Guild F-512

116 Guitarist March 2014
GUILD F-30, D-55 & F-512 £1,966, £2,470 & £2,422
Acoustics
once modern yet traditional.
There’s enough meat in the
palm and relief in the neck to
appeal to fingerstylists who like
to dig in, where you’re rewarded
with that punching tone that
offers great string separation
and projecting, but still with
enough warmth to strum a
chord or five, too.
The 648mm (25.5-inch) scale
might mean that string tension
is tough for those used to
shorter-scale ‘folk’ guitars (such
as Martin 000s), especially
when strung with 0.013s, but it’s
a big part of why the guitar
projects and sings as well as it
does. Also, it’s worth saying that
it’s a real bonus for drop- and
low tunings where things can
get a bit flappy and indistinct on
a shorter-scale guitar.
Perhaps not as instantly
satisfying (read ‘bassy’) as the
D-55 or F-512, it really comes
into its own in a band, a
recorded mix, or when
accompanying voices.
The D-55 dreadnought makes
for quite the contrast: a gloss
neck, and slimmer nut
accentuating the neck’s overall
thinness; more a D than a C
profile, to invite comfortable
first-position chords, aided by
an impressively low action.
Fingerstylists who like to dig in
will find it all too cramped and
easy, but there are plenty of
other people out there who just
want an acoustic that’s blissfully
easy and comfortable to strum:
this is it.
The D-55 makes a good
flatpicker, too, with more
midrange attack than we were
expecting. Perhaps that
Adirondack bracing is doing its
job, because string separation,
definition and dynamic range
are all notable. It feels loud, alive
and resonant when playing soft
or hard, which are things you
might say more commonly
about a lightly built mahogany
dread, though that rosewood
warmth and depth is certainly
there. Aggressive strummers
will need to put a little more
relief in the neck in order to get
those strings really moving, and
let the thing sing out.
The F-512, though, is
obviously a whole different
boiling pan of poisson. You need
to spend some time getting over
the novelty of having a 12-string
if you don’t play one regularly
work to get the most from such
a top, however, which is
perhaps one reason that Guild
has opted for the (usually)
slightly more forgiving Sitka on
these three guitars.
The other differences are at
first glance cosmetic, further
setting the Standard and
Traditional Series instruments
apart. The Traditionals have
more ornate binding, ebony
headplates, more abalone and
mother-of-pearl inlays and gold
hardware. Their more
‘upmarket’ billing also brings
ebony fingerboards and bridges,
which feel and sound different
from the rosewood that’s used
on the more plain-Jane F-30.
We must just mention the
high-quality faux-alligator skin
cases that come with the
Traditional Series guitars, too. It
might sound cheesy when you
describe it, but boy do they
make you feel great walking into
a gig: super-classy and very cool
indeed. The F-30 gets a plainer
affair, visually – though it’s the
same, high-quality TKL case.
Sounds
There’s something just so
fundamentally right about the
F-30. Absolutely no-nonsense
from start to finish, it has an
appointments list that puts
function over form at every
turn, for example the
beautifully cut and finished
bone nut and saddle, but a lack
of excessive decoration.
The single-piece mahogany
neck is finished in a fast-feeling
satin lacquer that, coupled with
the slightly wider nut, feels all at
The fit and finish on all three guitars is truly exemplary
There’s something so fundamentally
right about the F30: it’s absolutely
no-nonsense, from start to fi nish
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GIT378.rev_guild.indd 116 1/23/14 4:19 PM