Where are the Guilds, where are the dealers?

[twocorgis]

Sandy, very odd... you quoted Brad, but that was my post (Chaz).

Oops! A little creative cut and pasting. All in the interest of brevity and saving bandwidth of course. :wink:

 

[Brad Little]

Brad, I may be able to find that out later this week. Local store in my city (not Union) is also a Guild dealer. Its where I bought my GAD, which is all he has carried in the past...

Thanks. I think what we need here in New England is a centrally located store with a good supply of Guilds. Someplace like Northhampton, or even Brattleboro, a couple hours from a large part of the area's population.
Brad
PS Just noticed that Maple Leaf Music in Brattleboro is a Guild dealer, only a few on its web site, though. I do like this quote regarding the D-55:
>The best Dreadnaught value we've found. Nothing else on the market fits this nich of a solid, sturdy, beautiful Guild guitar; a strummers paradise. This lately has been the best selling Dreadnaught in the store.<
http://www.mapleleafmusic.com/photoshow.cfm?ins=1755
B

 

[Bill Ashton]

We have that in Union Music in Worcester, MA. He has a nice selection, though a much smaller count than the Taylors and Martins he has. Nice store, very nice owner, a real gentleman. That is the location of the 512 I have been able to play. "Worcester, the heart of New England..."

Northhampton is a pretty small store, stacked to the brim, has a few Guilds hung way up high, losta college kids milling around, no room, lotta noise...not unlike LMG... :lol: :lol: :lol: In my 12'r search I called there and was wierdly told I had to talk to the owner... :?: Just tell me if you have a Guild 12, please... :roll: I know however that my son was able to play a Fender tele there with no problem.

One of the locations in Brattleboro looks to be very similar to Music Emporium...Collings, Huss and Dalton, Froggy Bottom...and Guild! That's Maple Leaf, Brad!

 

[Brad Little]

We have that in Union Music in Worcester, MA. He has a nice selection, though a much smaller count than the Taylors and Martins he has. Nice store, very nice owner, a real gentleman. That is the location of the 512 I have been able to play. "Worcester, the heart of New England..."

Yeah, I'm going to have to take a trip there, maybe there and Music Emporium. Still, "heart of New England" not withstanding, I think Brattleboro or Northhampton are really more central. Funny, a couple of months ago I was able to consider adding some more guitars to my herd, but wasn't comfortable traveling too far with my old cars, now I can travel without worry, but with new car payments I've lost my disposable income
Brad

 

[fronobulax]

Necro, I know.
This was posted as a Guild comment on Facebook.

John Laughlin: Hey everyone in Facebook land. I have about every Guild acoustic model and finish in my music store. If there's a Guild guitar you want let me know.

John Laughlin has privacy settings pretty tight on Facebook (as do I so that's not a complaint) but if that is a true statement and referring to NH Guilds then it is probably worth tracking him down and visiting if he is within 200 miles of anyone.

 

[markus]

… if that is a true statement and referring to NH Guilds then it is probably worth tracking him down and visiting if he is within 200 miles of anyone.

So, I'm trip planning right now: Where is he??? :shock:
Markus

 

[Bill Ashton]

As I am not a Facebook person, who is this gentleman and how does one visit his premises otherwise?

 

[fronobulax]

As I am not a Facebook person, who is this gentleman and how does one visit his premises otherwise?

I was kind of hoping TwoCorgis/Sandy (who posted on Facebook immediately before the comment) might check it out, but if not I will try.

 

[BurstD55]

I figure the plant operates 5 days a week for 50 weeks of the year, as a SWAG. That's 250 work days. My personal guess from LMG 2010 is that the output was maybe 5-10 per day. We were there for most of the day and I never saw one completed. So my high end estimate is 2500/year.

Now the Fender web site lists over 603 dealers. So if the production SWAG is right and the production is split evenly, that's about four New Hartford Guilds per dealer per year. If I am counting models correctly there are potentially 18 different models to stock. Actually 8 is more realistic if the GSR and DTAR versions are counted with the "stock" version, but even that says that it is unrealistic to expect every dealer to have every model in stock. Furthermore since the SWAG is per year it is easy to imagine a dealer getting one Guild every three months so there might not ever be more than one in stock.

If I were allocating production I would first ship to dealers who had a customer who had already put money down on the guitar and only when that backlog had eased would I start shipping to dealers who were buying "on speculation" just to have something to display and demo.

Just a thought:

2500/yr roughly and 18 models so that is potentially 138.8 guitars of each model produced each year if they were produced equally. Does this mean that guilds of this era may well be collectors items in the future? If there are lets say a few hundred d55's built this year compared to the thousands of D28's built that would have an effect on value in 50 years I would think... Supply and demand is the driving factor and the NH factory may very well start cranking them out in higher numbers soon... Time will only tell.

