Interesting Article on Guild Acoustics by Fender.

[richt54]

Guild in the Post-Fender Era | Vintage Guitar® magazine

Since its beginnings in 1952, Guild has gone through many changes in ownership, location, marketing approach, and design philosophy. In the course of a change in ownership and three moves, the Guild line has seen major changes in materials, structural specifications, equipment, personnel, and...

www.vintageguitar.com

 

[Rocky]

Spoiler alert - New England mill buildings can look similar to each other.

 

[twocorgis]

Written by our old friend Jay Pilzer. Had the pleasure of meeting him a few times at the old Arlington Guitar Show in TX. Jay had a mostly Guilds shop outside Nashville, and retired to Nova Scotia, where he runs Maritimes Music now.

 

[GGJaguar]

Jay's great! I bought a couple of Guilds from him and he's the guy who hooked me up to write for 20th Century Guitar Magazine.

 

[twocorgis]

Jay's great! I bought a couple of Guilds from him and he's the guy who hooked me up to write for 20th Century Guitar Magazine.

Jay's a bit curmudgeonly, but it's just a façade. He's really a good guy when you get to know him a little. George Gruhn is similar in that respect.

 

[fronobulax]

From 2010 but there are definitive answers to questions that seem to come up a lot.

One example, after the purchase by Fender

fingerboards routinely went to 1 11/16″ widths at the nut as opposed to the 15/8″

which should certainly be of interest to the 1 3/4" only crowd.

 

[chazmo]

From 2010 . . .

Yeah, old article... I'm not sure what the title of that post is supposed to mean. Guild was still Fender until 2014, that is.

 

[dreadnut]

Pilzer takes a few liberties in this article. For example, I'm not sure Coronas are so disregarded.

 

[richt54]

From 2010 but there are definitive answers to questions that seem to come up a lot.

One example, after the purchase by Fender


which should certainly be of interest to the 1 3/4" only crowd.

So historically what have the nut widths been? All mine are 1 11/16 starting from 2000

 

[twocorgis]

From 2010 but there are definitive answers to questions that seem to come up a lot.

One example, after the purchase by Fender

fingerboards routinely went to 1 11/16″ widths at the nut as opposed to the 1 5/8″

That statement about pre-Fender nut widths being 1 5/8" can't possibly be correct. My pre-Fender dreads are all 1 11/16" or even a touch wider.

 

[fronobulax]

So historically what have the nut widths been? All mine are 1 11/16 starting from 2000

Depends.

There have been reports of 1 5/8" in the earlier years as well as reports that the measured nut width did not match the spec.

Since the article quote says "since the purchase by Fender" I'm not sure why "All mine are 1 11/16 starting from 2000" is significant - that is what is to be expected. New Hartford's "justification" for a 1 11/16" width on some (all?) of the Traditional series is that was the width at whatever point in time they went back to for inspiration. Similarly NH felt that 1 3/4" was more "modern" or at least was more important to the market circa 2010.

 

[GAD]

Pilzer takes a few liberties in this article. For example, I'm not sure Coronas are so disregarded.

They were widely considered inferior when first introduced. Especially the acoustics.

 

[richt54]

That statement about pre-Fender nut widths being 1 5/8" can't possibly be correct. My pre-Fender dreads are all 1 11/16" or even a touch wider.

Thank you. That was the info I was looking for.

 

[twocorgis]

Thank you. That was the info I was looking for.

Pretty sure the early F/M20s and F30s were a 1 5/8" nut, but even they migrated to 1 11/16" before Fender bought the company.

 

[Bill Ashton]

Overall, I think an interesting article, and he has seen a lot of Guilds so I think his opinion is certainly of note. I do wish the
article could be updated to the present, or at least through New Hartford.

I had a Tacoma D55 that was wonderful, but sadly, the Wang-Chung piano-case makers messed up the neck and (not sadly) I got a
new New Hartford after 5 years under warranty...fit and finish equal or better than Tacoma, my mistake (I think) was asking for the state-of-the-art at the time undersaddle p/u...I think it decouples the top from the bridge, though that is just my guess. Wonderful guitar, but does not have the "rumble in my chest" of the Tacoma. Slimmer neck (depth) which is much better for me, a personal thing, hate the open back Gotoh tuners...they definately are lighter, but the Grover Rotomatics were just SO much better. Everything is a compromise

My F512 was perfect in almost every way for me...except...New Hartford changed the string-spacing at the bridge, which changed this wonderful piece into a flatpicking-only guitar...and with great reluctance, had to move it on.

At LTG-1, I thought that Frank U. had said the block was apple-wood to reduce weight. At the time I thought it a weird choice, but wadda-I-know? Jay P. says it was changed to laminated-Birch...Did I hear that wrong, or did they make another change?

My impression was that the "Corona-problem" was a finish trouble...funny, thats what Tacoma-branded guitars seem to suffer from, but not the Guilds made there.

Never have been able to hold and try an Oxnard piece, save a very early D-40, and I am not sure it was a "Traditional," so I have to reserve my judgement as it was a few years ago.

OK, too many words, @Frono sanction me as you wish...

 

[richt54]

Overall, I think an interesting article, and he has seen a lot of Guilds so I think his opinion is certainly of note. I do wish the
article could be updated to the present, or at least through New Hartford.

I had a Tacoma D55 that was wonderful, but sadly, the Wang-Chung piano-case makers messed up the neck and (not sadly) I got a
new New Hartford after 5 years under warranty...fit and finish equal or better than Tacoma, my mistake (I think) was asking for the state-of-the-art at the time undersaddle p/u...I think it decouples the top from the bridge, though that is just my guess. Wonderful guitar, but does not have the "rumble in my chest" of the Tacoma. Slimmer neck (depth) which is much better for me, a personal thing, hate the open back Gotoh tuners...they definately are lighter, but the Grover Rotomatics were just SO much better. Everything is a compromise

My F512 was perfect in almost every way for me...except...New Hartford changed the string-spacing at the bridge, which changed this wonderful piece into a flatpicking-only guitar...and with great reluctance, had to move it on.

At LTG-1, I thought that Frank U. had said the block was apple-wood to reduce weight. At the time I thought it a weird choice, but wadda-I-know? Jay P. says it was changed to laminated-Birch...Did I hear that wrong, or did they make another change?

My impression was that the "Corona-problem" was a finish trouble...funny, thats what Tacoma-branded guitars seem to suffer from, but not the Guilds made there.

Never have been able to hold and try an Oxnard piece, save a very early D-40, and I am not sure it was a "Traditional," so I have to reserve my judgement as it was a few years ago.

OK, too many words, @Frono sanction me as you wish...

Great feedback. At least from my perspective. Thanks.