Stopped in at Sweetwater

[MLBob]

My wife and I spent some time at a cabin in one of the N Central Indiana State Parks this week. On the way home we decided to stop off in Ft. Wayne to see the Sweetwater campus. All I can say is WOW!! What a facility! - Performance venues, restaurants, a great on site music equipment store, acres of warehouses, their own gigantic Fed-Ex hub, recording studios, an air-strip, regular

schedule of performances, seminars, lectures.....and on, and on, and on. And to think he (Chuck Surack) started it all with a portable recording studio in a VW bus.
I played a few of the Oxnard Guilds in the acoustic room, and was surprised at how light they all felt in comparison to my Westerly Dreads. All were very nice, but the one that blew me away was a blonde Oxnard D 40 that sounded wonderfully resonanat to me (pic2)

Alas, all I left with was a pair of 30' 1/4" TRS to Male XLR cables to run from my small mixer.

 

[Guildedagain]

Stillwater runs deep. Sweetwater runs BIG! ;]

 

[dreadnut]

I wish they were having the Gearfest again this year, but it looks like it will only be virtual. I guess that's understandable, because what a crowd it was - wall to wall people. But they had nice amenities like free ice cold bottles of water in barrels all over the property, and substantial meals at bargain prices. And I got to sample some of the first Oxnard Guilds.

 

[Westerly Wood]

i used to get strings from them, free shipping and candy in every shipment for the kids.
really good prices on strings.

 

[walrus]

Yes, the candy!

walrus

 

[richardp69]

I'm not typically a huge big box store fan but I do really like Sweetwater and have bought several instruments from them. They do it right.

 

[Br1ck]

You should get your hands on a Guild from Hoboken up to 73 Westerly, before all makers had to self protect by building heavier. Very different from the 80s-90s Guilds I've played, as far as weight goes. Lucky you to get to play a modern one.

 

[richardp69]

You should get your hands on a Guild from Hoboken up to 73 Westerly, before all makers had to self protect by building heavier. Very different from the 80s-90s Guilds I've played, as far as weight goes. Lucky you to get to play a modern one.

What were they self protecting Brick???

 

[Christopher Cozad]

...before all makers had to self protect by building heavier...

Valid point. Instruments built lighter sound better, but (too many) returns due to a lighter build puts guitar companies out of business.

 

[Christopher Cozad]

...the Sweetwater campus. All I can say is WOW!

It looks like you had the place completely to yourself. There was a time, not all that long ago, when that would not have been easy. That is a really fun photo in front of the company sign. So, how long are you thinking before you figure out a way to add the D-40 to the fold?

 

[Rad]

I’m jealous. I have spent a small fortune on guitars, amps and bit and pieces at Sweetwater over the years but being a couple thousand miles away I’ve never had the pleasure of going there.

 

[Rambozo96]

It probably should be worth noting that in the 90’s they lightened up the builds quite a bit from what I heard and from the D-4 I have that weighs less than my 86’ D-25 which is on the heavier side. Now that being said there is absolutely nothing wrong with my D-25 despite its weight. I’d take it over a Norlin era Gibson acoustic of the day. I have yet to play a Norlin Gibby acoustic that didn’t make me think it was a miracle that Gibson sold any acoustics at all back then.

 

[PapaLeo67]

I bought my F512E from them along with at least 20K of other stuff over the past decade or so.
They are the standard I compare all other retailers. Customer service is second to none. Website and live inventory with detailed pics serial numbers on everything. Never a stock photo unless its out of stock.
I have returned an expensive guitar just because I didnt like the fatter neck in my hand, no questions asked.
Beware of that sweetwater card... They jacked my credit limit up to 12K. Not Good! HAHA

 

[adorshki]

It probably should be worth noting that in the 90’s they lightened up the builds quite a bit from what I heard and from the D-4 I have that weighs less than my 86’ D-25 which is on the heavier side. Now that being said there is absolutely nothing wrong with my D-25 despite its weight.

Yep, same with my '96 D25, of which the D4 is the lightly-less-cute twin: lightest guitar I'd ever owned, still is. Corona D40's a true tank in comparison. In Corona they tried out a so-called "vintage justified" design philosophy explained by former member Jay Pilzer, here:
https://www.vintageguitar.com/21567/guild-in-the-post-fender-era/

By all reports builds have been getting progressively lighter again starting in Tacoma. Suspect ever-improving production methods have helped achieve the "lightness" goal with better durability. But we got probably another 10 years yet before we'll see whether New Hartford Tite-bond set necks seem to be prematurely or excessively prone to need for reset.

Their materials have always been top-notch, though, from what I've read, and that's an important part of the recipe too.

 

[dreadnut]

My '76 D25M is pretty heavy, but my buddy's '81 D25 is even heavier.