 

[Bill Ashton]

Well...

Following our visit, my estimate on daily production was quite a bit less than that bandied about. After thoughtful consideration, I guess the dearth of Guilds has to be due to this...though there were a TON of them coming out of the paint shop weren't there

I think perhaps Collings is not a good comparison...while they say they do about a thousand guitars a year, at least in the local (ME) store there are a LOT. Maybe they are the only outlet in New England.

As part of my research for my devious plan to get a 412 or 512 into the house, I find that a ten year old Martin D28 holds the same value as a two year old Guild D55. Great disparity. However considering that such a used Martin must be a more "marketable" guitar in as far as a trade in, I was appalled at the low price I was offered for an excellent-plus example. Interestingly, he had a similar piece there some months before on consignment...at what I would have thought a fair price... that would not sell and the owner had to take it back...economy rears its ugly head I guess.

 

[fronobulax]

I think perhaps Collings is not a good comparison...

The Collings web site lists about 75 dealers in the US, assuming I counted correctly. If production is around 1000 and we ignore the non-US market, that is about 13 guitars per dealer which is considerably more than the SWAG of 3 or 4 guitars per dealer that I calculated for NH Guilds. So I agree that is not a good comparison :wink:

Their site lists only one dealer in Massachusetts, one in Vermont, one in Connecticut and none in Rhode Island, Maine or New Hampshire so the coverage is sparse and you got "lucky".

 

[fronobulax]

As I am not a Facebook person, who is this gentleman and how does one visit his premises otherwise?

I was kind of hoping TwoCorgis/Sandy (who posted on Facebook immediately before the comment) might check it out, but if not I will try.

Got a response. Guess what. John is at Guitars of Montana with our very own Bing K.

 

[twocorgis]

Necro, I know.
This was posted as a Guild comment on Facebook.

John Laughlin: Hey everyone in Facebook land. I have about every Guild acoustic model and finish in my music store. If there's a Guild guitar you want let me know.

John Laughlin has privacy settings pretty tight on Facebook (as do I so that's not a complaint) but if that is a true statement and referring to NH Guilds then it is probably worth tracking him down and visiting if he is within 200 miles of anyone.

I saw that comment Frono, but i don't know where the guy is. I'll try friending him.

Edit: Saw you post Frono. Never mind!

 

[Ridgemont]

Hey Bill,

I feel your pain. It is hard to find a Guild dealer and when you do, they may not have the one you want. If you happen to make it to the Arlington guitar show, I would suggest the following:

1. Rent a car.
2. Drive 200 miles south to Austin TX.
3. Visit Guitar Resurrection because the have a New Hartford F512 for sale ($2700) and I am sure there are additional discounts.

Here is the link: http://www.guitarrez.com/aginventory/guif512.html

They are pretty picky about their guitars and have pretty high standards so I am sure it will be a good one. I have not played it, but I have tried other Guilds there and yes, they have good ones.

 

[Bill Ashton]

Hmmm...

Its good that the dealer is a friend of (on on!) this board, but Montana is a little longer drive than I was planning on. :lol: :lol: :lol: Perhaps I should take that in when I hike Mann Gulch.

As much as I tried to convince SWMBO, Arlington is not on the agenda.

On the other hand, Orlando in January may be. Risking a thread veer, anyone else?

 

[bluesypicky]

On the other hand, Orlando in January may be. Risking a thread veer, anyone else?

Let's try this again.... This time with a nice cool sunny weather and no damage to the rental car! :wink: :lol:

 

[Bill Ashton]

One the trips high points...

Bummer...though all was handled flawlessly by my insurance company and my credit card company (supplemental insurance I didn't know I had!)...didn't cost me a dime, nor any points.

 

[bluesypicky]

Yeah, that was good news (the insurance thing) Bill.
These body shops ain't cheap!....

 

[capnjuan]

On the other hand, Orlando in January may be. Risking a thread veer, anyone else?

Let's try this again.... This time with a nice cool sunny weather and no damage to the rental car! :wink: :lol:

Count me in Gents, looking forward to it

FYI that's bluesypicky in Bill's pic playing dapmdave's '66 F212. 8)

 

[Bing k]

As I am not a Facebook person, who is this gentleman and how does one visit his premises otherwise?

I was kind of hoping TwoCorgis/Sandy (who posted on Facebook immediately before the comment) might check it out, but if not I will try.

Got a response. Guess what. John is at Guitars of Montana with our very own Bing K.

I missed this thread. John has helped manage the Great Falls store since we open it. He's a very good musician. He and one of our teachers are members of the two most sought after groups in the area.