Tell me about the Guild Arcos Series

davismanLV

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PP, when you get it, the original Guild label and serial number will be obliterated, but MIRC will have placed their label over the original one and you'll be good to go!!
 

chazmo

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BTW, the other indication that it has been through MIRC will (likely) be a "USED" branded stamp on the back of the headstock. Guild sold guitars through MIRC when they did not want to carry warrantee liability.

PittPastor, if the guitar is in good condition when you get it, then I wouldn't worry at all. Your return policy with the store will cover you initially.
 

PittPastor

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Right?? We're such a clever bunch!!! LOL!! Is it there yet????

Ha... No. I don't think it's even shipped yet. This will be a long week!

EDIT: Just got the notice that is shipped this morning at 8:30am. Wow, that's better than I epxteced since I placed the order Saturday afternoon! According to UPS SHipping guidelines, it gets from NJ to Pittsburgh in 2 days. So, probably Wednesday, I should have it.

Annnnd knowing this makes everything seem longer now....

Guild sold guitars through MIRC when they did not want to carry warrantee liability.

OK. Thanks for that missing piece. That makes sense. I was wondering why Guild would send a bunch of unplayed guitars off to a refurbisher -- surely at bottom dollar -- when they knew they could get more for them by offering them through a dealer. It made the "This guitar has never been played" part sort of fishy. But that makes sense now.

I'm pretty comfortable with the decision. Now just waiting for it to get here. I have to say, I'm pretty excited about trying the arched back. Something new!
 
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adorshki

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OK. Thanks for that missing piece. That makes sense. I was wondering why Guild would send a bunch of unplayed guitars off to a refurbisher -- surely at bottom dollar -- when they knew they could get more for them by offering them through a dealer. `
It also allowed them to liquidate a bunch of unsold inventory in a single transaction, as at close of Corona and Tacoma.
Some of that stock did not actually have anything wrong with it, but as mentioned, part of the re-furbisher's job was to mark the guitars to prevent any warranty claims since they were being liquidated and warranty was specifically excluded on those instruments.
This also helped appease dealers who grumbled about the low priced guitars suddenly showing up on the internet.
I can't tell you how many ads we used to see using the canned phrase "inspected by my luthier", which turned out to be code for "inspected by MIRC".
But at the time they were probably right to think this would scare off potential buyers.
MIRC only sells through dealers in any case.
 

PittPastor

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Sorry... As adorshki says, I did post pics.

As for where things stand now, I am not keeping the guitar -- for me. I have, however, laid it down as a challenge for my 25yr old son who has been playing at playing guitar for some time now.

First week of November was our Church's 4th anniversary. One of the few traditions we have is that we play the same 3 songs in church every year on our anniversary that we did the first Sunday we started. My son runs sound for the church. We're small and don't really have a "worship band" nor even a Piano. So, typically, we sing to backing tracks or pre-recorded music.

Every now in then (specifically on the anniversary) we get some folk together and do live music. (I have pics in the mugshot forum of me on that day this year.)

I told my son if he learns to play the three songs we do as the anniversary set, I'll give him the MIM Guild. He's doing pretty well with it now. I figure he might have the Guild by Christmas. And I expect he might even be playing with us at next year's anniversary. Maybe I'll run sound that year!

As for reviews on the Archos, I will try to put something together. It's a nice little guitar for what it is. Perfect for a campfire kind of a guitar. It's not indestructible, but it's less fragile than a vintage D40C. It's sound is a little thinner, I would say. Maybe you could say "Brighter."

I still haven't had it set up officially yet. That would help the playability. But since it's not going to be my guitar, I don't want to set it up for me. He might end up flatpicking or something, and he'll want a different setup if he does. I would say it is definitely worth the price. The electronics are really nice. It sounds pretty good plugged in. All in all, a good investment I think.

Even if probably won't play it much, personally.
 

Rayk

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Still welcome to try the CV-1 lol

I’m going record a tune with her this week .
Just a warning to the gang to cover their ears haha !
I get my new F30 tomorrow as well ..... anticipation....
 

PittPastor

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Still welcome to try the CV-1 lol
I’m going record a tune with her this week .

Rayk, I appreciate the offer, and I won't rule it out.

The thing is the reason I ruled out the Arcos is my hand was hurting after playing it. I had the same thing happen on a Martin with a performance style 1 3/4" neck. I thought it was the shape of the performance neck. Then after the achos gave me a similar pain, I figured it must just be the 1 3/4" neck.

