Authorized Guild Dealer. Like many others here and elsewhere, my excitement is almost uncontainable, as is my faith and expectation that the (largely) new people and the (entirely) new facility at Cordoba/Guild Oxnard can and will produce the next generation of the F-512 to the same standard of breathtaking excellence in form, function and sonic performance (or...dare I say it...perhaps even surpass it?!) as that achieved with the previous NH and TAC made examples of this venerable, peerless guitar.
So, with just a little bit of luck and perhaps some fortuitous celestial alignment, it's only a (relatively short) matter of time now before a magical, new Guild F-512 finds its way into my loving hands and arms. The only question remaining, then, is whether or not Mr. Mark Turner (the player on the YouTube video, above, who is clearly and entirely responsible for my whole "Guild-F-512-Envy syndrome" in the first place) should be required to help shoulder a portion of the financia burden of my acquiring this magnificent axe? Any hungry litigators in the house...?