JF65 vs D30 - Which one to buy

[Stuball48]

"Rathole" GAS fund has enough to buy either of these two Guilds. Need your thoughts and experience concerning these two. Will travel about 60 miles (after New Years) to "play" both - same owner. From pictures and descriptions they both in excellent to near mint condition built in 2000 - Westerly - with the D30 having been played slightly less but neither being played over 4-5 hours per month in last 5 years. Both Maple sides and back and wanted to try a different tonewood from my DV52. Hoping one will be the clear winner when I see and "play" them but with my limited experience, probably not. Which would you buy and why. I know you are thinking, "well, what do you want" but the conflict is I have two choices and both good and what I want is another Guild. LTGers warned me this would happen. Thanks

 

[Kitarkus]

Tough call. Obviously you will know once you play them. They are of similar estimated market value +/- imo. It may be difficult for you to discern which is truly 'better' as one may have a set-up that you prefer over the other...be careful not to weight too much of your decision on set-up....assuming both have a healthy neck to body geometry. Bring a straight edge with you...I always do...sometimes your eyes can deceive you and the straight edge don't lie. Aside from sound... these are two differing body shapes....see which one is more comfortable to you. It would seem to me that the D30 may be more marketable down the road should you later decide to sell it....but that just may be my own bias.

 

[beecee]

Boy, I haven't looked it up yet but I'd have thought the JF65 would command a much higher price.

I have a few non Guild maple guitars that I love and my JF 30-12 barely survived a staredown with a competitive Guild I foolishly returned a few weeks ago.

Jumbo body arched back maple goodness with a tasteful amount of bling???

You already own a discreet dred in the DV...go for the glory!

 

[dapmdave]

Yes, all things being equal, a JF65 should cost quite a bit more than a D-30. D-30 is a rather plain-jane maple dread and JF-65 a rather fancier maple jumbo.

But (and you knew there was one) I've had a couple of D-30s. They are really nice guitars with a sweet maple tone. I can't recall playing a JF65, but I would think
they are somewhat like an F-50, and those are wonderful guitars, as well. The best advice: go play them both and if one really speaks to you then take it home.

 

[dreadnut]

JF-65 will likely have a bigger sound.

 

[D30Man]

Having up til recently owned a D30 I can tell you they are great guitars. Strong midrange and just all around maple goodness. It was built to withstand a nuclear attack but it had great projection in spite of. I will own another one day. The guy I sold it to is a Guild fanatic and he absolutely loves it.

I check on her from time to time. I do not have any experience with the J65. Though they appear to be really nice and more on the higher end side than a D30.

 

[Rich Cohen]

I have a JF65CE from 2000, but from the Nashville custom shop. Anyway, I should think, as others on LTG have noted, that the JF65 will have a bit more umph, not to mention bling. The two will feel differently in your hands as well.

 

[Stuball48]

Have been in communication with seller in last hour. Even in great shape prices may be a little high or do you think about right? $1100 d30 and $1450 jf65

 

[richardp69]

Personally, I think the D 30 is a bit high at $1100 but the JF 65 is a really good deal at $1450. (depending of course on condition of both)

I can tell you I both bought and sold my D 30 Tennessee Orange at about $750. It was in superb condition (with killer sound/tone/volume) but did have the popular center seam separation from the bottom of the bridge to the bottom of the soundboard.

 

[D30Man]

Personally, I think the D 30 is a bit high at $1100 but the JF 65 is a really good deal at $1450. (depending of course on condition of both)

I can tell you I both bought and sold my D 30 Tennessee Orange at about $750. It was in superb condition (with killer sound/tone/volume) but did have the popular center seam separation from the bottom of the bridge to the bottom of the soundboard.

I am with Richard. The D30 is priced too high IMHO even in great shape. Like Richard I sold mine for $750. They typically fetch between $700 - $900 depending on condition.

 

[txbumper57]

I am in agreement with others here that the D30 is overpriced. That being said the JF65 may be overpriced depending on the condition it is in. The D30 is an Awesome dread and everything a Guild dread should be in tone. The JF65 will give you more overall everything. Such as Bling, tone, volume, Balance and so on. I have played a JF65 and while it was a good guitar I felt it was lacking in everything when compared or a Tacoma or New Hartford built F50 Maple model. The JF65 has a Flamed maple neck with Sitka Spruce bracing, Plastic bridge pins, and a micarta nut and saddle. The Tacoma and New Hartford built F50 Maple models have a Mahogany Neck with Scalloped Adirondack Red Spruce Bracing and Bone Bridge pins as well as a Bone Nut and saddle. For the same price they are asking for the JF65 I think you can find a Nice Tacoma or New Hartford F50 that in my opinion is a far superior Guild Maple Jumbo. I know others may have different opinions on the subject an that is fine.

