My first Guild; tell your story here..

tarheelguild

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I apologize if this is a repeat of an older thread, but being this is the 20th anniversary of me purchasing my first Guild, I thought I'd share the story for the rest of you Guild maniacs. Please share yours as well!

In late 1997, I was newly divorced, living in NYC (Queens) and had just quit what I vowed would be my last band. I was a bass player then, but also a songwriter and wanted to become more involved in guitar playing and songwriting. I had always wanted a Guild 12 string. So I sold most of my basses off and visited Rudy's Guitar Stop on W. 48th St. in Manhattan. This was in January of '98. Rudy's was a major Guild dealer at the time and I spotted what I wanted. It turned out to be a D25 12, but it was in this weird blue- burst color which I didn't care for and had a pickup system in it. I didn't want to spend the extra bucks for the pickup, but I liked the basic guitar and ordered a natural top directly from the renowned Waverly factory. For some reason, the jumbo models didn't really appeal to me; too big, I guess. A month later, my guitar arrived. I was now the proud owner of a beautiful, factory-fresh D225 NT (that's what the label says, even though it's really a D25 12. I guess D225 was the "in-house" model code). The date stamped on the neck heel is 1/6/98 so it really was freshly made at the time. This guitar just helped the songs pour out of me and it was my main ax for a few years. I was and still am just blown away by that 12 string tone! Since then, I've acquired other models (my D30 is my main ax now), but I've always had a special place in my heart for my first Guild. It came into my life a a very crucial time.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. What's your story.....?
Thanks for listening to my ramblings!
Tony

'98 D30 AB
'98 D225 NT (same as a D25 12)
'96 D25 CH
'96 D4 NT HR
'84 D40 NT
'00 Taylor 414ce
 

Rich Cohen

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I sold my Martin D 28 that I had purchased new in 1971 with savings from a two-year stint in the Peace Corps (India) and bought a Guild F-412 new from Musicians' Friend for $2,999 - one of the last NH F-412s, in 2015. I loved its sound. But, I'm up there in age and find it difficult to spread my fingers across those 12 strings, so I had to sell her. Of course, I am now VERY sorry that I did. Nevertheless, I have 5 Guilds that I love to play everyday.
 

adorshki

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MIK Fender acoustic F210 stolen from car in November of '96.
Couple of months searching for NEW AMERICAN BUILT REPLACEMENT.
Experiencing massive depression caused by sticker shock.
'Round about March of following year, best friend and owner of first year JF30-12 says: "Y'oughta check out Guild, Fender just bought 'em"
So down to local Guitar Showcase, tried out a few axes in my price range, found a brand new D25 with a magic neck.
Salesman offers $700.00 out the door with case, I put down a deposit and came back on payday about 3 days later.
Best guitar I ever owned I my life.
It took the other 2 several years to get within hailing distance of my affection for it.
:friendly_wink:
 
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walrus

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Never bonded with a '77 Martin D35 I had. In 1984, I went to a relatively local music store I had never visited before, and there's a Guild on the wall. The seller says - big discount, there's a small repaired crack on the back. And he was right, it was small, and nicely repaired (still holding up to this day).

I knew nothing about Guild except that a friend of mine who was a great player had one. Certainly had no idea that a "D64" was rare. Loved how it played and sounded, and I bought it.

Fast forward to 12/06 and I discover this site. Only after I contacted Hans did I realize I had a rare model - I was simply playing it for 20 years. Even took it to Boy Scout campfires with my kids!

Anyway, it is the only acoustic guitar I have owned since I bought it, it is well played and dinged up. Top frets replaced several years ago, big divots on the fretboard.

