NGD Guild D-40 Bluegrass Jubilee

[Larry Mal]

This guitar would go well with a monocle:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... e-sunburst

[Bert Camenbert]

This guitar would go well with a monocle:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... e-sunburst

This guitar would go even better:

[Larry Mal]

Yes. Yes it would.

[Maggieo]

This guitar would go well with a monocle:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... e-sunburst

Probably too close to my Waterloo.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Glad to hear you're liking the guitar.

I actually swapped what was a long-lasting love affair with mahogany dreadnoughts ('73 Eko Ranger VI) for a rosewood/sitka Guild D50, made in Westerley, back in 1977. It's a gorgeous guitar, bright projection & very well balanced even though it's fucking loud & has just the right amount of detailing - inlayed headstock, slightly detailed binding & stripe down the back - without being too bling (like the D55).

All that aside, I'd love to hear a mahogany version of this guitar so the D40 probably ticks all the boxes.

Mine has, I believe, the same nut width, which I never had a problem with. It also has a much flatten radius to the fretboard than the Eko Ranger (which I was warned about) but have never been bothered by either. The only issue is a slightly high action past the 9th - 12th fret that I can live with until I get the neck reset.

Killer guitars. Very affordable compared to Martins & Gibsons. Plus, they never seemed to have a duff era. From what I've read, the Guild factories have been consistently churning out great guitars for decades.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

[Despot]

Congrats on the Guild Larry - well bought!

I got my father a similar era Guild, albeit an auditorium size rather than a D size, for his 60th birthday a few years back. He's been learning to play it (part of the gift was in getting lessons from me as well) and it's a really lovely guitar. His is rosewood back and sides with an adirondack top. It's a super loud guitar too. The only issue I found with it was the neck profile - it feels very wide/flat, with a quite slim neck (much like a Gibson 60s reissue neck). It's fine, I just prefer round C shaped necks on acoustics.

The nicest guitar I've ever played was actually a Guild - a '60s D55 with brazilian rosewood back and sides. That thing was just wonderful - it was a totally different beast to the Gibsons I've had.

Never met a bad Guild yet. I've had maybe five - there are oddities to them (particularly old Starfires - the two I've played were '70s guitars and both had a completely flat fret board which I found odd), but they've always been good guitars whenever I've encountered them.

[Larry Mal]

Thank you- like a lot of us around here, I've had my eye on some Starfires and this guitar is making that more likely. I will probably have to keep an eye out for Guilds moving forward more than I have.

This guitar is rich... it's like butter. I've been keeping it at work this week, and when I go home I play my Gibson acoustics that I love. But what a difference... I like that Gibson dry sound plenty, and microphones love it even more, but compared to this Guild it's just night and day. The Guild is just so rich, and enveloping, with sustain and harmonics all over the place. It's really something.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

This guitar is rich... it's like butter....I like that Gibson dry sound plenty, and microphones love it even more, but compared to this Guild it's just night and day. The Guild is just so rich, and enveloping, with sustain and harmonics all over the place. It's really something.

That'll be the mahogany. There's a warmth about it.

I'm glad this post exists because it's thrown up an idea that hadn't crossed my mind until now - a smaller bodied, mahogany acoustic very much along the lines of that M20.

[Larry Mal]

Maybe, but I do have a mahogany J-45, a J-35, the L-00 and none of them have this lush quality. For that matter, I used to have a Taylor 410 that I liked for years, it was a long scale dread, and it absolutely did not have this rich sound.

I'd guess it's either the Adirondack or the Guild build or just this particular guitar.

None of it's bad, though. This is just a different sound.

[Bert Camenbert]

This guitar is rich... it's like butter....I like that Gibson dry sound plenty, and microphones love it even more, but compared to this Guild it's just night and day. The Guild is just so rich, and enveloping, with sustain and harmonics all over the place. It's really something.

That'll be the mahogany. There's a warmth about it.

I'm glad this post exists because it's thrown up an idea that hadn't crossed my mind until now - a smaller bodied, mahogany acoustic very much along the lines of that M20.

I don't know how common they are in your part of the world, but I warmly recommend the Simon & Patrick Woodland Pro Folk Mahogany . I own one with a spruce top. Nothing fancy, but they're a very good bang for the buck.

[Larry Mal]

I was playing one of those Martin 0-15m or the 00-15m the other day, if I have the model names right, and for whatever reason they were sounding very good to me. I don't always love the all mahogany thing but for whatever reason it was appealing to me the other day.

[DesmondWafers]

Try a 00015sm. I played one in a store a few weeks ago and it was one of the best sounding guitars I've ever heard. If I had the cash, I would have bought it on the spot.