Guild GAD Rare on LTG Forum

billymox

Junior Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2017
Messages
72
Reaction score
0
I own several Eastmans and a Guild DV-52. The best guitar I've played is probably a Guild D-55 that placed me in heaven, and the next D-55 I played was the same. So with my budget, I discovered and bought a Guild GAD-50, which was wonderful, maybe the greatest value on the planet. I sold it, bought another GAD-50. Great guitars, similar voice and comfort to the D-55. So I've often wondered why we don't see many GAD series guitars on the forum, not in this main section, nor in the for sale section. My guess is that the active folks on the forum are pretty serious Guild lovers, and thus, of course buy the higher end Guilds. For any with quite limited budgets, I do highly recommend the GAD-50 and the GAD F30R, just great instruments for even 3 times their costs. I have not appreciated the newer replacements for those guitars, the D-150 and D130R. My Guild DV-62 has replaced my prior GAD-50s.
 
Last edited:

Westerly Wood

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
13,329
Reaction score
6,501
Guild Total
2
The GAD-50 is a great dread! nearly bought one myself. for the money, maybe only Blueridge BR-180 is better.
lots of GAD talk here. Quality MIC brand right now and for years really.
 

Bonneville88

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
2,695
Reaction score
1,255
Location
St. Louis, MO
Guild Total
40
I have a "Westerly Collection" D120 MIC dread among various other Westerly & NH Guilds,
I believe its closest predecessor by spec was the GAD D125, perhaps the two were built in the same place.
Great guitar for the $$... fwiw I like it better overall than a late-model recently departed Oxnard D20.
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
My guess is that the active folks on the forum are pretty serious Guild lovers, and thus, of course buy the higher end Guilds.
Welcome aboard, Billy!
The more senior /more active members tend to be from a generation that remembers Guild as a proud made-in-USA brand and there was a lot of antipathy for the MIC line for a while.
(It actually caused me to buy my D40 because I thought Fender was about to convert it to an import-only line way back in '04, when the GADs first appeared on a price list, but that's another story)
Also many of them like the bang-for-the-buck value of used Guilds or Guilds from a specific factory.
For any with quite limited budgets, I do highly recommend the GAD-50 and the GAD F30R, just great instruments for even 3 times their costs.
After a while most of the naysayers (myself included) were forced to admit that same thing, in the face of all the love and feedback coming in from new owners.
Then we noticed a trend : GAD owners tended to upgrade themselves after hearing about the intangible but definitely even better quality in the US built models, trying 'em out, and discovering it was true..
We started calling GADs the Guild gateway drug and suspecting Fender may actually have done something right for once.
My Guild DV-62 has replaced my prior GAD-50s.
I rest my case.
:glee:
 

gjmalcyon

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Feb 6, 2011
Messages
4,181
Reaction score
2,419
Location
Gloucester County, NJ
Guild Total
13
I bought three GAD's, gifted one to a nephew, and the other two remain in the herd. Do they get played often? Nope. Do I enjoy them when I play them? Yep. Am I glad I bought them? Absolutely.
 

Bonneville88

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
2,695
Reaction score
1,255
Location
St. Louis, MO
Guild Total
40
GAD owners tended to upgrade themselves after hearing about the intangible but definitely even better quality in the US built models, trying 'em out, and discovering it was true..We started calling GADs the Guild gateway drug and suspecting Fender may actually have done something right for once.

And I'm coming at it from the opposite direction... longtime hardcore Westerly enthusiast... skeptical, suspicious and dubious of Guild MICs...
but very pleased with the one I bought recently, and now looking at another :emmersed:
 

Gamehenge757

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2018
Messages
25
Reaction score
0
Yeah there’s nothing wrong at all with the gad line imho. Especially if you can find a good price on a used one. I’ve had a few gad’s, currently a gad40ce that’s excellent, I liked the sound of my gad30pce. I think they sound better than my d4 by far. Can’t find anything comprible for the price either. I’d certainly consider getting another one for a gigging guitar......after I get my next American made guild lol
 

Bonneville88

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
2,695
Reaction score
1,255
Location
St. Louis, MO
Guild Total
40
I kept my D120 over a D20, an NH D40, and a D4... just a better sounding & playing guitar.
 

beecee

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2016
Messages
3,569
Reaction score
2,411
Coming from a 35+ year Madeira owner I've never had an issue w/the GAD line.
 

steve488

Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
400
Reaction score
168
Location
Arizona desert
Guild Total
2
Like Chazmo I lean towards a 12 string as my primary instrument, but I also own a D-150 and have absolutely no complaints. In truth, it is a replacement for a Martin D-18 that I never bonded with as it just did not have anything special in its tone (to my ear anyway). Perhaps it will be replaced by a D50 someday but for now it works just fine. There is some 12 string requirements toi complete first :)
 

CocoaPicker

Junior Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2018
Messages
50
Reaction score
3
Location
Brevard County, Florida
After a while most of the naysayers (myself included) were forced to admit that same thing, in the face of all the love and feedback coming in from new owners.
Then we noticed a trend : GAD owners tended to upgrade themselves after hearing about the intangible but definitely even better quality in the US built models, trying 'em out, and discovering it was true..
We started calling GADs the Guild gateway drug and suspecting Fender may actually have done something right for once.
:glee:

That's a neat way to sum it up. I also like to think of it as bringing our Chinese brethren into the fold. Sooner or later, discerning Chinese guitarists may want to sample some of our US-made wares. For all I know, that might already be happening-- like with Buicks being very popular over there.
 

steve488

Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
400
Reaction score
168
Location
Arizona desert
Guild Total
2
Steve, you could always string the G-312 up as a 6-string, and voila... A D-50 (or darn close anyway)!

