F-30 Aragon cutaway?
- Thread starter docfishr
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AcornHouse
Venerated Member
Yes, in New Hartford and earlier plants.
http://guildguitars.com/acoustic-guitar-reviews-guild-f-30ce/
http://guildguitars.com/acoustic-guitar-reviews-guild-f-30ce/
D30Man
Senior Member
I have a 2012 Sunburst F30rce and it has the 1 3/4 nut width which I prefer. It is a player. It is a finger picking dynamo and it is New Hartford Made.
marius
Member
There is also the Mexican made AO-3CE but it has a 1 3/4 nut.
Yes, thanks folks. The reason I asked is because I have 3 F30's and just love playing them. But I sometimes play well up the neck and a cutaway would facilitate a bit more comfort. Unfortunately my aging fingers have trouble on the 1 3/4 necks. It doesn't make sense that a 16th of an inch could make much difference and I actually preferred the wider necks before this arthritis became a limiting factor. And most concert size guitars have the wider neck which is why I was specifically asking about the Aragon in a cutaway. Also for whatever reason most cutaways also include onboard electronics which I don't care for. I confess to being old school and prefer playing into a Beta 57 mic.
Nothing wrong with "old school."
Rayk
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adorshki
Reverential Member
Doc I think you have identified a little void in the line-up. I'm pretty sure the "ce" was only offered on the Standards (with the 1-3/4 neck,s as you observed) in New Hartford.
Your comment about a 16th " seeming to be imperceptible might be true close to the nut but the string spacing normally fans out a tad more widely higher up the neck as well, which explains why it feels uncomfortable up there.
I also can't recall seeing an F30 with a cutaway prior to that even though Acorn house thinks they were offered.
I know for sure they didn't make 'em in Corona, and that Tacoma introduced the 1-3/4" nut on the CO series (F30 sized with "bolt-on neck" which has a very bad rep whether deserved or not), where you could get the cutaway.
Don't think Tacoma offered it on F30 Aragons either.
So I think you're gonna be restricted to Westerly to get at least a 1-11/16 or 1-5/8 nut on an F30 with a cutaway, if it was ever made..
I know you expressed dislike for onboard electronics but it was kind of the whole reason for the cutaway and they seemed to be offered together like peanut butter and jelly, sparking a whole series of "Ce" models.
Would you consider any of the F40 derived body sizes, 16" vs 15" lower bout?
I can tell you my F65ce is very comfortable to play and after sometime in '94 came with 25.5 " scale and 1-5/8 nut which is just a tiny bit narrow for me but I can adjust to it.
Earlier versions ('91 to 93) of those came with 24-3/4 scale and 1-11/16 nut, and Acorn house just picked up a vintage F45ce with 24-3/4 scale and 1-5/8 nut (assuming the nut spec was correct, it surprised me a little bit)
He mentioned if the specs aren't correct he'll probably offer it here.
There was also an F47ce in 2 body woods from Westerly, offering 25-5/8 scale with 1-11/16 nut.
While I'm sympathetic to your old school philosophy, I think you'll find the onboard electronics on the later models (the Fishman Blenders which I can vouch for) to be unobtrusive and acoustically transparent at least.
Anyway, that's my suggestion from what I can remember seeing over the years.
Otherwise I'd ask Chris (Acornhouse) if he can remember what period Westerly might have offered F30's with cutaways, or if that F45ce turns out not to be for him..
bobouz
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Hi Steve (doc) - Just wanted to pipe in to say I totally get that difference in nut width! I've tried, but absolutely cannot come to terms with a 1-3/4" nut. As Al mentions, some of the '90s Westerly models would certainly be worth a look, but off hand I can't think of one with a cutaway that didn't have onboard electronics. Best of luck in finding the right one!
AcornHouse
Venerated Member
Here’s a ‘92 example that was sold on Reverb. I believe all of the cutaways will have onboard electronics. But, of course, just because they have them doesn’t mean you have to use them. :joyous:
https://reverb.com/item/1026927-guild-f30ce-acoustic-electric-guitar-1992-westerly
https://reverb.com/item/1026927-guild-f30ce-acoustic-electric-guitar-1992-westerly
adorshki
Reverential Member
Well I'll be darned, I still keep getting surprised around here, thank you!
It's even one of the "oval soundhole" styles, with arched maple back....W-a-a-a-i-t a minute......in fact, now that I step back and look at that body outline again, I'm pretty darn sure that's actually one of the F40 derived guitars.
