How would you build a Guild?

[dane]

Hi folks,
Well here it is. Post #500! To celebrate this small personal milestone on LTG, I would like to make it something we all can get involved with, no matter what particular flavor of Guild you like, be it acoustic, electric, bass, arch-top, whatever. So here’s the question. If you could design or re-design a “production” guitar for Guild, what would it be? You choose the body, the woods, electrics if you wish, right down to the tuners and bridge. Even the rosette and inlays are at your discretion. Got a better bracing system; use it. It’s all up to you. You can be as detailed or as general as you wish. Just keep in mind that this would be for mass production, not a one of a kind. I hope some of you have fun with this, as that’s really my intent.

Dane

 

[twocorgis]

Here's what I'd like:

Jumbo form
Sitka top with nice silking
Mahogany sides and back
Ebony fingerboard with dot inlays
Ebony bridge
1 3/4" Bone nut/saddle
14 fret 25.5" scale
Plain appointments are fine for me.

Almost the elusive F48, but nicer. 8)

 

[adorshki]

OK I'll bite. Just gimme my F65ce with an extra inch of body depth, a 24-3/4 scale, and a 1-11/16 nut. Call it an F65ce again just because the model's been out of production long enough to justify re-using the model number and that's another grand old Guild tradition. Re-issues.

 

[Scratch]

Here's what I'd like:

Jumbo form
Sitka top with nice silking
Mahogany sides and back
Ebony fingerboard with dot inlays
Ebony bridge
1 3/4" Bone nut/saddle
14 fret 25.5" scale
Plain appointments are fine for me.

Almost the elusive F48, but nicer. 8)

+1 almost. Same appointments as Sandy mentions but short scale (24.75 is good) with open tuners and black pick guard... Oh yes... Fishman preamp & gooseneck mic...

 

[taabru45]

I'm so easy....I'll just take a D 72....as is...that would make me quite happy.... Steffan

 

[MojoTooth]

Starfire IV body
Inlays like a D55
master volume
Shoreline Gold in color
Black binding
Ebony fretboard
unbound neck
harp tailpiece
vintage HB-1's
Gold, older Chesterfield logo with the stripes in it
jumbo frets

for an acoustic I would build a basic D50, with jumbo frets and a mahogany colored top nice and striped.

 

[MrBoZiffer]

I've got two:

1. Starfire VI in black over mahogany with plain nickel (no gold for me) with mini-buckers.

2. My '53 X-175 is close to perfect but it would be nice if it had a bound neck and some extra ply on the body.

 

[dreadnut]

I'd have 'em build me a DV-73NT :shock:

 

[yettoblaster]

I'd just want it to be full of hip notes and chords.

With an Adirondak top. :mrgreen:

 

[GardMan]

I'd have 'em build me a DV-73NT :shock:

With turquoise and malachite inlays, and the old-style domed headstock. Problem is, I'd never be able to afford it...
D

 

[Taylor Martin Guild]

I'd have 'em build me a DV-73NT :shock:

With turquoise and malachite inlays, and the old-style domed headstock. Problem is, I'd never be able to afford it...
D

I'll take one like yours but with an Adirondack top please.

 

[fronobulax]

I have no imagination and never have cared much for bling on guitars. My ears, perhaps because of deafness induced by too much loud music in the '70's can't really tell the difference in woods. So I don't have a lot of reasons to stray from the catalog.

So - I'll take a standard B-50 - spruce top and mahogany sides is fine. Maybe tortoiseshell binding. Rework the bridge because as Hans has observed proper intonation on a B-50 is not necessarily a user performable adjustment.

I have seen a number of beautiful guitars that have a black finish and gold hardware and I am also enamored with a Black to Red burst so an electric with those specs would be fun. As a lust object make it a Starfire bass. As something I might actually buy, make it a M-85. I'd also want Dark Stars as the PU. Since we are aiming at mass market, that would be easier than a natural finish over a sweet figured maple. There has to be more black and red paint in the world than maple trees of the appropriate size

 

[chazmo]

Congrats on your 500th post, Dane.

I know I wouldn't have had any reservations when I bought my F-512 off the store wall years ago if it had had more wood and less plastic and shiny stuff. I realize I'm talkin' sacrilege here, but a Standard Series-like F-512 would've been much harder to resist than the Traditional model (to me).

As far as a custom model goes, an 18" jumbo 12 with long scale really tickles my GAS. I don't know if it's because so few F-612s exist or are available, but it just seems like it'd be an F-512 on steroids -- hard to imagine, really. I considered commissioning a luthier-built version, but it never happened. If Guild ever cranks up a "custom shop" again, it wouldn't surprise me if an F-612 reappeared.

And now, with my F-212XL, I'm wondering if an 18 incher in mahogany would work well.

Oh darn, GAS pains coming on.

 

[MAM]

John Denver's F50R with side position markers on both sides of the neck.

That would do just fine for me.

 

[adorshki]

I'd just want it to be full of hip notes and chords.
With an Adirondak top. :mrgreen:

You're so EASY. :lol:
Don't you already have one of those anyway?

 

[Brad Little]

F30 or F40 body, AAAA sitka top, Texas ebony (persimmon) back and sides, 12 fret neck, slotted headstock. Ebony fingerboard and bridge, stainless steel frets, 1 7/8" bone nut. Decoration? Either all out or none. All out would be turquoise and coral inlay on the neck with abalone stripes running the length on each side. Turquoise and coral Guild and G in the head and something on the bridge. None would be simple MOP Guild and G, no fretboard inlay and only two side dots at the 5th and 7th frets. DTar lock and load, bone saddle and bridge pins and no pickguard. Not sure on the scale, but set up for 12s or 13s.
OR:
Custom Artist Award, 18" AAAA carved spruce top, flamed maple sides and (carved) back, non-cutaway. Artist Award inlay on neck, modified Artist Award headstock to indicate its custom status. Ebony tailpiece with MOP and abalone G inlaid, two ebony pickguards, one plain and one with volume control and jack for a floating (removable) pickup.
Oh, yeah, and a climate controlled house to keep them in...
Brad

 

[kevin the bass man]

hmmm- build a guild?
lets see here
B 401 body
mahoghany or cherry
rosewood neck, stained dark cherry
stained in same pattern as original except a medium orange varnish on top, and a deep dark cherry red on the sides and back (almost black)
extend the stripe on the neck onto the body, having it end in a tapered point
hardware- chrome!!!
original style bridge (I think they're cool and way better then the generic bridge)
knobs- custom colored knobs in style of originals but deep cherry with silver numbers
pickups- 1 (because I hate the plates on the back required to change the battery on active electronics)
pickup cover - who needs one? (not me!!!)
neck- have chesterfields inlaid instead of the standard dots
headstock- no black covering, just wood finished in dark cherry.

 

[adorshki]

neck- have chesterfields inlaid instead of the standard dots

Ooooh...I like that!

 

[Bill Ashton]

Without a lot of thought...

F47 with Florentine instead of Venician cutaway, Brazilian Rosewood body (we SAW the billets in New Hartford), ivoroid binding, large MOTS inlays w/o the abalone, 1 3/4 wide at the nut...

A K & K p'up system would be a nice option...

 

[Jeff_L]

I'm happy enough with my three Guilds that I wouldn't change a thing!

Jeff