MIC Guild Guitars "The Westerly Collection"

[Etienne Rambert]

Ye GAD's! Or GADzooks!

 

Now GAD's are called 'The Westerly Collection'.

 

 

[DeepEnd]

Disappointing.

[Etienne Rambert]

Actually, I think this roll-out makes them look promising.

 

GAD's were good guitars for the money. It looks like the new owners are keeping the line and maybe building on it.

 

The solid Hog 12 string looks interesting. Wonder how it sounds?

 

Of course the most important question is where can you try them

and buy them? Distribution is the key.

[Tony Burns]

Stupid question of the day -

Did fender sell Guild to the Cordoba family of instruments ?

 

Fender sucks the life out of every company they ever bought

and honestly that would make me happy -IMO Fender Guilds are not of the same quality intergrity as the original Guild company !

[katopp]

Indeed Guild was sold to Cordoba. And Ovation was sold together with Gretsch to Meinl (re)Percussuion, if I remeber correctly.

Fender had bona fide milked those three companies dry and possibly sucked the last bit of life out of them before they sold on the empty shells.

Just look at Guild. The first GAD were actually half decent. I have one of the first GAD25 Series guitars. Nice, solid thing, nicely appointed, halfway "correct" contruction, etc.

Then they changed it to the 1xx series. So the Guild GAD25 became the 125. Noticeable drop in quality. Then they were called GAD again, but with the three-digit model code attached, so the GAD25 was now the GAD125. Again, noticeable drop in quality and less love for detail. Possibly they've changed Chinese OEMs twice in that time. The last time I've touched a GAD125 was just three days ago at my local dealer and I had my GAD25 with me. So I could A/B them. Man, that was an eye-opener! The lack of visible, haptic and acoustic quality was so bloody obvious, I would not have bought the GAD125 for half the money they called up for.

But then again, Cordoba is not the worst name in Nylon strung guitars, so I have a little bit of hope for the future.

Whereas Ovation will possibly rest in pieces sooner than we think. They've lost the top-of-the-line US production and the Chinese Ovations are a mere shadow of former glory. The Korean Ovations are, indeed, not too bad, but they come with a comparatively hefty price tag.

Gretsch will possibly die in beauty as a small-scale manufacturer of White Falcons and the likes of it until this light will fizzle and fade, too.

 

Fender - on the other hand - might now be able to survive a bit more write-offs that will occur regardless of GC going down or not. GC is not going to see the light of the day again unless they can reduce their debt significantly - either by negotiating or by Chapter 11 or by bankuptcy. Given the fact that bankruptcy will harm the whole of the music instrument industry, I foresee a huge debt writedown - with consequences for those who can not afford to write off at least 50% of their claims against GC...

[Etienne Rambert]

That's not my experience TB. I've owned 4 Guilds. By far the best is my 1997 (early Fender era) F65ce. Anyone who plays it comes away impressed - if not downright dazzled.

 

By far the least-impressive sounding was a late 70's D40 made in Westerly. It was really well-built. But you had to pound on it before it sounded right. It needed a heavy hand.

 

I rate my Guilds as follows: (3 of them are still in the family)

 

1. 1997 Westerly-made (early Fender era) F65ce (First by a mile. Beats any other guitar I've played too.)

 

2. 1972 flat-back Cherry red D25. (a really great little lifetime guitar.)

 

3. 1988 Gruhn-Kim Walker era D60. Not as great as it should have been IMO. Sounds great though.I play it quite a lot as it hangs in my bistro. Customers play it too.

 

4. 1978 D40. I traded it to a friend for an old statue. He could make it sound good. I couldn't.

 

In terms of build quality, they were all better-built than the D60 I think.

So Fender made some damned good Guilds for awhile. Dunno what Cordoba will do.Gibson OTOH, has some real success stories, w/Oberheim synths,OPCODE, inter alia.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Indeed Guild was sold to Cordoba. And Ovation was sold together with Gretsch to Meinl (re)Percussuion, if I remeber correctly.

Fender had bona fide milked those three companies dry and possibly sucked the last bit of life out of them before they sold on the empty shells.

 

Ovation hasn't been doing all that great for some time. I don't think you can really blame Fender for that one, at least not entirely.

 

Fender doesn't own Gretsch. They never have, so they're unable to sell it. The Gretsch family still owns the name and company - the deal they have with Fender allows Fender to develop, build and sell guitars under the Gretsch name. I have a Fender-era Gretsch, and it's a good guitar. IMHO it's better than some of the Gretsch stuff from the era immediately preceding the Fender deal.

 

As far as Fender-era Guilds, the few I've tried seemed like decent enough guitars.

[katopp]

I blame Fender for not being innovative with Ovation. There has not been significant development with Ovation. Adamas pioneered in carbon composites, but that never trickled down. Ovation was less innovative than CF Martin.

 

Additionally Fender owns Gretsch Guitars, Gretsch Drums is owned by Kaman which was owned by Fender. Fender sold Kaman and hence Gretsch.

 

And I own a 2002 Gretsch 3713. A very fine guitar, indeed...

[Tony Burns]

 

guess we all have our opinions -ive personnally not been happy with the Fender co. and how they typically run

into the ground every company they buy - Glad Cordoba bought the brand . My 71 D-55 is a stellar instrument

have not played a Fender version that could hold a candle to it -but then on the other hand those early D-55's were custom shop guitars

not entirely sure when it became a standard model ( thinking somewhere in the 74-75 era ?) My 79 D-25 is a nice instrument -

its my fun to play guitar im not afraid to take it places .

