The contemporary series is an argument that was widely debated on this board and in general among Guild fans and became a sort of controversial subject, mainly due to the notorious "new technology" employed in this line of instruments (graphite reinforcement rods and block), the problems that some owners experienced with this bolt on configuration and the mysterious discontinuation of the entire line by Fender following the closure of the Tacoma plant for reasons that Fender never completely explained (at least in my knowledge).
After a long search on ebay I found a instrument of this series that appealed my tastes in matter of acoustic guitars, the Cv-2C, that met my requirements: grand auditorium size, cutaway, flame maple sides and back, ebony fingerboard and bridge, and as much binding as possible (I like binding!), the latter point was a rarity in the Contemporary series, that was modeled after the last trends of the guitar market, that required for a "modern" instrument a minimalistic look, dismissing ornations like binding, fancy position makers on the fingerboard and pickguards.
I bought the guitar online by maximumvalue products (not affiliated, just a satisfied customer) and althought purchasing an acoustic instrument abroad is always a risk, the guitar arrived sound and sage, mainly the package was very professionally made (box, bubblewraps, paper support for the headstock, loosen strings...) and a good rate for international dealers (of course, USPS and SDA made a good job, unlike other private companies we have read on this board) made the shipment be a non issue.
The first thing that I noticed after unpacking was the case, as we know, the TKL cases used by Guild and customized with their logo are pretty nice: archtop, faux leather and burgundy linining, like a presentation box for a jewel, the case says much of what is contained. And my expectations weren't disappointed when I open it.
The guitar came in natural finish, I'd have liked more a sunburst example, but in blonde it's possible to appreciate more the quality of the woods and of the nitro.
In this instrument, the choice of the woods was clearly the top and the people who finished it in nitro definitely knew what they were doing: it is very difficult to hide any flaws in this case and this guitar doesn't look a second, or a defective instrument, at all: the top is made from a bookmatched table of red spruce, with a lovely striped and wide grain, extremely eye catching...
...but the most flashing part of the instrument are the sides and the back: the maple used is one of the most flamed wood I've ever seen,with a very regular and wide pattern, and the 3D effect of the figure almost hypnotic. If wood of this type was used for the top of a Les Paul, that instrument would have been sold for thousand of dollars.
The neck is obtained by a single piece of mahogany, with tight grain and a natural auburn colour, the peghead veneer is relatively thick and it's a nice slab of madagascar rosewood, with nice chocolate stripes running vertically. The ebony of the fingerboard looked nice from the case, but after being oiled it become gorgeous, probably one of the best quality AAA grade around. As choice of wood, I don't think anybody can complain, the guitar seemed to be designed as a top notch instrument.
The dots of the fingerboard are 2 mm abalone, according to the fashion I mentioned above, look very minimalistic and very Larriveè, personally I'd have liked regular size, also because the quality of the abalone matches the ebony of the fingerboard, and I prefer the traditional Guild look, but it's a contemporary series, isn't it? The new style "art decò" shield and logo are mother of pearl, good quality too,but maybe abalone would have been a more coherent choice.Somebody hates them, I personally like the new shield but to me the old style log doesn't match this modernistist look. The binding around the fingerboard is striped ivoroid, equal to the one used in my Jackson, very nice colour and very well cut. The one on the body is multilayered, using the outer stripe of the same binding on the fingeboard, and adding three thinner red, ivory and black lines. Again, a very modern choice, but of good effect. The decoration of the rosette is related with this binding, consisting in two rings of rosewood (the same used on the headstock, it seems) divided by a layer of the same ivorodi binding, and surrounded by the thinner red-ivory-black. All these choices very Larriveè/Lakewood/Avalon style, again.
The bridge retains the traditional Guild shape but unlike all the other contemporary series, including the Willy Porter, is made of ebony and not rosewood, and supports the compensated bone saddle and the pins, made of bone alike the nut.
The hardware consists in the tuners, chromed open back Gotoh series 700, the most popular choice in this industry at the moment (almost all Martins and Guilds use them), and the D-tar piezo system at the bottom. The guitar came with an optional tortoise pickguard that I didn't decide to install yet, the key for the case and with a set of fresh D'addario phosphor-bronze strings, the only thing I missed was the allen wrench to set the truss rod, that seems smaller than the one of the les Paul. Fortunately the neck looked straight so I didn't need the wrence, the seller said that the instrument was inspected by a luthier, and he didn't forgot to se the truss rod, it seems.
