dava4444
Junior Member
Hi
I'm Dava, long time distant admirer of Guild Guitars, I'm Scottish 41, playing since 17yo, have a collection of around 40 guitars.. I first really became aware of Guilds (aside from a mention in Ian C Bishops Gibson Guitar book) through watching Kim Thayil with his S-100 Polara. This year I worked out that it was a general misconception I and it seems many others had that his S-100 is is British Racing Green due to a Guild Advert in magazines of the time, the guitar was actually black and it was a stage light hitting it in the picture that made it have a green tinge. Doesn't stop me admiring the guitar as memory though, and I have seen people over on the Guild Facebook page ask for that colour even in the last 2 years, it stuck in people's minds.
The Korean line of Guild guitars at present seem high quality, but at an exorbitant price, I can buy a second hand Gibson or Fender for that kind of money, or even a new Gibson or Fender (USA).. to buy a Newark St. S-100 in the UK is around £740 ($970) last year I bought one of my dream guitars a; 1979 Epiphone (Matsumoku) Scroll SC550 for £325 ($427) I also bought a Gibson SG Standard new from Thomann for £835 ($1099).. Korean guitars get a bad wrap and as long as you use one of the top plants.. you should get quality guitars in return, however.. The second hand market has so many USA/Japanese/Mexican/Canadian of very high quality but less than half what you charge for the Newark St. it becomes easily a no-brainer which to pick. I'm not here to tell you off.. but to suggest a compromise.
Most of why people buy american guitars from other countries believe it or not is .. its glamours to own an instrument from the country that invented solid body guitars.. its 'Mojo'.. sure sure it has be of high quality too or everyone would just start buying from Japan (not the home of the electric guitar..but I think others might agree it's holiday cabin).. Guild for many years was an important component in North American guitar building.. why? because Guild was the one to clean up Gibsons mess when they throw a wobbly and smashed the bottle of milk on the floor.. maybes that's obscure.. when Gibson decided to cut the production cost of SG's (late 60s early 70s with the weird switches) suddenly the S-100 became the obvious choice for a quality guitar.. right now Gibson are losing artist endorsements left and right..most notably for me The Edge of U2 who I always remember as an Explorer guy.. is now with Fender touting Strats.. James Hetfield too went to ESP. Then there's the PRS copy.. erm thats nuts! it's also oogly. I'm hearing more and more Gibson are disenfranchised with guitar design, building and artist after-care.
How could Guild make a North American guitar and compete with SEA prices? well I can go you one better.. what about a plant in Puerto Rico? the average yearly salary is around $20,000, you get to stamp 'Made in the USA' on the back of the headstock, which I would also add 'Made in the USA - Puerto Rico'. They are US citizens so you are putting jobs in the hands of needy Americans. and you could produce these guitars for LESS than what you have been charging coming from Korea and so increase the their popularity. Quality? welp.. yes at first while you train the staff that would be an issue until the staff had a couple of years under their belt and knew how high a standard was expected of their work, however in the interim the PR guitars could be shipped to Corona to be checked and setup, and this could be a regular thing making Corona a distribution hub even after the interim period.
Pricing?
I spoke at the start about the competition of Guild and Gibson, I feel this should continue and be reflected in the pricing.
A Gibson SG Standard can be bought new for around $1100.
A Guild S-100; I would suggest a Target Price of around $1000
A Gibson SG Special can be bought new for around $900
A Guild S-90; I would suggest a Target Price of around $800
I would pit the Bluesbird vs the LP and The Explorer vs the S-200 T-Bird each on guilds side $100 less.
I would pit the S-70 (HB in Bridge and SCHB in neck, pickups/3 way switch being of asian origin, pots caps = USA) vs any budget option Melody Maker Gibson had, I wouldn't lower the price though but instead offer gloss finishes at no extra charge.
Hey Dava! your selling our babies awfully cheap! really .. I'm not, and what more important is to get Guilds in the hands of players and collectors, because one they own one and are happy they start to talk about it more and more.. you could say you get this with the Korean versions and that would be true to some extent, but Korean guitars have a bit of a stigma attached to them due to the early Korean Squiers and just how bad they were compared to their Japanese counterparts. That sticks in people's mind.. and while many have done much, yourselves included to lift this stigma.. I just can't justify paying US prices for a guitar made in Korea. I am also paying for Mojo which Korea just doesn't have that. And when I talk about quality Korean guitars.. I own one, I own a Fender Showmaster (badly misnomered) It's basically a Fender Korean Custom Shop Strat, I also own many Aldens which I collect which were made in Korea and China (same factory as the Eastwood Guitars). I paid £300 ($395) for the Fender and around £100 to £200 for each Alden (too many to list). You see where I'm coming from right?.. I'm not down on Koreans getting a fair shake, but I can't justify the price without the missing Mojo.
