[EuroAussie]

Just wondering, played one F-50 and they seemed very similar in looks and tone, maybe the Guild was more 'sparkly'.

Anybody have much experience ?

[bobouz]

 EuroAussie, on 13 April 2012 - 08:57 AM, said:

Just wondering, played one F-50 and they seemed very similar in looks and tone, maybe the Guild was more 'sparkly'.
Anybody have much experience ?

In the late '70s & early '80s, I was very impressed with the Guild line-up. Re the F-50, there were two models: the rosewood version with a traditionally braced back & sides, and then the maple version with a laminated & arched back. The arched backs seemed to be pretty punchy & had good balance, which I preferred to the generally darker tone of rosewood. As for the more recent models made by Fender, I'm not familiar with them, but would hope they'd be in the same ballpark.

[onewilyfool]

Both very good guitars....Aussie....since you are a stage guy, the one difference is that EVERYONE will recognize a J-200 in your hands, but almost no one will recognize the F-50. The F-50's prior to 2000 are considered the best (before Fender moved Guild to Corona CA, and Tacoma Washington), but be careful for underset necks and low saddles, a lot of those "vintage" Guilds need neck resets. I would avoid chinese made GAD F-50's.

[zombywoof]

I have played a few Guild F50Rs but have only owned a maple Guild F-50 as well as a J-200 (older laminate maple body version with the second wide angle brace above the soundhole).

In my opinion, Guilds made before Fender snapped 'em up (I do not have enough experience with Fender-made versions to say anything) are the most undervalued guitars out there. They were incredibly well built, just sound great, and never suffered through the "dark ages" that affliced both Gibson and Fender.

The thing I remember most about the rosewood body F-50 was the low end. This thing had some serious bass - more in your face than my J-200 and bordering on the legendary Martin boominess. I may be wrog but I recall hearing or reading that the boominess of the rosewood body was the reason Gibson switched to the maple.

The maple body Guild came off somewhat brighter sounding than my Gibson and was probably a bit more detailed or defined sounding especially when playing up the board. I would say the maple body Guild had a bit more punch or snap to it than either the rosewood version of the Gibson. I preferred the balance of the J-200 over either of the Guilds though. Overall I would say the Gibson sounded drier and just really well rounded. There is just something about the deep full sound that comes out of the Gibson which sets it apart from all other jumbos. The J-200 is the one that has remained with me down the years.

[JuanCarlosVejar]

another thing is that Guild built those guitars to survive almost anything.
When Guild was born in New York alot of of skilled craftsman from Epiphone who had no job went to work for guild.
so they probably came up with a way to build the guitar heavy but not at the cost of the tone.

I've heard great thing about 70's and 80's guilds. the ones made in the early 90's I;ve heard are decent too.



JC

[jrplefty]

I own a 2010 F-50R. It sounds how I think a rosewood jumbo should sound in my mind. ZW is right about the bass. It's there in a big way. I personally, haven't found it intrusive at all, and I haven't found that it makes things muddy. I will say the one thing I am missing, and is the reason I'm looking to with a 200 is that dry, compressed, woody sound.

If you are interested shoot me a PM with a good email address, and I can go through my archives and try to dig up some recordings to email you. Not sure what program you use, but all of my recordings are done in Sonar 8.5.

Concerning the maple F-50, I will say that I saw both on the same stage back at the beginning of the year, and I don't remember hearing a discernible difference between the two, and I will qualify that by saying I was at least 3 Jack and Cokes deep which very well have influenced my hearing at that point

[ritchie69]

I've always loved the Guild appearance, I had a Corona made F50R and a New Hartford made F50 Blonde(I also had two D55), both were great sounding and beautiful jumbos (the F50R had impressive bass), but since they have a longer scale (25.625") than the J200, they were too harder for my (poor) playing style...(plus they come with 013-056 string gauge).
Besides, the Guilds made in New Hartford, have a very impressive build quality.

[Rambler]

This may have changed in the 80s-90s, but the ones form the 60s-70s that passed through my hands were pretty hefty, which may have taken something of a toll on their response. re the GADs, tried out a couple of F30s a few ears back at a local shop. The were, well, just .. meh.

[shadowster]

 ritchie69, on 14 April 2012 - 04:34 AM, said:

I've always loved the Guild appearance, I had a Corona made F50R and a New Hartford made F50 Blonde(I also had two D55), both were great sounding and beautiful jumbos (the F50R had impressive bass), but since they have a longer scale (25.625") than the J200, they were too harder for my (poor) playing style...(plus they come with 013-056 string gauge).
Besides, the Guilds made in New Hartford, have a very impressive build quality.

is that pickguard been put on right ha ha

[zombywoof]

 JuanCarlosVejar, on 13 April 2012 - 11:09 AM, said:

another thing is that Guild built those guitars to survive almost anything.
When Guild was born in New York alot of of skilled craftsman from Epiphone who had no job went to work for guild.
so they probably came up with a way to build the guitar heavy but not at the cost of the tone.

Al Dronge's first partner when they were putting Guild toegther also came over from Epiphone.

The Epi workers are probably the reason the NYC Guilds have a somewhat different voice than those made in Hoboken.

[Morkolo]

My experience has been the J-200 is a much darker boomier sounding guitar than the Guild F-50. Though I prefer the big F-50s I've tried over the J200, especially in the twelve string versions.

[bobby b]

 Morkolo, on 14 April 2012 - 02:29 PM, said:

My experience has been the J-200 is a much darker boomier sounding guitar than the Guild F-50. Though I prefer the big F-50s I've tried over the J200, especially in the twelve string versions.

Whenever I think of Guild 12 strings I think of..........

[onewilyfool]

This is my F47 that I sadly no longer have.....






I traded it for THIS...so am not doing that badly!!!