Guild F-512 Review in Premier Guitar.

[danerectal]

To be featured in July's issue of Premier Guitar: http://www.ne16.com/t/12707006/536855023/54094557/0/

Looks like they give it pretty good marks (especially considering it's a production guitar).

 

[Brad Little]

Nice article. Everyone who's played mine agree, and I'll definitely second the fingerstyle part of the review. It not only sounds well, it is one of the most finger friendly 12s I've ever played.
Brad

 

[devellis]

Very nice review. Thanks for posting the link. Yeah, even in my fingerstyle ineptitude, I'm finding that country blues work very well on these boxes. Playing with bare fingers, I'm able to get plenty of meat onto the strings so that both in each pair sound clearly. It's even clearer with fingerpicks, but I'm favoring bare fingers these days. Intonation is really good, too. With some 12s, even if you can fingerpick them, you may not want to because the two strings in a single course can sound so out of tune with each other. Haven't had that problem with this guitar, to a surprising degree.

 

[adorshki]

Yeah, even in my fingerstyle ineptitude, I'm finding that country blues work very well on these boxes. Playing with bare fingers, I'm able to get plenty of meat onto the strings so that both in each pair sound clearly... I'm favoring bare fingers these days.

Not to take away from the instrument at hand, but I've played my buddy's '87 JF30-12 that way with the same degree of satisfaction. Point being it sounds as if they've captured some of that old "Guild magic". Also noticed that mention of 15 seconds' worth of resonance after strummiing a chord...My D40's barely doing that with 300 hours of playing time on it.
Yeah, great revue!

 

[William63]

Great article. Makes me want one even more!

 

[6L6]

What's not to love about a Guild 12????

I played a three hour solo gig yesterday in this ballroom:

http://attractions.uptake.com/blog/file ... c_0297.jpg

This is the Grand Ballroom at Filoli Center in Woodside, CA. Some of you will recognize it from some movies shot there. If you remember the 80's TV show "Dynasty", this was the Carrington Mansion (nope, it wasn't really in Denver as the show suggested).

Anyway, I did about a half hour of my set with my '06 F-412 and the rest with my '06 D-55. They both went through some BOSS pedals and into my Fender Acoustasonic Jr DSP amp. The sound was just incredible and it filled the ballroom despite about 250 people attending.

Can't beat a good Guild!

6

 

[chazmo]

Was the article truncated in print as well? Or did I just miss the last sentence or something? [edit: never mind, I just missed it on my netbook, I see the final words now on the bigger screen]

Nice stuff. The author only made a mistake about the fretboard (ebony, not rosewood), but otherwise a very nice, accurate description.

 

[dayuhan]

Is it true that there's a plan to bring back the F212XL? That's been my dream 12 for a while, though if a 412 or 512 jumped into my arms I might just give in...

 

[chazmo]

Yes. We saw it first-hand at Let's Meet Guild 2010, dayuhan. In fact, I played one in New Hartford, and I'm in the queue for one as soon as orders start being taken. See my post on the Standard Series, which is due for introduction a little later this year. viewtopic.php?t=18702

 

[dayuhan]

Thanks, I missed that. Not that I don't like the full-bling models (I do), but having those less tricked out but still high quality US made guitars available at a more accessible price point will be a very good thing for Guild, and for us!

 

[chazmo]

Thanks, I missed that. Not that I don't like the full-bling models (I do), but having those less tricked out but still high quality US made guitars available at a more accessible price point will be a very good thing for Guild, and for us!

I sincerely hope so, dayuhan. One subject we didn't broach at the LMG meet was exactly what it would take to make Guild (US) profitable and how long Fender's horizon is for re-establishing the Guild brand and essentially "making it work" actually is. I think the Standard Series is an important piece of the product line. It will be interesting to see how they position it.

My hope/impression thus far is that Fender has learned the hard way over their 15 year ownership of Guild and in confluence with that the facility in New Hartford has the people, talent, desire as well as the management commitment to do so. Cross your fingers.