Neal
Senior Member
Hello, fellow LTGers.
As many of you know, I love Tacoma Guilds. The problem is that they don’t love me back!
Hard as I try to get used to the modern Guild neck, every Tacoma and New Hartford Guild I have owned (and there have been many) has ended in pain and frustration. Too narrow, and too thin. As you can see in my signature, I have gravitated to guitars with baseball bat necks. Still, I had high hopes that this F-40 would be the exception to the rule. It isn’t. So, up it goes for sale at $900, shipped anywhere in the CONUS.
It is typical of an F-40 Valencia of the period. Red spruce top (silky!), mahogany back and sides, Gotoh open-backed butter bean tuners, gold Guild headstock inlay, bone nut and saddle, rosewood fretboard and bridge, 1 11/16” at the nut and 2 3/16” string spacing at the saddle.
Neck angle is just about perfect. The previous owner shaved the saddle a bit to lower the action. If I were to keep the guitar, I would probably make a taller saddle to raise the action. It is Telecaster low at this point.
For those of you who play plugged in, there is a K&K Pure Mini installed (a $140 added value, including installation). Of course, the guitar sounds fantastic, both acoustically and amplified.
For a 14-year-old guitar, it is in fine shape. The flaws I could find are as follows (only a few of which I could get a decent photo of):
1. One 1/4” ding on the top lower bout near the tail (pictured below, upper left), a smaller one beside it, and two finish checks below it, one about 2” long, and one below about an inch long.
2. A bb-sized ding in the bass-side upper rim.
3. A few capo marks on the neck, around the 7th fret.
4. Some ghost impressions on the headstock that only show themselves in the right light. Looks like a previous owner put a tuner and capos on the headstock and left them there routinely.
5. A tiny ding on the headstock wing where it joins the neck.
The guitar comes in its original case, which shows minor wear, and just like my former Tacoma F-30, the strap that keeps the lid from flopping wide open is missing.
All in all, a pretty clean F-40.
As many of you know, I love Tacoma Guilds. The problem is that they don’t love me back!
Hard as I try to get used to the modern Guild neck, every Tacoma and New Hartford Guild I have owned (and there have been many) has ended in pain and frustration. Too narrow, and too thin. As you can see in my signature, I have gravitated to guitars with baseball bat necks. Still, I had high hopes that this F-40 would be the exception to the rule. It isn’t. So, up it goes for sale at $900, shipped anywhere in the CONUS.
It is typical of an F-40 Valencia of the period. Red spruce top (silky!), mahogany back and sides, Gotoh open-backed butter bean tuners, gold Guild headstock inlay, bone nut and saddle, rosewood fretboard and bridge, 1 11/16” at the nut and 2 3/16” string spacing at the saddle.
Neck angle is just about perfect. The previous owner shaved the saddle a bit to lower the action. If I were to keep the guitar, I would probably make a taller saddle to raise the action. It is Telecaster low at this point.
For those of you who play plugged in, there is a K&K Pure Mini installed (a $140 added value, including installation). Of course, the guitar sounds fantastic, both acoustically and amplified.
For a 14-year-old guitar, it is in fine shape. The flaws I could find are as follows (only a few of which I could get a decent photo of):
1. One 1/4” ding on the top lower bout near the tail (pictured below, upper left), a smaller one beside it, and two finish checks below it, one about 2” long, and one below about an inch long.
2. A bb-sized ding in the bass-side upper rim.
3. A few capo marks on the neck, around the 7th fret.
4. Some ghost impressions on the headstock that only show themselves in the right light. Looks like a previous owner put a tuner and capos on the headstock and left them there routinely.
5. A tiny ding on the headstock wing where it joins the neck.
The guitar comes in its original case, which shows minor wear, and just like my former Tacoma F-30, the strap that keeps the lid from flopping wide open is missing.
All in all, a pretty clean F-40.
Last edited:
