Recently Acquired Guild Finesse

D30Man

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Congrats Rich!!! I too am a fan of Richard's Geetar Bar! I also hope to someday be a customer as he has purchased from me and would like to pay it back.
And yes I have said it before he is a gentlemen and a purveyor of damn fine guitars. I used to get a serious case of "tone wood" when he had his guits listed on his signature. That one is a beauty for sure Rich!
 

SFIV1967

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Probably supervised by Bob Benedetto.
That's a cool guitar, congratulations Rich! But I don't think Bob Benedetto had anything to to with it. The Finesse was one of the first models in 1997 that was made in the custom shop. Benedetto only started with Guild during 1999. The guys who started the custom shop in 1997 were Bruce Bolen and Tim Shaw. You can read about it on Tim's westerlyguildguitars site: http://westerlyguildguitars.com/articles/articles.htm

Those are the two pages that tell some of the history:
http://westerlyguildguitars.com/articles/customshop.pdf
http://westerlyguildguitars.com/articles/customshop2.pdf

Ralf
 

Rich Cohen

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That's a cool guitar, congratulations Rich! But I don't think Bob Benedetto had anything to to with it. The Finesse was one of the first models in 1997 that was made in the custom shop. Benedetto only started with Guild during 1999. The guys who started the custom shop in 1997 were Bruce Bolen and Tim Shaw. You can read about it on Tim's westerlyguildguitars site: http://westerlyguildguitars.com/articles/articles.htm

Those are the two pages that tell some of the history:
http://westerlyguildguitars.com/articles/customshop.pdf
http://westerlyguildguitars.com/articles/customshop2.pdf

Ralf

Ralf, my understanding is that my Finesse dates from 1999 when Benedetto was there.
 

Rayk

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Rayk - Right now he has this mighty fine looking D25 on Reverb, but like Rich said you might otter PM him.

https://reverb.com/item/6958462-1996-guild-d-25-cherry-hsc-unique-features

Rayk,
You'll have to send Richard a PM to see what he has to offer.

Thanks guys , I’ll peak at the D25
Can’t buy anything else yet but I’m done with Dreads I think . When Finances allow I’ll be looking back at NH F30’s . The F50r wants are on the back burner but both could very well be as I’m considering another custom by Ben Wilborn which is close to the F30’s size .

I’m sick and in need of hel.... err lotto win ! 😁
 

davismanLV

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Wowza!! That's some beautiful rosewood!! And I love the headstock!! Congrats on a really nice Guild, Rich!! :encouragement::encouragement:
 

Rich Cohen

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Ralf, my understanding is that my Finesse dates from 1999 when Benedetto was there.

Hey, Ralf. After reading another article about Benedetto's arrival at the Guild Custom Shop in Nashville in March of 1999, I see that he was basically brought on board to produce jazz and arch-top guitars. So, you're probably right. If Bruce Bolen and Tim Shaw continued to work at the Custom Shop in Nashville, it's them that probably produced by Finesse.
 

adorshki

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Hey, Ralf. After reading another article about Benedetto's arrival at the Guild Custom Shop in Nashville in March of 1999, I see that he was basically brought on board to produce jazz and arch-top guitars. So, you're probably right. If Bruce Bolen and Tim Shaw continued to work at the Custom Shop in Nashville, it's them that probably produced by Finesse.

Right, Benedetto was an archtop guy only, and I think with his construction methods it probably just made better sense to set him up in the Guild Nashville Custom Shop.
He was really more like an independent brand with within Fender, "Benedetto Brand" and "Guild Benedetto signature models"
Notice how they're set off along with the Custom shop models in the 2001 price list:
http://www.westerlyguildguitars.com/files/Guild2001.pdf
Re your DV52 comment, from Guild Gallery #1 where Deco and Finesse first appeared:
"Both models are based on the stock DV52 with hand-scalloped bracing and custom-cut bridge with compensated saddle"
From the DV52 description, same issue:
"DV52...was chosen as the basis for the Guild Custom Shop models"
 

