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R.I.P Guild
- Thread starter JoeWPgh
- Start date
It's a shame. Guild was a great brand back in the day. I learned my first guitar tunes on a Guild.
My 40 year old Guild G-37 acoustic has been a pleasure to play and listen to for all those years and is a testament to the high quality of Guilds original Rhode Island instruments.
I really like the fact that Cordoba will be producing more USA made Guilds. I'm interested to see they have to offer. IF the prices aren't outrageous, I may very well be interested in a USA Guild bass. However, those rosewood saddles have always bothered me....I hope that is a feature they change. Not a huge deal though.
'R.I.P.' is what should be written when fender acquires another company ...
I confess to having actually owned a Cordoba (Chrysler, not nylon string) back in the 80's. If I recall correctly it had the "Corinthian leather" interior and was certainly an easy riding, easy driving automobile. Unfortunately, it also had what was described as the "lean burn" 400 ci engine. Plenty of power, but I recall getting about 8 miles to the gallon in town, maybe 12 on the highway. I never quite got to the "lean burn" part of it.
When Córdoba acquired Guild, it was about to move to SoCal. At that time, Guild consisted of a bunch of equipment that didn't work well for guitar building, and two employees. They are having to get into a building, hire and train some employees and tool up from scratch. They do own a good supply of materials.
I got the feeling from the interview with Rem (the head luthier), that the first emphasis was likely to be on acoustic six-string guitars. Either way, Guild is essentially rebuilding from scratch. It will take a while, but Rem's take was that Córdoba was seriously interested in building instruments. I wish them well.
Raf
I got the feeling from the interview with Rem (the head luthier), that the first emphasis was likely to be on acoustic six-string guitars. Either way, Guild is essentially rebuilding from scratch. It will take a while, but Rem's take was that Córdoba was seriously interested in building instruments. I wish them well.
Raf
This only affects Guild. Hamer and Ovation are simply 100% dead, along with Genz Benz.
Glad to see that Guild might get rebuilt into something worthwhile. Fender certainly ran it into the ground.
Old Westerly Guilds were great guitars. I tried one of the recent Fender Guild acoustics. Honestly, I expected a $3500 guitar would play better than a $300 one. I think I'll stick to the old RI models.
- Sep 4, 2010
- 3,304
- 2,730
- Disclosures
- Endorsing: Martin Keith Guitars
In my guitar-playing days always loved the American Guilds from the 60s and 70ties. I still own a '77 F50 which is an unbelievable guitar (another Ebay buy of the century from back in the day). At this point I can only say i am curious what happens next.
No kidding. They ruined Tacoma guitars as well. Although maybe I should thank them. Since so few people remember them, you can get really nice quality, US-made, real wood guitars for a fraction of what they used to cost new (finish issues aside).
As an owner of 3 Modulus basses I feel your pain. But, I also own a couple of Roscoe basses so there is hope (for me at least). Sucks when the good music companies sell out to Walmart.
My bass was most certainly made by Fender. The warranty problem I brought it in for had to do with the volume maxing out at +/- '3', with it at full volume the rest of the way to '10'. I figured it as a bad pot. I would normally do this work myself, regardless of warranty, but I was a bit intimidated having to work through the F hole. As it turns out, it was the treble bleed circuit. When the new pot didn't fix the problem, they removed the treble bleed cap, and now the volume and tone controls work as you would expect. Also, Cordoba did respond to the shop and will cover the work under warranty. So, maybe it's not as dire as the shop guys had me thinking. And if they commit to building instruments in the USA, so much the better. Now, if they just fix that bone headed screw up with the bridge design.
(Full disclosure: I learned to play on my mothers 1973 Guild acoustic, so I'm pretty heavily biased. This will also veer wildly off topic.)
I sold Tacoma's for quite some time, including the "transitional" period instruments. I think their primary problem was that they were True Believers. They genuinely believed their designs would change the market, and that would be enough to carry them as a company. And they genuinely did make some really neat stuff. The second generation (when they switched from Fishman electronics to L.R. Baggs, before FMIC switched them back to Fishman IIRC) of the Thunderchief were, in my mind, a benchmark for ABG's that has yet to be met by anything remotely near that price point. Even that weird little 12-string Papoose was an absolute blast. The electric six-string version with the built in overdrive was almost cooler. But they bit off more than they could chew.
