Maple F30 / OM / OOO size?

Antney

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Hey Mikey

I don’t know a lot about guitar body sizes but to this day I still remember playing an alverez aj80 Small jumbo maple. Unbelievable comfortable and sounding guitar. $300. My nephew sold all his martins and only plays alverez now.
 

tommym

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qHyNSpA.jpg

I get weak in the knees every time I see that guitar!

Tommy
 

tommym

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FNG - interesting - did not know GF-60s were available in maple!
Wonder if any significant differences with the F44 or just a re-name.

It wasn't a clean cut transition from one to the other, but eventually Guild change out the original smaller pickguard to a larger pickguard, they reduced the size of the fretboard inlays, and switched on over from the Gotoh vintage "waffle" tuners to the Grover Rotomatic tuners. Overall, I much prefer the aesthetics of the original F-44, as I have always thought that the GF-60's were a bit of a downgrade aesthetically from the original F-44 and F-46. That being said, I wouldn't pass on any GF-60 in good condition, if I was in the market for one of these guitars again. Collings still makes the SJ series in Mahogany, Maple, Rosewood, along with custom order tonewoods, different nut widths, string spacing, etc. and is the closest thing that I have found in size, shape, and aesthetics that most closely matches the original F-42, F-44, and F-46. It's kind of like Collings bought out Guild's Gruhn F series, and put their own modern tweaks on the series. Very nicely done, and very expensive if bought new, and not that cheap used. But at least we have an option regardless.

Tommy
 
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Bonneville88

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Tommy - great info - thanks! Now that you've pointed it out,
can definitely see the difference in the neck inlays and tuners.
 
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tommym

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Forgot to add that with the Collings SJ Maple, you can also get them with an awesome full body burst too! That's like the icing on the cake!

Tommy
 

bobouz

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Forgot to add that with the Collings SJ Maple, you can also get them with an awesome full body burst too! That's like the icing on the cake!

Every now & then, Gibson will release a run of the 16" maple-bodied J-185. Sometimes in both natural & sunburst finishes, other times in only one version (typically sunburst). These are 24.75" short-scale instruments, and nut width is usually right in-between the two most common sizes (but variations can sometimes occur in one direction or the other).
 

tommym

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Every now & then, Gibson will release a run of the 16" maple-bodied J-185. Sometimes in both natural & sunburst finishes, other times in only one version (typically sunburst). These are 24.75" short-scale instruments, and nut width is usually right in-between the two most common sizes (but variations can sometimes occur in one direction or the other).

You can also add the elusive J-200 Junior to the line-up as it too has a 16" body, but has a longer scale than the J-185. Between the two, I much prefer the aesthetics of the J-200 Junior.

Tommy
 

Bonneville88

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Striking similarities indeed

Collings SJ - Gibson J185 - Gibson J200 JR


VhBqQvv.jpg
 
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wileypickett

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I tried out this (G)F60 a few days ago -- not bad, but a couple things to be aware of:

1. The bass side of the saddle has been shaved, literally, as low as it will go before the low E string actually touches the wood of the bridge. (You can sort of see it the photo.) So, a neck reset may be in order.

2. The inset piece of wood that surrounds the lower bout endpin has split at the endpin hole and one of the two pieces is loose and popping out. Probably an easy fix.

In my experience GC often over-rates the condition of their guitars, but "Good" seems about right in this case.

But -- considering what work is needed I think it's overpriced at $1800, plus tax.

Glenn
 

HeyMikey

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Antney
I like Alvarez. My MFA70 is all wood and is a pleasure to play. Not in the same league as a Guild or Martin, but a great value. I think years ago they made a laminated maple backed mid size model. I’ll have to check.

Tommy, your F44 is gorgeous! I love quilted and fancy grained maple.

Glenn, Thanks for the heads up on that GC one. I really hate their lack of disclosure (and ethics) in their online listings. It’s too big for me anyway.

My backup plan is perhaps to find a nice NH F30R as a possible replacement for my Martin ( which is sensational). The difference would allow me to put a little more towards a maple something.
 
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SFIV1967

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...and saw reference to a GSR F30 maple, but my guess is that would be a little pricey.
There were only 20 GSR F-30 Maple built in New Hartford around 2011, 10 for the US and 10 for overseas, hence a bit rare.

3856550801_frt_wmd_001.png



I know you said you don't care for anything smaller but just to say, there was also a nice F-20 Maple with arched back, here a 1986 Westerly one from our member ladytexan:

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Ralf
 

HeyMikey

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Yeah, sorry about that Tommy.

Ralf, that F20 maple is beautiful no doubt. I’m thinking about a maple sound I have in my head. It’s a big, rhythmic sound with good low end. Like a really nice old Dove. An OM will be hard pressed to get near there but I like the OM balance and know what to expect and what not to expect. I don’t think anything smaller will get me the sound I want. I won’t rule it out but I’d have to play it first.
 

Bonneville88

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This has become an educational thread for me - never knew there was a maple F20 - very sweet!
And so is that F20 GSR!
 

bobouz

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I’m thinking about a maple sound I have in my head. It’s a big, rhythmic sound with good low end. Like a really nice old Dove. An OM will be hard pressed to get near there but I like the OM balance and know what to expect and what not to expect. I don’t think anything smaller will get me the sound I want. I won’t rule it out but I’d have to play it first.

Mikey, I like maple guitars a lot, and have a lot of them. It's generally rather difficult to pull a deep bass note out of a small maple body, and I'm guessing you'll be hard pressed to get what you're after if you go smaller than a 16" body (especially something in the neighborhood of an old Dove sound).

But I'll throw out one more model for you to consider because it appears to be in the size category you're after. The Gibson CJ-165 (& J-165) is a 15" mini-jumbo. The body is considerably smaller than a J-185 (I happen to have both of them next to each other as we speak), while the depth is similar. Both instruments share the 24.75" short-scale length.

The CJ-165 was produced in both a rosewood and maple version. It was released in 2006, with a cutaway version added to the lineup the next year. The '07 & '08 cutaway has a soundhole mounted Fishman Aura. All following cutaway versions had side-mount electronics. Mine is an '07 cutaway, with a maple body and neck.

I own 17, 16, & 15" Guild and Gibson jumbo-shaped guitars - all in maple, except for the 15" Guild F-30R. In each case, the bass produced by these maple bodies is predictably noticeable as you step down in size. But there's a combination of tonal characteristics that makes each size attractive. The CJ-165, being the smallest of these, carries less of a bass punch, but has a balanced ringing tone across all strings that I find very appealing. There's still enough bass for my fingerpicking style to keep me happy, and it's overall physical & tonal persona makes it a lot of fun to pick up & play.

I don't know for sure what the last year of this model was - I think it might have been 2012. Gibson's current Parlor model appears to carry the same dimensions, but the body choices do not include maple (there are rosewood, mahogany, and walnut versions).

The maple CJ-165 doesn't seem to come up too often, but if one does, it might be worth a look.

Enjoy the hunt!
 

SFIV1967

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And talking about nice Guild maple guitars, also that Westerly made D-60 was great (15.75" lower bout):



Ralf
 

adorshki

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I think the GC guitar is a GF-60, a little later version of your F-44.

Yep, confirmed by s/n on back of headstock, and should have 1-11/16 nut.
The GF30 I mentioned earlier would be the "blinged-down" arched back version.
And as mentioned, both would be 16" lower bout.
ALL the GF's were 16" lower bout, and anything "F--ce" will be, too, the numbers changed according to the body woods and depths.
 

wileypickett

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I'm still loving my GF30 -- it's been my main guitar nice I picked it up a couple months ago!
 
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