Vintage Guild acoustics

[steveintampa]

Guild always had the best 12 string acoustics IMO.

 

[Br1ck]

Well let's document Guild players. I certainly don't know all of them.

There was the phantom Guild player Nick Drake. No evidence, but I'll bet he sold some guitars. He's more famous now than then.

Bonnie Raitt has played them a lot

Paul Simon in the early days

Richie Havens at Woodstock and mostly later and before

Tom Petty played Guild 12 strings for a tune or two at his live shows.

Now Martin players: David Crosby, Graham Nash, Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Paul McCartney in later Beatles years. David Gilmour, Ian Anderson. Steve Howe. Jason Isbell. Hank Williams. Eric Clapton. On and on and on.

I know this won't be a popular statement here, but overall, a lot of players just don't like a lot of Guild models. People just don't like balanced guitars for the most part, and to me that is one of their best traits. The entire Bluegrass segment for one. Martin and trying to sound like old Martins rule.

 

[kostask]

David GIlmour has at least one Guild 12 string (looks like an F-412). I don't know if he used it on a recording or live, but there is a video of him with it on YouTube.

May want to add John Denver to the list. He had a number of Guild 12 strings, including an F-612. As well as Tommy Smothers, of the Smothers Brothers.

 

[3C4S]

Here is a video of Johnny Cash Playing a Guild. Just happened to stumble across it...



I believe Tim Buckley played a few different Guild 12's...I am sure there are many more...I have also noticed singers with Guild's before they make it, then switch to Martin or Gibson's. Not sure if it is because better sound, or getting paid...

 

[bobouz]

Not a flat-top, but since Merle remains one of my all time favorite players, I‘ve gotta work it in here…..

 

[LesB3]

These guys all seem to like them...

 

[chazmo]

Not a flat-top, but since Merle remains one of my all time favorite players, I‘ve gotta work it in here…..

Doyle Dykes always credits Merle as one of his main influences.

That model is such a wild, unique guitar. If it didn’t have G clues all over it (and, of course, Guild on the headstock), I’d never guess this was a Guild.

 

[davenumber2]

A few more:

SRV
Ryan Adams
Hank Jr.
Hank III
Bryan Adams
Miss. John Hurt
Brian May

 

[fronobulax]

As long as we are veering into areas that have been well covered I will note that while there are many popular artists who have played Guild acoustics their popularity is often less than other artists.

As a thought exercise note that many of the performers cited are associated with the folk boom and more generally were most active pre-1980. So what might have happened if Jimmy Page had used a Guild (with Led Zeppelin) instead of a Martin or a Gibson? Similarly what would have happened for Guild if the Beatles used one? Would we be having conversations about "underdog status"?

 

[jeffcoop]

Perhaps not a necessary veer but Guild never seemed to capitalize on the better known names who played Guilds. There are several threads listing artists who played Guilds and even one about Guilds at Woodstock.

Half a century later when the people who were there or might have known are no longer with us, it does seem as if Guild was more concerned with making archhtops and jazz boxes. Guild was aware of money to be made by the folk boom but doing so seemed to be a necessary evil and not a passion. Maybe that is a factor in how Guild was perceived (and still may be perceived by people who lived through that time).

Fair enough. For example, it wasn't until decades later (by which time Guild was owned by Fender) that Guild tried seriously to capitalize on the fact that Richie Havens had opened Woodstock by playing a D40.

 

[Cougar]

Guild always had the best 12 string acoustics IMO.

Yep. I had a near new Gibson Songwriter 12-string. Really nice guitar, but it couldn't compete with the Guilds. Well, it was a dread, but still..... Had to let her go....

 

[Br1ck]

Who would know Olsen had James Taylor not played one? Star power sells instruments. Shouldn't matter but it does. Think of the Neil Young signature that won't ever exist. "Don't sing for Coke, don't sing for Pepsi...." Can you really say an artist like Doyle Dykes was a big Guild fan? Another deal came along. Don't blame him, as it's tough to make a buck.

 

[millrat]

Don't forget Tommy Smothers RIP

 

[fronobulax]

" Can you really say an artist like Doyle Dykes was a big Guild fan? Another deal came along. Don't blame him, as it's tough to make a buck.

Your cynicism is noted and maybe even justified but DD did play a Starfire very early in his life. So there was some sentiment involved even if he had to chase the money to make a living.

 

[bobouz]

Martin would not be caught dead using some of the spruce Guild used….

Thank goodness Martin has maintained such high standards, bringing us refinements such as HPL bodies with pictures of real wood, micarta fingerboards & bridges, stratabond necks, and ten years worth of detached waist bindings.

 

[steveintampa]

A few years back we let Jock Bartley borrow my wife's F4CE for a Firefall show.

 

[LesB3]

A few more:

SRV
Ryan Adams
Hank Jr.
Hank III
Bryan Adams
Miss. John Hurt
Brian May

...at the last Ryan Adams show I saw (solo acoustic set some time ago) he mostly played his plinky red, white, and blue Harmony. When it was time to switch to the Guild (which was a much better sounding guitar) he played it for one song, remarked how much he "hated it" and had the guitar tech come and take it from the stage.

 

[davenumber2]

...at the last Ryan Adams show I saw (solo acoustic set some time ago) he mostly played his plinky red, white, and blue Harmony. When it was time to switch to the Guild (which was a much better sounding guitar) he played it for one song, remarked how much he "hated it" and had the guitar tech come and take it from the stage.

I didn't think he played it at all anymore (I assume you're talking about the D25) so the fact he pulled it out is surprising to me. It got busted up pretty good years ago by an airline. It was his main/only guitar for years. The entire "Heartbreaker" album was recorded with it.

 

[LesB3]

I didn't think he played it at all anymore (I assume you're talking about the D25) so the fact he pulled it out is surprising to me. It got busted up pretty good years ago by an airline. It was his main/only guitar for years. The entire "Heartbreaker" album was recorded with it.

Nah, the D25 was long gone by the time this show rolled around. I've found a number of YouTube videos of the actual show I was at, but all of them are of him playing his Harmony or a Martin dread he had there as well.

My failing and fuzzy memory was that it was a newer model, maybe even an all Maple job. I recognized it sitting behind him due to the distinctive headstock and basically waited for him to use it the entire show. Only lasted one song with it!

 

[jeffcoop]

Clapton played (or at least had) a Guild jumbo in the 1980s--I've seen an ad of him with it. And of course there's the video of Clapton and Knopfler playing dueling Songbirds (although the Songbird doesn't really fit the flattop mold).