What's this guitar's story?

adorshki

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Well, no. You remember part of it right but part is wrong. Jonathan Thomas, who is the President of Corboda Music Group (CMG), is the son of FORMER Fender Musical Instruments Corportation (FMIC) CEO Larry Thomas. Larry Thomas was FMIC's CEO from Aug. 1, 2010 until May 31, 2014. He retired afterwards. So CMG or it's Guild brand has nothing to do with FMIC. If you mean "Thomas family" with "family" you are right however...
Ralf

Thanks Ralf for that, and the spec sheet.
You're a wonderful resource here and I just want to tell any new members that don't know you well yet, that they can take what you say to the bank.
It does still seem reasonable that CMG may have got wind of FMIC's plans to sell Guild through the "Thomas family connection" though.
Just 'cause the senior Thomas was retired doesn't mean he might not be talking to old buddies at FMIC.
 

adorshki

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Yes, the GAD-JF3012 Jumbo 12-String Acoustic Guitar had the following specs. The GAD-JF3012 is the 12-string version of the Guild GAD-JF30 guitar. Jumbo body model, with a solid spruce top, solid flame maple back and sides, ebony fingerboard and bridge, bone nut and saddle, three-piece mahogany/maple/mahogany neck, wood binding and a special pearl inlay.
Only one thing I notice here, I suspect this is actually a mistake as it's a bit narrow for a 12-string nut and the "American builts" used a 1-13/16 nut.
Probably just carried over from a regular 6-string spec sheet and missed in editing before they released it?
Or was it really that narrow?

Width at Nut: 1-11/16"
 

adorshki

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Re-finished or new top. That's my guess. Likely not a new guitar.

Nope, MIRC only takes manufacturer's "seconds" or warranty returns, but I doubt they'd go to the trouble of re-spraying a top, never heard of that from them.
In fact, now that I think about it, GAD's were finished in poly, making a re-fin or new top extremely unlikely due to difficulties of working with poly finish, ie, virtually impossible to re-finish to "new" appearance.
Which is part of what MIRC offers, a 30-day warranty to their dealers for fully acceptable fit and finish.
 

bobouz

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Well, no. You remember part of it right but part is wrong. Jonathan Thomas, who is the President of Corboda Music Group (CMG), is the son of FORMER Fender Musical Instruments Corportation (FMIC) CEO Larry Thomas. Larry Thomas was FMIC's CEO from Aug. 1, 2010 until May 31, 2014. He retired afterwards. So CMG or it's Guild brand has nothing to do with FMIC. If you mean "Thomas family" with "family" you are right however...
Ralf

Actually, I was only speaking about the Thomas family connection. It was quite clear to me at the time that Fender no longer had any ownership in Guild, but it certainly seemed logical that such a family connection could have given Cordoba the inside track. The sale took place in 2014, correct? So Larry Thomas quite likely was pulling strings before he retired.

Thankfully, a few years down the line, it does seem like Cordoba has made a reasonable commitment to the Guild brand - and hopefully they'll be able to continue & expand USA production.
 
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