The moral of the story is that sometimes it is better to be ignorant, and let your ears and hands decide. I got lucky...

walrus
 
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I may have told parts of this story before, but here goes. By April 1979, I had been playing some hand-me-down for about a year or so and decided I was progressing well enough to upgrade. I headed over to Robbies Music in Wayne, NJ to buy. No comparison shopping for me at the ripe old age of 23. Can't say I remember trying many brands or other Guild models, but I ended up walking out with a $400.00 1978 Guild D40. $100.00 for the case. Within a week or so, a guy (another beginner) I was getting together to play told me I was sold/given the wrong case. The guitar did not fit properly in the case, too much wiggle room. Back to Robbies I went to get the matching case. When I bought I had been working as an accountant for about 1 1/2 years and the guitar was the first expensive thing I ever bought with my own money. Don't worry, I left the accounting profession later on. I often wonder what other Guild models I passed on at Robbies. I'm sure they had a full inventory of models that were available back then.
 

gjmalcyon

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My red label Nippon Gakki Yamaha FG-110 was my first (and only) guitar for about 35 years. My sister met (he was doing a solo gig at a Ground Round where she went for dinner), and fell in love with a guy with a Guild D-40. They married, bought a house, and I used to love visiting them, picking up that guitar and marveling how an instrument superficially similar to mine could sound so much better and play so much more easily.

Their marriage ended (and I lost access to the D-40), life went on, we got the kids through college, and I finally decided that it was time for a new guitar.

I visited all the usual suspects - Guitar Center, Sam Ash, the small independent shops, and nothing had "it" ("it" being the qualities I found so entrancing in my ex-brother-in-law's D-40). This went on for months.

I walked into 8th Street Music (Pennsauken, NJ), tried their Martins, Ibanezes, Seagulls. Nothing. Then I saw hanging on a wall a Tacoma DV-6, and it looked like it had been up there a long, long time. I took it down, blew off the dust, and after the 2nd chord on those oxidized strings, I knew it was the one.

To this day it is the only guitar I bought new.
 
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Bill Ashton

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My first Guild was an amp...in March of '68 I think, found an ad in the Market Basket section of the Boston Globe, which at the time was one of THE places to list used gear..."Guild Guitar Amp, Model 66-J, $40" I had no idea what it was, but it was inexpensive enough that I could talk my father into buying it for me...an "upgrade" from my unknown-year tweed Fender Champ. We met the white van...really, no kidding!...ON the rotary at Alewife end of Route 2...why it was called "Alewife Circle"...saw this thing that looked like a Fender tweed but different color, not at all what I expected, but was committed...Dad buys it...and it lasted me through all my junior-high, high school and college band years...still have her, a couple years ago our Default re-recapped her. It is NOT a Fender Tweed Deluxe clone, probably why I was able to keep up with all those BF Fender amps all through my formative years...a loud and CLEAN 20 watts! :biggrin-new:
 

tommym

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My first Guild is the 1972 F30 that is listed in my signature below. My father bought if for me in grade school, and I eventually sold it years later to upgrade to a 12 string Guild! WOW....the sound of that Guild 12 string was awesome!

As the years went by and I got much older, I regretted selling that F30 as I grew to realize just how hard my father had worked to provide us with all that he did. I never thought I'd ever see that old guitar again, but as luck would have it one of my old school mates stumbled across it at a guitar shop and notice a chipped-off piece on the backside of the headstock. Damage that he had done only a week after my father had given me the guitar! So..... I got back the one that got away, and I was really happy for a long time....BUT....as Rich has eluded to, as we age, things change, and over the last couple of years I've found that the 1 11/16" nut and 2 1/8" string spacing at the bridge is no longer comfortable for me to play. That's all of my Westerly Guilds! Though I have a guitar slush fund to repair and restore guitars, it makes less and less sense for me to spend any of those funds on my Westerly Guilds. They all need work, and some of them need substantial work to get them back in fighting shape and I was willing to spend the dough at one time to get it done. But as I've noted it's making less and less sense for me to do it, especially if I can no longer play those guitars. In fact, I bought the NH F30 Standard and F30R Standard with money out of that slush fund, as I was already convinced back then that it was a more realistic use of the funds.

Somewhere down the road (sooner than later) I know deep in my heart I am going to have to let all my Westerly Guilds go. Gonna be a sad day for sure, but a least I have my NH F30 Standard and F30R Standard to keep me in the Guild Family for some years to come. You know, my NH simply don't have any of the mojo that all of my Westerly's have....I keep looking at my Westerly Guilds.....yeah, I keep looking at my Westerly Guild collection; the guitars I work so hard for over the years.