That's all for the way the instrument looks, taking it from the case and playing I noticed that the action was a little too high for my standard (I play very low) so I started to work on the bridge sanding it. In the end the action of the upper register while in the lower is very low, a thin line above buzzing, at least with this set of strings that seems to be .12, a little too heavy for my habits. Anyway, the compromise is good and now the guitar works well on all the frets. The sound of the phosphor bronze strings seems to match perfectly the character of this guitar, a little on the bright side but not too much, the final risult is a balanced tone with clear distinction of the notes, although the guitas seems to require to be played more to reach its peak of resonance and capability.
The shape of the neck is a nice and full C, not too thin but definitely not "baseball", the size of the nut is 45 mm (1 3/4 inches) and gives you the idea that this guitar was designed for fingerpicking, again in the fashion of the new cuncurrents' offers of a guitar suitable for this style. Personally I have to get used to this measure: the neck results very wide for a player who comes from 42 or 43 mm, but I guess I have to get used.
Soundwise, the guitar has a mellow tone you won't expect from a maple/flamed maple, and seems that requires a little time to "grow up", especially from a volume point of view: this guitar, at the moment is not a "loud Guild", but the single notes ring, sustain is good and intonation above the 12th fret very good. The set up is a litle stiff for a soloist like me, as recorded with the .12 bending and vibrato are difficult to execute. I think I'll switch to 0.10 or 0.11 soon and reset in order to fully exploit the potential of the instrument.
About the concerns of the neck block and the problems that many experienced in the past, all I can say is that at the moment it doesn't seem there is any structural problem, yes, the action of the high fret is very different from the lower register (unde the 9th fret)...this may indicate that the neck angle is a little under specs, but so far, nothing moved, and I'd like to check with other owner if it's true that the neck should be re-set. So far, everything is ok though.
In conclusion, I can say that the guitar is a real beauty and probably a keeper (unless I get one in sunburst), and looks very indicated for fingerpickers, more than for plectrum players like me, what I like more is the quality of the instrument and what I didn't like that much were the microdots and the open back gotoh, that I'm thinking to replace, but in any case, if the guitar remains without structural issues, it's one of the best guitars available today and at the price they're going around, due to their discontinued models printed "USED", well worth the risk.
After a long search on ebay I found a instrument of this series that appealed my tastes in matter of acoustic guitars, the Cv-2C, that met my requirements: grand auditorium size, cutaway, flame maple sides and back, ebony fingerboard and bridge, and as much binding as possible (I like binding!), the latter point was a rarity in the Contemporary series, that was modeled after the last trends of the guitar market, that required for a "modern" instrument a minimalistic look, dismissing ornations like binding, fancy position makers on the fingerboard and pickguards.
I bought the guitar online by maximumvalue products (not affiliated, just a satisfied customer) and althought purchasing an acoustic instrument abroad is always a risk, the guitar arrived sound and sage, mainly the package was very professionally made (box, bubblewraps, paper support for the headstock, loosen strings...) and a good rate for international dealers (of course, USPS and SDA made a good job, unlike other private companies we have read on this board) made the shipment be a non issue.
The first thing that I noticed after unpacking was the case, as we know, the TKL cases used by Guild and customized with their logo are pretty nice: archtop, faux leather and burgundy linining, like a presentation box for a jewel, the case says much of what is contained. And my expectations weren't disappointed when I open it.
The guitar came in natural finish, I'd have liked more a sunburst example, but in blonde it's possible to appreciate more the quality of the woods and of the nitro.
In this instrument, the choice of the woods was clearly the top and the people who finished it in nitro definitely knew what they were doing: it is very difficult to hide any flaws in this case and this guitar doesn't look a second, or a defective instrument, at all: the top is made from a bookmatched table of red spruce, with a lovely striped and wide grain, extremely eye catching...
...but the most flashing part of the instrument are the sides and the back: the maple used is one of the most flamed wood I've ever seen,with a very regular and wide pattern, and the 3D effect of the figure almost hypnotic. If wood of this type was used for the top of a Les Paul, that instrument would have been sold for thousand of dollars.
