Difference between Guild GF30 and Guild JF30

[Chordwainer]

I've been looking into the specs for the GF-30 and what is out there that has similar construction, and in comparing widths and depths and scale lengths etc. realized that my Pimentel custom guitar, which I have been keeping strung Nashville-style (so-called "high-strung", with lower 4 strings replaced by ones an octave higher), has very similar basic dimensions:

GF-30: 16 in wide at lower bout; 4.5 in deep; 25 5/8 in scale; 1 11/16 in wide at the nut.
Pimentel: 16 in wide; 4.75 in deep (at the lower bout, narrowing to ~4 at upper); 25 5/8 in scale; 1 3/4 in wide at nut.

Both guitars have spruce tops, with the Guild having maple neck, sides, and laminated-arched back. My memory says the back & sides on the Pimentel are rosewood, but it's been 16 years and I just don't remember -- had it all written up somewhere but can't find the file. Including a shot of the body because maybe one of you very experienced folks might recognize it. But the back has an ever-so-subtle arch to it, not nearly as pronounced as what's on, say, the MIC Guild OMs that are currently available.

It's been many years since I had any but the Nashville strings on the Pimentel, so I'm going to put a regular set on and listen anew, and see how close the tone is getting to what I'm after. Might make an interesting comparison.

Edit:
About Action Music for Frono: I'm not in a big hurry! And as above, I have some experimenting to do with the Pimentel. If I get close enough to what I'm after with it, then I'll just get something simple to dedicate to the Nashville tuning (I need to have one strung that way all the time).

 

[wileypickett]

Wait, what ?! Sold your coveted GV70?

It's true! A member here offered to buy it and I said yes. (He also bought my DV72.)

After our hotwater heater burst several years ago and ruined the floors in a couple rooms, our landlord decided to replace ALL the flooring in our house. Which was great -- our floors were that awful '50s linoleum and we were delighted to finally get rid of it -- but it involved my wife and I moving (literally!) every single thing we owned so the repair people could get at the floors.

Which we did, room by room, over a two-week period.

But "every single thing we owned" included more than 10,000 LPs, nearly as many CDs, more than a dozen shelving units of books and magazines -- and nearly 70 guitars, 3/4s of them Guilds.

Moving all that stuff made us realize, "Wow, something has to give here!"

I kind of casually announced on LTG back then that I was looking to sell as many guitars as I could, and that potentially anything was for sale.

Several folks expressed interest, PMed me, and I sent them a list of what I had.

But as anyone who has tried to sell stuff on LTG knows, most of us, however well-intentioned, are tire-kickers! But a few people were genuinely interested and followed through. (Another LTGer has bought 10 instruments -- mostly Guilds -- from me over the past two years, and just took possession yesterday of my D55.)

So yeah, I'm slowly whittling down the collection!

Glenn

 

[awagner]

Glenn, I thought your DV72 was your primary 6-string guitar. Which one is your favorite, the D50?

 

[wileypickett]

Glenn, I thought your DV72 was your primary 6-string guitar. Which one is your favorite, the D50? I

Good to hear from you Andrew! (Andrew bought my JV72.)

Believe it or not I sold the D50 Brazilian too, to the same LTGer who bought my D55 yesterday.

I've use Guilds on several of my albums: the DV72, GV70, D50, DV52, the D25 lefty-converted-to-righty, and a number of Guild 12-strings.

It WAS hard to let the D50 and DV72 go, but one of the pleasures of surrendering some of my most beloved Guilds has been that I've rediscovered others that I thought were further down the food chain. I'd forgotten how fine some of these were because I didn't pick them up as often.

The D64 I got from Walrus is as satisfying as any Guild I've ever owned -- I've put many hours on that guitar. My D40, D46, F30, DV52 are, likewise, right up there.

I've also been enjoying my DV6 (which I learned from Coop, confirmed by Hans, MAY be one of the around 10 or 20 [?] Guild DV6s made with a cedar top).

My JF30 six-string has been getting a work-out lately.

