Differences between JF-30 and F-50, besides the bling?

Still searching for an F-50 spruce/maple or a JF-65...but also saw an ad for an interesting JF-30 made in Westerly R.I.
What's the audible difference between AA Spruce and AAA?
And did the JF-30 have the red spruce/scalloped bracing?
Is the 30 the same size?
And is it a "cannon" like the 50?

I used to own a JF-30-12.
When I bought it, the store owner told me that it was the same guitar as an F-50 without the bling.
The difference in AA and AAA Spruce is cosmetic.
Guild doesn't tone tap their tops.

If you want to save some money, go for the JF-30.
If you like the extra bling spend a few bucks more and go for the F-50.
Both are outstanding guitars.

Bought my my son a JF30sb 13 yrs. ago and it still is one of the cleanest sounding easiest playing guitars I have purchased; I have way too many. Paid 625 for it- nothing for the money compares. Great looking sunburst too.

The Retro Rocker said:

Still searching for an F-50 spruce/maple or a JF-65...but also saw an ad for an interesting JF-30 made in Westerly R.I.
What's the audible difference between AA Spruce and AAA?

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Not trying to contradict TMG, but it's possible a tighter grained top might sound "better" than a slightly more open-grained one, on the principle that the denser wood would have more resonance and be able to be made a little thinner while retaining strength. That's part of the theory about why red spruce is a more desirable top and bracing wood.
As TMG says, I can't ever remember seeing anything indicating Guild ever tone-tapped their flat-top wood as a standard practice , and have never seen any "specs" for top thickness .
Also, Guild's wood purchasing/ grading methods at that time have been mentioned here as being more discriminatory than the other "big guys". They bought in smaller lots directly from producers instead of bulk loads friom brokers so their grader had much more "fine control" over what was brought in and used.
Because of that it's been suggested Guild's regular and AA tops likely were as good as other's AA and AAA tops.
Grading itself, in case you weren't aware of it, is largely subjective, there're no formal standards, and the standards themselves are primarily aesthetic as TMG said. "Bear claw" for example was considered highly undesirable back in the '70s, but now is seen as possibly indicating tighter grain/denser wood and gets more respect both aesthetically and acoustically.

The Retro Rocker said:

And did the JF-30 have the red spruce/scalloped bracing?

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Guild didn't start using red spruce until Tacoma, but JF30 was discontinued before then. They did make some in Corona (between Westerly and Tacoma) before it closed.
Now as for scalloped vs standard or shaved: Depends on when built. First and second year ('87-'88) price lists show scalloped bracing but winter '97-'98 catalog shows standard, and on top of all that our guru Hans Moust has mentioned many times that even those materials were subject to error. For example that same catalog shows S100 electric as having rosewood pickups...

The Retro Rocker said:

Is the 30 the same size?

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Allowing for fractions of an inch variation in depth which was normal production tolerance in Westerly (where the vast majority were made) yes.
And is it a "cannon" like the 50?[/QUOTE]
According to the majority of reports, yes.

Doesn't the JF30 have a Rosewood Fret board and Bridge as opposed to the Ebony Fretboard and Bridge on the F50 Traditional models?

txbumper57 said:

Doesn't the JF30 have a Rosewood Fret board and Bridge as opposed to the Ebony Fretboard and Bridge on the F50 Traditional models?

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Good point, can't see any fingerboard spec on the '87/'88 lists, but it does show that way on '96, '97 and '01 lists, for 6-stringers only.
From what I understand* that doesn't have as much of an effect on tone in an acoustic as the other items the OP asked about, but I do see it as a durability upgrade, like 3-pc necks in 12-ers.

*That and neck material have been discussed before, but not in great depth that I've seen, and it's still worthy of discussion.
Electric players have said the tone difference in fretboards is much more audible in electrics.
Acoustically I could understand if a harder wood at the bridge could transmit vibration better or with a different emphasis of frequencies, and I had a personal experience with feeling the neck of my D25 vibrating in my hand once and being sure it was feeding back into the top through the fretboard and heelblock. (It was the day I believed it had a BIG "opening up" moment)
Oh yes let's not forget bridge plates, either, something for which the only specs I've ever seen were from owners hre citing their observation of what their instrument has.
Oh wait is this the AGF? sorry... :biggrin-new:

adorshki said:

shows S100 electric as having rosewood pickups...

