SJS
Member
Amazing how amazing Guild guitars are. Hope I'm not doing anything illegal by posting this.
And for really good reason:Paul is (or at least was) a big fan of Guilds. He played them during the early-mid part of his career.
No, I'm just echoing the general perception/reputation of the brand from the early years. I have never owned or repaired any Hoboken models (anyone wishing to change my status, please apply here), so I cannot speak beyond generalities (and I love to be corrected). To my knowledge (which only goes back to late 60s (Westerly) Guild acoustics, Guild did build guitars that weighed more than corresponding Martins or Gibsons. The "overbuilt" moniker refers to the usage of wider and taller braces, thicker front, back and side plates, exotic woods (like Padauk), beefy truss rods, etc. Granted, it contributed to the unique sound of the brand (yes, especially those late 60s models that we know from the folk era recordings), but it also contributed to the reputation among players who had become familiar with "lighter" builds from other makers....Are you thinking of any particular models from Hoboken that might be "overbuilt?"
... I have four Hoboken Guilds (an F20, an M20, an F30, and a D40), and they are all light as a feather, and highly resonant...
"Lightly built Westerlys" have never been my experience, though I have owned, played and rebuilt many. More importantly, I have no personal experience with the Hoboken Guilds, so I am intrigued to hear yours are "light as a feather."... The early Westerlys were as lightly built, or nearly so, as the Hoboken Guilds. It wasn't until 1973 that the Westerly Guilds became more heavily built...
Long ago in a discussion about warranty, possibility was offered that the explosion in sales resulting from the early '70's flattop boom created unacceptable volume of warranty claims. To be fair a significant percentage of those claims were likely due to owner ignorance of proper care of instruments, but the solution appeared to be to make 'em more robust.I remember John Denver playing Guilds for a while in the 1970s and I just spent 30 minutes or so on a website "John Denver Guitars". I don't do well posting links otherwise i would There are a few pics of his F-612 that was custom made for him. I remember seeing him play that in one of his television specials....Abalone everywhere.
I did not know that Guild purposely built their instruments heavy after moving to Westerly. I've only played 70s and 80s versions but I do remember that my 1978 D-312SB was noticeably heavier than my friend's 1968 Martin D1235 12 fret. When we used to play together I was told numerous times, by other friends listening, to "throttle it back" because my volume was overwhelming my friend. Back in those days we use to play a lot of Kingston Trio and some Pete Seeger stuff.
Yeah, think Gruhn started with the F-bodies (the "GF" series following on the F44/F46) then gradually got to the dreadnaughts. Also there was the F50/JF65/JF30/JF55/F50r "re-vamp" going on at the same time.Not all of the post-Gruhn Westerly Guilds show a shift toward lighter builds. My 1990 D25 is much heavier than my other Guilds. A fraction of the weight is due to the pickup and battery, of course, but I have others with pickup and battery that are lighter.
The D25 still sounds great, but it's definitely heavy.