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Writing this post requires reaching back a decade and talking a bit about another guitar. In 2012, anticipating my upcoming 50th birthday, I purchased a 1964 F20, probably on eBay. The guitar was a bit of a mess when it arrived, but after some expert work (by whom I’m not sure—I know I consulted with Tom Jacobs about the guitar, but my email records and the fact that I didn’t mention him in my posts on LTG at the time suggest he didn’t actually do the work), the guitar looked beautiful and, compared with my GAD-F20, sounded magical. There was barely a hint of the boxiness that I found in the GAD-F20, and the guitar was remarkably loud for such a small-bodied guitar. Although the guitar was understandably light in bass compared with larger guitars, the tone seemed well balanced across the range.
Over time, two things came to bother me. First, although the F20 had a serial number that put it in late 1964 according to the let’s date Guild table then on Guild’s website, Hans Moust contacted me and said that the guitar was probably finished in early 1965, which would put it outside my birth year. Hans wasn’t certain about this (or at least so he said to me), but the fact that the Guildmaster expressed doubt planted that seed firmly in my mind. Second, there was a playability issue: the F20 has a narrow 1 5/8” nut. I have relatively thin fingers, so squeezing them together a bit more wasn’t itself a problem. But I also have dexterity issues, and so I found that moving from one of my other guitars to the F20 and back again required a period of adjustment (I have the same issue with my Orpheums with their 1 ¾” nuts—it’s not simply a matter of picking one up and playing it). I did acquire a 1964 F30, which, again after a bit of expert work, is absolutely magical (and which is definiutely a ’64). But I continued to feel a bit of a void in the small-body range.
Skip ahead to this August. After a couple of years off these boards, I returned, decided to peruse the classifieds idly, and noticed almost immediately that mavuser was selling a 1964 M20. The guitar had been worked on by Tom Jacobs, a definite selling point. But, more to the point, mavuser described the guitar as having an atypical 1 11/16” nut and an atypically hefty (though still thin) neck. Having listened to and played a friend’s all-mahogany Taylor, and having myself acquired and played a 1986 D15, I’d come to appreciate the merits of an all-mahogany guitar. So, after a bit of back and forth between myself and mavuser, I bought the M20.
And it’s all I could have asked for. My fingering of the fretboard is as lacking in dexterity as it is when I play my other guitars—in other words, the nut width was immediately familiar. The neck was relatively thin, but not quite as thin as the F20; it felt like most of my other Guilds (barring the Tacoma F40 and the Blues 90, both of which have very substantial necks). And the sound was marvelous. It sounds even less boxy than the F20 (which, remember, barely sounds boxy). It has a stronger midrange than the F20, which by comparison sounds a bit scooped, but the M20 also has an appealing high-end sparkle. It plays well up and down the neck. The only weaknesses I’ve found are that (a) the low E has a small tendency to go out of tune, and (b) although the guitar plays well way up the neck, it doesn’t like being capoed way up the neck. The most obvious example: I play Lyle Lovett’s “If I Had a Boat,” which is capoed at the ninth fret, and ehrn I try that on the M20 with my Dunlop capo, the guitar is immediately out of tune. But that’s a relatively small thing. I’ll just go easy on the capo with the M20, or try out different capos. On the whole, this guitar is great fun to play and great fun to listen to. It sounds better than my ’64(?) F20. It sounds way better than my GAD-F20. It sounds better than the 2012 F20 Standard I briefly owned around 2013-15). It sounds better than my Chinese -made Jumbo Junior (which, frankly, it had better, given the Jumbo Junior’s price, although the Jumbo Junior is quite a good guitar, all things considered). I(‘ve only played one small-bodied guitar that sounded better: a Collings Baby that my stepmother acquired at the Kaufman Acoustic Kamp in 2013 or so. That thing is practically a miracle; it has no right to sound so large with such a small body, except for the fact that it carried a Collings pricetag and so had darn well better sound miraculous.
