Hello there

[Cornbread]

First post. I got my Guild D120 back in January. I liked it right from the start, having a pro set it up and lower the action made it even better. I didn't realize how good it was, or maybe there's something wrong with my ears. Let me explain: for my 51st birthday I got a 1971 Martin D18. The neck had been re-set, intonation, action were fantastic. But it doesn't sound as good as the D120! The D120 is a good deal louder and clearer, and I thought all-mahoghany guitars were supposed to be on the quiet side. I see this is more the vintage Guild type of place, but the new Westerly collection ones are great, proud to own one.

 

[GuildyAsHell]

Welcome! I’m pretty new here myself. Lots of nice knowledgeable folks on here. I had an OM120 which was a nice guitar also.

 

[Coop47]

Welcome Cornbread! Enjoyment trumps the when and where everytime.

 

[Cornbread]

Here it is.

 

[GGJaguar]

Welcome to LTG! If the guitar speaks to you, you will be inspired to play. Enjoy!

 

[Default]

Gotta love hog tops! Welcome!

 

[walrus]

Welcome to LTG, Cornbread! Glad you are enjoying the guitar! Play it often!

walrus

 

[ClaytonS15]

Cool! I’d love to try out one of those some time. Welcome to the forum.

 

[DeArmond Hammer]

Congrats, Cornbread! I have the 12-string version of your guitar, the D-1212, and it's terrific too. I have laminate-body guitars that sound good, but I think the all-solid woods on these Guilds help them to sing out.

So, what's the story behind your avatar? Did you catch a foul or a homer?

 

[Cornbread]

Home run. Indians at White Sox, May, 2016. It was the bottom of the first and I’d just finished my 3rd beer. I saw the beer guy but thought, take it easy, we got 8 innings to go. That’s my wife to my left. My brother in law was watching the mlb network, he took a picture of the screenshot.

 

[Westerly Wood]

Fantastic! Good to hear it out-sounds the Martin.

 

[Cougar]

Here it is.

Well, that's a downright beauty! Welcome to the boards! Great shot of your homerun ball too!

 

[Doons]

Who hit the dinger? Nice guitar!

 

[JohnW63]

Gateway guitar. I'm sure of it.

 

[Cornbread]

Adam Eaton hit the home run off of Josh Tomlin.

 

[Cougar]

Adam Eaton hit the home run off of Josh Tomlin.

Nice one. I must have had eight or ten of those. They were not homerun balls but major league baseballs caught at Dodger Stadium. Finally sold 'em on ebay for next to nothing just to get rid of "another box of stuff." Two were foul game balls, and the rest were batting practice balls (still major league, but more used). I caught two batting practice balls in about 5 seconds -- I forget who, but he was firing line drives down the third-base line, pulling them a little foul. I was standing in the front row of the "field" seats about half-way into left field. Reached over the low fence and snagged two hot drives in rapid succession. Nobody came over with an offer to join the club, though.

 

[Br1ck]

You only need to please yourself, so trust your ears. A 71 D 18 has a lot of potential. I've played good ones, and bad ones. There are a number of luthiers who specialize in modding these. One of them is Bryan Kimsey. His You Tube channel is a wonder of information. He scallops braces, and even removes them. Each guitar is slightly different. You might want to go the mod route, or just get something you like. Welcome to the loony bin.

 

[Cornbread]

Thank you. Yes, I've heard about that Kimsey fellow, I don't think he is currently taking on projects. I think mine either didn't have the bridge plate misalignment or it was corrected in the past, as the neck was reset and it intonates well. And I like the way it sounds, definitely not a dog. When its time to change the strings I'll hand it off to the luthier that set up the D120, see what he can do.

 

[Br1ck]

Are you using .013s? That is what Martin had in mind, and if you do a fret level and crown, you can make them play very well.

 

[valleyguy]

That '71 Martin has non-scalloped braces, it produces a more "mellow" sound accentuating individual strings. In 2012, Martin started scalloping the D18 braces. Most people liked the fuller sound better (I used to be in this camp), others not so much (my current preference).

Enjoy their differences.