FNG said:
Guild Guitars have been made in NY, Hoboken, Westerly, CA, Tacoma, and now CT.
So...Westerly made Guilds are posers too. :wink:
If you think the current Guild retail/street prices are outrageous, then you haven't been pricing new guitars. You get what you pay for...
I hear ya Effin, but it's hard for me to compare a year at Corona, a couple of years at Tacoma, and now maybe a year at New Hartford with the 34 years spent at Westerly. As far as New York and Hoboken are concerned, obviously New York was the birthplace which gives it nostalgia, then the move to Hoboken for a bit more space......sure were some nice guitars that came from both. That brings us to Westerly, where an entire generation of guitars were designed and built, over 3 decades spent there. I'm a hard sell I know, but I don't think any location will ever come close to being held in the same reverence to me as the respect I have for Westerly. There were just so many fine guitars designed and built at the Westerly facility, any location has a ways to go to be held in the same high esteem.
Then what? Corporate Fender moves Guild across the country........twice...... and moves 3 times in a span of 8 years in an attempt to somehow boost profit.
I will give Fender credit for some things. They've obviously never lost respect for the brand, and for whatever reason, have refused to give up on Guild. I'm happy that some of you guys had a good time at the factory.....sounds fascinating. I was also a bit surprised to hear of Fender's generosity. I hope as much as any of you that New Hartford Guilds will one day surpass Westerly in terms of longevity and quality of product. If you read back here in a past thread, you can read where I said the same thing about the Tacoma factory when it opened. I just think it will take another generation to find out if guitars built at any of these locations will prove the equal to a well built Westerly.
I just don't see any possible way to compare New Hartford, or any of the locations over the past 10 years for that matter with Westerly, but I can definately see how some that have recently visited the NH factory would be enthusiastic about the future of the line, I'm just trying to be objective, really.....to look at the big picture.
I don't think I submitted a question when Chaz was asking for them, but mine would have been, "Why do you continue to snub the largest guitar show in the world?" .....or more diplomatically......" Sir, each year, the largest guitar show in the world is held at Arlington, Texas, yet there hasn't been a Guild booth at the show. Does Guild have plans to display their products at Arlington or at shows like it?"
At this point, I think a comparison of NH and Westerly is laughable. No doubt they are building beautiful guitars in Connecticut, and I'll bet they sound pretty good too. And if you were lucky enough to watch them being built, my guess is that you could visit any guitar manufacturing facility and watch guitars being built. Kudos to Fender for handing out gifts, a good marketing tool, but let's see how well they market to the guitar buying public in general.
Let me again make it clear that I am ecstatic that the Guild line will continue, and in my heart, I hope they turn out to be incredible guitars, but I'd have to click "The jury is still out" on this one. Let's see if the facility lasts more than 5 years or so before we declare it Mecca.
West