In short, this guitar satisfies all the demands I had for it, and does so wonderfully. It is as playable as I could have hoped. It sounds great. It lessens my concern about the dubious dating of the F20, as the M20 seems to be well within the serial number range for the year. I’ve spent many happy hours playing it on my couch in the last month, and I anticipate many more to come.
And mavuser was a wonderful seller; I would buy from him again without hesitation.
Over time, two things came to bother me. First, although the F20 had a serial number that put it in late 1964 according to the let’s date Guild table then on Guild’s website, Hans Moust contacted me and said that the guitar was probably finished in early 1965, which would put it outside my birth year. Hans wasn’t certain about this (or at least so he said to me), but the fact that the Guildmaster expressed doubt planted that seed firmly in my mind. Second, there was a playability issue: the F20 has a narrow 1 5/8” nut. I have relatively thin fingers, so squeezing them together a bit more wasn’t itself a problem. But I also have dexterity issues, and so I found that moving from one of my other guitars to the F20 and back again required a period of adjustment (I have the same issue with my Orpheums with their 1 ¾” nuts—it’s not simply a matter of picking one up and playing it). I did acquire a 1964 F30, which, again after a bit of expert work, is absolutely magical (and which is definiutely a ’64). But I continued to feel a bit of a void in the small-body range.
Skip ahead to this August. After a couple of years off these boards, I returned, decided to peruse the classifieds idly, and noticed almost immediately that mavuser was selling a 1964 M20. The guitar had been worked on by Tom Jacobs, a definite selling point. But, more to the point, mavuser described the guitar as having an atypical 1 11/16” nut and an atypically hefty (though still thin) neck. Having listened to and played a friend’s all-mahogany Taylor, and having myself acquired and played a 1986 D15, I’d come to appreciate the merits of an all-mahogany guitar. So, after a bit of back and forth between myself and mavuser, I bought the M20.
And it’s all I could have asked for. My fingering of the fretboard is as lacking in dexterity as it is when I play my other guitars—in other words, the nut width was immediately familiar. The neck was relatively thin, but not quite as thin as the F20; it felt like most of my other Guilds (barring the Tacoma F40 and the Blues 90, both of which have very substantial necks). And the sound was marvelous. It sounds even less boxy than the F20 (which, remember, barely sounds boxy). It has a stronger midrange than the F20, which by comparison sounds a bit scooped, but the M20 also has an appealing high-end sparkle. It plays well up and down the neck. The only weaknesses I’ve found are that (a) the low E has a small tendency to go out of tune, and (b) although the guitar plays well way up the neck, it doesn’t like being capoed way up the neck. The most obvious example: I play Lyle Lovett’s “If I Had a Boat,” which is capoed at the ninth fret, and ehrn I try that on the M20 with my Dunlop capo, the guitar is immediately out of tune. But that’s a relatively small thing. I’ll just go easy on the capo with the M20, or try out different capos. On the whole, this guitar is great fun to play and great fun to listen to. It sounds better than my ’64(?) F20. It sounds way better than my GAD-F20. It sounds better than the 2012 F20 Standard I briefly owned around 2013-15). It sounds better than my Chinese -made Jumbo Junior (which, frankly, it had better, given the Jumbo Junior’s price, although the Jumbo Junior is quite a good guitar, all things considered). I(‘ve only played one small-bodied guitar that sounded better: a Collings Baby that my stepmother acquired at the Kaufman Acoustic Kamp in 2013 or so. That thing is practically a miracle; it has no right to sound so large with such a small body, except for the fact that it carried a Collings pricetag and so had darn well better sound miraculous.
In short, this guitar satisfies all the demands I had for it, and does so wonderfully. It is as playable as I could have hoped. It sounds great. It lessens my concern about the dubious dating of the F20, as the M20 seems to be well within the serial number range for the year. I’ve spent many happy hours playing it on my couch in the last month, and I anticipate many more to come.
And mavuser was a wonderful seller; I would buy from him again without hesitation.
