The main place I've seen pear wood has been on old banjos and guitars from around 1890 to 1925 or so - on those instruments, pear wood was commonly used as an ebony substitute, and was dyed black with aniline dye.
What happens with a lot of those old dyed pear wood fingerboards and peghead veneers is that the acidity of the dye over time has caused a sort of dry rot, to the point where if you rub the surface of the fingerboard, sawdust comes up as you rub.
It's kind of distressing, really, particularly when (as on Orpheum banjos) there was a central piece of dyed pearwood laminated to two maple pieces for the neck - as that dyed pear wood piece crumbles, the whole neck essentially has to be replaced.
But pear wood left in its natural color is not something I've seen a lot of, particularly not used as back and side wood. I do know it's dense, so I imagine the tonal quality of pear wood back and sides would probably be similar to other "almost like maple" tonewoods like birch and sycamore - from a tonal standpoint they're in the maple ballpark, so to say, but since they're a little softer they're generally a bit more bassy than the hardest maple.
But that's pure speculation on my part as to whether that would apply to pear wood back and sides, since I've only ever seen it on fingerboards, peghead veneers and as part of the necks on old Orpheum banjos. I'd be interested to try one of those pear wood Guilds you mentioned.
Wade Hampton Miller
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