Opinions on Guild Guitars?

[StephenHD35]

I don't know if it is still the case, but Guilds seemed to take a brutal, and I always thought unfair, beating in the used market. To the point that buying a new Guild didn't make any sense. Although a few years back I nearly bought a brand new 12 fret Orpheum mahogany dread. Really nice guitar.

[fuman]

Man, Y'all have me Jonesing for a Guild.

I think the Gruhn-era (mid-80's to sometime in the early/mid 90s) Guilds were among my favorite guitars ever, and the GF-30 is one of my all-time favs. I hope to get one someday.

You should also look at the GV/DV series, with herringbone trim and scalloped braces, from the same era.

If you like dreads, the D-35 might be a price-performance all-timer. And the Jumbos -- golly. I love the F-50, but you can get a de-blinged JF-30 and it's a phenomenal guitar for a reasonable price.

But the 12s -- everything you hear is true. They are superlative. I think Taylors may have them beat on playability generally, but not by much, and you're not going to get anything that sounds better without laying down boutique money.

[Brucebubs]

As fuman says above, "I love the F-50, but you can get a de-blinged JF-30 and it's a phenomenal guitar for a reasonable price."

Right now there's a very nice 1994 USA made JF-30 here in the AGF classifieds for $875.

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=519070

[Tico]

I love my 3 Westerly Guilds, left to right:
1977 D55, Sitka over IRW, bought new.
1977 F212 XL, Sitka over Hog, bought used.
1973 D44M, Sitka over Flame Maple, inherited from my best friend the original purchaser.

I can't speak for other Guild eras or factories; all I can say is these 3 guitars are magical!

[Guitaurman]

Originally Posted by ClaptonWannabe2

You sure that wasn't a Volkswagen?

To clarify. I LOVE guilds. I think Audis are purty. I've never tried to maintain either.

The title and Logo on the jalopy said Audi. Is there a difference?

While we might not agree on cars, I also have loved Guild guitars for a long time. Two of my best musician friends had nice Guild six and twelve strings 40years ago and gigged with them for a living. I loved their sound and feel. I love my Guild! I notice I haven't seen one negative comment about them on this thread.

[guitar george]

2000 D30 and 1997 DV52

GUILDS.jpg

[1Charlie]

In terms of quality, I wouldn't agree that Fender drove Guild into the ground. The proof is in the late Westerly guitars (post-1995), along with the Corona, Tacoma and New Hartford Guilds, which can stand proudly with those that came before them.

What Fender failed to do, IMO, was to adequately support the marketing and dealer support for Guild, culminating in the decision to close the New Hartford operation in May 2014 and subsequently selling the brand to Cordoba.

All along, the guitars have been very consistently good, wherever they were made. I own a bunch of them.

[Long tooth]

‘91 Westerly D55. My first good guitar. Will hang onto it. Guilds on the secondary market are some of the best values in used guitardom.

[Brucebubs]

Here's another way of looking at it.

I own a factory 2nd Corona build F-412.

So it's a guitar with a faulty top coat from the least liked build era.

It stays in tune for weeks and plays and sounds absolutely superb.

So if this is a 'bad' one, the good ones must be incredible!

[rwmct]

Fender did not run Guild into the ground. They just sold it.

It looks to me like Fender decided it was not in the small manufacturer business. They were making wonderful guitars, but not enough of them for Fender to really care.

[Wildgift]

No mention here of the GAD/Westerly Chinese guitars. I have an F-130Rce and it is, in a word, incredible. Every inch the equal of my Martin.

[Steadfastly]

I don't think I have ever played a Guild. We just have never had any dealers where I have lived. I think it's time I changed that. From what I have read and heard, they are one of the better builders of fine instruments.

[birdsong]

Great thread and I've read every post....... : )

I have a related question. I have a Guild G212 NT, from about 1977 (label inside also "says" Westerly RI and 2 websites indicate this is correct). I'm wondering if anyone knows anything about this model? I bought in about 1990 used and never thought to ask the fellow for any history on it. I've looked around online some....but hard to find much info. I like it well enough although I have a bit more trouble playing it, due to neuropathy from some serious chemo in 2009. It seems like a decent guitar and hard to let it go although I probably should. According to site specs it is solid sitka top, probably laminated mahogany back/sides (no site ever says "solid" which I interpret as laminated). And when I do searches a lot of "GAD" models come up and I have to wade through the hit list, but this is not a GAD ...... so again if anyone has a comment on this model I'd appreciate it. The "F" line gets more commentary as they are a higher quality build.

[JohnW63]

For some info...http://westerlyguildguitars.com/guitars/g212.html

It's basically a 12 string version of the D-40. The NT is just Natural Finish as opposed to SB for Sunburst.

[robj144]

I love Guilds. My favorite of the factory made guitars. I also have an Orpheum not in my signature below which is outstanding.