 

 

Like you i had a D-40 I didnt like , i did try to like it , but it wasnt in the cards -was an easy re-sale ,

 

 

[Neal]

Oh pshawww all you negative nancies. Those are nice looking, and I'll bet great guitars. Fender doesn't screw everything up.

[Neal]

Or perhaps nattering nabobs of negativism... that should be familiar to a few.

[katopp]

Sorry, but the loss of quality was visible, audible and you could just feel it.

Fender sucked the blood ouf of Guild. And Ovation. And Gretsch for that matter.

Without proper innovation, all brands have to die. Ovation wasn't developed properly, there was (and still is) a lack of endorsement (other than Kaki King, whom do you know??) and a lack of development. Anything new since the iDEA?

Gretsch never was big in Acousticland anyway. And Guild was practically dead after the third move and deprived of quality in th GAD series it was just a matter of time until they would be sold.

Amazingly, Fender itself invested more into it's own acoustic range than into Guild, Ovation or Gretsch.

I would imagine it would be easier to build on a big name like Guild and/or Ovation than to try to spice up a branf that - let's be honest here - has a very negative image when it come to anything else than Teles or Strats.

[Neal]

I had a GAD that was great a few years back, I was very impressed with those offerings. Sold it to my friend, and we're still friends. These look pretty good. Never a big fan of Gretsch guitars, though the new line of inexpensive ones are not bad, the ukes are pretty good, and the resonator is a step up from some of the offerings out there, very playable. Ovation? Haven't a clue about them. But maybe you're right and Fender screws everything up. I suppose I'm not the one to opine, as I haven't really needed or desired to go out and look at these things, though do play what I can when in a music store, which is only a few times a year anyway.

[ski219]

Let's not equate nor confuse GAD or Westerly Series Guitars with American built Guilds. I have a 1981 Westerly G37 and a 2013 New Hartford, CT built F412. Both sound and play great. I visited the New Hartford factory when I got my 412 (where Ovations were made) and they were carefully crafting quality guitars. I have played a few Tacoma made Guilds that were also excellent guitars. From what I hear Cordoba is committed to building quality Guilds and are still readying their California factory to do so.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Actually' date=' I think this roll-out makes them look promising.

 

GAD's were good guitars for the money. It looks like the new owners are keeping the line and maybe building on it.

 

The solid Hog 12 string looks interesting. Wonder how it sounds?

 

 

Ooooh! That does look interesting!

 

 

Of course the most important question is where can you try them

and buy them? Distribution is the key.

 

True.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Let's not equate nor confuse GAD or Westerly Series Guitars with American built Guilds. I have a 1981 Westerly G37 and a 2013 New Hartford' date=' CT built F412. Both sound and play great. I visited the New Hartford factory when I got my 412 (where Ovations were made) and they were carefully crafting quality guitars. I have played a few Tacoma made Guilds that were also excellent guitars. From what I hear Cordoba is committed to building quality Guilds and are still readying their California factory to do so. [/quote']

 

Do you happen to know what city in California they're establishing their factory in? If it's nearby, I may see if I can take a run over there and do a factory tour and post pics.

[Glenn F]

My limited experience with Guilds: I bought a GAD30R in 2011. Ok, but nothing that seriously impressed me. IMO, the neck felt a little cheap and not very sturdy. I sold it 1.5 years later. I played a GAD 12 string (1212?). I thought it was very good, but I was then getting a custom 12'er and preferred that to the Guild. They did stop making the 30Rs. They had all solid wood (spruce/rosewood, mahogany/ebony). Whatever it was replaced with didn't have an ebony fretboard, and I think back and sides were lam. I played a D-55 around 1977, but couldn't offer an opinion on it. I am happy with my Martins.

[Etienne Rambert]

 

Do you happen to know what city in California they're establishing their factory in? If it's nearby, I may see if I can take a run over there and do a factory tour and post pics.

 

Oxnard

 

Folks over at letstalkguild.com know a lot about it. They're still making an American line of acoustics and electrics. They're keeping Ren Ferguson, the last I heard too. So so far, so good.

 

I just hope they get a large, efficient distribution network.

[ski219]

Cordoba will be building Guilds in Oxnard, CA. As far as I know they have not yet started production, but have been working on readying their production facility. I think they are going to host a factory tour event for the Let's Talk Guild Forum folks sometime this fall...though that may well get pushed back.

 

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

Oxnard

 

Folks over at letstalkguild.com know a lot about it. They're still making an American line of acoustics and electrics. They're keeping Ren Ferguson, the last I heard too. So so far, so good.

 

I just hope they get a large, efficient distribution network.

 

Thanks. A lot of my family lives in Camarillo, so I do get up there occasionally. I'll have to see if I can do a factory tour once they get everything up and running.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Thanks!

[Mikeo]

Stupid question of the day -

Did fender sell Guild to the Cordoba family of instruments ?

 

Fender sucks the life out of every company they ever bought

and honestly that would make me happy -IMO Fender Guilds are not of the same quality intergrity as the original Guild company !

 

I have 2 new Gretsch's from the Professional collection that are really amazing. I wouldn't buy a Guild made in China, nor any acoustic instrument Fender makes. They do make some upper crust stuff that is really pricey and made in CT, but there are other options.