The D140 Returns!

[KCGuildPicker]

A few weeks back, I brought home a D140 from a local GC - (I know people can have strong opinions about GC, but at the very least the GC's in the Kansas City area generally have really cool used gear, so I make them a part of my guitar store rounds.) Anyways, it sounded great in the store and at home . . . However, two days in I finally had time to put on new strings and this is where the problems began.

After putting on 12-53 NB d'addario, which from what I could tell were the strings that were on the D140 when it came home, I started getting a sitar like sound from the G string when played open . . . Not exactly the sound one goes for in a bluegrass setting. So I messed with trying to do the DIY thing which is something I readily admit I'm not very good at. To no avail and certainly no surprise, the sitar G string only got worse. So that was problem #1.

Problem #2 - The D140 came home in the hybrid Guild case, but I like hard cases, so I bought a basic SKB case from an unnamed online store. When the case came, for some reason there were about 15-20 little desiccant packs which of course pull moisture out of whatever environment they are placed in - so, I tried to re-humidify the case with with the humidifier aimed at it and with little packs stuffed inside the case. After two days, I figured it was enough . . . I figured wrong . . . After about two hours in the case, the strings were literally lying flat on the fretboard . . . again, not optimal for the bluegrass sound. Needless to say, it was time for my luthier to take over.

When I brought it into the shop, he showed me that every single nut slot with the exception of the D string was incorrectly cut. Somehow, whoever had the guitar before me figured out a way to get the guitar to play and play in tune so much so that I did not know that there was a problem until I changed the strings. Thankfully, my guy knows what he is doing and was able to fix the nut slot plus do a professional set up as the guitar re-humidified in the shop.

So long story short, the D140 is home and sounds excellent and is back in the running for my number one guitar. That said, I was wondering about a couple of things:
First, is the nut slot issue a common issue with the 100 series? Or was it just my turn to get a used guitar that needed some work? Second, and maybe more important - what do you folks think about the Guild hybrid cases? Do they retain moisture like a hard case? I have since measured the humidity level in the SKB case and it is at 50 . . . but I'm a little nervous about putting the D140 back in that case. Additionally, I was surprised at how fast the D140 "lost" the humidity/moisture. I keep my guitar room between 44-53 relative humidity so I'm wondering if this series/model has a reputation for losing moisture quickly.

Thanks,

 

[Guilderland21]

I got my D-140 new and haven't had any problems with the nut, as far as I can tell. With my F-1512, also a Westerly Collection 100-series guitar, I've noticed that putting a capo on will make it very out of tune - I've sometimes wondered if that has to do with the nut but it's the only 12-string I've owned and maybe that's more or less normal with them. Nothing like what you mentioned, though.

I don't have any knowledge to contribute on the case/humidity issue.

 

[kostask]

Your nut slot issue has much more to do with the previous owner than it does with the Guild factory, even the one in China (you aren't the first owner, from your own description). New guitars are generally delivered with nut slots not cut deep enough, intentionally. This is because nut slots can be easily cut deeper, but a nut slot that is cut too deep, or even perfectly, will create a potential problem as it goes half way around the world to get to you. The previous owner, either on his own, or by requesting his luthier perform the work, just cut the slots too deep in order to get an "electric guitar" type action, and in the process, ended up with the playability issues you saw. Fret buzzing in electric guitars is not audible in the amplified sound, but if you play it without it being plugged in, you can hear it, so most electric players go for a very low action. On acoustic guitars, this won't work. You WILL hear any fret buzzing, just playing the guitar because you are hearing the strings and top of the guitar, not what the strings are doing to the magnetic fields in the pickups or through the tonality of the amplifier.