Variation in 1960's and 1970's D-40s

GardMan said:

Guild experimented with fan bracing (as opposed to the more typical X-bracing) on the D-40s for a brief period sometime in the (mid?) 60s...

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This is curious to me, having a ‘66. What was fan bracing?

Heath said:

This is curious to me, having a ‘66. What was fan bracing?

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Here's a quote from Hans I found over on the UMGF:

Guess we could call it fan bracing although it was not exactly what we now consider 'traditional' on a classical guitar; more like a variation on fan bracing with some elements that we know from traditional X-bracing. Guild did this for a while around 1964.
Here's a photo of a damaged top that shows the layout...

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I think this is the image Hans had posted on UMGF (Hans, I hope it is OK that I posted this! If not, let me know and I will remove it)...

Curious again, what is UMGF?!

Here is where too much information can become a detriment. All my current guitars save one were bought the old fashioned way. Play guitar, like guitar, buy guitar. When trying various Martin D 35s, I would always think the HD varients were too bloated sounding, without a thought as to why. Hearing them was enough. I do a fair amount of guitar work and have yet to inspect the inside of any of them. You can know all there is about a guitar, but without auditory context, the information is useless. So, pretty much is general consensus. For better or worse, well, for worse actually, I think many people would prefer a D 55 over a Martin dread, but without opportunity to play one the safe bet is the Martin.

The silver lining in all this is the high quality of guitars in general. In a vacuum, you'll likely be pleased. I'm lucky to live between Gryphon and Sylvan so have had my hands on a lot of guitars. You'd be surprised how many Brazilian rosewood D 28s I've played that have been lackluster. They are supposed to be a Holy Grail guitar. Only some of them are. This is an era of buy to try. But knowing what I know, I'd bet on liking a D 35 or D 40 from 65 to 72, but not if I had visions of a D 18 dancing in my head. Certainly they are a ton of guitar for the money.

donnylang said:

Hoboken Guilds tend to be physically lighter, more “woody” and airy sounding than post-1972, which are heavier-built and more punchy and “direct” sounding. 1968-72 are in between. This is a super generalization and one man’s opinion.

*I’ve owned about 20 Guilds made from 1964-75.

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Your experience corroborates my memory of many members' feedback over the years who had experience with both eras/factories.

GardMan said:

A couple other things to note re: differences in 60s-70s D-40s:

The headstock ornamentation went thru several changes during that time period... a discussion of which can be found here...

Guild experimented with fan bracing (as opposed to the more typical X-bracing) on the D-40s for a brief period sometime in the (mid?) 60s...

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My memory is that the fan bracing and 1-3/4 nut were only used in '64 for a limited time, Also, the 1-3/4 nuts were used in conjunction with nearly flat fingerboards, like 15" or even flatter.

Ah, here we go, Hans' post #7:

https://letstalkguild.com/ltg/index.php?threads/calling-all-guild-experts-1964-guild-d-50-brazilian.

Heath said:

Curious again, what is UMGF?!

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Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum. (As opposed to the forum for Official Martin Guitars--- ).