Just got off the phone talking to my local Luthier and WOW am I excited !! He has it ready to pick up and all he's charging me is $80.00 and asked it that was ok ? What he did is put me a new bone nut that actually fits properly , re-glued the bridge with better glue , polished out the frets cause they were not wore as much as a heavy player and adjusted the action to have 1/8" spacing on each end of the fret board . He actually bragged how pretty it was for being 36 years old and said that was one guitar he would not mind at all having and he said it sounded beautifully !! He was hoping to be there where I pick it up but he's off Saturday and wont be able to be there when I pick it up but he would be there Monday and if I had any problems with it what so ever just call and he would be glad to fix it !
Nice news, sounds like a great guy!
I owe you an apology because I saw this thread before and meant to come back to it and pass on this suggestion for action height, but somehow forgot.
I noticed that 1/8" action spec, in my humbly outspoken opinion that would be considered high for Guild, it = 8/64".
Not sure what they would have shipped 'em with in the 80's but at that height it would tend to increase the pain on your fingers you mentioned before.
During '90's they shipped with 5-6/64th on bass E (A full 32nd lower than what he says he put it at), and 4-5/64ths on treble E, measured at 12th fret.
That's the only action spec I ever saw from them in print, not that I'm sure I've seen everything from them by any means.
Even that's considered pretty high by a lot of folks but I find it gives best balance for strumming really hard without buzzing and ease of playing scales or bareback fingerpicking. All 3 of mine were perfectly set at those specs out of the box.
That difference in height from side to side helps intonation, ie, keeps the treble strings more true to pitch as you fret up the board. If they're too high they'll go sharp.
We'll trust he's got the right depth in the nut slots, that helps with ease of fretting down at the first few frets, but if it feels hard to play even with the lights, ask him to look at those two spots first.
It's amazing what just a few thousandths of lowered height does for playability at the first 3 frets and the nut slots' depth is the biggest influence there.
Another way to increase playability ease is to go with silk'n'steel strings, they're a lot easier on your fingers while you build up some callous and strength. They're a little quieter because of lower tension, but if it makes you want to play more, I call that a positive outweighing the negative and only temporarily anyway.
And guess who makes a nice set ? :biggrin-new:
That's the way I like hearing when I have something fixed that I really like !! I told him I always was stingy and never allowed anyone to borrow it and that's why it looks as good as it does and he said he understood and didn't blame me cause nothing worse than loaning one out and when it comes back it has damage or dirty .
There's nothing like a nice 20-30 year old piece that's all original and still looks like new, be it car or guitar.
That's one reason I always store in case. And nobody but a real player will ever get their hands on my F65ce.
It's only been out of the house twice.
When I used to busk in a park with the D25 I wouldn't even let casual friends "try it out" without washing their hands first.
Anyway like I said , I'M EXCITED and will pick it up Saturday !
Keep us posted!