KCGuildPicker
Junior Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2023
- Messages
- 69
- Reaction score
- 88
- Guild Total
- 2
A few weeks back, I brought home a D140 from a local GC - (I know people can have strong opinions about GC, but at the very least the GC's in the Kansas City area generally have really cool used gear, so I make them a part of my guitar store rounds.) Anyways, it sounded great in the store and at home . . . However, two days in I finally had time to put on new strings and this is where the problems began.
After putting on 12-53 NB d'addario, which from what I could tell were the strings that were on the D140 when it came home, I started getting a sitar like sound from the G string when played open . . . Not exactly the sound one goes for in a bluegrass setting. So I messed with trying to do the DIY thing which is something I readily admit I'm not very good at. To no avail and certainly no surprise, the sitar G string only got worse. So that was problem #1.
Problem #2 - The D140 came home in the hybrid Guild case, but I like hard cases, so I bought a basic SKB case from an unnamed online store. When the case came, for some reason there were about 15-20 little desiccant packs which of course pull moisture out of whatever environment they are placed in - so, I tried to re-humidify the case with with the humidifier aimed at it and with little packs stuffed inside the case. After two days, I figured it was enough . . . I figured wrong . . . After about two hours in the case, the strings were literally lying flat on the fretboard . . . again, not optimal for the bluegrass sound. Needless to say, it was time for my luthier to take over.
When I brought it into the shop, he showed me that every single nut slot with the exception of the D string was incorrectly cut. Somehow, whoever had the guitar before me figured out a way to get the guitar to play and play in tune so much so that I did not know that there was a problem until I changed the strings. Thankfully, my guy knows what he is doing and was able to fix the nut slot plus do a professional set up as the guitar re-humidified in the shop.
So long story short, the D140 is home and sounds excellent and is back in the running for my number one guitar. That said, I was wondering about a couple of things:
First, is the nut slot issue a common issue with the 100 series? Or was it just my turn to get a used guitar that needed some work? Second, and maybe more important - what do you folks think about the Guild hybrid cases? Do they retain moisture like a hard case? I have since measured the humidity level in the SKB case and it is at 50 . . . but I'm a little nervous about putting the D140 back in that case. Additionally, I was surprised at how fast the D140 "lost" the humidity/moisture. I keep my guitar room between 44-53 relative humidity so I'm wondering if this series/model has a reputation for losing moisture quickly.
Thanks,
After putting on 12-53 NB d'addario, which from what I could tell were the strings that were on the D140 when it came home, I started getting a sitar like sound from the G string when played open . . . Not exactly the sound one goes for in a bluegrass setting. So I messed with trying to do the DIY thing which is something I readily admit I'm not very good at. To no avail and certainly no surprise, the sitar G string only got worse. So that was problem #1.
Problem #2 - The D140 came home in the hybrid Guild case, but I like hard cases, so I bought a basic SKB case from an unnamed online store. When the case came, for some reason there were about 15-20 little desiccant packs which of course pull moisture out of whatever environment they are placed in - so, I tried to re-humidify the case with with the humidifier aimed at it and with little packs stuffed inside the case. After two days, I figured it was enough . . . I figured wrong . . . After about two hours in the case, the strings were literally lying flat on the fretboard . . . again, not optimal for the bluegrass sound. Needless to say, it was time for my luthier to take over.
When I brought it into the shop, he showed me that every single nut slot with the exception of the D string was incorrectly cut. Somehow, whoever had the guitar before me figured out a way to get the guitar to play and play in tune so much so that I did not know that there was a problem until I changed the strings. Thankfully, my guy knows what he is doing and was able to fix the nut slot plus do a professional set up as the guitar re-humidified in the shop.
So long story short, the D140 is home and sounds excellent and is back in the running for my number one guitar. That said, I was wondering about a couple of things:
First, is the nut slot issue a common issue with the 100 series? Or was it just my turn to get a used guitar that needed some work? Second, and maybe more important - what do you folks think about the Guild hybrid cases? Do they retain moisture like a hard case? I have since measured the humidity level in the SKB case and it is at 50 . . . but I'm a little nervous about putting the D140 back in that case. Additionally, I was surprised at how fast the D140 "lost" the humidity/moisture. I keep my guitar room between 44-53 relative humidity so I'm wondering if this series/model has a reputation for losing moisture quickly.
Thanks,