Affinity for the petite, small body F 20

Jeff

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Anyone playing a small body F 20 or M 20?

I received an F 20 a couple years ago, a gift from a lady. . . She & I have have been involved intimately from day one. As a matter of fact, I have one arm draped around her pretty little neck right now.

She & I spend countless hours cuddled up in a comfortable chair, or leaned back against the pillows. Her trim little body hardly takes up any room at all, and except for being uncommonly loud, you would never know she was there, light as a feather, weighs nothing at all. My first Guild.

My F 20 is a fun little guitar to play, it has a nice voice & plenty loud enough to play with the big boys. Always gets a thumbs up, or at least a nod from other pickers when you get her fired up. It takes more than one Dreadnaught to overpower this little guitar. I understand most all of the M 20 & F 20 series are similar, loud little devils with nice voices.

It's fun to watch reactions when the little Guild comes out of the case. Folks are always interested because, of course, it's a Guild, a little bitty one, cute maybe, not very pretty, never was, but still in nice shape. Interest changes to appreciation & respect when they hear or play it.

I had the neck reset, a fret job, the bridge reglued & a bone saddle about 6 months after it was given to me. Gene did a $1,000 job on a $150.00 guitar & charged me $600.

By now you can tell just how astute this guitar trader is, doesn't matter, it's a sweet player all the way up the neck to the body. I bought a Taylor T5 last year & the fingerboard on the F 20 is pretty much it's equal. The Taylor hangs on the wall, pretty, bit of a wallflower, it gets asked to dance once in a while, collects a bit of dust, The Guild gets played all the time. A couple frets are almost gone again.

The Taylor is nice, but you could probably talk me out of it with a reasonably generous offer, (or trade?). The F 20 is gonna cost ya!

Sorry about the Taylor guys, I was looking for a vint Starfire & the only one I could find withn 110 miles at the time had a crude headstock repair & they wanted $1495 for it. The shop still has it, now offered at $995.

I have never heard an M 20 and am curious how the sound differs. Also curious if Guild ever built other small body guitars, maybe a little higher end. A rosewood "R 20" would be interesting.
 

hansmoust

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Jeff said:
Anyone playing a small body F 20 or M 20? I have never heard an M 20 and am curious how the sound differs. Also curious if Guild ever built other small body guitars, maybe a little higher end. A rosewood "R 20" would be interesting.

Hello Jeff,

My favorite small body Guild is an F-30, but I do have an F-20 and an M-20 as well. My F-20 is a sunburst one in maple from 1958. Don't know if you have my book, but if you do, it's the one on page 107.
Over the years I had many M-20s. Basically I was trading up all the time and selling the one I had when I came across a nicer one. Never had problems selling them. I finally settled on a late sixties one, which had the optional Gloss Cherry finish. It also has the optional 'Electronics' from that particular period, but that's a joke! It's a real good guitar though.

Describing the difference in sound is hard because there are a lot of different versions of the F-20. There are maple and mahogany ones and some are short scale and others are the long scale variety. Because of their similar sized bodies they both have the same nice 'high end' but for me the key-words would be 'more fundamental' for the M-20 and a little more 'air-y' for the average F-20.

As far as a higher-end small bodied guitar is concerned I think the A-50 from the 2nd half of the '90s would be the closest that Guild ever came to a rosewood small body guitar, but it's 15" body is already close to an F-30.

Can you show us a photo of your F-20?

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
 

Jeff

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Hans,

Thank you for the info on the F 20 M 20 series. It sounds like your F20 & mine are quite similar, Ser # on mine is 4492, Sunburst spruce top, Dark maple stained back & sides. I suspect the back & sides are maple ply. The back is not the traditional two piece, "bookmarked" construction, it has a one piece back.

I have a picture file stored in an on line web site. I'd be happy to post some pictures if I could get some direction on the computer mechanics involved.

It pictures up nicely, it is a nice example of the time.

My senses twitched a little when you mentioned the A 50. F 30's are mahogany, correct, ? the A 50's Rosewood? What are the chances of finding one, would you know how many were manufactured.