It looks just like a blinged-down F65ce: Chesterfield instead of G-shield, and unbound rosewood neck with dot inlays instead of fully bound ebony with abalone inlays, standard rosette instead of abalone, shallow depth just wide enough to accept the Fishman controls in the side, and if you look closely it's got that 2 octave shortscale neck (double dots at 24th fret).
can tell by the 16th fret neck join it's one of the shortscale models with the 2 octave neck.
I'm positive that's one of the 16" bout models, here's a photo compare:
Post- '94 F65ce courtesy of Westerly Guild Guitars:
"Guild has designed the ideal guitar for those who are looking for a natural sound plugged or unplugged. The F-Series acoustic-electrics are unmistakably Guild. The classic Guild Valencia body shape continues in these modern guitars."
The F30ce:
Note the body outlines are identical, but the soundhole placement is closer to the waist in the earlier F30ce because of the shorter scale length. Bracing was accordingly different, too.
Early F65ce's ('91-'94-ish) were built the same way and also offered a maple top.
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Rayk
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Well I'll be darned, I still keep getting surprised around here, thank you!
It's even one of the "oval soundhole" styles, with arched maple back....W-a-a-a-i-t a minute......in fact, now that I step back and look at that body outline again, I'm pretty darn sure that's actually one of the F40 derived guitars.
It looks just like a blinged-down F65ce: Chesterfield instead o G-shield, and dot inlays instead of abalone, shallow depth just wide enough to accept the Fishman controls in the side, and if you look closely it's got that 2 octave shortscale neck (double dots at 24th fret).
can tell by the 16th fret neck join it's one of the shortscale models with the 2 octave neck.
I'm positive that's one of the 16" bout models, here's a photo compare:
Post- '94 F65ce courtesy of Westerly Guild Guitars:
The F30ce:
Note the body outlines are identical, but the soundhole placement is closer to the waist in the earlier F30ce because of the shorter scale length. Bracing was accordingly different, too.
Early F65ce's ('91-'94-ish) were built the same way and also offered a maple.
I thought the same thing about it being a F40ish as it looked bigger then F30’s I’ve seen but I know there’s many models I have not discovered yet so I let go . Still needs a pickup lol
I just checked some other pics and that’s for sure the F30 that fat bottom got to me at the same time we just had a thread that touched on the small jumbo size f30’s of which I totally forgot about till now lol and what ? It like two weeks ago lmao who are people again ?
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Neal
Senior Member
That 1/16" is the difference, for me, between a playable and, essentially, unplayable guitar.
But for me, it is the other way around. I cannot abide a 1 11/16" nut. Lord, how I have tried.
But for me, it is the other way around. I cannot abide a 1 11/16" nut. Lord, how I have tried.
adorshki
Reverential Member
Yeah I think it was either the Paul Simon Special or the F30Rls (Long Scale) from the Nashville custom shop, I forget myself, one or or both of those were F40 sized 16" lower bouts. (the Valencia mentioned above was the original name for the F40)
But in this case 'm sure Doc means the traditional F30 outline with 15" lower bout.
One of these may not work for him but I think it's worth checking out.
EDIT: Well duh, if I'd opened up the "read more" under the description in the ad for the F30ce, I would have seen he confirms it IS one of the 16" sized 40 derivatives and I wouldn't'a had to waste everybody's time.
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swiveltung
Member
I had a USA 1988 JF30 this year but sold it. Not sure how much like the older F30's it was but was a very nice guitar. When I bought it I was looking for a smaller body and didnt realize the F30 was not that small.
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adorshki
Reverential Member
I had a USA 1988 JF30 this year but sold it. Not sure how much like the older F30's it was but was a very nice guitar. When I bought it I was looking for a smaller body and didnt realize the F30 was not that small.
JF's are not to be confused with "F" 's as I tried to explain earlier.
JF30 was always a 17" lower bout jumbo, it was a blinged-down F50 (which was about to be known as the JF65, a couple of years after introduction of the JF30).
(In fact I just realized that might explain the logic behind calling the blinged-down F65ce an F30ce)
F30's only got a lower bout size bigger than 15"+/- fractions a couple of times, and they were special models, or re-named F40 derivatives like member Jahn's '93 F30R, labeled as an F30 but s/n'd as a GF50, so I'm saying the label was incorrect, a well known Guild "glitch":
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/sh...ul-Simon-Model-quot&highlight=paul+simon+f30r
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swiveltung
Member
Yeah thanks. I think I figured that out after the whole fiasco! It was a great guitar though. Probably should have kept it. But it didnt fill the nitche I was trying to fill at the time.
On the other subject; I also have trouble bonding with 1.75 nut. As mentioned you wouldnt think it would make much difference but it sure does for my old hands for some reason. I think Guild is making a big mistake having that on many of their new guitars. Maybe they are trying to be Taylor, but they are outside of their nitche in doing so.