The neck is obtained by a single piece of mahogany, with tight grain and a natural auburn colour, the peghead veneer is relatively thick and it's a nice slab of madagascar rosewood, with nice chocolate stripes running vertically. The ebony of the fingerboard looked nice from the case, but after being oiled it become gorgeous, probably one of the best quality AAA grade around. As choice of wood, I don't think anybody can complain, the guitar seemed to be designed as a top notch instrument.
The dots of the fingerboard are 2 mm abalone, according to the fashion I mentioned above, look very minimalistic and very Larriveè, personally I'd have liked regular size, also because the quality of the abalone matches the ebony of the fingerboard, and I prefer the traditional Guild look, but it's a contemporary series, isn't it? The new style "art decò" shield and logo are mother of pearl, good quality too,but maybe abalone would have been a more coherent choice.Somebody hates them, I personally like the new shield but to me the old style log doesn't match this modernistist look. The binding around the fingerboard is striped ivoroid, equal to the one used in my Jackson, very nice colour and very well cut. The one on the body is multilayered, using the outer stripe of the same binding on the fingeboard, and adding three thinner red, ivory and black lines. Again, a very modern choice, but of good effect. The decoration of the rosette is related with this binding, consisting in two rings of rosewood (the same used on the headstock, it seems) divided by a layer of the same ivorodi binding, and surrounded by the thinner red-ivory-black. All these choices very Larriveè/Lakewood/Avalon style, again.
The bridge retains the traditional Guild shape but unlike all the other contemporary series, including the Willy Porter, is made of ebony and not rosewood, and supports the compensated bone saddle and the pins, made of bone alike the nut.
The hardware consists in the tuners, chromed open back Gotoh series 700, the most popular choice in this industry at the moment (almost all Martins and Guilds use them), and the D-tar piezo system at the bottom. The guitar came with an optional tortoise pickguard that I didn't decide to install yet, the key for the case and with a set of fresh D'addario phosphor-bronze strings, the only thing I missed was the allen wrench to set the truss rod, that seems smaller than the one of the les Paul. Fortunately the neck looked straight so I didn't need the wrence, the seller said that the instrument was inspected by a luthier, and he didn't forgot to se the truss rod, it seems.
That's all for the way the instrument looks, taking it from the case and playing I noticed that the action was a little too high for my standard (I play very low) so I started to work on the bridge sanding it. In the end the action of the upper register while in the lower is very low, a thin line above buzzing, at least with this set of strings that seems to be .12, a little too heavy for my habits. Anyway, the compromise is good and now the guitar works well on all the frets. The sound of the phosphor bronze strings seems to match perfectly the character of this guitar, a little on the bright side but not too much, the final risult is a balanced tone with clear distinction of the notes, although the guitas seems to require to be played more to reach its peak of resonance and capability.
The shape of the neck is a nice and full C, not too thin but definitely not "baseball", the size of the nut is 45 mm (1 3/4 inches) and gives you the idea that this guitar was designed for fingerpicking, again in the fashion of the new cuncurrents' offers of a guitar suitable for this style. Personally I have to get used to this measure: the neck results very wide for a player who comes from 42 or 43 mm, but I guess I have to get used.
Soundwise, the guitar has a mellow tone you won't expect from a maple/flamed maple, and seems that requires a little time to "grow up", especially from a volume point of view: this guitar, at the moment is not a "loud Guild", but the single notes ring, sustain is good and intonation above the 12th fret very good. The set up is a litle stiff for a soloist like me, as recorded with the .12 bending and vibrato are difficult to execute. I think I'll switch to 0.10 or 0.11 soon and reset in order to fully exploit the potential of the instrument.
About the concerns of the neck block and the problems that many experienced in the past, all I can say is that at the moment it doesn't seem there is any structural problem, yes, the action of the high fret is very different from the lower register (unde the 9th fret)...this may indicate that the neck angle is a little under specs, but so far, nothing moved, and I'd like to check with other owner if it's true that the neck should be re-set. So far, everything is ok though.
In conclusion, I can say that the guitar is a real beauty and probably a keeper (unless I get one in sunburst), and looks very indicated for fingerpickers, more than for plectrum players like me, what I like more is the quality of the instrument and what I didn't like that much were the microdots and the open back gotoh, that I'm thinking to replace, but in any case, if the guitar remains without structural issues, it's one of the best guitars available today and at the price they're going around, due to their discontinued models printed "USED", well worth the risk.
