Greetings. I own a '92 blonde Artist Award. Had it for about 18 months now and, over time, I find I like it more and more. To respond to your comments, I'll try to describe what I've found out with my AA. Long post, but try to bear with me.
I would agree that the electric sound form the AA pickup sometimes seems a bit difficult to work with. At full volume, the guitar can sound a bit too bright (to my taste), especially on the first string. Also, it bothered me a bit that I always ended up turning my amplifier's treble control all the way down to zero. I thought it would be nice to find an amp that sounded right when the tone controls were all set in their mid-ranges, but I couldn't achieve that with the Guild AA.
My amps: Roland JC-120, 1986 vintage; Evans JE-200. It may sound like I've been complaining about the Guild's sound, but NOT SO! I still set the treble controls on both of these amps at zero, but the sounds that come out are absolutely great -- not muffled, still with a lot of presence.
I also own a 2005 Gibson L-5 Wes Montgomery model -- another wonderful guitar. (Heck, my mutual fund kept losing money but I figured quality guitars will steadily appreciate over time.)
The L-5, with it's tone control, is much easier to "dial in." It actually sounds very good over the whole range of it's volume and tone controls. Fine electronics, I think. Acoustically, I think it's tone is a bit darker than the Guild; the Guild is a bit brighter or more 'treble' sounding. Acoustic volumes seem to be about the same.
To try and compare the Guild AA and the Gibson L-5:
(1) The Guild feels like it must be a pound or more lighter (haven't weighed them)
(2) For the Guild, I turn the amp's treble back to zero, and the amp volume up a bit to get the same output. The Guild floating pickup puts out about 6 db less than the full-size Gibson humbucker.
(3) Adjust the amp volume high enough so I can back off on the Guild's volume control to about 6 to 8 on it's scale. This really tames most of the bright, high frequency output. The resulting sound is absolutely wonderful. Not as 'dark', but it's mellow, and much more "woody" sounding than the L-5. When I hear them back-to-back, the Artist Award is usually the winner to my ear.
(4) The Guild seems to be much more sensitive (than the Gibson) to your picking location. If you pick the strings in the vicinity of the pickup, the sound is very, very warm and mellow. Too close (more than half way) to the bridge and it seems to be much less forgiving than the Gibson.
(5) Finally, I've been using mostly round-wound strings. From 12-54 to 13-57 gages. Strung like that, the Guild's sixth string actually sounds quite piano-like! I'm trying some 12-52 flatwounds on it now. Those take out more of the overly bright sounds but they still leave a pretty nice woody tone. Not as resonant, of course, but easier on the fingers.
Summary: I think the Guild wins on stunning good looks, style, workmanship, and with it's very sweet, woody archtop resonance. It's a little less versatile than the Gibson because of it's smaller pickup and without a tone control. For now I'd say that I'd grab the Gibson to play Blues, or to more easily blend in with a bunch of other instruments. But, for THAT sound in jazz solos, the L-5 is nice, but you'd have to spend a whole lot more money with a high-end luthier to beat the Guild Artist Award.
George
p.s. More explanation -- for any readers who want to shop for a good jazz guitar -- I bought the Gibson about six months ago. Wanted one since I was a kid. Had the Guild for a year already, but I didn't know if I'd missed the Holy Grail or something. I figured that I'd find out and sell the Guild if it didn't measure up. Now, I'm just loving them both. They're similar enough that, if I had to, I could sell either one. But they're both so nice to hold and different to hear that I don't think I could sell either one of them. Just want to make sure you Guild fans know that if I'm playing well, the Guild AA always puts a fresh smile on my face.