I spent some quality Guild time in the guitar store today. I thought I/we should take note of some (final??) changes that the Tacoma guys have have made to their Guilds in this presumably last year of production there. I'm not positive these changes are just in 2008, but I think so. [edit: looks like some of these changes were instituted in 2007 as well]
1. Strap button: taking a cue from the GAD series, the Tacoma Guilds have a strap button on the side panel, above the heel of the neck. There is a small cube of reinforcing wood into which the strap button is secured against the side. We've taken note of that before around here, but it was present on (I think) all of the Tacoma Guilds now.
2. Bridge pins: all the pins I saw had *no* abalone dot on them and looked slightly ivory colored, which looked like bone to me, or could just be plastic (I know my 2006 pins are crappy plastic)?? They looked better quality than my plastic ones, but I couldn't remove them to determine the material. In any case, it's surprising how noticeable that change of no abalone dot was to me. I don't know if the store had changed strings on the F512 I was trying (it's just few weeks old), but the pins were not at even height -- looked just a bit like a sloppy stringing job, but couldn't be sure.
3. The F512 bridge has gone back to the "pointy" styled, traditional-looking Guild bridge, which surprised me. However, it should be noted that wider slot for the compensated saddle is retained. The saddle they're using is a wavy shape, while my 2006 is more notched (I suspect they were still experimenting when they built mine). Also, I think it's bone (as I think mine is), but i'm not positive.
4. The pickguard material appears to be different, lighter/redder colored, but it still had the protective coating on it so I can't be sure. The pickguard shape on the F512 is still revealing the middle rosette ring, so it hasn't reverted to the older style which covered the middle ring.
5. I hesitate to say this, but the soundboard wood of the F512 was looking a little dowdy. It lacked the consistent color and silkiness that I've seen on other Tacoma-built Guilds (including my F512), though the D50 and D55 that I studied looked fine.
All that said, all of the Tacoma guitars sounded up-to-snuff to my ear. The D50, IMO, was my pick of the lot if I were going to grab one, but I didn't.
The real surprise, to me, was the GAD version of the JF30-12, but that's a subject for another post.
1. Strap button: taking a cue from the GAD series, the Tacoma Guilds have a strap button on the side panel, above the heel of the neck. There is a small cube of reinforcing wood into which the strap button is secured against the side. We've taken note of that before around here, but it was present on (I think) all of the Tacoma Guilds now.
2. Bridge pins: all the pins I saw had *no* abalone dot on them and looked slightly ivory colored, which looked like bone to me, or could just be plastic (I know my 2006 pins are crappy plastic)?? They looked better quality than my plastic ones, but I couldn't remove them to determine the material. In any case, it's surprising how noticeable that change of no abalone dot was to me. I don't know if the store had changed strings on the F512 I was trying (it's just few weeks old), but the pins were not at even height -- looked just a bit like a sloppy stringing job, but couldn't be sure.
3. The F512 bridge has gone back to the "pointy" styled, traditional-looking Guild bridge, which surprised me. However, it should be noted that wider slot for the compensated saddle is retained. The saddle they're using is a wavy shape, while my 2006 is more notched (I suspect they were still experimenting when they built mine). Also, I think it's bone (as I think mine is), but i'm not positive.
4. The pickguard material appears to be different, lighter/redder colored, but it still had the protective coating on it so I can't be sure. The pickguard shape on the F512 is still revealing the middle rosette ring, so it hasn't reverted to the older style which covered the middle ring.
5. I hesitate to say this, but the soundboard wood of the F512 was looking a little dowdy. It lacked the consistent color and silkiness that I've seen on other Tacoma-built Guilds (including my F512), though the D50 and D55 that I studied looked fine.
All that said, all of the Tacoma guitars sounded up-to-snuff to my ear. The D50, IMO, was my pick of the lot if I were going to grab one, but I didn't.
The real surprise, to me, was the GAD version of the JF30-12, but that's a subject for another post.
