Back in November, I informed the forum that I put my 1980 D55 in the shop to have a significant amount of work done to it including scalloping of the braces. Well, my baby's back in mine hands and I can hardly contain myself with excitment!! My finger tips are raw from non stop playing today. I can't put it down.
If you remember, the work was done by premiere luthier Bill Tippin (http://www.tippinguitar.com). His base model starts at $9,755 with a two year waiting list. All custom builders do repair work to keep the cash flow up to snuff. He is in this month's issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Check it out. He knows his stuff and charges accordingly.
Back in November, I told him that I wanted him to do whatever to maximize tone and volume. Until now, the guitar was never in the shop for anything, even the simple usual stuff. Needless to say, it was showing some wear and needed some things fixed. The plan was to reset the neck, install all new frets with smaller diameter fret wire, refinish the entire neck, replace the pickguard, install a new bone nut, compensated 1/8" saddle and bridge pins, adjust the K&K pickup, polish the top and scallop the braces to maximize tone.
Well, he did ALL of that and its hard for me to find the words to describe the improvement. First of all, the guitar looks good, no more peeling finish on the neck and no more curled pick guard. The guitar is very LOUD. it is the first time I ever heard a really loud Guild guitar. I will have no problems keeping up with my Martin playing bluegrass buddies. The sustain goes on forever and the tone is crisp, balanced and clear.
The only parts he scalloped were the two tone bars located behind the bridge. Tippin said he improved the guitar's clarity by doing so. He loved the balanced Guild tone so he decided not to shave the braces. Shaving the braces would increase the amount of bass and/or treble tones but in this case it wasn't necessary. I was impressed that he liked a production guitar so much.
This project took a lot of time and money but it was well worth it. I guess I'm good for another 28 years.
If you remember, the work was done by premiere luthier Bill Tippin (http://www.tippinguitar.com). His base model starts at $9,755 with a two year waiting list. All custom builders do repair work to keep the cash flow up to snuff. He is in this month's issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Check it out. He knows his stuff and charges accordingly.
Back in November, I told him that I wanted him to do whatever to maximize tone and volume. Until now, the guitar was never in the shop for anything, even the simple usual stuff. Needless to say, it was showing some wear and needed some things fixed. The plan was to reset the neck, install all new frets with smaller diameter fret wire, refinish the entire neck, replace the pickguard, install a new bone nut, compensated 1/8" saddle and bridge pins, adjust the K&K pickup, polish the top and scallop the braces to maximize tone.
Well, he did ALL of that and its hard for me to find the words to describe the improvement. First of all, the guitar looks good, no more peeling finish on the neck and no more curled pick guard. The guitar is very LOUD. it is the first time I ever heard a really loud Guild guitar. I will have no problems keeping up with my Martin playing bluegrass buddies. The sustain goes on forever and the tone is crisp, balanced and clear.
The only parts he scalloped were the two tone bars located behind the bridge. Tippin said he improved the guitar's clarity by doing so. He loved the balanced Guild tone so he decided not to shave the braces. Shaving the braces would increase the amount of bass and/or treble tones but in this case it wasn't necessary. I was impressed that he liked a production guitar so much.
This project took a lot of time and money but it was well worth it. I guess I'm good for another 28 years.