Tommy
 

tarheelguild

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My first Guild is the 1972 F30 that is listed in my signature below. My father bought if for me in grade school, and I eventually sold it years later to upgrade to a 12 string Guild! WOW....the sound of that Guild 12 string was awesome!

As the years went by and I got much older, I regretted selling that F30 as I grew to realize just how hard my father had worked to provide us with all that he did. I never thought I'd ever see that old guitar again, but as luck would have it one of my old school mates stumbled across it at a guitar shop and notice a chipped-off piece on the backside of the headstock. Damage that he had done only a week after my father had given me the guitar! So..... I got back the one that got away, and I was really happy for a long time....BUT....as Rich has eluded to, as we age, things change, and over the last couple of years I've found that the 1 11/16" nut and 2 1/8" string spacing at the bridge is no longer comfortable for me to play. That's all of my Westerly Guilds! Though I have a guitar slush fund to repair and restore guitars, it makes less and less sense for me to spend any of those funds on my Westerly Guilds. They all need work, and some of them need substantial work to get them back in fighting shape and I was willing to spend the dough at one time to get it done. But as I've noted it's making less and less sense for me to do it, especially if I can no longer play those guitars. In fact, I bought the NH F30 Standard and F30R Standard with money out of that slush fund, as I was already convinced back then that it was a more realistic use of the funds.

Somewhere down the road (sooner than later) I know deep in my heart I am going to have to let all my Westerly Guilds go. Gonna be a sad day for sure, but a least I have my NH F30 Standard and F30R Standard to keep me in the Guild Family for some years to come. You know, my NH simply don't have any of the mojo that all of my Westerly's have....I keep looking at my Westerly Guilds.....yeah, I keep looking at my Westerly Guild collection; the guitars I work so hard for over the years.

Tommy
Great vignette Tommy, thanks for sharing! So you have a guitar slush fund too, huh? I try to keep it away from the the eyes of the wife! Maybe some day it will buy me my DV52....
 

crank

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Bought my blonde G37 new in Costa Mesa, CA back in 1981. I was 24 and had been playing for about 10 years and had never owned a good guitar. I was just trying some guitars in a local shop and really loved the feel and sound of the G37, and it was in my price range! Only problem is it was blue. I couldn't, wouldn't buy a blue guitar. So I told the sales guy I would buy one if they had one with a natural maple finish. He called my bluff... Now it just so happened that NAMM was in session up in LA, just about an hour's drive north, at that same time. He had attended the show just the day before and said he had noticed a blonde G37 at Guild's booth. He made some calls and got me the guitar as soon as NAMM was over. I paid $500 with case.
 

killdeer43

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I was guitar hungry when I walked into a small music store a block off the square in Santa Fe in spring of 1976. I had a relative wad of cash from working at Taos Ski Valley over the winter. I fondled a few contenders but I pulled one particular guitar off the rack and played it for a while...and then I took it home. It was a 1975 D35.

I played other guitars that fine day but the Guild was what I could afford and it also sounded better than anything else in the store. So there!

Joe
 

CosmicArkie

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Circa the summer of '65, my dad and I wandered into a pawnshop, downtown LA. Hanging on the wall was the '58 Capri. Carried it out in the brown hard case (in the avatar) for $125.
 

crank

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I was guitar hungry when I walked into a small music store a block off the square in Santa Fe in spring of 1976. I had a relative wad of cash from working at Taos Ski Valley over the winter. I fondled a few contenders but I pulled one particular guitar off the rack and played it for a while...and then I took it home. It was a 1975 D35.

I played other guitars that fine day but the Guild was what I could afford and it also sounded better than anything else in the store. So there!

