Ngd: 2012 f-30r

Neal

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https://reverb.com/item/15324450-guild-f30r-w-ohc-2012

A nice little box appeared at my doorstep this evening.

I have been patiently waiting for a New Hartford F-30R Standard to come up for sale at the right price for a couple of years now. Well, here it is!

it is in virtually unplayed condition. Nice, silky sitka top, deep golden in color. I was expecting some runout from the Reverb photos, but no. Perfectly quartersawn and lovely. Some really attractive rosewood on back, sides, fretboard, bridge, and faceplate. Little bit of purple running through it. Nice!

The entire guitar, for some reason, is gloss nitro, including the neck, which is spec'ed with a satin finish.

The tone is chimy, loud, balanced, resonant. In a word, great! And the playability, with the 1 3/4" nut, is superb. Drop D, in particular, is just a joy.

So much fun to A/B against my '55 Martin 000-18, which is exactly the same body shape, but a half inch narrower, short scale, mahogany B&S, and 57 years older. As one might suspect, they sound nothing alike!
 

txbumper57

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Congrats Neal! I know you have been searching for one for a long time and I am glad you finally got what you were looking for. I hope you enjoy it for a long time to come my friend.

TX
 
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Stuball48

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Let me add my congratulations Neal. From your description, it sounds like it will garner the most playing time the next couple days. Beautiful!!!
 

fronobulax

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The entire guitar, for some reason, is gloss nitro, including the neck, which is spec'ed with a satin finish.

You might check the spec. I have a recollection that the specs on the Standard were not the same through all of the years of production, specifically the finish. I think the satin finish was earlier but I may be wrong. I recall someone at LMG III(?) saying they wanted to do the satin because it was cheaper but the market did not react positively so they changed it.
 

Neal

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You might check the spec. I have a recollection that the specs on the Standard were not the same through all of the years of production, specifically the finish. I think the satin finish was earlier but I may be wrong. I recall someone at LMG III(?) saying they wanted to do the satin because it was cheaper but the market did not react positively so they changed it.

My recollection, Frono, is that the early (2010-11) Standard Series Guilds had a gloss top, back, sides and faceplate, with a satin neck. At some point in 2012, the back and sides were satin as well. This one was made on Day 241 in 2012 (8/28/12), which would have been close to the end of production of the Standard Series.

I have never personally seen a Standard model with a gloss neck. Perhaps the seller, who is the original owner, might shed some light on any modifications he may have made to the neck? I will check.
 

fronobulax

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There's a report in this thread http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?183815-F30-Standard-satin-finish of Standard Series instruments with gloss necks. There was a gathering circa LMG I when Frank U. was running the plant that discussed the Standard vs. Traditional "vision". I was not there but Chazmo and Bill Ashton were and the way I read the reports (five years or more later) is that there was a willingness to experiment with finishes. So my recollection that there were Standards with gloss necks is not completely without evidence :)
 

Rayk

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Congrats Neal enjoy !
There was one for sale for a while that’s was priced way up there . I was going make a play for it but just my luck as long as long as it’s been listed it ain’t budged , I go to start dealing and it’s gone lol that’s how I ended up with the Blueridge 283 had to releive the gas haha 😆
 

chazmo

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Hey, Neal,

Fro is right about the willingness to experiment, but I, too, do not remember a time of gloss necks on the Standards. Yes, there was a transition from the original gloss bodies to satin bodies, but I only recall satin necks for all of them. Indeed, we were still in touch with those guys through 2012, but it's possible this changed.

The fundamental experimentation was in the materials used for the finishing. They were trying to reduce cost (well, time, mostly) spent in the spray/drying shop. When first introduced, they were trying different pore fillers. As far as I know, the top coat was ALWAYS NCL. Anyway, there's no reason they couldn't've started glossing the necks hough, as the necks were always (again, AFAIK) done separately from the bodies. Perhaps the factory glossed it, or the owner just polished it to gloss. Probably the latter, Neal.
 

Neal

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Checking with the seller, who is the original owner. I doubt he messed with it.

He shared with me his story. He had a bad case of GAS over the past decade or so (imagine that!), and was up to 25 guitars (including a lot of high-end Martins) when he decided to start selling some off last month. This would help explain how a six year old guitar appears to be so lightly played.

One thing that amazes me about the Standard Series is the quality of the wood that was used. This is my third one, and all three have had the most beautiful, heavily-silked tops on them. Other high-end touches include the attractive backstripe on this F-30R. It really makes the rosewood on either side of it pop. Most other makers putting out a "budget-friendly" version of their more expensive models do not include a backstripe, nor do they inlay MOP on the headstock. Add to that red spruce bracing, bone nut, saddle and bridge pins on this F-30R, and wow, there is just a whole lot of value in this guitar.
 
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chazmo

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Tons of value. For that matter, I always like the plainer rosewood headstock faceplate that they used for these.

They didn't skimp on wood at all, Neal. My F-212XL has a silky Sitka top too.
 

adorshki

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Hey, Neal,
Fro is right about the willingness to experiment, but I, too, do not remember a time of gloss necks on the Standards. Yes, there was a transition from the original gloss bodies to satin bodies, but I only recall satin necks for all of them.
Tbat's how I remember it too.
The fundamental experimentation was in the materials used for the finishing. They were trying to reduce cost (well, time, mostly) spent in the spray/drying shop. When first introduced, they were trying different pore fillers. As far as I know, the top coat was ALWAYS NCL.
I think what you really mean was the tops were always "High Gloss" because the Satin was NCL as well, just unbuffed. And possibly a slightly different, quicker-drying formulation, but trying to spray incompatible finishes on the top and body would be extremely problematic.
Anyway, there's no reason they couldn't've started glossing the necks though, as the necks were always (again, AFAIK) done separately from the bodies. Perhaps the factory glossed it, or the owner just polished it to gloss. Probably the latter, Neal.
Because of CharlieA's note about his sighting of some late production all-gloss standards from the 2012 period in the thread Frono linked, as well as Neal's confidence in the original owner's report, I'd be willing to bet that they're actually the result of some kind of production planning glitch: that for whatever reason they ran short of satin necks for standards and used gloss necks to keep shipments going out the door.
I remember also they closed out the Standard "CE" models: perhaps they'd already stopped making satin necks, anticipating discontinuing the whole Standard line?
A final possibility is perhaps they decided it wasn't actually as cost-effective as they'd hoped, to run 2 different finishing processes?
So at least some of the late Standards actually got full gloss bodies?
Anyway, I think it's pretty cool he got an all-gloss Standard!
Congrats, Neal!
 
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chazmo

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Al, yup, satin and gloss are all NCL. The reason I made that clear is that originally, back in 2010, Frank Untermyer (GM) was asking us whether we'd care if Guild used something else for a finish... NO, they never did... Not in NH anyway. The pore filler experiments might've ventured into some synthetic material(s), I don't know, but never the top coat.

In any case, it's a little odd that they'd go from satin to gloss (in the case of the necks) because gloss takes longer to get right. I doubt there was ever any change in the NCL formula, by the way.
 
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