New Guild Day-1989 GF30

[davidbeinct]

Hello, first post from Waterford, Connecticut. I’m a longtime Guild fan but always more of a listener. I tried learning to play in my twenties but didn’t get to far. Now at 57 I’m trying again. I’ve been making pretty good progress for the better part of the last year and have rewarded myself with this GF30, purchased from Elderly Instruments. Pardon the clutter in my pics, a 24 year old has returned home and my man cave took the storage hit. I’ve also included a link to the Elderly listing, their pics are better anyway.
What can I say about the guitar? It’s gorgeous and in phenomenal shape for a thirty year old instrument. It got an amber overspray at some point in its life and is more butterscotch than blonde. That knocked a few hundred off the price, I’m sure, and I now own a fairly unique guitar. Soundwise it’s phenomenal too. Great chiming treble and smooth midrange and bass. Sustains like a Tibetan singing bowl. Really sounds great fingerstyle which is mostly what I’m concentrating on.
Elderly listing:

Guild GF30 BLD (1989)

A nice flat-top acoustic guitar, this Guild GF30 BLD has a small jumbo body shape with a solid spruce top and solid flamed maple sides, and a laminated arched maple back. It has a two piece maple neck with mahogany center strip, and a 20 fret rosewood fingerboard. Other features include a...

www.elderly.com

Pics:

 

[Bonneville88]

Welcome, and congrats!
Gorgeous guitar indeed, way to jump in!

 

[gjmalcyon]

Welcome. Stick around - nice bunch of folks around here.

That is beautiful guitar - much love for maple archbacks around here.

 

[Stuball48]

Welcome and beautiful guitar. Great job with pictures

 

[GGJaguar]

Welcome to LTG and congrats on the new guitbox! I love how it aged to a lovely golden amber.

 

[Westerly Wood]

wow a maple back/sides F30. arched too. i have not seen many of them. congrats on the score!

 

[HeyMikey]

wow a maple back/sides F30. arched too. i have not seen many of them. congrats on the score!

The GF30 is larger than an F30. Beautiful guitars.

 

[davismanLV]

Thanks, @HeyMikey !!! i was wondering about that. Beautiful guitar, congrats, and welcome to LTG!!

 

[davidbeinct]

The GF30 is larger than an F30. Beautiful guitars.

Yes it’s a different guitar. Lower bout almost identical in size to my D4 True American. Slightly shallower body and a much more pinched waste make it more comfortable to play, to me anyway.

 

[walrus]

Nice score! Congratulations!

walrus

 

[Westerly Wood]

ah, sorry, got confused. good to know. from what i see on the westerly guild guitar site, the Jumbo F 30 is 17 width, the GF 30 is 16. interesting.
well still, great find!

 

[davidbeinct]

ah, sorry, got confused. good to know. from what i see on the westerly guild guitar site, the Jumbo F 30 is 17 width, the GF 30 is 16. interesting.
well still, great find!

To me it’s like a mini-jumbo. Oxymoron, I know. It’s almost identical to what Taylor calls a Grand Auditorium, which they say Bob Taylor “introduced” in 1994. I think he was introduced to a GF30 first!
It has a really clean tone. Lacks the dread rumble but really sparkly highs and smooth mids. Great sustain.

 

[mavuser]

for late 1980's and 1990's Guild:

F= Folk (15" LB) *unless it is an F-20 then it is smaller

GF=Grand Folk (16" LB) aka min jumbo

JF=Jumbo Folk (17)

u got a nice one there, love that finish!

 

[Gabby84]

Welcome! Love your new guitar, sweet!

 

[F30]

That is great. Really nice back on your new Guild. Super nice neck too.
Congrats!

 

[wileypickett]

Congrats -- these are great guitars. (I have one in sunburst!)

If Elderly says it was oversprayed, then they'd know. But Guild did offer guitars in both amber and amber-burst (usually indicated as such on the paper label below the soundhole) so it's not such a radical departure.

If the overspray was applied with a light touch, it shouldn't affect the sound much.

Welcome!

Glenn

 

[davidbeinct]

Congrats -- these are great guitars. (I have one in sunburst!)

If Elderly says it was oversprayed, then they'd know. But Guild did offer guitars in both amber and amber-burst (usually indicated as such on the paper label below the soundhole) so it's not such a radical departure.

If the overspray was applied with a light touch, it shouldn't affect the sound much.

Welcome!

Glenn

That’s interesting about the amber. I’ll check with Elderly. Maybe they assumed? The finish definitely looks professional.

 

[HeyMikey]

In your pictures the headstock inlay, nut, rosette, and body binding all look very yellowed. Where those oversprayed also?

 

[tommym]

Guild had a few tints back then: Blond, Amber, Translucent Brown (not sure what Guild called it), and I bet some other tints that I don't know about.

On the guitars I owned, the Blond and Amber tints were sprayed over the entire body (front, back, and sides), the neck (except the fretboard), the headstock, the headstock face veneer, the binding, the rosette, and depending on the time period over the pickguard too.

Tommy

 

[wileypickett]

If it was tinted amber at the factory it will likely say "AMBER" or "AMB" on the label -- assuming the label is still there.