Yes, there was that infamous bad batch of finish. However, I've only seen one of these in the wild, and most of them seem to reach a flaking plateau of sorts (which means you can get some screaming deals on some high-quality stuff.) Maybe they liked us because we were a small, independent store, but everything we got from them was top-notch. I remember this quilted Koa acoustic... unf. I could probably still draw the grain pattern from memory. $2,500+ and it sold in like two months. The Olympia brand, however, was complete, utter shite. We had to send like a third of them back.
But to my main point. Tacoma was making great stuff, they just hadn't figured out that "making great money" bit. So, in comes Fender to save the day. They preserved most of the core design concepts, but ironically destroyed the finish. They started slathering them under 1/8" of cheap poly, and THEN the QC went downhill. I don't remember if they discontinued or somehow made the Olympia line even worse, but we dropped them like a warm bag of fresh dog feces when nobody's looking.
I think this was a learning experience for FMIC. It was during this time they moved Guild production from the Corona plant (which was, and remains, an absolute joke,) and shifted production to the Tacoma plant. It was a complete reboot, so dramatic that it would make even Batman blush. Unfortunately it was too late for Tacoma, and while they went softly into that sweet night, Guild was moved to the Ovation plant. In spite of my seething hatred of all things Ovation, the quality of their American instruments was actually pretty good. They came up with some neat, traditional designs, and their high-high-end stuff was incredible. But more importantly they started the GAD line; "Guild Acoustic Designs." Whilst I'm not sure who exactly made them, it was, on the surface, just a basic Chinese import line.
But it was awesome. My favorite guitarist, James Blackshaw, partially retired his 70's 12-string for a GAD - even without an endorsement. I played several Chinese Guilds, and, to my ears, they were indistinguishable from the basic American models. Compared to comparable American brands, the GAD's blew them out of the water. We had serious discussions A/B'ing GAD's and production Taylors, and lets just say Bob wouldn't have appreciated the results.
I can't speak to the quality of contemporary electric Guilds - I'm simply out of the loop. But I'm praying against all hope that they keep that line running.
As far as Cordoba... I'll have to reiterate my opinion of "meh." From a tonal POV, I admit that I'm not the best judge of Cordoba guitars, or classical guitars in general. Nylon string instruments are really just not my thing. But from Customer Experience, buyers are basically split into three groups: those with a lot of money who spend ten minutes with the guitar before buying it, those who play one and (rightfully) complain that it sounds like plastic, and those who order instruments costing in the thousands without ever hearing it. Make of that what you will.
That being said, Cordoba is an extremely well run company. They're very easy to deal with, but more importantly, seem to take great pride in their work. I can't say if that's because they're also True Believers, or if their profit margins allow them to just take any ol' hunk o junk back without question, but if you don't like what you ordered, they bend over backwards to the point where they're standing upright again to fix it.
In short, I want to believe. I think it's obvious they'll focus on acoustic instruments. But I hope they'll at least make a wink and a nod at their electric instruments, outsourcing to whatever Chinese group made the fantastic GAD series.
Anywho, ye ol' Ambien is hitting pretty hard, so I'm signing off (which should explain the length of this response.)
Just have faith. Guild is like a Phoenix; it somehow keeps coming back.
Don't forget the excellent Guild Pilot. Fender chose not to make it. Maybe the new Guild will bring back the Pilot?
The Pilot was out of production before FMIC bought Guild, at least one owner before FMIC.
John
True. But, remember, what's old is new again. Time is cyclical. We've all been here before, and we'll all be here again. Such is the musical samsara.
Which is to say, The Pilot has a non-insignificant cult following. Not necessarily big spenders, mind you, but the cult exists. And they want it back.
But I just don't see enough demand for it. Guild seems heavily focused on their acoustic instruments (as they always/should've been) and their few electric offerings all seem 60's-centric. I suspect we may see an unimpressive import version further down the line, or maybe even a DeArmond version. I would love to see an american version, loaded with EMG pickups/pre, and maybe even some flash 80's colors. But I'm not really getting worked up about the possibility. Cordoba is a conservative company, and I think the Pilot might risk their "brand" a bit too much.
Besides, originals aren't all that expensive to begin with. If Guild were to release a Pilot, I suspect it would basically be a Squier.