* * *

Like most of us here, I suspect, I go through "favorite guitar" phases. And I have lots of outstanding guitars, not just Guilds, but Lowdens, Goodalls, Gurians, Collings, and many others. I'm very fond of my Alvarez DYM75.

There's no shortage of wonderful guitars to play here!

When I woke up to the fact that I needed to free up some space, I decided that I'd sell whatever there was the most interest in and not hold anything back.

But even after selling a bunch of guitars (and a few banjos), I've barely made a dent in the pile -- I still have a ton of Guilds.

The beat goes on.

 

[plaidseason]

Good to hear from you Andrew! (Andrew bought my JV72.)

Believe it or not I sold the D50 Brazilian too, to the same LTGer who bought my D55 yesterday.

I've use Guilds on several of my albums: the DV72, GV70, D50, DV52, the D25 lefty-converted-to-righty, and a number of Guild 12-strings.

It WAS hard to let the D50 and DV72 go, but one of the pleasures of surrendering some of my most beloved Guilds has been that I've rediscovered others that I thought were further down the food chain. I'd forgotten how fine some of these were because I didn't pick them up as often.

The D64 I got from Walrus is as satisfying as any Guild I've ever owned -- I've put many hours on that guitar. My D40, D46, F30, DV52 are, likewise, right up there.

I've also been enjoying my DV6 (which I learned from Coop, confirmed by Hans, MAY be one of the around 10 or 20 [?] Guild DV6s made with a cedar top).

My JF30 six-string has been getting a work-out lately.

* * *

Like most of us here, I suspect, I go through "favorite guitar" phases. And I have lots of outstanding guitars, not just Guilds, but Lowdens, Goodalls, Gurians, Collings, and many others. I'm very fond of my Alvarez DYM75.

There's no shortage of wonderful guitars to play here!

When I woke up to the fact that I needed to free up some space, I decided that I'd sell whatever there was the most interest in and not hold anything back.

But even after selling a bunch of guitars (and a few banjos), I've barely made a dent in the pile -- I still have a ton of Guilds.

The beat goes on.

My greatest non-purchase regret is a DV6 Cedar that I played maybe 15 years ago. It's was all around great. And maybe $600 at Sam Ash.

 

[Chordwainer]

Hey, following up on my comparison between the GF-30 and my Pimentel grand-auditorium style that has the similar specs I listed above. Bottom line up front: sure sounds very close to me, and has the "sing" that I was looking for.

I wanted to attach two short mp3s for comparison, but that doesn't appear doable on this forum. One was from a McMurtry instrumental called Late Norther where he's playing the GF-30 accompanied by bass guitar and tabla, and the other recorded this morning on my Pimentel here in my little home studio, using an Audio Technica 4040 condenser mic. I did some light compression and EQ and adjusted the level on the Pimentel to make for a better direct comparison, recognizing that I have just the guitar without the other instruments, and I haven't the foggiest what production choices were made on the original back in the early 90s. The original has some reverb and a bit of a slapback thing going on, so I emulated that as best I could.

Edit: Here are links to the short clips:
McM Late Norther excerpt: http://www.mediafire.com/file/x46sz175ybg4ost/McMLateNorther.mp3/file
Me on Pimentel (slower, mostly faking it!): http://www.mediafire.com/file/lku3d4tm7sx4ofu/PimLateNorther.mp3/file

Particularly happy with the sustain, you can hear how long it rings at the end of my clip. As I think I mentioned earlier, I've heard this guitar played live many times, especially lately when JM's been doing live streams twice a week, and he always does at least a couple of tunes on it. I'm really happy that I seem to have had what I wanted all this time, but kicking myself for not realizing it for all the years the guitar's been strung Nashville style.

So now I'll be needing a simple, small-body six to use as the high-strung, and I'll be good to go!

 

[fronobulax]

I wanted to attach two short mp3s for comparison, but that doesn't appear doable on this forum.

It isn't. Host them somewhere else and link to them here.

 

[Chordwainer]

Done!