Which era of Guilds has the best bass response?

[wormsvsbirds]

Don’t judge your joke quality by my complete lack of comprehension! I have a huge blind spot for puns. I think this one was pretty good!

 

[Skywalker]

Yeah, that is kind of the benchmark tone for me. I know I’ve played some Guilds that have it too. There’s a tone I have in mind that’s very hard to describe. I think I heard it referred to somewhere as “like dead strings but in a good way.” I guess that would be more fundamental than overtone? That’s kind of what pointed me in the D-40 direction as opposed to a D-50 or D-55.

I believe what you’re describing, I would tend to describe as a sound that sits nicely behind and is non conflictive with vocals. I have a weak singing voice, so although my initial impression of my D-25 was that it had a lackluster tone, I quickly came to realize that in fact it was just perfect for me. Seeing as I bought most of my guitars based of how their sound poped in the shop without adding vocals, now I have a lot of guitars gathered dust. This sound balance issue is always clear in recordings where you hear yourself more as others do.

As for where the sound seems to emanate from, apparently with a good cello that point is in front of and a bit above the head of the cellist.

Weird stuff !

 

[steveintampa]

Looking for just one aspect of tone in a guitar might lead you to buy several.

The mahogany bodied guitars will have a different tone than the rosewood and maple or dreadnaught and jumbos.

The worst place to try to compare guitar tones is in a music store. Too noisy and distracting.

I like to pass guitars around at a jam so everyone gets to try something new and you can hear your own guitar in someone else's hands.

The phrase, "What resonates with you" holds a lot of merit. When you pick up "That one" you will most likely know.

 

[Skywalker]

A guitar soundbox is like an amplifier with the treble and bass knobs fixed. The only thing that can change those values a bit are the strings and of course the surrounding acoustics. When we buy a home stereo amplifier, we tend to set the treble and bass values and then leave them untouched. High end tube amplifiers tend not to come with treble and bass adjustment at all, because their sound reproduction is of pretty much perfect fidelity. I would offer that guitars with baritone qualities don’t have fewer overtones just warmer ones. There is a basic frequency response nucleus to every sound box which dictates the spectrum of overtone expression relative to fundamentals. Obviously the strings are a principal source of overtone generation.

 

[Rayk]

I love that low-end rumble you can feel in your chest.

I’m not sure Guild made a guitar specific to those specs ? Bass has a wide range specific to one’s ears . Some think a certain guitar has great bass but in fact has a flat dull bass response .others might think it has great bass when it’s brighter in tone . So there’s bit of a clarity factor involved along with ones interpretation of said bass.

Guilds in my experience are extremely well balanced across the board , those being most U.S. models. Can’t really say to much about the imports . Bass would be specific to model type I assume as well .

It seems to make sense that the bigger the body the better the bass would be in terms of it richness/ full rounded sound not necessarily its volume .

I can only give examples from my guitars in hand or ones passed on to others .

I’m no order the most eye opening bass response is from my Breedlove Ed Gerhard jumbo signature series master class . This guitar has a OOO body depth and is impressive on low end but no rumble in the chest much weird huh !?

Next was the Guild F55E rosewood beautiful bass nice and fat with sweetness but balanced no rumble in my chest but geez who did I trade it to again ? Anyway he might have a different take Txbumber was the you ? lol

Last and I’ve bragged about this guitar to much already but it’s the 70th anniversary D55 . Now it’s been said over the years by luthiers and enthusiast that the sides of guitar have no effect on tone etc .

I will say that this guitar is the first guitar that I ever played that you can actually feel the sides vibrating on . Mind blown ! The bass is rich and full but again in balance with other strings . Heaven sounds like a good word for it

You want rumble ? you need guitar that’s built light enough to vibrate but if your feeling the rumble against you chest your snuggling ! your holding back the guitars tone only hug your guitar when your done playing otherwise keep it off that nasty chest if yours !!! Lmao

Welcome the bass rabbit hole ! Just gunna have to play them all to figure out which one is best for you ! Oh Martin Monels are good strings only after 3 days of playing anything before that meh ! Lmao

 

[Skywalker]

I second that monel strings are truly remarkable of low E and A string bass. Powerful, rich overtones and great sustain. Pretty much the opposite of the rest of the strings in my opinion. My ideal string set is probably these for bass and the rest 80/20s , but buying two string sets for every change isn’t really in my budget. I would still offer Monel E and A strings as offering a significant bass upgrade that’s well worth trying.

 

[Rayk]

I second that monel strings are truly remarkable of low E and A string bass. Powerful, rich overtones and great sustain. Pretty much the opposite of the rest of the strings in my opinion. My ideal string set is probably these for bass and the rest 80/20s , but buying two string sets for every change isn’t really in my budget. I would still offer Monel E and A strings as offering a significant bass upgrade that’s well worth trying.

I have monels on the Breedlove and nano webs PB’s on the D55

 

[Br1ck]

I bought my 70 D 35 with unplayable action. The open strings sounded ok with a break angle almost nonexistent, but $250 was cheap even 20 years ago. So $1100 later I had a guitar that was better than ok, quite good, but would I have paid $1200 for it in a store? Doubt it.

Each time I've played it over the course of the last ten years, I've liked it a bit better. I once recorded a song with a basic rhythm guitar part. Three vocals, mandolin, second guitar we'll call lead, and bass. Four guitars recorded, my M36, my 65 Texan, a friends D 28 and the Guild. Honestly, recorded, I didn't touch the EQ. The rosewood guitars were a muddy mess, the Texan's bass had to be cut. This very flat recorded tone and the very audible can't describe it but I hear it old wood sound continues to be more appreciated as time goes by. Is it as sophisticated as my mahogany SCGC D PW? No. Does it stand up to a palm mute thrashing country bass tone like my Texan? Is it as bloomy as my Martin D 35 Custom, or as old timey as my 00 15? No, but it is unique and earns it's keep behind a country weeper as good as anything.

It's a sound many indoctrinated into the admittedly outstanding Martin dread sound will not immediateLy be drawn too. Hard to explain.

 

[Boomstick]

The D-40 very much needed a neck reset, and the D-55 had some Monel strings on it that sounded pretty meh.

I tried some medium gauge Monel strings on my D-55 before I got the neck reset. It also had this metallic bridge saddle pickup in it that made it brighter and killed midrange. The monel strings themselves were pretty scooped sounding, but the bass response was glorious. Between getting a bone saddle and lifting the strings more off the top, that completely changes the guitar's response.

My D-55 has really good bass response. It definitely has more bass than a rosewood Martin dreadnaught, but it might take a minute to realize that beause it also has a lot more mids. My maple F-50 also has a very deep bass response, not as much as the D-55 but I play some things on it and it sounds full (see my F-50 string recording post).

My G-37 has bass more inline with mahogany guitars, and my D-25 might have good bass for a mahogany guitar, but not that of rosewood or some maple guitars by any means.

I'm not sure that one specific era has more or less bass than others if all guitars are in equal condition. Lighter builds may have a thinner top and may have more bass with lighter strings and lighter picking where the thicker top, heavier build (Westerly post 72 or 73 era) may let you run mediums and give you more bass with heavier picking. Aging also plays into this. If you find one you like, go for it.

Strings also can make a pretty huge difference. If you liked that Oxnard D-40, I'd say get it and add some GHS Americana strings (they basically have more bass than any other string I've used), although I would probably use DR Rares for the balanced midrange on a D-40 first personally.

One thing I like about all of my Guilds is that the notes are consistent and don't thin out up the neck.