I have sometimes thought there might be some merit in that thought - at least if you were a heavy player and wanted to easily switch back and forth between 6 and 12 strings. Two guitars with the same body and neck structure, with one a 12 string and one a 6 with a "wide" string spacing. At the very least it would get some folks pondering. But then I think I do not play the 6 string all that much so I do not think the value is there..... I think I will just stay with the 12 string and be happy - someday soon if all goes well. :)
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
I have sometimes thought there might be some merit in that thought - at least if you were a heavy player and wanted to easily switch back and forth between 6 and 12 strings. Two guitars with the same body and neck structure, with one a 12 string and one a 6 with a "wide" string spacing. At the very least it would get some folks pondering. But then I think I do not play the 6 string all that much so I do not think the value is there..... I think I will just stay with the 12 string and be happy - someday soon if all goes well. :)
Steve I don't know if you're aware of it but our member Killdeer43 converted an F-112 to a 6-string and I think Chaz was also making a sly reference to that as a kind of running joke..
One thing Joe did though, was cut and install a new nut just to get the strings a bit more properly centered on the fretboard.
Now he was going for the full-on permanent conversion and covered all the little details.
Wish that thread was still accessible, couldn't find it last coupla times I looked.
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
That's a neat way to sum it up. I also like to think of it as bringing our Chinese brethren into the fold. Sooner or later, discerning Chinese guitarists may want to sample some of our US-made wares. For all I know, that might already be happening-- like with Buicks being very popular over there.
Thanks Cocoa. Even though I considered myself our resident Sinophile for a while there, I was still a made-in-USA purist when it came to guitars.
NOW?
Well, when I think about my original non-negotiable requirement for a guitar that was worth re-fretting or repairing, I'm still a made-in-USA-purist.
Why?
I can't deny the bang-for-buck value of the MIC's but we're still seeing the same old conundrum:
When it comes time to re-fret it costs about as much as the guitar's worth (if not more), so why not just get another guitar?
It used to irk my sense of conservation of craftsmanship back then, and it still irks me now.
I spend money on shoes that are worth re-soling too.
Doesn't make sense to me to save $50.00 on a pair of shoes that are dead when the soles wear out and can't be replaced.
Over the long run you'll wind up buying 3 times as many shoes.
Another issue coming to light is parts availability for repair.
When there were warranty claims, Fender typically exchanged those guitars as it was considered cheaper than trying to repair them, except in some cases like re-gluing a brace.
NOW I'm beginning to suspect they never even carried repair parts here, and this seems to be confirmed by a couple of recent reports from owners that Cordoba sent out replacement parts that didn't fit their MIC guitars (a bridge, an endpin) even though they said they did.
Not being able to get a replacement bridge is a pretty big hurdle, $-wise.
Not sure what the deal is there, but maybe Cordoba's Westerly series guitars do use interchangeable-with-US-made parts but they don't retrofit into the GAD designs?
Before Cordoba bought Guild all that "warranty repair" stuff was handled by Fender even though the Guild name was on the guitars.
None of the US Guild factories were involved in servicing or parts manufacture for the MIC product.
Point being, any repair parts Cordoba acquired from New Hartford were made for strictly for US guitars.

Anyway, it's great folks are happy with 'em but I'm beginning to suspect this may be an underlying reason the market never really values imports in this bracket the same way as US-built "heirloom quality" guitars.
It ain't necessarily "snobbism", but the sheer impracticality of maintaining the instrument.
The same principle applies in the generic used car market.
AS for our Chinese brethren developing a taste for the US-built stuff, let's just hope they aren't reduced to having to buy it from all those high-priced Japanese outfits who list 'em on eABy all the time..... :glee:
 
Last edited:

Bonneville88

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
2,695
Reaction score
1,255
Location
St. Louis, MO
Guild Total
40
Al -

So you'd spend the $$ refretting a Westerly D4, but not an MIC?

Fwiw, I've owned two D4's, still own one, the D120 pretty much smokes it
in every way as far as sound & playability - fit & finish on the MIC is better.
The D4 is outta here as soon as I have time & inclination to sell it.

If I needed a replacement bridge for a D4, I'd probably get
it carefully removed and have one made - if I liked the MIC enough to keep it,
I'd do the same for it.
 
Top