OK.. been writing this for two hours, I have a viral bronchitis + flu, oh man my head hurts. I just hope someone finds my opinions of value and hope anyone who read this enjoyed hearing said opinions.
kind regards
Dava
I'm Dava, long time distant admirer of Guild Guitars, I'm Scottish 41, playing since 17yo, have a collection of around 40 guitars.. I first really became aware of Guilds (aside from a mention in Ian C Bishops Gibson Guitar book) through watching Kim Thayil with his S-100 Polara. This year I worked out that it was a general misconception I and it seems many others had that his S-100 is is British Racing Green due to a Guild Advert in magazines of the time, the guitar was actually black and it was a stage light hitting it in the picture that made it have a green tinge. Doesn't stop me admiring the guitar as memory though, and I have seen people over on the Guild Facebook page ask for that colour even in the last 2 years, it stuck in people's minds.
The Korean line of Guild guitars at present seem high quality, but at an exorbitant price, I can buy a second hand Gibson or Fender for that kind of money, or even a new Gibson or Fender (USA).. to buy a Newark St. S-100 in the UK is around £740 ($970) last year I bought one of my dream guitars a; 1979 Epiphone (Matsumoku) Scroll SC550 for £325 ($427) I also bought a Gibson SG Standard new from Thomann for £835 ($1099).. Korean guitars get a bad wrap and as long as you use one of the top plants.. you should get quality guitars in return, however.. The second hand market has so many USA/Japanese/Mexican/Canadian of very high quality but less than half what you charge for the Newark St. it becomes easily a no-brainer which to pick. I'm not here to tell you off.. but to suggest a compromise.
Most of why people buy american guitars from other countries believe it or not is .. its glamours to own an instrument from the country that invented solid body guitars.. its 'Mojo'.. sure sure it has be of high quality too or everyone would just start buying from Japan (not the home of the electric guitar..but I think others might agree it's holiday cabin).. Guild for many years was an important component in North American guitar building.. why? because Guild was the one to clean up Gibsons mess when they throw a wobbly and smashed the bottle of milk on the floor.. maybes that's obscure.. when Gibson decided to cut the production cost of SG's (late 60s early 70s with the weird switches) suddenly the S-100 became the obvious choice for a quality guitar.. right now Gibson are losing artist endorsements left and right..most notably for me The Edge of U2 who I always remember as an Explorer guy.. is now with Fender touting Strats.. James Hetfield too went to ESP. Then there's the PRS copy.. erm thats nuts! it's also oogly. I'm hearing more and more Gibson are disenfranchised with guitar design, building and artist after-care.
How could Guild make a North American guitar and compete with SEA prices? well I can go you one better.. what about a plant in Puerto Rico? the average yearly salary is around $20,000, you get to stamp 'Made in the USA' on the back of the headstock, which I would also add 'Made in the USA - Puerto Rico'. They are US citizens so you are putting jobs in the hands of needy Americans. and you could produce these guitars for LESS than what you have been charging coming from Korea and so increase the their popularity. Quality? welp.. yes at first while you train the staff that would be an issue until the staff had a couple of years under their belt and knew how high a standard was expected of their work, however in the interim the PR guitars could be shipped to Corona to be checked and setup, and this could be a regular thing making Corona a distribution hub even after the interim period.
Pricing?
I spoke at the start about the competition of Guild and Gibson, I feel this should continue and be reflected in the pricing.
A Gibson SG Standard can be bought new for around $1100.
A Guild S-100; I would suggest a Target Price of around $1000
A Gibson SG Special can be bought new for around $900
A Guild S-90; I would suggest a Target Price of around $800
I would pit the Bluesbird vs the LP and The Explorer vs the S-200 T-Bird each on guilds side $100 less.
I would pit the S-70 (HB in Bridge and SCHB in neck, pickups/3 way switch being of asian origin, pots caps = USA) vs any budget option Melody Maker Gibson had, I wouldn't lower the price though but instead offer gloss finishes at no extra charge.
Hey Dava! your selling our babies awfully cheap! really .. I'm not, and what more important is to get Guilds in the hands of players and collectors, because one they own one and are happy they start to talk about it more and more.. you could say you get this with the Korean versions and that would be true to some extent, but Korean guitars have a bit of a stigma attached to them due to the early Korean Squiers and just how bad they were compared to their Japanese counterparts. That sticks in people's mind.. and while many have done much, yourselves included to lift this stigma.. I just can't justify paying US prices for a guitar made in Korea. I am also paying for Mojo which Korea just doesn't have that. And when I talk about quality Korean guitars.. I own one, I own a Fender Showmaster (badly misnomered) It's basically a Fender Korean Custom Shop Strat, I also own many Aldens which I collect which were made in Korea and China (same factory as the Eastwood Guitars). I paid £300 ($395) for the Fender and around £100 to £200 for each Alden (too many to list). You see where I'm coming from right?.. I'm not down on Koreans getting a fair shake, but I can't justify the price without the missing Mojo.
OK.. been writing this for two hours, I have a viral bronchitis + flu, oh man my head hurts. I just hope someone finds my opinions of value and hope anyone who read this enjoyed hearing said opinions.
kind regards
Dava
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