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Would love to hear how those sound!!

jcwu said:

Would love to hear how those sound!!

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Woodier than a surfer's station wagon.

Slash used JF-30's all through the Guns n Roses and Snakepit years. He has endorsed other Guilds (double necks etc...) but the JF-30 was his real #1 acoustic.

mavuser said:

Slash used JF-30's all through the Guns n Roses and Snakepit years. He has endorsed other Guilds (double necks etc...) but the JF-30 was his real #1 acoustic.

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I cut my guitar teeth on Guns. I also fell in love with Guild.

Then over a decade later, thanks to LTG, I discovered the two were connected.

jcwu said:

I cut my guitar teeth on Guns. I also fell in love with Guild.

Then over a decade later, thanks to LTG, I discovered the two were connected.

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nice i knew you were gonna reply, i remember you were a Guns fan on something here a while back. I was 10 in 1987. they were a huge part of my life. i listened to GNR Lies one summer at camp so many times over the tape cooked. Then I bought the CD which was one of the very first CDs I ever owned. I remember cutting school when Use Your Illusion came out to go buy it! I feel like I always knew Slash played a Guild guitar. I didn't play back then, but I was a geeky superfan. I remember the video on MTV for "Patience." Slash always had his Guild acoustic.

actually looks like Slash is playing a Guild GF-50, Izzy a Guild JF-30, and Duff Mckagan a Guild GF-25 BLK as well- now that I do not recall so vividly...cool!

man no wonder that GNR Lies acoustic album sounds so nasty, they are all 1987 Guilds!

mavuser said:

I remember the video on MTV for "Patience." Slash always had his Guild acoustic.

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I was a guitar geek too, but let me tell you, the guitars were not what caught my attention in this video. Boy, MTV really corrupted me as a kid. I know I sound like a fuddy duddy, but... I wish I could unsee some of the stuff I saw in middle school.

But now I know why I loved the acoustic tracks on Patience!!

agreed, all kinds of creme in that video!

actually Slash's Guild in the Patience video does not have maple sides so it is not the JF-30. but I know he used a JF-30 to record Patience. he has the JF-30 in this vid-

Loved GNR growing up, I was 12 in 87 and the Albums I remember the most from that time in my life (Late 80's Early 90's) were anything GNR, Def Leopard Pyromania and Hysteria, Motley Crue Theater of Pain - Dr. Feel Good, Metallica, Cinderella, Poison, Van Halen (both David Lee and Sammy), Warrant, Heart, Queensryche Silent Lucidity, Aerosmith, Lita Ford, Ozzy, Ratt, Billy Squier, Remember the "Super Group" Damn Yankees with Can you Take Me Higher?, Tesla and god knows how many more. Every Album had a Power Ballad on it and most of them incorporated that amazing 12 string sound that I have only found in Guilds Later in Life. Honestly we had some good music growing up in the 80's and early 90's. Back when you listened to the radio for the weekly countdown. Man how times have changed. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

TX

I have shared these before - Buffalo Tom with a JF-30. This is more recent but he was using this same guitar in the early 90s.


More:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCUW99MQwIo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK7KQIPnuZ8

There is a 2010 F-50 "Standard" on Reverb right now. It has even LESS bling than the JF-30. Now I'm REALLY confused.
If a JF-30 is basically an F-50 without the bling, is it the same as an F-50 Standard? Why would they have both?

Bumper ditto on all those bands. We have discussed Tesla and their Guild arsenal here before, and posted a number of videos from 5 man acoustical jam. Notably "the way it is," "love song" and "signs". Id like to keep this thread on the subject guitars but if u want to see a songbird and some F-412s in action, check them out!

Also izzy from Gnr is seen with a guild maple dread in 1988 as well (late show vid " you're crazy " and "used to love her") . On those the rest of the band is electric.