Joe

Heading to TSV this Saturday. Unfortunately they don't have much snow or much open terrain.
 

fronobulax

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Playing tuba in high school lacked a certain coolness factor so I picked up bass, starting with a no name, probably Japanese, solid body. I had played a friend's Fender Jazz and another friend's Starfire so I knew the Guild brand when it was time to upgrade. I did not want a Fender because everyone else had one so I bought a Guild JS II. In my old age, and knowing what I know now, I cannot recall why I bought a JS II instead of a Starfire but that's what I did. Still have it and recently discovered the original receipt which means I at least have a shot at getting Cordoba to honor the lifetime warranty.
 

ezstrummer

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I was about 15 years old when my family moved from NJ to Pa. It was 1980 and my brother in law and sister came to visit. My brother in law who played guitar (very well I might add) wanted to go out to the local guitar store in West Chester Pa and look at new guitars. I went with him and watched him play several in the store. He ended up buying a 79' Guild G37 sunburst with case for 800.00. Back in 1980, and only being 15 years old, I thought that was a million dollars back then. We have both played guitar over the years and have bought several since then. About 6 months ago he told me he wanted to get rid of a few. Long story short I bought his 79' Guild for 400.00. He keeps his guitars in mint condition so I thought it was a no brainer. I have several high end guitars at home but I can tell you, that Guild plays and sounds like no other. I just love taking it out of its case and playing all day on it. And to think, I have know this guitar from day one makes it very special to me.
 

dreadnut

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In '73 when I was home from the Navy on leave, I bought a 12-String Epiphone with HSC. Stupidly, when I got back to the base, I stashed it under my bunk in the barracks. It got stolen. When I asked the barracks Master-At-Arms if they carried any insurance on our possessions he looked at me like I was from Mars, and said "If they wanted you to have a guitar, they'd have issued you one." Everybody thinks they're a comedian.

Subsequently I decided to hold off on getting another guitar until I got out of the Navy.

After I landed a job post-Navy ('76) I went out guitar shopping. I intended to buy a Martin. The music store (Grinnells) had a selection of Martins, Gibsons, and Guilds. I played a bunch of them but I kept coming back to the Guild D-25M, I was intrigued by the beauty of the wood and the sound coming out of this thing. It didn't hurt that it cost about 1/2 of the price of the comparable Martin and Gibson mahogany dreads. I laid down $300 and walked out with my lifetime acoustic guitar. This is still my main player after 42 years. It has accompanied me to hundreds of weddings, funerals, campfires, parties, bars, churches, nursing homes, jam sessions, retreats, youth groups, etc. Just outfitted her with new strings, and it still sounds like angels singing...
a6DE1p9.jpg
 

swiveltung

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My first Guild was a black M75 Bluesbird, full hollow. About a '69 I think. I played it thru a Marshall stack! You could stand in front of that stack with it and it would sustain a note as long as your ears could bear it, although it felt like the body was going to resonate into pieces! Black Les Paul Custom's (fretless wonders) with 3 pickups were the rage at the time, so I cut a third pickup hole in the Bluesbird for a center pickup (arghh!). Young and dumb I guess. If you see my Bluesbird with the hole in it let me know! I bought another one maybe 10 years ago. It wasn't in perfect condition but I got it off Ebay for like $550-600. I found it to weigh nothing really, but was pretty tinny sounding compared with today's guitars.. couldn't rebond with the hollow Bluesbird and resold it. I think it was a 70 , one of the last full hollow ones.
 

ezstrummer

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In '73 when I was home from the Navy on leave, I bought a 12-String Epiphone with HSC. Stupidly, when I got back to the base, I stashed it under my bunk in the barracks. It got stolen. When I asked the barracks Master-At-Arms if they carried any insurance on our possessions he looked at me like I was from Mars, and said "If they wanted you to have a guitar, they'd have issued you one." Everybody thinks they're a comedian.

Subsequently I decided to hold off on getting another guitar until I got out of the Navy.

After I landed a job post-Navy ('76) I went out guitar shopping. I intended to buy a Martin. The music store (Grinnells) had a selection of Martins, Gibsons, and Guilds. I played a bunch of them but I kept coming back to the Guild D-25M, I was intrigued by the beauty of the wood and the sound coming out of this thing. It didn't hurt that it cost about 1/2 of the price of the comparable Martin and Gibson mahogany dreads. I laid down $300 and walked out with my lifetime acoustic guitar. This is still my main player after 42 years. It has accompanied me to hundreds of weddings, funerals, campfires, parties, bars, churches, nursing homes, jam sessions, retreats, youth groups, etc. Just outfitted her with new strings, and it still sounds like angels singing...
a6DE1p9.jpg

That is beautiful!! Great story as well.
 
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