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, a former executive with the Epiphone Guitar Company. The brand name survives as a brand of the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.
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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, New Jersey, in what is now known as the R. Neumann Leathers building.[1] 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-acoustic (Starfire I, II & III) and semi-solid (Starfire IV, V & VI) guitars and basses. A number of early West-Coast psychedelic bands used these instruments, notably the Grateful Dead's guitarist Jerry Garcia and Jefferson Airplane's bassist Jack Casady. The rare S-200 Thunderbird solid body electric was used by Muddy Waters and The Lovin' Spoonful's Zal Yanovsky.
The decline of the folk and acoustic market in the later '70s and early '80s put severe economic pressure on the company, and while instrument specialists generally concede that quality suffered at other American competitors, Guild models from the '70s and '80s are still considered to be made to the high-quality standards that the Westerly plant was known for.
In the 1980s, Guild introduced 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, and 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.
After several changes in management and ownership, Guild was eventually purchased by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in 1995. In late 2001, it was decided that Fender would move all Guild production to its factory in Corona, California. In order to ease the Corona facility (which had only made electric guitars up to this point) into making archtop and acoustic guitars, the Westerly factory artisans and workers prepared guitar 'kits' that were shipped to Corona. These kits were near-complete production guitars that only needed to be finished and sent through to final assembly before being sent to retailers. Production in Corona turned out to be short-lived, however, as Fender acquired the assets of Washington-based Tacoma Guitar Company in 2004 and all American Guild acoustic production was again moved to Tacoma, Washington, while production of US-made Guild electric guitars was completely discontinued.
In 2008, Guild was once again uprooted from Tacoma upon Fender's acquisition of Kaman Music Corporation and its small production facility in New Hartford, Connecticut, and hand production of all USA-made Guilds resumed in a manner that is consistent with other high-end, boutique guitar builders. The New Hartford Guild facility began production in early 2009, with the D-55 and F-50 models being produced first. Production has since been ramped up to include most of the popular Traditional Series acoustic guitar models. Acoustic-Electric versions of these models are also available. All USA-built Guild Guitars are available in right-handed configurations only. 2011 Traditional models' improvements include a new DTAR pickup system, which now allows blending between an internal microphone element and an under-saddle transducer. Previous DTAR configurations only included an under-saddle transducer. Also, hard shell case material has been upgraded to a high-end, faux alligator skin material.
In late 2010, Guild released its Standard Series acoustic guitars, which are USA-built guitars (still manufactured in the New Hartford, Connecticut facility) that are based on models from their top-end Traditional Series. While these guitars still contain high-end features, they have slight differences in ornamentation and instrument finish options that make these guitars more affordable. Standard Series models include the F-30, F-30R, F-50, D-40, D-50, and the return of the F-212XL 12-string model. All Standard Series models feature red spruce bracing, satin mahogany necks, and bone saddles, nuts, and bridge pins, but have lower-grade wood and ornamentation than their Traditional Series counterparts.
In 2011, cutaway acoustic-electric versions of all Standard Series models were released. These guitars feature venetian cutaways and a DTAR 18V under-saddle pickup system. These models can be identified by the 'CE' suffix at the end of the guitar's model number. All Guild guitars come with hard shell cases.
The New Hartford facility has also created a new line of specialty, limited edition guitars, referred to as the GSR Series. The GSR designation stands for "Guild Special Run." This series was first revealed to Guild dealers at Guild's dealer-only factory tour in mid-2009. These models feature unique takes on classic Guild Traditional Series models. GSR models include the F-40 (figured Cocobolo), F-30R (master-grade Rosewood), F-50 (figured Koa), and D-50 (figured Cocobolo). Each of these instruments feature unique designs, wood selection, ornamentation, and have extremely limited production numbers.
Guild has had 4 primary import guitars lines, which are defined as those which are not made in the USA.
In the mid '80s, Guild formed import brands for its acoustic and electric guitars that were made outside the United States. Madeira Acoustic Guitars were import guitars that were based on existing Guild designs, but manufactured in Asia. They are characterized by their substantially unique pickguard shape and differing headstock. Similarly to Madeira, Burnside Electric Guitars were Guild electric guitar designs (typically of super-Strat delineation) that were manufactured outside the United States. The headstocks on these guitars read "Burnside by Guild." Both brands were discontinued in the early '90s.
After Guild was purchased by Fender in the mid '90s, reissues of some Guild electric guitars were manufactured in Korea under the DeArmond brand name, which Fender also owned the rights to. Import reissue models included the Starfire, Bluesbird and Pilot Bass Series. On the headstock, these instruments display the DeArmond logo (above the Guild Chesterfield inlay), while the truss rod cover may be stenciled with the word 'Guild' and the DeArmond reissue model number. The DeArmond brand was discontinued in the early 2000s.
Also in the early 2000s, FMIC created a new line of Guild acoustic guitars called the GAD-series, which stands for "Guild Acoustic Design." As with the other import lines, these guitars are based on past and present Guild acoustic guitar designs, but are built in China. All of these models are designated with a 'GAD' as a model prefix. These guitars feature poly finishes (as opposed to traditional nitrocellulose lacquer on USA models) and nondescript wood grading. Interestingly, FMIC did not choose to create this line under a different brand name, but left it as a new series of guitars from Guild. This choice has caused confusion, as it marks the first time that an import has actually donned the Guild brand name, which had previously only been used to describe USA-made guitars. Because of this, it is no longer immediately clear if a Guild-branded guitar is a US-made model or an import, although the GAD models usually have unique ornamentation. The current product portfolio of GAD-series guitars is larger than Guild's US-built Traditional Series.
The 2011 GAD models have been updated with new features, looks, and model numbers. These new GAD-series Guild guitars can now also be identified with a number 1 as the first number in the model number. For example, a US-built F-50R's GAD-level copy would be called an F-150R. Similarly, a US-built F-512 would be an F-1512 as a GAD copy.
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Hans Moust (1995) The Guild Guitar Book. Hal Leonard Corporation.