D-55 purchase and not delivered
- Thread starter kbob2
- Start date
The NH D-55 soundboard is Sitka spruce braced with red spruce. Guild has been using Sitka for its flagship soundboards for years.
Two thoughts:
The top on the D-55 is AAA-grade, while the top on the D-50 might be a lesser grade.
Also,
A big part of the price difference is the labor cost of all of the inlay work on the D-55; the fret markers, fingerboard and headstock bindings, etc. All of that skilled labor doesn't come cheap.
Jeff
Taylor Martin Guild
Senior Member
The D-55 has it's own sound. A D-50 with an Adirondack top will sound different from a D-55. It also looks different. Why is a D-ff more?
It costs more to make one. I would like to see an optional Adirondack top on a D-55 but I doubt that will happen.
It costs more to make one. I would like to see an optional Adirondack top on a D-55 but I doubt that will happen.
SFIV1967
Venerated Member
AAA is the grade of the Sitka used. It means it is very special selected Sitka Spruce. AAA is the second highest grade in Sitka, only 1 in 1000 (!) soundboards is "better" and is called "Master Grade". So in reality AAA is the absolute top of the Sitka Spruce wood. http://www.timbretone.com/GradingSpruce.html
If you look on sellers webpages, a AAA Sitka Spruce top set is quite more expensive compared to a similar quality wood Adi (Red Spruce) top set !
Ralf
If you look on sellers webpages, a AAA Sitka Spruce top set is quite more expensive compared to a similar quality wood Adi (Red Spruce) top set !
Ralf
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6L6
Senior Member
When you play your new D-55, you won't be worrying anymore about what the top is made of!
If you are worried about responsiveness, clarity, projection and all that jazz, remember that the Sitka topped D55 still has adirondack braces which will provide more characteristics of a guitar with adi. Possibly a hybrid between the two woods? I have played many new NH models and they are all very tight, just like a guitar with an adirondack top.
Bill Ashton
Senior Member
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If you were to see a D50 (in Red Spruce) and the D55 next to it in Sitka, I would be hard pressed to think you would prefer the RS. Wicked tight grained top on the D55's. Always thought of mine as the proverbial "cannon," I do not think you will be disappointed. You should find it loud and balanced.
Bill Ashton
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So...did she arrive today?
RussB
Member
This is ridiculous!
I "know" you from a couple other forums. Truth is, you are not a guitar player, just a guy who buys nice guitars. To be "freaked out" regarding what the top is made of, especially when it is well documented borders on absurdity. Get real kbob
I "know" you from a couple other forums. Truth is, you are not a guitar player, just a guy who buys nice guitars. To be "freaked out" regarding what the top is made of, especially when it is well documented borders on absurdity. Get real kbob
idealassets
Senior Member
I don't know what the concern is all about. I have sound demo'd every D50 and every D55 guitar I can that are stocked in dealer's inventories. It has resulted in me buying a D55, but not a D50.
With the D55 my personal belief is that you are getting more than the nice looking bling on the guitar, but the sound has a sweeter characteristic. If all you want is loud bluegrass twang, the D50 gives you that, but the D55 gives a much broader sound quality for bluegrass, and then some.
I am hoping that you will be impressed with a Guild D55's sound. They also are a nice work of art.
Craig
guildman63
Senior Member
Russ isn't pulling any punches. :boxing:
adorshki
Reverential Member
Yeah they only put those block inlays and a G-shield on guitars that are worthy.
Y'ain't just payin' fer bling, you can be assured the guitar was built with the extra care and selected materials to justify wearin' the bling.
They're putting their reputation on the line with those details.
It says "You can't buy any more Guild than this, this is the ultimate, baby, so bring it...."
That ain't no fake plastic in those inlays and abalone rosette.
Please somebody hold me back now before I get really hotted up?
:tickled_pink:
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tjmangum
Senior Member
Yes indeed, I would hope that if you are spending 3k on a guitar you know exactly what you are getting. http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/D55NAT
T
T
SFIV1967
Venerated Member
@kbob2: And we expect to see pictures of your latest purchase! :smile-new:
As you know,
Ralf
As you know,
Ralf
idealassets
Senior Member
Ralf,
Thanks a million for this info. So I am reading that "run-out" is considered to be inferior for the wood. I recently saw an expensive guitar for sale where the top looked stranger than I had ever previously seen. I then found out it was caused by run out. It was presented as though this was a good feature and desireable. Was that right?
Thank you,
Craig
SFIV1967
Venerated Member
Hi Craig, to me it's an aesthetic thing only. I really can't say if it has any effect on sound or not. I had posted the following in the past at some time already, it is from Bob Taylor in their Wood&Steel magazin, Volume 69. I found it a pretty good explanation of "runout".
"...The tree twists round and round, almost like the stripes on a barber pole. Some trees do this. Some have a lot of twist, some have a little, and a rare few have none at all. Those are the prized trees, but there aren't many left in the world.
So, you pick the tree with the least twist.
Now, you cut that log into two-foot length and split wedges from it to saw tops from. The wedges naturally have twisted face. I hope that makes sense. Now you saw a straight piece off the face of that split wedge. What you'll have is some grain running out the face of your cut because you saw cut a straight surface right through the twisted surface. Now cut a sister piece, the book-matched second piece of your top, and open it up like a book and glue the two together. When you look at that top, there is grain running slightly out of the face of both halves, but at different angles, so it catches the light differently. Look at your guitar and make a mental note of which half is lighter, and then rotate it 180 degrees, like from right side up to right side down, and you'll notice that now the other half looks light. We call that "runout", and it's pretty normal. We allow up to about a half-inch of twist per foot of length of the tree trunk, and that will make a good guitar."
So those runout tops are exactly bookmatched, however due to the natural twist in the wood this visual effect happens when you "open the book". So it seems a matter of fact that top wood without twist becomes so rare in future that they might keep it only for custom shop or high end models. Hence you also see many Martin high end guitars with runout now.
I also prefer guitars without runout, but it is only a aesthetic thing and should have nothing to do with the sound. But it might be a matter of "you get what you pay" in future when buying new, or you find the used models that used "better" wood. Kind of what you see with Brazilian rosewood on guitar backs. The old guitars have very straight lines in the wood, the new guitars have all kind of wood figures and are less that perfect bookmatched even if they come exactly from the sister piece of wood, since the wood runs out in all directions.
See also here, Frank Ford usually also explains things very visible: http://www.lutherie.net/frankford.runout.html
Frank's last sentence sums it up pretty well: "The matter of grain runout is largely a cosmetic one, and most builders try to avoid runout if possible." But like we learned with Ebony or Brazilian Rosewood, in the future those kind of woods might be so rare that changes will have to happen.
Ralf
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