Now I'm wondering if I am in my head too much and actually causing it by trying a new playing style.

I really want to start a thread on this, because I really have some concerns about the hand pain -- and I think this is self-inflicted.

Anyway, until I have that figured out, I'm keeping my hands off of 1 3/4" necks right now!
 

Rayk

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Rayk, I appreciate the offer, and I won't rule it out.

The thing is the reason I ruled out the Arcos is my hand was hurting after playing it. I had the same thing happen on a Martin with a performance style 1 3/4" neck. I thought it was the shape of the performance neck. Then after the achos gave me a similar pain, I figured it must just be the 1 3/4" neck.

Now I'm wondering if I am in my head too much and actually causing it by trying a new playing style.

I really want to start a thread on this, because I really have some concerns about the hand pain -- and I think this is self-inflicted.

Anyway, until I have that figured out, I'm keeping my hands off of 1 3/4" necks right now!

First just know I’m joking with ya .
Are you a tall fella , long fingers or just big hands ?

No Al It’s not dating info ! Lmao

Me I’m 5’8” kind of short fingers but wide With what ever my arm length is .

depending how or what you play the nut width can change that hand comfort lets forget scale length also .

The hardest guitar I have are the F212xlce and my custom Ben Wilborn as it’s 1 3/4 long scale . String spacing is up there too making some chords for me a work out but I like a challenge .

The most comfortable are my Guild F 47GSR
and my Blueridge Br180A which I thing is a 1 3/4 nut hmmm have measure it again .

The Cv-1 is good to and the main factor most likely is body size and string spacing at the bridge .

Heck , I’ll take some measurements for the heck of it and post but I need coffee first . Coffeeeee !

If there any around go play a Epiphone masterbilt the Aj45 and the DR500m .
 
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adorshki

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The most comfortable are my Guild F 47GSR....
The Cv-1 is good to and the main factor most likely is body size and string spacing at the bridge .
I'm 5'8" too with arms that go all the way to my wrists, and short fingers and small hands.
The more attached I get to my F65ce the more I think an F40 is the ideal size guitar.
(for Pittpastor: All 3 guitars mentioned here are based on the F40 outline: jumbo shaped 16" lower bout, but the F65ce is a very shallow body, only 3-1/2" deep. I actually had to adjust my playing style a lot to be able to play it)
I was about to say we've got all 3 nut widths represented there, too, but realized I'm not actually sure what the width is on the F47GSR.
Thought it was 1-11/16" ...Ray? [EDIT: I see now you confirmed it over in that "Comfort" thread]
The F65ce's 1-5/8" which gives a lot of folks conniptions but only takes a minute or 2 of adjusting for me, now.
I've only ever experienced one 1-3/4" nut (CV-1 spec) I liked, on a Larrivee, and I think that was because spacing at the bridge was a tad narrower than I'd felt before so string spacing between the 3rd and 9th frets felt closer to the 1-11/16 I'm most accustomed to.
 
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Big-Al

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Hi. I apologize for chiming in late. I haven’t been visiting the forum much lately.

I had an Arcos AD-3 for about a year. As I recall, right around the time of the Fender/Cordoba transition, there were a lot of GADs and Arcos guitars out on the market with big discounts, some of them processed through MIRC. I bought my Accos through World Music Supply at a very discounted price. There was nothing wrong with it, except that it didn't have quite the same lush tone as my all-solid (GAD) guitars . . . . not that it was bad. It reminded me of a Taylor 110 I once owned . . . nice enough for the price. The guy I sold it to seemed very happy with it.

Also personally, I'm a big guy with big hands but oddly enough I find 1 11/16" necks more comfortable to play than wider ones. Wider necks seem to make the joints in my fretting hand ache. Also, I was having severe pain in the wrist area of my fretting hand a bunch of years back. It started when I bought a new guitar and played it a lot . . . like all day a lot. Even after I scaled my playing back, the pain went on for months. I thought I was going to have to quit playing. On the advice of another guitar player, I switched my playing posture to more of a classical style, with the lower bout of the guitar positioned between my legs (the guitar's waist resting across my left leg) and the neck angled up. There is good reason that classical players do it that way. It straightens out the wrist of the fretting hand and frees up the tendons that control the fretting fingers. It also aligns the picking hand better for finger picking. The pain went away with a couple of weeks and I found that I could fret more difficult chords with greater ease. I've been playing that way ever since.
 
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