New New Guitar Day

[Larry Mal]

I really liked the older F-30 I had, but am not willing to invest in a refret and all that, so I had this one sent out. It's what I really wanted in the first place, that is, it's a New Hartford era Guild:



For anyone who doesn't know, Guild was made in Hoboken at first, then to Westerly, where they lived for decades. Nothing but good stuff made at both locations that I have ever heard, and that 1975 I had was very good.

However, Fender bought the company, and moved them to California, then Washington, then to New Hartford, Connecticut. Now they are owned by Cordoba and are made back in CA as I recall, at least the US ones are.

But when they were in New Hartford Guild was trying to compete as a guitar as good as anything you could possibly buy, so some of the guitars (like the D40 I had and this one) came with Adirondack tops and real Honduran mahogany (which they no longer use), and so on. They also radiused the tops tighter and really made great guitars. This model is the upscale "Aragon" one, so it has a three piece neck and some frankly pretty ugly faux tortoise binding that I guess they thought was an upgrade. In other words, Guild did not know how to make a better guitar at this point.

So I wanted that again, and I really wanted a classic OM shape, which this is, long scale and a little under 1.75" nut.

Here's a picture taken by my younger son Henry, so you can see me enjoying the shit out of it.

[marqueemoon]

Oh, that’s nice.

[Embenny]

Congrats, that looks great. I never got to try any of those New Hartford Guilds, but they look fantastic.

[Maggieo]

Here's a picture taken by my younger son Henry, so you can see me enjoying the shit out of it.

Looking good, Larry! Congrats on the sweet Guild score!

[Larry Mal]

Congrats, that looks great. I never got to try any of those New Hartford Guilds, but they look fantastic.

Yeah, so I wanted to jump in again.

I know I was throwing around "Adirondack spruce" and shit, and this is the second Guild and second acoustic I've had with Adirondack. I can't tell the difference whatsoever between that spruce and the Sitka you normally see more and I'm not telling anyone it's better or anything.

But it did cost more, and at the New Hartford era Guild got to compete against the obvious competitor of Martin by offering guitars with premium hardwoods and accoutrements and great construction and yet be cost competitive. In other words, Guild got to say "you get more guitar for the money" and that certainly translates used.

Nowadays Guild is positioned as a great guitar and great value, which they are, and a new acoustic Guild is as good as anything from what I can tell. But they are using things like sapele instead of mahogany and satin finishes and so on. Still great guitars! I've played a lot of them in stores and the M20 is amazing.

But the "Let's Talk Guild" folks told me that the upper line New Hartfords are just tremendous guitars for not a lot of money and I'll continue to chase that idea.

[GGJaguar]

But the "Let's Talk Guild" folks told me that the upper line New Hartfords are just tremendous guitars for not a lot of money and I'll continue to chase that idea.

They really are and so are the Tacoma-made Guilds. I have a NH F-40 and it's an amazing guitar. It takes to fingerstyle or flatpicking equally well. Like you said, the Oxnard Guilds are great sounding and I think they are, for the most part, as well made as the Tacoma and NH models. But, they don't use red spruce and they are using African mahogany (I think it's khaya, not sapele). Nothing wrong with Sitka/khaya at all, just a sign of the times.

The other reason I like the Tacoma and NH F-30/F-40 is that they use the original F-body shape from the 1960s. It's got it's own thing going on. I'm not sure why they changed to the mini-jumbo body shape in the 1970s for those two models, but I prefer the original shape. Oxnard's F-40 is actually a full-size jumbo anyway, so it's a different beast.

Enjoy your new Guild!!

[Larry Mal]

They really are and so are the Tacoma-made Guilds. I have a NH F-40 and it's an amazing guitar. It takes to fingerstyle or flatpicking equally well. Like you said, the Oxnard Guilds are great sounding and I think they are, for the most part, as well made as the Tacoma and NH models. But, they don't use red spruce and they are using African mahogany (I think it's khaya, not sapele). Nothing wrong with Sitka/khaya at all, just a sign of the times.

The other reason I like the Tacoma and NH F-30/F-40 is that they use the original F-body shape from the 1960s. It's got it's own thing going on. I'm not sure why they changed to the mini-jumbo body shape in the 1970s for those two models, but I prefer the original shape. Oxnard's F-40 is actually a full-size jumbo anyway, so it's a different beast.

Enjoy your new Guild!!

I think you are right about the khaya, and I agree it's a great sounding wood. Sapele sounds good also. I have nothing against the Oxnard Guilds and would absolutely buy one, the only thing I can hold against them is that they are competing against their own legacy with the New Hartford and Tacoma Guilds not to mention the older Westerlys.

And yeah, the reason I ended up with this F-30 is because I wanted to learn the classic OM type guitar, although the mini-jumbo F-30 I had sounded and played great and was every bit as good as this OM one other than the setup and the work it would have needed.

Cool guitar with the F-40... I would love one of those, also, but I'm covered on the Jumbo guitars with my Gibson J-100 (with bubinga back and sides) so I'll hang tight there. However, I would like another of the New Hartford D-40 Bluegrass Jubilees. That one hurts that I had to let it go.

[DrQuasar]

Very cool. The grain on the headstock is lovely.

[Larry Mal]

Very cool. The grain on the headstock is lovely.

Yeah, it's a little wood veneer on there. Looks sharp. Thanks!