I was outbid on a paperback edition of your book. I prefer hard cover books & bid accordingly. Seems like you should have the 2nd edition ready shorly, perhaps up thru the 1st few Fender years.
 

john_kidder

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I have the same kind of feelings for my '57 M-20 that you have for the F-20. Sound, size, and shape are all just right for me.

I also bought a later ('80S) AQUA coloured (yep, the label says "F-20 Aqua") for my daughter's first guitar. Suits her to a T as well.
 
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F20/M20

My lovely wife has an early 90's M20. I am generally not interested in small-bodied guitars - too 'boxy' for me. However, several years ago, I spent a good bit of time playing a friend's F20. For fingerstyle it could not be beat and it had a wonderfully loud voice. Truly, the F20 is an amazing little guitar.

This M20 came from Spruce Tree Music up in Wisconsin and he had two at the time. I should have bought both. The M20 had immediately a warmth and a dark, rich tone that caught my attention, but, yes, it did have a boxy sound to it. However, over the last few years, the guitar has seen lots of road time, lots of playing and is never left in its case - therefore getting to resonate in the study and always ready to be played. It has already begun to markedly mature and some of the boxy sound has gone away and what has increased is the dark, rich tone - still clear, but dusky like a good peaty single malt.

And it's loud - more than holds its own against my small jumbos on stage and complimenting the dreadnaughts in the studio. The F20 had a magically light sound and rang sweetly by comparison. Both of these 'small ones' are something Carlo Greco and the old heads at Guild should be justifiably proud of. Jan's newer reissue follows in the tradition of starting great and only getting better with age.

Best to you all....dbs

Dudley-Brian Smith
Smithfield Fair
 
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20s - OOPS

I erred in the earlier post - Jan's M20 is a 2000 series - meant to say 'early 2000's - NOT 'early 90's'. I purchased that in 2001 and in just the 5 years since we've had it - it has matured well. Want to be correct in that. dbs

Dudley-Brian Smith
Smithfield Fair
 

hansmoust

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Jeff said:
Hans,

Thank you for the info on the F 20 M 20 series. It sounds like your F20 & mine are quite similar, Ser # on mine is 4492, Sunburst spruce top, Dark maple stained back & sides. I suspect the back & sides are maple ply. The back is not the traditional two piece, "bookmarked" construction, it has a one piece back.

I have a picture file stored in an on line web site. I'd be happy to post some pictures if I could get some direction on the computer mechanics involved.

It pictures up nicely, it is a nice example of the time.

My senses twitched a little when you mentioned the A 50. F 30's are mahogany, correct, ? the A 50's Rosewood? What are the chances of finding one, would you know how many were manufactured.

I was outbid on a paperback edition of your book. I prefer hard cover books & bid accordingly. Seems like you should have the 2nd edition ready shorly, perhaps up thru the 1st few Fender years.

Hello again Jeff,

Yes, the back & sides would be maple ply.

If you don't know how to post a picture, just mail it to me and I'll make sure it gets posted.

The A-50 from the mid-'90s is not a real rare guitar but it was only made during a short period with a little less than 250 instruments made, so with a little luck you should be able to find one.

Part 2 of the Guild book will pick up where the first part ended, so the first 25 years will not be covered in Part 2. It might take a while before Part 2 is finished though. Can't give a possible publishing date but I will post it here as soon as I have an idea.

I still have a couple of 'Limited Edition' hardcovers left. Not too many though, so if you would like to get one, don't wait too long!

Sincerely,

Hans
 

hansmoust

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Jeff's F-20

Here are some photos of Jeff's F-20:

[img:202:480]http://www.guitarchives.nl/fotos/M20_1.jpg[/img]

[img:346:480]http://www.guitarchives.nl/fotos/M20_2.jpg[/img]

[img:360:480]http://www.guitarchives.nl/fotos/M20_3.jpg[/img]

[img:452:640]http://www.guitarchives.nl/fotos/M20_4.jpg[/img]

[img:360:480]http://www.guitarchives.nl/fotos/M20_5.jpg[/img]
 
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