Not all that “vintage”, but they don’t make them like this no more! Here is a fine example of a Guild dreadnought from one of my favorite era: the 2004-2008 Tacoma era.
Tacoma Guilds are among the best ever made in my humble opinion. They abuntantly used super fine woods like Adirondack spruce, while still keeping the traditional construction and build techniques (dovetail neck joint, hide glue throughout). Guild made in the later factories (New Hartford, Oxnard), while being nice guitars, kinda lost the tradition and “Guildness”.
Dark stained Honduran mahogany for the back, sides and neck. A classic tone wood that enhances clarity and chimey overtones. Whether it is on a Martin D-18, a Gibson J45 or an old Guild, this may very well be my favorite tone wood.
Such a classic look…
Here’s a little close-up of the superb Adirondack top. Grain lines are straight, close and evenly spaced, typical of old growth wood. It shows the typical medulary rays of this species (a bit thicker than the silking found on Sitka spruce). It’s a very pretty top and I can confirm its tone even surpasses the look!
Does it get better than this brown / red celluloid pickguard?
Rosewood bridge in the classic Guild curves
The Guild logo and Chesterfield motif are inlaid pieces of mother of pearl. Very classy touch on a rather plainly decorated guitar.
Grover Rotomatic tuners, the gold standard since 1958!
This D40 Bluegrass Jubilee has seen its share of G runs and has the scars to prove it. The thin and hard nitro finish has dings and scratches throughout, some deeper than others. But thanks, it’s free of any crack or other structural flaw. Note: the pickup was removed and the jack plug left disconnected.
There’s some hard to photograph belt buckle rash on the back, but it’s there. This fine player ain’t no case queen for sure.
Cool thing is despite all the nicks and scratches, the neck is free of any defect. It’s all smooth and super comfy at that. Nut width is the typical 1.11/16th and the shape is a slightly fat rounded C. I would say this profile is a bit thicker than a Martin modern shape, or a Westerly Guild shape, but it’s a bit thinner than a 1950′ Gibson profile. Fits very nicely in the hand with some substance, me loves.
I like the Guild heel shape, very rounded and elegant.
Tacoma Guilds are some of my favorites because of the classic construction (hide glue, dovetailed necks…), use of Adi tops and nice finish and neck shapes. Wish they were still made there.
Here it is in its high quality TKL (Canada) original hard case. Case candy’s still in the pocket.
Here’s a song we made with my duet Jolies Letters, featuring the Guild D40 capoed up at the 5th fret. The video captures the tone of the guitar quite well. It’s big and balanced, with strong clarity and full frequency range. It rings clearly with lots of clean sustain, very much like this 1962 Martin D-18. To the best of my knowledge, this sort of rich “high fidelity” tone can be obtained only with well weathered instruments with top grade wood (Adirondack is a plus), hide glue construction and thin hard lacquer finish.
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