Guild
The Guild Guitar Company is a USA-based guitar manufacturer founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge, a guitarist and music-store owner, and George Mann, an ex-executive with the Epiphone Guitar Company.
The first Guild workshop was located in Manhattan, New York, where Dronge (who soon took over full ownership) focused on
archtop jazz guitars, both electric and acoustic. Rapid expansion forced the company to move to much larger quarters, on Newark St.
in Hoboken, NJ in what is now the Newman Leather building. The advent of the folk music craze in the early '60s had shifted the
company into production of an important line of acoustic folk and blues guitars, including a dreadnought series (D-40, D-50 and,
later, D-55) that competed successfully with Martin's D-18 and D-28 models, and jumbo and Grand Concert "F" models that were
particularly popular with blues guitarists like Mississippi John Hurt and Dave Van Ronk.
Notable also was the Guild 12-string guitar, which used a Jumbo "F" body and dual truss rods in the neck to produce a workhorse instrument with a deep, rich tone distinctive from the chimier twelve-strings put out by Martin. The company continued to expand, and was sold to the Avnet Corporation, which moved production to Westerly, Rhode Island in 1966. As the folk scene quieted, a new generation of folk-rockers took Guild guitars on stage; the most notable Guild performance of that era was the D-40 upon which Richie Havens opened the Woodstock Festival in 1969.During the 1960s, Guild also moved aggressively into the electric guitar market, successfully promoting the "Starfire" line of semi-solid guitars and basses; a number of early West-Coast psychedelic bands used these instruments, notably Jefferson Airplane's bassist, Jack Casady. Attempts at solid-body electrics fell flat in competition with Gibson and Fender; those instruments, eccentric in design, are now viewed as collector items.
The decline of the folk and acoustic market in the later 70's and 80's put severe economic pressure on the company, and instrument specialists generally concede that quality suffered, as it did with Guild's other American competitors in the acoustic guitar market. All Guild production was moved to a factory in Corona, California after Guild was purchased in 1995 by Fender. In 2004, FMIC acquired the assets of Washington-based Tacoma Guitar Company and all American Guild acoustic production has since been moved to Tacoma, Washington, while production of Guild electric guitars was discontinued. In 2005, Fender introduced the Chinese-built Guild GAD series acoustic guitars. Most recently, Guild has moved into a newly acquired facility in New Hartford CT in 2008, where hand-production of the top-end Guilds has significantly reclaimed the reputation of the company.
For a short time, reissues of 1960's and 1970's Guild instruments were manufactured in Korea under the DeArmond brand name. Models included the Starfire, Bluesbird and Pilot Bass Series. These instruments display the DeArmond inlay on the headstock while the truss rod cover shows the Guild name and logo.
Guild reentered the solid-body fashion in the 1980s with a series of superstrat-style solid bodies including models such as the Flyer, Aviator, Liberator and Detonator, the Tele-style T-200 and T-250 (endorsed by Roy Buchanan) and the Pilot Bass, available in fretted, fretless, 4 and 5-string versions. These guitars were the first Guild instruments to bear slim pointed headstocks, sometimes called "pointy droopy", "duck foot" and "cake knife" for their distinctive shape. Pilot basses were revived by DeArmond in the 1990's (including a 6-string through-neck version with fancy exotic woods) and discontinued along with the DeArmond brand in the early 21st century.
