NGD: Surprise 30th Birthday Pipe Dream Guitar

[MinTac]

Congrats, sounds you married a keeper.

[Wellington]

Wow thank you everyone for the love, I'm certainly a very lucky man that's for sure!

[kcnbys]

I absolutely love your story! My wife did the EXACT same thing for my 30th birthday back in 1997. In my case (no pun intended) my dream guitar at the time was any Taylor dred, and the gift that everyone chipped in to get me was a '97 410. Enjoy your Guild!!

[Dwight]

Congratulations on the great family, friends and guitar!

[Pinetreebob]

Originally Posted by Wellington

So, on thanksgiving was my 30th birthday, and being an introvert and someone who hates being the centre of attention I emphasized to my wife I didn't want a party many months ago already, and we also agreed on about a $500 budget for a gift as she insisted she needed to get me a gift. I realized in the early summer she was wanting to buy me an expensive guitar, as she asked me some questions about guitar models, which I immediately knew something was up, I was caught on that she must have asked my best friend to prod about acoustics. But time went on and we had the money discussion a few times and I had given a guitar suggestion in the $500 range, a Simon & Patrick Woodland Cedar, and other ideas like a some Makita 18v tools for my work, a new table saw.

Now, for some guitar context, I mainly play a Yamaha LL16. My 'dream guitar' list consisted of Guild D40, Larrivee D40, Gibson J45/J15, Yamaha FG3/5, Epiphone AJ45 etc.
Guilds are hard to come by in Canada, very hard, especially where I am, so there was literally no option to ever try a new one. A good friend of mine recently bought a 70's Guild D35, and I really liked the way the way it played but it was 40+ years old, thats a lot of time for changes in build.

Fast forward to yesterday, we were at my parents place and my sisters and their husbands came down as well to celebrate thanksgiving as well my birthday. So my wife made me sit with my eyes closed and they brought out the wrapped box and set it on my lap, I knew it must be a guitar as it was a long rectangular box.
At that moment, I thought 'well the S&P was in the budget so it could be that. If it's not, and because of how big of a deal she had made this, if by chance somehow she got me a high end guitar, it would more than likely be the Larrivee (which is a phenomenal guitar) because they are readily available in Saskatchewan. I started peeling the paper and saw writing on the box. There was no brand name, but I knew right away it was Guild writing, I recognized it from the website.
I was wondering if it was a joke at one moment, haha. I pulled the case out of the box and opened it up, shaking a bit. It was a sunburst Guild D40 Traditional. Not exactly the model on my list of dream guitars, as this was the Traditional model, which costed more, has nitro finish and tortoise binding, adirondack scalloped bracing etc.

I couldn't believe it, how did she pay for this?! I opened the card and saw a touching note with a whole list of people who chipped in for this guitar, a big list, I couldn't believe it. She had been concocting this for months, she even sold her old Chevette that was stored to fund it. To say my wife is exceptionally loving and amazing is an understatement.

Anyway, the place she bought it from was a shop out of Calgary, his name is Mark and was apparently extremely helpful to my wife. Before that, she had ordered the regular D40 from Reverb, that glitched, along with a couple other set backs. He convinced her to get the Traditional, and assured her I could exchange or return it within a year if it's not scratched, plus he gave her a really good deal. Nonetheless, it's not a cheap guitar, far above my skills require.

And, my sister made an incredible cake and icing version of me playing guitar haha

The guitar is so incredible, I've only had it a day and haven't been able to play it a ton, but I can already see I'll most likely stick with this guitar, it's something else. Very balanced but with a strong enough bass presence. Neck feels great, even though I prefer satin. Playability overall is fantastic, sound is incredible. Intonated so dang well, it's still quite surreal that it's mine, I don't feel worthy of it.

I do have the freedom to exchange it for something else, a D18 is probably a similar price, but i don't think i'll part with it, I much prefer the playability of this to a D18. It's so nice!

Also, I've never bought a high end guitar, the strap button is not installed, do I just twist it in, or do I bring it in to get it installed correctly? I might just get a JJB or K&K installed eventually.

Check it out!

You are one lucky dude! Enjoy and happy birthday!

[Cool555]

Great story! Beautiful guitar! Awesome wife! Enjoy your guitar!

[emtsteve]

Beautiful guitar and wonderful wife! Blessings abound.

You mentioned a Makita drill and table saw in your post so I assume you have some woodworking skills. Installing a strap button on the heel of the guitar is simple if you are handy and have some basic skills. The keys are to measure and be sure of where your are putting it. Then pre-drill with a drill bit properly sized to the screw, and with tape to mark your depth. Use a felt cushion and screw it in by hand. A little bar soap or wax on the screw threads will help too. Take your time and you'll be fine.

Check this site for more info: http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musi...apbutton1.html

Have fun!

[Wellington]

Originally Posted by emtsteve

Beautiful guitar and wonderful wife! Blessings abound.

You mentioned a Makita drill and table saw in your post so I assume you have some woodworking skills. Installing a strap button on the heel of the guitar is simple if you are handy and have some basic skills. The keys are to measure and be sure of where your are putting it. Then pre-drill with a drill bit properly sized to the screw, and with tape to mark your depth. Use a felt cushion and screw it in by hand. A little bar soap or wax on the screw threads will help too. Take your time and you'll be fine.

Check this site for more info: http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musi...apbutton1.html

Have fun!

Thanks! I've actually installed strap buttons i number of times, it's actually the end pin one, there is a hole but it needs to be opened up more, not sure i want to mess with it. I have a JJB coming in the mail to be installed anyway, ill probably bring it in somewhere.

[emtsteve]

Originally Posted by Wellington

Thanks! I've actually installed strap buttons i number of times, it's actually the end pin one, there is a hole but it needs to be opened up more, not sure i want to mess with it. I have a JJB coming in the mail to be installed anyway, ill probably bring it in somewhere.

Ah, my mistake. Rock on!

[varmonter]

She's a keeper.. your wife that is..

[musicman1951]

What a great story. Happy Birthday. And may I suggest that if you didn't deserve it you wouldn't have it. Enjoy every note.

[merlin666]

Happy Birthday and congratulations for an awesome wife and guitar. There are several Guild dealers in Canada, I even have one in small town Regina.

[caperrob]

Happy Birthday and congratulations!!!!

I say you better keep her, your wife I mean You got a great one there!!!

[Mattface]

OK I've got more grey hair and also got a few pounds on you in real life, but in cake world we look exactly alike! Hope you don't mind, my wife is getting ready to ask folks to help chip in for my 50th birthday present, and your cake was a pretty darned good likeness of me, so I greyed up the beard and changed the 3 and stole your cake.

[draelyc]

That's awesome!!!