D25 love thread

Just got mine back from Elderly Instruments repair shop - glued & cleated a top crack, leveled and dressed the frets, fixed a small crack in the bridge with an epoxy/ Braz rosewood dust mixture, installed a new set of DA EJ19's, buffed out the finish all over. At 44 years old, it's showing its age but it still sounds like angels coming down from heaven and singing. Mine is an arched mahogany back with spruce top. It has accompanied me to well over 2,000 various gigs over the years. It stands right in there with the banjo in my Bluegrass band as well. In fact, for volume and bass, I have to give the edge to the D25 over the DV52. This thing is a real cannon. It is a great guitar for leading a group of people singing; I set the rhythm with the bass notes of the chords and it really rings.



I'm thinking Guild made more of these than any other model but I don't have the data to prove it. I know it has been discussed here before, but I can't find it. There were a lot of different iterations of the D25 over the years. When I bought mine, it was their entry-level dreadnaught. The next step up at that time was the D35, flat mahogany back with a spruce top.

Let's hear about yours!

Worst guitar ever

Dread, my '76 (4th in line) sure looks like yours - fwiw, serial # on mine is 135022.

I had a used D25M. Must have been early 70’s. Light weight, beautiful lilting sounding. Maybe sounded that way because it was beaten by the previous owner. I was out of my mind crazy to sell it. Have had several other Westerly-era Guild F’s and dreads...all were way overbuilt and stiff.

Here's my 1974 D-25M:



This is one of three Guitars I lent to Codoba/Guild to analyze. It badly needed a neck reset. As part of the lending deal, on the way home it stopped at Chris Fleming's where the neck was reset. It took a while to get it back and it then smelled like smoke, but it plays like margarine!

Ah, GOG, looks like one of the fabled archback 'hog tops.

Grot, nice photo of a sweet D25, and that's pretty cool that guitar went to Cordoba / Guild, perhaps
helping them get the D20 as right as they could.

i got to get me an arched back D25 one day. just to have one.
and I need a D50.

could probably use an F30 too..

and an F212 or 112.

That is a really nice Hog top D25. Playing like margarine, is that not as healthy as real butter?

Guildedagain said:

Playing like margarine, is that not as healthy as real butter?

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Depends who you talk to!

I always could believe it wasn't butter ;]

...here's a photo from a few weeks ago, of two Guild guitars, a D-25 and a D-15. In the garden, taking a break...

dreadnut said:

Just got mine back from Elderly Instruments repair shop - glued & cleated a top crack, leveled and dressed the frets, fixed a small crack in the bridge with an epoxy/ Braz rosewood dust mixture, installed a new set of DA EJ19's, buffed out the finish all over. At 44 years old, it's showing its age but it still sounds like angels coming down from heaven and singing. Mine is an arched mahogany back with spruce top. It has accompanied me to well over 2,000 various gigs over the years. It stands right in there with the banjo in my Bluegrass band as well. In fact, for volume and bass, I have to give the edge to the D25 over the DV52. This thing is a real cannon. It is a great guitar for leading a group of people singing; I set the rhythm with the bass notes of the chords and it really rings.

I'm thinking Guild made more of these than any other model but I don't have the data to prove it. I know it has been discussed here before, but I can't find it. There were a lot of different iterations of the D25 over the years. When I bought mine, it was their entry-level dreadnaught. The next step up at that time was the D35, flat mahogany back with a spruce top.

Let's hear about yours!

Click to expand...

If I remember right there was a Guild newsletter from 2000 or so that claimed they made more D-25’s than any other model. Makes sense because it started in 1968 and for a while was the cheapest Guild in the catalog if I’m not mistaken until the introduction of the D-15. D-35 was discontinued in 87 or so so it’s close runner up got axed in the late 80’s. I love my 86’ D-25, it was the last year for the regular larger Guild peghead, factory Grover tuners (though mine seemed to have gotten upgraded with the locking Grovers somewhere along the way.) I recently purchased a 74’ D-35 as well thats of a lighter build and a bit more resonant but not as much projection as my D-25. For years I avoided heavier acoustics because the hefty ones I had in my stable (Late 60’s EKO Ranger, indestructible but gutless, and a 70’s Korean Kay Hummingbird copy that was the same story.) had the sustain and projection of wet cardboard. For some reason despite my D-25 weighing as much as my EKO it’s probably got the best projection of any guitar I’ve owned to date. Also I suspect some deal of work was done on it because it’s got a ton of saddle left with low action and it appears the spot for the original location of the saddle was filled in and a new slot routed for a new saddle I suppose for more accurate intonation. I don’t know why it sat on eBay for 4 months at south of $600. It had a weird crack on the back of the neck near the peghead that might scare some but I seen that crack on some Guild’s before and the local tech gave it a clean bill of health so no big deal to me I buy them to play, not as museum pieces. I would go as far to say the Guild D-25 is probably about the last American workhorse guitar the common person can buy without breaking the bank.

I read the ingredients on a margerine box. I'll take my chances with butter.

If I were to buy a D 25, I'd need a D 55 to balance things out.

jack.plugg said:

...here's a photo from a few weeks ago, of two Guild guitars, a D-25 and a D-15. In the garden, taking a break...

Click to expand...

What a great photo!

Yeah, nice photo, Jack! I would still like to find a nice red D-15 to add to the stable.

Wt heck is a D15?

Guildedagain said:

Wt heck is a D15?

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A stripped down D-25.

dreadnut said:

Yeah, nice photo, Jack! I would still like to find a nice red D-15 to add to the stable.

Click to expand...

It's not red and it's in Alexandria, VA: https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/msg/d/alexandria-1986-guild-d15/7161952169.html

Br1ck said:

I read the ingredients on a margerine box. I'll take my chances with butter.

If I were to buy a D 25, I'd need a D 55 to balance things out.

Click to expand...

somtimes i think yes to this, as a great combo. other times i bet the actual arched back D25 would record better and sound better in a mix than a D55.