I just know when I went in search of my Maple jumbo I played several different Guilds from different periods and the gap between the Jf65 Westerly models and the Tacoma/New Hartford made F50 models was considerably large in tone and play ability. When played by itself the JF65's sounded good. When played side by side with the Tacoma/New Hartford models they almost sounded dead and the Tacoma New Hartford models sounded full of life. I am sure Rich's JF65 is a different story as it is a Nashville Custom shop model. Best of luck in whatever you decide and Kudos for adding some Guild Maple to your arsenal!

Don't forget the F50 Standard models that were made in New Hartford as well. All the goodness and tone of a Traditional F50 without the bling and at a considerably lower price!

TX

 

[adorshki]

You already own a discreet dred in the DV...go for the glory!

Much as I like a D30 myself, I'm with Beecee here.
Unless you want 2 different flavors of tone wood in a dread.
I can say from experience, which I'm sure you'll soon have yourself, that a buddy's G37 (the D30's predecessor in model number but basically same build formula)) had absolutely the longest sustain of any guitar I ever heard in my life, in fact it was the best sounding guitar Ive ever head in my life.
Not that I've heard all that many in person, and I've never heard an F50 in person.
Be prepared to throw out everything you've ever heard about maple being "too bright".
Well, actually I gotta admit it's definitely not "dark".
Edit: D30 listed for $1399.00 and JF65 listed for $2399.00 on 2001 price list. It was the successor to the F50 with virtually identical specs. I seem to recall hearing of fractions of an inch of variance in body depth/width and possible bracing differences.
Some of that is bling but D30 got AA top and rosewood board,, JF65 got triple top and ebony board.
D30 shows scalloped braces but JF65's not spec'd. It'd be easy to assume it got 'em but it's also possible it may not have needed 'em.
Personally I think the JF65 will be more valuable down the road, it was just inherently a higher-end piece to start with and any appraiser will recognize it as the placeholder of the F50 heritage at the time.

 

[bobouz]

I have a '94 Guild JF-30, as well as a Gibson J-100xt jumbo, and imho, regardless of bling level, 17" maple jumbos can provide an incredibly full & resonant tone that, on a good one, will be something special.

Maple D bodies are also very nice, so you'll just have to see how these two strike you. But in my experience, the tone of a good maple jumbo is memorably intoxicating!

 

[mavuser]

here is a D-30 for $750. it says it is "Tennessee Orange". i see you live in Tennessee...
too bad the guitar is in Massachusetts , but anyway, might be worth a peek

https://nh.craigslist.org/msg/d/tennessee-orange-guild-d30/6408719536.html

 

[PTC Bernie]

I've always loved the D30, but haven't run into one yet with wide nut spacing. :-{

 

[The Retro Rocker]

Jumbo! IF you can handle it..,

 

[Stuball48]

Due to Christmas and New Years, we both have visitors and relatives visting us and cannot work out a time before Jan 4th. I made him an offer - pending me playing them and verifying they are in as described shape and look as good as picture. Explained I did not know which one I would favor until I played them both.
He is in agreement so waitng is in order. Thank again to all and stay tuned.

 

[adorshki]

I've always loved the D30, but haven't run into one yet with wide nut spacing. :-{

Yeah, in fact, of all things we saw a couple of close s/n G-37's s reported with 1-5/8" nuts recently.
Or were you in that thread?

 

[Stuball48]

The D30 I am considering - his caliper - nut width measured 1.73 according to him. My guess is that it is 1.75 (1996).
I made an offer on both the D30 and JF65 pending my seeing, inspecting, and playing them. If they do not sell by Jan 4th, one will have a new home just do not know which one, yet. We agreed on prices.
An old banker gave me some pretty good advice a while back. He said, "the best way to not have a misunderstanding is to have a good understanding."

 

[adorshki]

The D30 I am considering - his caliper - nut width measured 1.73 according to him. My guess is that it is 1.75 (1996).

I'd be surprised, that'd be pretty far out of tolerance for a guitar spec'd with 1-11/16 nut.
Just to be clear, nut width is actually fretboard width right at the front edge of the nut.
Because we've seen folks think it's the nut itself, and that can be misleading.
NO question of some production tolerance at Westerly because of the way they finished necks, every single one by hand, but that still seems a bit far out of tolerance if it really is the fretboard width.
They were pretty good with tolerance consistency in '96* and actually only offered 2 flattops with 1-3/4" nuts at the time, the A25 and A50.

*Fender bought Guild in November '95 and one of the things they did was introduce a QC checklist system to ensure that all QC steps were performed consistently.
THis caused one of our original members to make the comment that Westerly QC reached a zenith under Fender.
Not because the guitars were "better" but because there was a higher rate of consistency overall.