Guild Guitars and John Pearse Armrest Warning!

[Taylor Martin Guild]

Several years ago, I placed a John Pearse Armrest on my D-55.
After playing with the guard on the guitar for a few years, I decided to take it off to see how the guitar felt without the rest.

To my shock and dismay, the finish on the guitar where the rest was attached looked like it had melted.
The adhesive used with the rest had a chemical reaction to the nitro Lacquer on the guitar.

The guitar is now at my Tech's place having the finish touched up where the armrest damaged it.

I have the same rest on another guitar with a poly finish and it didn't do anything to that finish.

So beware.
If you plan to use a John Pearse Armrest on your Guild with a Lacquer finish, plan on it being a permanent addition.

 

[Gabby84]

I’m sorry to hear this. I was debating on the John Pearse armrest. Knowing your experience, I’m going to pass.

 

[chazmo]

Bummer, TMG! You should let JP know that their adhesive caused this damage to your NCL finish. ANyway, I hope you get it back from your tech all happy.

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

I did contact them by email and of course heard nothing back from them.
The newer rests come with a disclaimer that the rest is to be considered a permanent part of the guitar once it has been installed.

 

[chazmo]

Ah, fair enough. Good luck, TMG!

 

[davismanLV]

TMG, so how did the guitar feel without the arm rest? Inquiring minds wanna know....... ;-)

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

Without the rest, the guitar did feel thinner as it should but I could really feel the edge of the guitar
under my arm.
I was so upset with what the rest did to the finish that I have not really noticed what the difference in tone is now,
without the rest attached.

As much as I like the rest for several reasons, I will not use one on a guitar with a lacquer finish again.

 

[wileypickett]

I have seen warnings -- not sure where -- about making sure the finish on your guitar is compatible with the stickum on the JP armrests before installing them. If the warning wasn't from John Pearse themselves, it was from someone selling their armrests online.

There are other other kinds of armrests out there, including ones that attach with suction cups.

I've never tried any of them.

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

I would love to find an adhesive that doesn't react with lacquer.
I really like the armrest and would put it back on, if I knew it wouldn't cause damage to the guitar's finish.

 

[davismanLV]

I would love to find an adhesive that doesn't react with lacquer.
I really like the armrest and would put it back on, if I knew it wouldn't cause damage to the guitar's finish.

Well now that the finish is screwed up, what does it matter? If you like the guitar with the arm rest, it's already damaged the guitar so just put it back on and keep on keeping on..... The damage is already done, right??

I have to say if anyone wanted to put something with adhesive on my guitar, i'd say NO!! Even on a poly finish, of which i have two. So slamming the barn door after the adhesive has done the damage..... i'm not sure here.

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

I may be selling the guitar.
It will be worth less with the damage.
That is why I am having my Tech repair it.

 

[cutrofiano]

... I could really feel the edge of the guitar under my arm.

Ouch!

 

[Bill Ashton]

You've had that girl for a long time...Tacoma-build?

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

Yes,Bill a 2005 Tacoma build.

I did a write up on the guitar when I got it back in about 2008.
The guitar belonged to a young man that only used it for a school class and then put it in the closet until he sold it to me.
It had the original strings on it and still had the plastic sheet protector on the pick guard.

The only reason that I am thinking about selling the guitar is because I just got 2 custom built guitars from 2 different local builders.
I have too many guitars and something has to go.
Ran out of room in the closet.

 

[Bill Ashton]

Yes, I know how THAT goes, LOL

I got my '08 Tacoma-built in late summer of '09, fantastic guitar, had her until the Fall of '14 (?) when she went into
New Hartford for what I thought would be a sand/refinish on the neck...turned out to be a major problem and they
replaced the guitar as there was no longer tooling to make a new Tacoma-style neck! While I absolutely love the NH
build (I actually find the neck much better), I think soundwise the edge may go to my old Tacoma...which went through
the band saw! I have always wondered if the difference in sound is that the NH has a DTAR undersaddle p/u where the
Tacoma did not...

 

[Bill Ashton]

...and so, what are the customs?

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

My custom guitars are both built by local builders and friends of mine.
They are both Dreadnought size guitars

The first one, Zoey was made for me with my input.
It has Zebrawood sides and back and an Adirondack top.
I asked Joe, my builder, to make it sound as close to my Martin D-35 as he could.
He nailed it. The guitar has a full rich deep bass but still sounds very well balanced in the mids and highs.

The other custom was built by another friend.
Joe bought the guitar from Lonnie, the builder of the guitar, about 6 years ago.
This guitar is a cutaway with some beautiful Abalone trim.
The body has an Adirondack top with Mahogany sides and back.
It doesn't have the bass that Zoey has but it actually sounds a little bit like my Guild D-55.
Very balanced but not as loud as Zoey.

Joe had the guitar in his closet for most of it's life due to a neck angle problem.
Because he was building his own guitars, he never felt the urge to fix the problem and let the guitar sit.

He gave the guitar to me and said that I could try to have it repaired if I wanted to.
I did exactly that and had the neck repaired by a local Tech.
The neck is bolt on so it was not hard to remove for the work.

The funny thing is that both builders told me that they can build guitars but have no interest/skills in repairing them

So in the end, I now have these two great custom built guitars and find myself with more Dreadnought
size guitars than I need. [4]

 

[davismanLV]

I can understand that. Don built his Martin kit jumbo and everything went along without a hitch. He was psyched up to start his other kit, a mahogany 00 12 fretter, when he got all the way to gluing the neck, which he did but it somehow shifted and ended up with a neck set too far back. Then he lost interest in that guitar. He wants to finish this guitar before he starts another one, but getting that neck off was a chore to be sure. It was glued a la Guild, dove-tailed and glued (to death) and at one point he just handed it to me and said, "Get the neck off, I don't care if you break it!" I worked at that neck like a crazy person and finally after the fretboard extension was free and clear and I'd steamed the neck joint TO DEATH, I got a block of wood and hit the heel so hard...... it finally broke free!! Then in the ensuing years we sold our house and he lost his more organized work station in the garage and his one in the house so now it's about setting up a new work station and so you get the picture. This is gonna be a super nice guitar, I have no doubt, but the work now isn't fresh and it's more in the repair category. I guess I'd better get the pegboard up in the garage and start hanging tools and clearing space on the bench!!