Guild 44? Thoughts?

D30Man

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The link below is to a 1970 Guild D44 pearwood. Anyone have experience with these? Opinion on pear wood tone?
Anything glaring red flag wise? Price seem fair? The seller says it does not need a reset in the FWIW dept. action looks good and the saddle appears to have remaining life.

The age and the ebony fretboard are big pluses for me as I am contemplating a second Guild acoustic and one under $1000.

https://reverb.com/item/6303931-guild-d44-1970-pearwood

As always the opinions on this forum are greatly valued by yours truly. Thanks.
 

GardMan

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I had a '71 pear wood D-44 for a few years... Visually, I didn't consider pear wood to be particularly visually appealing... sort of "plain Jane." Structurally, it won't be the usual "built like a tank." Mine was my second lightest, just around 4.5 lbs. Sonically, my D-44 was closest in tone to my '72 D-35 (mahogany). I found the pear wood to be just a little richer/warmer sounding than mahogany, but having the same sparkle to the trebles, with good mids and a nice warm bass... but not as rich as rosewood (or ash, for that matter). Mine wasn't the loudest dread I have owned, and it didn't have a ton of headroom... if vigorously strummed, it sort of "broke down" and got a bit muddy. I preferred it for fingerpicking... and thought it recorded well .

There are at least three tunes on my soundclick page recorded with my D-44 (others might have been, but weren't noted). Just basement recordings... nothing professional. But, they might give you an idea of the possibilities.

When I got bit by the DV-7X bug, I had to down-size a bit. I kept my ash bodied D-46 over the pear D-44... finding the D-46 a little more versatile for what I do (a mix of finger picking and strumming). Nonetheless, it was hard to let the D-44 go...

The D-44 in question appears to be in decent shape, and I would consider the price reasonable (especially with a K&K installed).

Good hunting!
 
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D30Man

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Garman I listened to a couple of the clips with the D44. Nice stuff man. Very pleasing to the ears and the D44 was in good voice especially on Slim and Jenny. Really looking for volume so I have some thinking to do on whether or not to make an offer. Like that it is lightweight. Like the ebony fretboard. Not liking the plain look of the pear wood. Thanks for your thoughts sir.
 

mavuser

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I am a big fan of 1970 Guilds, and it appears this may be theeee FIRST D-44 manufactured in 1970?

It looks pretty nice. I really like those tuners. I'm sure it will sound fantastic (since I know who will be playing it!)

I honestly hate buying online these days, especially acoustics, however the truth is ive been nothing but extremely lucky and fortunate on absolutely everything, other than a $107 80's Guild case...which is to say ive done *extremely* well overall, and on some occasions really been rewarded.

so I say you try to wrangle this one in, if possible. good luck!
 

mavuser

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I listened to the Guardmans "Get up and Go/Old Age is Golden" that is great stuff, reminds me of "Easy rider". is that the D-44? definitely jangly and not so dominating. in a good way though.

how uncommon is this guitar?
 

D30Man

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I am a big fan of 1970 Guilds, and it appears this may be theeee FIRST D-44 manufactured in 1970?

It looks pretty nice. I really like those tuners. I'm sure it will sound fantastic (since I know who will be playing it!)

I honestly hate buying online these days, especially acoustics, however the truth is ive been nothing but extremely lucky and fortunate on absolutely everything, other than a $107 80's Guild case...which is to say ive done *extremely* well overall, and on some occasions really been rewarded.

so I say you try to wrangle this one in, if possible. good luck!

Thanks Mav! Yeah I have had pretty good luck online with guitars. Giving it some serious thought. The fact that it could be the first is very intriguing.
 

GardMan

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I listened to the Guardmans "Get up and Go/Old Age is Golden" that is great stuff, reminds me of "Easy rider". is that the D-44? definitely jangly and not so dominating. in a good way though.

how uncommon is this guitar?
Don't think I did that one with the 44... but I don't remember which it was. Likely either the 55 or 46.

Pear wood 44s are not common, but I see a couple a year on eBay, Reverb, or Gbase.
 

davismanLV

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My whole take on pearwood is that it's not bad tonewood at all, but has very few unique characters to distinguish it and it's boring as HELL to look at. At least, that's my impression. Never played one but from what people have said. I don't need another dread, and a pearwood one lacks the ALLURE of anything that would make me reconsider my current "no more dreads" policy. If you play it and it makes your smile all crazy.... then get it.
 
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