Guild B-30 wood and construction

[blinddog]

I bought this 1998 USA made Guild B-30 about 8 months ago, I was just looking it over and wonder what wood it's made of and the construction. It looks like two piece spruce on top and I suppose it's solid and not laminated, but I don't know. Also, the sides and back are dark like Rosewood and I swear the back looks like one piece, as the grain is centered and there are no seams like the front has. I wonder too if it's solid or laminated. And finally, the back is arched, I wonder if it's carved or formed, I'm guessing formed but again I don't know, hence the post. Any light anyone can shed on this great bass would be appreciated. I can post pictures but I assume they were all made the same way during a particular time frame.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Mahogany sides and back. The back is laminated and then steamed and pressed.

 

[blinddog]

Mahogany sides and back. The back is laminated and then steamed and pressed.

Thanks! And while I'm at it, any idea what the neck is made of? The fretboard looks to be Rosewood but not 100% sure.

 

[blinddog]

Mahogany sides and back. The back is laminated and then steamed and pressed.

Man - and don't you need a few more Guilds??? Good lord, it looks like the B-30 is the only one you DON'T have!!

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Thanks! And while I'm at it, any idea what the neck is made of? The fretboard looks to be Rosewood but not 100% sure.

The neck should also be mahogany. Fretboard should be rosewood.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Man - and don't you need a few more Guilds??? Good lord, it looks like the B-30 is the only one you DON'T have!!

I assume you checked out my Guilds of Grot Museum? It is woefully out of date and just over half of my Guild collection. If you're curious, you can see them all here:

 

[gjmalcyon]

Mahogany sides and back. The back is laminated and then steamed and pressed.

And here's a picture of the press. It has traveled with Guild as they moved around the country.

 

[Minnesota Flats]

Unlike many of their other, large-bodied hollow-body f-hole guitars (L5, Super 400, etc.) pretty sure Gibson's ES-175 jazz boxes are have pressed (not solid/carved) "arched" tops/backs as well. I read somewhere that they have always used that method of construction as a way to minimize feedback (since they were meant to be primarily an amplified instrument). I've never owned one, so am not speaking from personal, up-close observation.

I have owned a Gibson, flat (spruce) top acoustic (1973 "Gospel" model) that had a pressed/"arched" laminated back. It had tort body binding so if you looked real close at the edge of the back, you could see the plies through the binding. It sounded very nice and didn't seem to suffer acoustically from not having a solid back.

 

[blinddog]

I assume you checked out my Guilds of Grot Museum? It is woefully out of date and just over half of my Guild collection. If you're curious, you can see them all here:

I did check out your museum - I can't believe you have double that now. I'll check out your youtube videos.

 

[adorshki]

It sounded very nice and didn't seem to suffer acoustically from not having a solid back.

Right, a back's primary role is to reflect sound waves produced by the top. So using a veneer of tonewood for that wood's characteristics accomplishes the purpose in a laminated back. Arched backs are also impervious to cracking from drying out, don't require bracing for stabilizing and are more impact resistant than a flat back, as laminations are stronger than an equal thickness of solid wood.

There are some sonic trade-offs compared to a flatback, but an arched back is ideal for an acoustic bass if one wants to get a little of that stand-up bass sound. A flat-backed body would likely have more of what I think of as a "P-bass" sound, "tighter", less woody.

 

[SFIV1967]

Ralf

 

[fronobulax]

Ralf

For archival purposes does your source table also have the B-50?

 

[SFIV1967]

For archival purposes does your source table also have the B-50?

Well, the above was from the Guild Gallery 1998 as the OP said he has a 1998 one. The B-50 was produced over a long time, so I guess we need to define a year? As far as I remember the B-50 was only available until 1987 and was replaced by the B-30 in 1987.
I have for instance the info from the 1981 acoustic catalog:



Ralf

 

[dreadnut]

I wonder why Guild never made a Rosewood acoustic bass?

 

[fronobulax]

Well, the above was from the Guild Gallery 1998 as the OP said he has a 1998 one. The B-50 was produced over a long time, so I guess we need to define a year? As far as I remember the B-50 was only available until 1987 and was renamed B-30 in 1987.
I have for instance the info from the 1981 acoustic catalog:



Ralf

Thanks. I wasn't thinking about the evolution of the B-50. That said the only change I know of is when they stopped using the split bridge. I also thought there were a couple of years when the B-50 and the B-30 overlapped in production and the B-30 was slightly smaller so it wasn't a simple "rename".

 

[fronobulax]

I wonder why Guild never made a Rosewood acoustic bass?

I'm going to say no demand. Guitarists obsess over tonewood. Bassists don't care. Really.

 

[SFIV1967]

..the B-30 was slightly smaller so it wasn't a simple "rename".

O.k., I changed it to "replaced".
Ralf