GuitarsA-50Aragon F-30 Aragon F-30 NT Aragon F-30 R Aristocrat M-75 Aristocrat M-75 Tenor Artist Award Artist F-312 12-String Bluegrass D-25/D-25M Bluegrass D-25-12 Bluegrass D-35 Bluegrass F-40 Bluegrass F-47 Bluegrass Jubilee D-40 Bluegrass Jubilee D-40C Bluegrass Jubilee D-44 Bluegrass Jubilee D-44M Bluegrass Special D-50 Bluegrass Special D-50 Reissue Blues 90 Bluesbird M-75 Hollowbody Bluesbird M-75 Solidbody Bluesbird M-75 Solidbody Reissue Bluesbird Reissued Brian May BHM-1 Brian May Pro Brian May Signature Red Special CA-100 Capri Capri CE-100 Capri CE-100D Capri CE-100T Tenor CO Series Cordoba A-50 Cordoba T-50 Slim Cordoba X-50 Custom F-412 12-String Custom F-512 12-String Custom F-612 12-String Custom Shop 45th Anniversary CV-1C D-4 Series D-6 D-15 Mahogany Rush D-15 12-String D-16 Mahogany Rush D-17 Mahogany Rush D-25 D-30 D-40 D-40 Bluegrass Jubilee D-40 Richie Havens D-40C NT D-46 D-55 D-60 D-64 D-66 D-70 D-100 D-212 12-String D-412 12-String DC-130 DCE True American Del Rio M-30 Detonator Duane Eddy Deluxe DE-500 Duane Eddy Standard DE-400 DV Series Economy M-20 F-4 CEHG F-5 CE F-30 F-30 R-LS F-45 CE F-46 NT F-47M/MC F-47 RCE Grand Auditorium F-50 F-65 CE F-212 12-String F-212 XL 12-String F-412 F-512 Freshman M-65 Freshman M-65 3/4 FS-20 CE FS-46 CE |
G-5 P G-37 G-41 G-75 G-212 12-String G-212 XL 12-String G-312 12-String GAD Series (Guild Acoustic Design) Georges Barnes AcoustiLectric GF-25 GF-30 GF-40 GF-50 GF-60 Granda A-50 Granda X-50 GV-52 GV-70 GV-72 Jet Star S-50 JF-30 JF-30E JF-30-12 JF-50R JF-55 JF-55-12 JF-65 JF-65-12 Johnny Smith Award Johnny Smith Award Benedetto Liberator Elite M-80 CS Manhattan X-170 Manhattan X-175 Sunburst Manhattan X-175B Natural Mark I Mark II Mark III Mark IV Mark V Mark VI Mark VII Custom Navarre F-48 Navarre F-50 Navarre F-50R Nightbird Nightbird I Nightbiard II Nightbird X-2000 Polara S-100 Roy Buchanan T-200 S-50 S-60/S-60 D S-65 D S-70D/AD S-90 S-100 S-100 Reissue S-250 S-261 S-270 Runaway S-271 Sprint S-275 S-280 Flyer S-281 Flyer S-284 Starling/Aviator S-285 Aviator S-300 Series S-400 Savoy A-150 Savoy X-150 Slim Jim T-100 Songbird S Series Standard F-112 12-String Starfire I Starfire II Starfire III Starfire IV Starfire IV Special Custom Shop Starfire V Starfire VI Starfire XII Stratford A-350 Stratford A-350B Stratford X-350 Stratford X-375/X-350B Stuart A-500 Stuart A-550/A-500B Stuart X-500 Stuart X-550/X-500B Studio 301 Studio 302 Studio 303 Studio 402 |
T-250 Thunderbird S-200 Troubador F-20 TV Model D-55/D-65 Willy Porter Signature X-79 Skyhawk X-80 Skylark/Swan X-82 Nova/Starfighter X-88 Flying Star Motley Crue X-88 D Star X-92 Citron X-100/X-110 X-150 D Savoy X-160 Savoy X-161 X-200/X-220 X300/X-330 X-400/X-440 X-600/X-660 X-700 Bass GuitarsAshbory BassB-4 E Bass B-30 E Bass B-50 Acoustic Bass B-301/B-302 Bass B-500 Acoustic Bass Jet Star Bass JS I/JS II Bass M-85 I/M-85 II Bass (Semi-Hollow) M-85 I/M-85 II Bluesbird Bass (Solidbody) MB-801 Bass SB-201/SB-202/SB-203 Bass Sb-502 E Bass SB-601/SB-602/SB-602V Pilot Bass SB-608 Flyign Star Motley Crue Bass Starfire Bass Starfire II Bass Starfire II Bass Reissue X-701/X-702 Bass AmplifiersDouble Twin AmpMaster Amp Maverick Amp Model One Amp Model Two Amp Model Three Amp Model Four Amp Model Five Amp Model Six Amp Model Seven Amp Model 50-J Amp Model 66 Amp Model 66-J Amp Model 98-RT Amp Model 99 Amp Model 99-J Amp Model 99-U Ultra Amp Model 100-J Amp Model 20-S Stereo Combo Amp Model RC-30 Reverb Converter Amp Superbird Amp SuperStar Amp Thunder 1 Amp ThunderBass Amp ThunderStar Bass Amp ThunderStar Guitar Amp EffectsCopicatDE-20 Auto-Rhythm Unit Echorec Foxey Lady Fuzz Fuzz Wah FW-3 HH Echo Unit VW-1 |