GUILD GUITARS

The Guild Guitar Company is a USA-based guitar manufacturer founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge. The first Guild workshop was located in New York City and produced exclusively crafted guitars from carefully chosen woods, hand wound pickups and fine lacquers.[1]
Incorporating and merging the needs of both the jazz and rock and roll musician, the Guild company produces well made, warm tone electric and acoustic guitars. For some time this production took place in the hallowed Westerly, Rhode Island workshops. Acquired in 1995 by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, all Guild production was eventually moved to the Corona, CA factory. In 2004, FMIC acquired the assets of Washington-based Tacoma Guitar Company and all American Guild acoustic production has since been moved to Tacoma, WA. The 42,000 square-foot Tacoma facility is now one of the largest volume manufacturers of acoustic guitars in the United States.(At the same time, production of Guild electrics was discontinued.)
For a short time reissues of 1960s and 1970s Guild instruments were manufactured in Korea under the DeArmond brand name. Models included the Starfire, Bluesbird and Pilot Bass Series. These instruments display the DeArmond inlay on the headstock while the truss rod cover shows the Guild name and logo. In 2005, Fender introduced the Chinese-built Guild GAD series acoustic guitars.
The company is probably most well noted for its acoustic guitars. In particular, the F50 and D50 models are very highly regarded. Musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Nick Drake, Martha Wainwright, John Denver, Nanci Griffith, Brian May, Paul Collins, Kim Thayil, Roger Hodgson, Slash, and Eric Clapton have utilised various acoustic Guild guitars. Guild also has produced a series of solid and hollow body electric guitars, and its electric guitars have also seen considerable fame. Arguably the most popular of these electric guitars, the Guild Starfire (and its subsequent editions) became a trademark product, being used by such notables as Dave Davies of British rock group The Kinks, Buddy Guy and Tom Fogerty of American band Creedence Clearwater Revival. A battered blond Guild has been used by Tom Waits since his early days (he could be seen playing a Guild throughout his recent Real Gone Tour). Paul Collins' Beat features Guild acoustic guitars on the cover art to their Live In Spain CD. More recently Guild also created several replicas of Brian May's Red Special handmade guitars throughout the 1980s and 90's, and was known in the grunge era for creating the S-100, the trademark guitar of Soundgarden's Kim Thayil. Guild entered the solid-body fashion in the 1980s with a series of superstrat-style solid bodies including models such as the Flyer, Aviator, Liberator and Detonator, the Tele-style T-200 and T-250 (endorsed by Roy Buchanan) as well as the famous Pilot Bass, available in fretted, fretless, 4 and 5-string versions.


Guild D50ce Review:

Features : 10 American made (Corona, California) Cutaway dreadnought acoustic with Fishman Prefix Pro Blender. Glossy finish. All solid woods. The top is Spruce, back and sides are Rosewood. Grover Tuners. I bought it used but I'm certain that it comes with a Guild case. I think its gorgeous!
Sound : 9 Like classic Guilds, this guitar has that classic booming sound. But unlike the old school Guilds it has a crisp clear mid range and high range. The sound is more like a 810ce Taylor or Martin D28. Its great! When I first got it, there seemed to be a short in the Fishman, but a quick cleaning of the connections inside the pickup fixed the problem. I feel confident in the sound of this guitar in many different genres.
Action, Fit, & Finish : 9 I played with the setup some but not very much. I'm a big fan of the Grover Tuners and was very happy to find them standard on these Guilds. To be honest I don't remember anything definite that was wrong with the action or finish, and that's crazy because I have a tendency to be very picky. It was great
Reliability/Durability : 10 I have worked in music stores and love to go into any music store that I see and I don't think that I have ever picked up an acoustic that felt more sturdy. Period.
Overall Rating : 10 I have played for around 8 years now. For fun and for cash on the weekends. I've played with a lot of different gigs with Martin's, Takamine's, Tacoma's and Taylor's, but I can't get away from this Guild. It fits everything that I need in a gig guitar and it doesn't feel like its going to fall apart any time soon. If this guitar were stolen I would hope that I could find another like it, because its incredible!

Guild GAD-C2 Review:

Features : 9 Recently made in China. Hauser shape classical guitar. Solid western cedar top. solid Indian rosewood back and sides. mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard, rosewood headstock overlay, very nice rosette, rosewood bridge, bone nut and saddle. Fan braced,all wood binding and purfling, dovetail neck joint. The case will protect the guitar but the case I got smells skunky.
Sound : 9 After putting on some Hannabach Goldin strings,it sounds very good. You could get really good tone out of this and I expect it to open up over time. Sound is subjective , I have handmade guitars and have played many others(Spanish etc etc) I like this from the get-go. Good volume.
Action, Fit, & Finish : 9 Like most factory guitars the action was higher than I like, I lowered the saddle so I have about 1/8 at the 12th fret. I may have a luthier lower the nut but who knows,it's not to bad as it is. The neck is finished in a satin so that is a nice feature. The body is gloss with a very slight hazing in a few small areas I really have to get it in the right light to see it. The neck angle is spot on in relation to the bridge so I have room to drop the saddle more if I wanted. The woods are expertly matched. The back has a curved figure that is matched perfectly. Sides and top all go together well. The cedar top has straight grain and silking.
Reliability/Durability : 10 Seems sturdy enough.
Overall Rating : 10 I have been playing a long time and have owned and played many guitars. This is one I will be glad to play for many years and of course I am amazed by the "bang for the buck" with this Guild GAD-C2 and I am considering a GAD C3 both for the price of one "you know who-doba" This guitar holds it's own with guitars at twice the price. All solid high grade woods, can't stress that enough. No "sapelle lining" plywood here.