My Oxnard F 40E

[richardp69]

No pics here. It's not rare or hard to come by, it's just a seriously nice Guild. I hadn't taken this down off the wall for about 3 months so I did so today. It had stayed in perfect tune and sounded really sweet. This guitar has a lot of punch and a warm, balanced sound you can often times find in a nice Mahogany guitar. It's also feather light as well. I actually sold my Orpheum Jumbo a while back because this cost-effective F 40E gives me everything I was looking for. Not saying it's better than the Orpheum but I find it pretty close at about 1/3 of the cost.

When I 1st started looking, I was searching for the F 40T but this "non T" came up on Reverb at a far more than fair price so I jumped on it and am glad I did.

If you ever find yourself looking for a Jumbo Mahogany guitar you should seriously consider this model. It's a winner.

Yes, I know many of you detest the naming of the guitar the F 40 and frankly, I also wish they hadn't done that, but they did so time to move on. Just sayin'.

 

[GGJaguar]

Agreed. For me it's one of the best sounding acoustic models Guild has ever designed. Even if it should be called an F-48.

 

[chazmo]

Nice, Rich. I wonder how they're selling.

 

[jeffcoop]

I like my Oxnard F40 (no electronics, but not the Traditional) as well. Yes, I have problems with it being called an F40 (I also have a real F40). But it's a good-sounding guitar, and one of the easiest to play that I have, despite the large size.

 

[BruceGA]

I would love to get an F-40. I'm feeling the need for some more mahogany in my life.

Beautiful guitars.

Bruce

 

[chazmo]

The jumbo body shape has always been a Guild winner.

It's interesting that in recent years Martin has tried its own hand at them ("Grand J" body style, that is) with a few 12-strings and they've just not been that popular. I'm not sure if they have a current 6-string model.

 

[GGJaguar]

It's interesting that in recent years Martin has tried its own hand at them ("Grand J" body style, that is) with a few 12-strings and they've just not been that popular. I'm not sure if they have a current 6-string model.

The Grand J body works really well in the 12-string format (I have a GJ-40E), but they cannot compete with a Guild 17" jumbo as a 6-string (I had a Grand J-35E that left me underwhelmed). The only Grand J in production is the GJ12-16E 12-string.

 

[Rich Cohen]

I long for my estwhile 70s F-48. I sold it like so many others. That one went to a guy who plays it in his church, here in Virginia. He drove to Charlottesville to pick it up.

 

[twocorgis]

After getting the D40 Traditional, and it was so spectacular, I thought long and hard about getting a F40 Traditional from Tundra Music when they were offering a couple for a good price. I made a couple of offers that they never responded to (they never seem to respond to Reverb offers, or communicate very well at all), they price then went up. A lot. I think @jeffcoop snagged one before they raised the price drastically. I then thought that I must be nuts. It's impossible for me to imagine them being better than my Orpheum jumbo, which is still the lightest jumbo I've ever com across, and by a lot, too. And if I ever sold it, the likelihood of finding another one is slim to none. And mine is one of maybe two (and quite possibly the only, as I've never seen or heard of another) with the blue rosette.

 

[chazmo]

. . . And mine is one of maybe two (and quite possibly the only, as I've never seen or heard of another) with the blue rosette.

I think they only did that on the prototype(s), Sandy, of which yours is one. Right?

 

[twocorgis]

I think they only did that on the prototype(s), Sandy, of which yours is one. Right?

Yes. I had one of the prototype Orpheum OM 14 Fret rosewood models for a while, after failing to find another in mahogany, but I just couldn't bond with it. Still have some photos, though.

 

[jeffcoop]

And I have a rosewood slope-shoulder with the blue rosette, also a prototype. Sandy, don't dare think of selling that jumbo. If it's probably unique. These were made for the January 2013 NAMM. As far as I know, all the production Orpheums had marquetry that was predominantly brown (I have one of these as well).

I hope your F40E is still getting down off the wall, Richard. I spent some time with my F40 the other day. It plays so easily and has plenty of mahogany goodness.

 

[twocorgis]

And I have a rosewood slope-shoulder with the blue rosette, also a prototype. Sandy, don't dare think of selling that jumbo. If it's probably unique. These were made for the January 2013 NAMM. As far as I know, all the production Orpheums had marquetry that was predominantly brown (I have one of these as well).

I wouldn't dare, Jeff! I think there's a very good chance that it's the only one with a blue rosette, because I've never seen nor heard of another. And only the prototypes have the blue rosette, which I prefer. I've never played another jumbo guitar of any type that's even close to it, too. It's ridiculously light for its size. I have some photos of it on the NAMM wall, courtesy of @SFIV1967.

 

[Boneman]

My next guitar was going to be an F40, somehow an M120 and JF30-12 got here first.

Curious, how does one come to possess a one off NAMM built prototype?

 

[twocorgis]

My next guitar was going to be an F40, somehow an M120 and JF30-12 got here first.

Curious, how does one come to possess a one off NAMM built prototype?

From the “fire sale” after Fender pulled the rug out from under the New Hartford plant in May 2014. Carl from Union Music in MA brokered the deals, but both my prototype guitars shipped from AZ.

 

[jeffcoop]

Believe it or not, my Orpheum prototype came from Guitar Center. It first went on the market (not through GC, but as Sandy describes) at a time when my guitar funds were exhausted. But a couple of years later, it popped up among GC's online used listings, and I didn't hesitate.

 

[chazmo]

Believe it or not, my Orpheum prototype came from Guitar Center. It first went on the market (not through GC, but as Sandy describes) at a time when my guitar funds were exhausted. But a couple of years later, it popped up among GC's online used listings, and I didn't hesitate.

Wow, did you get lucky!! I wonder if an LTGer sold it to them...

 

[twocorgis]

Wow, did you get lucky!! I wonder if an LTGer sold it to them...

I'd like to think LTGers would know better than that, but the guitar had to be owned by somebody that was connected in some way originally. Do you remember what GC it came from @jeffcoop?

 

[jeffcoop]

I'd like to think LTGers would know better than that, but the guitar had to be owned by somebody that was connected in some way originally. Do you remember what GC it came from @jeffcoop?

Sandy, the archives here suggest that the GC in question was in Manchester, CT. It had sold on eBay in January 2015. I couldn't manage it then (and in any event the weather in Indiana and in much of the northeast was appallingly frigid at the time), but didn't hesitate when it showed up on the GC site (and was mentioned here) in March 2016. I have no idea where the guitar spent the intervening 14 months, but I don't think it was in the hands of a forum member, as it does not seem to have been mentioned on these boards between sales.

It's funny in retrospect that @richardp69 passed on this one. Different times.

I think I'll go play it for a bit now.

 

[twocorgis]

Sandy, the archives here suggest that the GC in question was in Manchester, CT. It had sold on eBay in January 2015. I couldn't manage it then (and in any event the weather in Indiana and in much of the northeast was appallingly frigid at the time), but didn't hesitate when it showed up on the GC site (and was mentioned here) in March 2016. I have no idea where the guitar spent the intervening 14 months, but I don't think it was in the hands of a forum member, as it does not seem to have been mentioned on these boards between sales.

It's funny in retrospect that @richardp69 passed on this one. Different times.

I think I'll go play it for a bit now.

Ah, not I remember! Manchest isn't all that far from New Hartford, too. Was the original eBay listing in the area, too?