Positive Guild D-55 Review on Premier Guitar with a Video Demo

For anyone interested in a new Oxnard D-55, check out this review at premierguitar.com:

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/25714-acoustic-steel-string-roundup?page=3

They need to research their info a little better, Ren has been retired and no longer part of the company for over a year now.

TX

Wish I hadn't sold my '06 Tacoma-built D-55NT. It carried me through several hundred solo gigs without a single problem and always sounded/played GREAT!

I think they tried hard to give it a positive spin. It really jumps out how a couple of times it emphasizes that it's not a typical booming dreadnought and will not be useful for bluegrass. Don't think this is very positive.

I wish Guild the best in Oxnard and I really hope they get their stuff out there into the player's hands and the players like it. There is a Part of me though that wonders what they would be making now if they would have stayed in New Hartford and kept that group of Folks together.

One example of what I am talking about is my D55-RS that was built in the last weeks of production at New Hartford. Even though there were only three of them made, the wonderful mix of a D55's quality and Looks matched with an Adirondack Red Spruce top could have become a Whole New Line of Traditional Guild Guitars. From playing mine for over a year now I can almost guarantee that Guild would have Made some serious waves in the world of Bluegrass Pickers. Besides that it would have been pretty cool to see an Adirondack Top as an option across the traditional series. Personally if an Adirondack top was ever offered on a F50R or an F50 I would have purchased both brand new right then.

TX

merlin6666 said:

I think they tried hard to give it a positive spin. It really jumps out how a couple of times it emphasizes that it's not a typical booming dreadnought and will not be useful for bluegrass. Don't think this is very positive.

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My Tacoma built D-55 fits this description.
Very balanced with a nice bottom end.
However it doesn't have the headroom to compete in an acoustic Bluegrass setting.
A D-50 with Adirondack top would make a better fit for this environment
.

Taylor Martin Guild said:

My Tacoma built D-55 fits this description.
Very balanced with a nice bottom end.

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Seems appropriate they said it would be better suited for a singer-songwriter, since it was originally ordered by a singer-songwriter

Not every dread is a banjo killer, nor do they need to be. I'm with Al on this one. Although they do vary, I think the typical D55 is usually described more as civilized and precise vs. extremely loud. TX has some really incredible special ones, that may produce different tones than the norm, but .... I dunno, I thought it sounded very nice and balanced with clear and distinct notes.

davismanLV said:

Not every dread is a banjo killer, nor do they need to be.

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totally. and what is up with all this banjo rage all a sudden?

Westerly Wood said:

totally. and what is up with all this banjo rage all a sudden?

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Y'need one of these:


When:

LOL Al. that 2nd pic is perfect!

My Corona 2002 D-55 is no slouch, especially with the pick up installed.

txbumper57 said:

There is a Part of me though that wonders what they would be making now if they would have stayed in New Hartford and kept that group of Folks together. TX

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Tx, I agree! How long has it been now since everything went to Oxnard?!

Giving them the benefit of the doubt (maybe start up capital is tight, or they're making triple sure every I is dotted and every T crossed, or maybe they're just kinda laid back in good ol' sunny CA) but it feels to me like the roll-out of new guitars is creeping along at a snail's pace.

They've got barely a handful of models in production. (Three? Five?) And while I don't know what their production numbers are, I've never seen an Oxnard Guild in any store or in the hands of anyone playing out. Granted I'm on the other side of the country, but jeez Louise.

Glenn

wileypickett said:

Tx, I agree! How long has it been now since everything went to Oxnard?!

Giving them the benefit of the doubt (maybe start up capital is tight, or they're making triple sure every I is dotted and every T crossed, or maybe they're just kinda laid back in good ol' sunny CA) but it feels to me like the roll-out of new guitars is creeping along at a snail's pace.

They've got barely a handful of models in production. (Three? Five?) And while I don't know what their production numbers are, I've never seen an Oxnard Guild in any store or in the hands of anyone playing out. Granted I'm on the other side of the country, but jeez Louise.

Glenn

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It has been 3 years since they quit production at New Hartford. I am not knocking Oxnard at all, I was just wondering where they might be in Introducing New models of lines of American Made Guild guitars as they were extremely Creative Builders and designers who really seemed to click at New Hartford. Think about it, In the 5 years they were there, here is a list of some of the USA Made Guild Guitar Lines they designed and built.

Traditional Series.
First Standard series.
Second version of the Standard Series with Cutaways.
Orpheum Custom Shop Series
The Custom Shop in General including the 60th Anni. F30K.
The line of Handmade solid and laminated wood Resonators.
The GSR Acoustic Series of Limited run Guitars.
The GSR Electric Series of Limited run Guitars.
The American Patriarch Series of Electric Guitars.

Remember there were several different models of guitars designed and built in the same "Series". If you really sit back and look they were always designing and trying to build New models with Guild Heritage. For all that they did in the extremely short amount of time they were there, it is just flat out Amazing to me! 3 years is just over half of the production run time for all of New Hartford. I'll bet they would have come up with some really cool stuff in that time frame.

TX

txbumper57 said:

For all that they did in the extremely short amount of time they were there, it is just flat out Amazing to me! 3 years is just over half of the production run time for all of New Hartford. I'll bet they would have come up with some really cool stuff in that time frame.

TX

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Well they are up and running again on a much smaller scale building small numbers of top of the line Ovation guitars, which are supposed to be amazing. And I have to admit that my 2007 (pre-Fender) Adamas is actually at least a notch above my Orpheum Jumbo.