Is this typical?

[Aarfy]

Have a guild, the front is clearly mismatched woodgrain. It sounds beautiful- and you can’t notice the mismatch unless in certain light - but in some light it’s very clear. Did / do / are acoustics made with different woods for the front (excuse my ignorance on terms, please!)

it’s right down the middle so seems deliberate

 

[Stuball48]

Have a guild, the front is clearly mismatched woodgrain. It sounds beautiful- and you can’t notice the mismatch unless in certain light - but in some light it’s very clear. Did / do / are acoustics made with different woods for the front (excuse my ignorance on terms, please!)

it’s right down the middle so seems deliberate

Are you able to post pictures and tell us what model Guild

 

[krysh]

Not typical but happens sometimes. I‘ve seen a few.

 

[Aarfy]

It’s a D212 pic to follow

 

[Aarfy]

It’s a D212 pic to follow

 

[GAD]

Runout I believe. It’s not that it’s different wood, but the nature if less than perfect wood. Someone with a bigger clue than me will explain better.

 

[5thumbs]

This explains pretty well.

 

[F312]

Later, we will find out, this makes for a better-sounding guitar.

 

[FNG]

I have a Guild with serious run-out, and I swear the top three strings sound better than the bottom three. I swear!

 

[marius]

As mentioned by others, this is known as runout. As with everything, Frank Ford provides a great detailed explaination here.

What is fascinating is that in your photo it appears that the left (bass) side of the top is darker, but if you turn the guitar upside down in the same light it will still be the left (now treble) side that appears darker. It is the same wood but each side of the book match reflects light differently because of the angle of the grain.

 

[F312]

It seems on an easily perceived and likely foreseen runout match, you could turn one side around and it would look better to the eye, all though not matched then.

 

[dreadnut]

It's just a pigment of your instigation.

 

[walrus]

I think it looks cool if only because it's "different"! There's a song there somewhere, "playing my runout guitar...".

walrus

 

[kostask]

Runout is a visual/appearance artifact only. It has no bearing on sound, which is strictly dependent on wood stiffness, weight and bracing (there are a ton of other, less impactful aspects that influence sound) of the soundboard.

 

[F312]

Runout is a visual/appearance artifact only. It has no bearing on sound, which is strictly dependent on wood stiffness, weight and bracing (there are a ton of other, less impactful aspects that influence sound) ot the soundboard.

Sounds like a sound assumption.

 

[Br1ck]

The thing with runout is to some it's just normal wood variation, to some a deal breaker. I'm in the middle. I can take almost any grain variation, color streaking, or bearclaw, but I rather not have runout.