SFIV1967

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If Bruce Bolen and Tim Shaw continued to work at the Custom Shop in Nashville, it's them that probably produced by Finesse.
Without kowing the details (only Hans would know), by 1999 there were many people working in the Nashville custom shop, the famous later on Fender Master builder Mark Kendrick for instance was the Custom Shop Production Manager at that time. ( https://www.fender.com/articles/gea...-kendrick-on-his-founders-design-stratocaster )
What I was trying to say is that a lot of different people could have been involved building your Finesse, but not Bob Benedetto. Evan Ellis, Thane Shearon, Mark Piper, John Kornau, Ronnie Anderson,...to name a few. Evan Ellis for instance hand-scalloped the bracings for the Deco and the Finesse. Evan Ellis later on was the head of Bob Benedettos team in Savannah for instance. ( http://themusicemporium.com/new-arrivals/evan-ellis-archtop-2005 )
Ralf
 

Rich Cohen

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Ralf,
Many thanks for the information. Whoever had his/her hands on my Finesse, they did a great job making an axe that is a pleasure to play, not to mention its intonation, balanced lows, mids and highs, overtones and sustain. I take it out every day and traverse the terrain of my humble collection of songs. Presently, I'm into Rodney Crowell songs, such as "Rock of My Soul" and "Until I Gain Control Again," etc, etc.
--Rich
 

adorshki

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Al,
Do you find playing the guitar in the classical guitar position helps with aches and pains?
Kind of hard to tell because I've been doing it for about 40 years.
I do believe it helped prevent the onset of repetitive stress injuries, particularly for commonly mentioned thumb issues on fretting hand, but by my late fifties I started noticing fatigue between the shoulder blades if I tried to play a dreadnought for more than an hour.
This may have also been partly due to having cut way back on playing time in general from 5 or 6 hours to about 4 hours and then less than a couple of hours per week, due to various issues rooted in work-related stress. So there was gradual decline in stamina that might have ben maintained with more exercise.
It also led to the realization the F65ce was far less fatiguing to play overall, and I think the shallow depth was the biggest factor there.
I decided to give it a go one night after playing the D40 and realized I could give it another 1/2 hour without the backache.
I just don't have to stretch my right shoulder and back muscles as much as for the thickness of a dread.
PS since the Finesse was introduced in '97 I'd guess it probably was Shaw and Bolen who had the majority of design input after starting with the basic DV-52 formula.
Floating bracing would have been the major design "customization" I've heard of so far.
 
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Rich Cohen

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Thanks Al for the fulsome description. I agree, I think the major design innovation for the "Finesse" was the floating bracing, which is stopping the scalloped x-brace before it gets to the side bracing. Of course, there's other factors, like the care taken in assembly and choice of woods, etc. Anyway, I'm really enjoying this axe; thanks to Richard Peterson who has an amazing collection of Guilds, not to mention other axes.
 

D30Man

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Ralf,
Many thanks for the information. Whoever had his/her hands on my Finesse, they did a great job making an axe that is a pleasure to play, not to mention its intonation, balanced lows, mids and highs, overtones and sustain. I take it out every day and traverse the terrain of my humble collection of songs. Presently, I'm into Rodney Crowell songs, such as "Rock of My Soul" and "Until I Gain Control Again," etc, etc.
--Rich

Big fan of Rodney Crowell. Also Willie does a version of "Until I Gain Control Again" that is nothing to sneeze at. Trigger sings nicely on that one as well.
 

txbumper57

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Big fan of Rodney Crowell. Also Willie does a version of "Until I Gain Control Again" that is nothing to sneeze at. Trigger sings nicely on that one as well.

One of my favorite songs of all time is Willie's version of "Until I Gain Control Again" with Emmylou Harris from the Movie "Honeysuckle Rose". I could listen to that song over and over without ever getting tired of it. Got some damn fine memories that were made to that tune.

TX
 
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