Glad to be aboard. This is my first post on LTG. I’m a perpetual beginner--from my first Emenee plastic guitar in 1964--through the wonderful brand new! 2014 Guild F-30 Sunburst Standard I picked up last weekend. It had been sitting in Downtown Sounds, in Northampton, MA, since April 2014. I asked why it hadn’t sold in 5yrs? “Most of our sales are $200-$600 guitars,” the manager said.
I live in NYC & sold my Gene Larrivee Italian Spruce/Hog OM-03 for nearly what I paid 8yrs ago. It didn’t ‘ring’ the way I liked. This Guild rings! Best guitar I’ve owned… or at least it helps me make the sounds I like.
But here’s the story. Guild mythology aside, my guitar could likely be the last Guild F-30 made in New Hartford, CT.
Sr# NR107004
N = New Hartford, CT
R = 2014
107 = 107th day of the year
(Thursday April 17, 2014)
004 = 4th instrument built that day
On Tuesday April 22, 2014 (five days after my guitar was built), Fender notified NH employees it was closing the New Hartford, CT facility.
The next day, Wednesday April 23, a press release confirmed the closing of the New Hartford factory. Initial plans were to “move manufacturing to California.” But as we all know, that was only a ruse by Fender.
Two weeks later, May 7, 2014, Fender announced, in a formal letter of intent, that they had sold the Guild brand to Cordoba Music Group. By the end of May 2014, CMG had laid off most of the NH employees and begun to move the machinery to their CA factory.
A June 2014 Hartford Courant article quotes a NH staff member: "In the last year [before the NH plant closed], the crew of 47 was generally making about 14 guitars a day... most were Guild guitars." Compared to Martin, Taylor & Gibson’s output, that makes NH Guild a veritable custom shop. So, it’s entirely likely my F-30 Std Sunburst was the last F-30 built in NH.
There are a few telltales this might be true. Very few Sunburst F-30’s were made in NH. Most were natural finish—even fewer in those final 5 months in 2014. My F-30 Standard has the usual 1 ¾” nut, rosewood fingerboard, etc…. but it also has Tortoise binding, which was usually found on Traditional (Aragon) F-30’s. The entire guitar is Nitro gloss finish, including the neck. The top is also much nicer looking than other F-30’s I’ve seen. An exceptional cut of hog on the back & sides--compared to my Larrivee! It likely received a little extra attention to detail, as I’m sure the crew knew the Rats were abandoning the ship. As they literally did five days later. “CJ” signed off on the build-sheet for my instrument. Does anyone know who “CJ” was at NH? I’d love to thank him/her.
Downtown Sounds in Northampton, Massachusetts is only a short 1-hour drive from New Hartford, CT. And I think the closest Guild dealer to NH, I suspect they might have made one last run down to Connecticut in April 2014 & pulled a few choice guitars from whatever was on the racks. A brand new 5yr old guitar. I paid $1,500 -- which for a brand new 5yr old Sunburst Guild F-30 with extra detail is worth every cent. At least to me anyway.
I called CMG and they said that since it’s a new guitar, they will honor the full Guild warrantee. It was delicious peeling the plastic off the pick-guard as I sat in the shop and played it for the first time.