adorshki
Reverential Member
If any of the Cordoba guitars (where the mortice and tenon was introduced) are already needing resets I'd say that's a very bad sign in a 2-year old guitar.Is the same thing happening on the new Guild builds?
If any of the Cordoba guitars (where the mortice and tenon was introduced) are already needing resets I'd say that's a very bad sign in a 2-year old guitar.Is the same thing happening on the new Guild builds?
Of my two '90s Guilds, the saddle to pins spacing is a bit wider, but both have excellent neck angles & tons of remaining saddle, and I've seen many more from this era that sport ideal neck angles - twenty five or so years after leaving the factory.
Paying $700.00 brand new and another $400.00 for refrets on a guitar with a warranty (my D25), that one has the pleasure of growing old with for 20 years?So like it or not, spend $900 on the right D 25 and be happy for the next however many years. What else is better?
My '96 D25 fits that category, always strung with factory spec lights, always stored in case and indoors when not in my lap, and has over 1300 hours of playtime on it now.
And 2 complete refrets 'cause I like the feel and height of factory fresh frets.
@ J: When I got mine, neck reset was never specified as a warranteed repair, but I was sure that quality of materials and workmanship would be analyzed on a claim that seemed unreasonably premature, and did see 2 warranty resets performed for that reason during the New Hartford period under Fender ownership.
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That Cordoba would issue a blanket exclusion, rather than reserving the right to make case-by-case determinations, I find disheartening as well.
The Martin 20-year warranty is a relatively recent development, I think. I remember being surprised to hear that it was part of their lifetime warranty a few years back, but have seen reports otherwise since then.
Edit I see TommyM addressed both those concerns, thanks Tommy!.
Another good reason to tune 'em down and mind your string gauge. I don't have any tuned to standard anymore. Nicer on the paws too.
Just a quick (if slightly bitter) reminder to any UK subscribers to LTG.
If you're thinking of buying an old Guild from the US, and the guitar is constructed in part of rosewood (and that's about 90% of them), then forget it. The CITES protocol will mean that the guitar will be stopped dead in its tracks en route.
My recent experience:
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?193503-1975-Guild-G212-new-acquisition
Madagascar Ebony was CITES listed in 2011 so it was already under the same restrictions that the remaining unlisted rosewood species just became subject to in January:You might just have a chance of successfully taking delivery of a guitar from the US that is maple back and sides / ebony boards and bridge, but that's about it.
Another good reason to tune 'em down and mind your string gauge. I don't have any tuned to standard anymore. Nicer on the paws too.
I will paste their entire response to be completely fair. I read this as they won't cover a reset, but maybe you read it differently:
Thank you for your interest in Guild Guitars!
All of our Guild guitars come with a limited lifetime warranty which covers the guitar against any manufacturing defects for the life of the guitar. As long as the problem is a direct result of a manufacturing defect, we should be able to cover any repairs. That said, neck resets are typically not covered under warranty but there's a reason for this.
I generally agree, Neal, however I think there is enough wiggle room to experiment for comfort and tone. For instance, I can hear a drop off in tone when my F20 is slack tuned a full step. It comes back to life with 12's at half step. Though not scientific, it really sings at full step lower with 13's. For me, it's all about the old stiff hands.
A reset is indeed a small price to pay per guitar over time.
This happens to pretty much all steel string acoustic guitars eventually.
All this talk of expensive neck resets was making me pretty nervous...so I checked the neck angle on my 38 year old F40 just now. Relief is a bit under .010", action is about .090 at the lo E and .070 at the hi E, I've got a little under 1/8" saddle left and a straight-edge laying on the frets runs exactly flush with the top of the bridge. This old gal may still need a reset someday...but not likely in my lifetime. BTW- I can't even remember the last time I made a truss-rod adjustment and this guitar stays in tune better than most of my others. I'm not sure you could ask for any better stability in a guitar neck! Maybe I just got lucky with this one...?
Doubt it, all 3 of mine are the same way, and lots of reports of 30+ year old guitars here with good neck angle after all the years, even a 12-er.Maybe I just got lucky with this one...?
We don't have enough experience with the new Oxnard Guilds to know when they will need resets, if they will need resets and how difficult they would be. I'd go so far as to speculate that any Oxnard guitar that has needed any work has had it done under warranty at the factory.
With all respect to your luthier, when I was talking to folks in the Mid-Atlantic about getting a Guild neck reset I had a much wider range of responses. The ones who were not interested tended to cite economic factors. They said they did not make as much money resetting Guilds or they didn't want to "work that hard". Some said no problem but wanted some kind of contingency - they were going to exceed the original estimate if certain issues occurred. One did not want to do it unless non-refundable cash was paid up front. If the owner abandoned the instrument and the shop was forced to sell it they did not think they could get the cost of labor back. Finally one person listed all the things that might possibly be a surprise in a reset and said it was not just Guilds that he encountered with those issues. He went to far as to say that anyone who could not deal with those issues regardless of brand, probably ought not to call themselves a luthier.
I am not endorsing or agreeing with all of those opinions but passing them on.
On the more general question, there are differences of opinion as to whether a reset is inevitable or not. There are anecdotes about 5 year old instruments that needed them and 50 year old instruments that have not needed one yet. Anecdotally I think the person who buys a Guild, pays for a reset and then sells it will probably lose money. But the buyer, if they sell, probably will not lose money because they can advertise that the reset has already been done.
Again anecdotally but folks who have a luthier who will reset Guilds would rather buy an instrument at a discount and have their luthier deal with it. Those who don't, spend the effort before the sale to make sure the instrument doesn't need a reset and walk away from those that do.
Forgive the "butt-insky" but I think the "issues" under discussion are all primarily found in steel-string flattops due to the great mount of stress generated by string tension. There were variations in build practice over time that increased or decreased the difficulty of the reset task.I'm jumping threads, fronobulax - does this issue apply to 1999 Korean-made DeArmonds, or is it specific to USA Guilds (in other words, inherent in the design or related to variations in build practice)?