Guild is certainly one among the good American guitar builders. But without the advantage of Martin and Gibson’s histories, Guild—that will turn sixty next year—has typically played the role of renegade also institution. Guild’s very good, fantastically designed, and relatively reasonable acoustics are the choice of legends like Nick Drake and Paul Simon. And Guild electrics—like the Starfire six-string and bass, and also the X Series archtops—were some of the finest guitars of the electric guitar’s first golden age. Guild also took risks, though, and electrics like the Polara and Thunderbird have the excellence of directly being some of the oddest and best-playing solidbodies of the ’60s.
Given its status as each overachiever and underdog over the years, it’s not shocking that Guild is one thing of a vagabond among American guitar companies, too. Since Guild was founded in New York City in 1952 (they’ve been owned by Fender since 1995), the corporate has known as six cities—together with Westerly, Rhode Island, Hoboken, New Jersey, and Tacoma, Washington—home. In 2009, Guild relocated nevertheless again, now to share factory space with recent Fender acquisitions Ovation and Hamer in New Hartford, Connecticut. And if the D-fifty Standard reviewed here is any indication, the move has done nothing to diminish Guild’s ability to create nice-playing, beautiful-sounding acoustics.
Elegant Simplicity
The D-fifty Standard is one of 2 dreadnoughts in Guild’s Standard series—a line of New Hartford-designed guitars the company introduced as more affordable alternatives to the more feature-laden Traditional series guitars. As such, it lacks a heap of the fancier appointments, just like the Chesterfield inlay, that tend to scream “Guild” from afar. Up close, however, this guitar is one stylish and handsome wedding of wood and wire.
The solid, lacquer-finished Sitka spruce prime is gorgeous—tight grained and light in hue, but with a faint quilting pattern that lends a refined visual depth that’s likely to get a lot of pronounced as the end ambers with age. The solid Indian rosewood back and sides are a lot of brownish than some specimens I’ve seen. The satin-finished, 2-piece neck also contains a cocoa tint that enhances the guitar’s low-key visual vibe. Apart from its top and back binding, the D-fifty Standard is just about free of ornamentation—solely a mother-of-pearl emblem inlay atop the trademark, art deco-impressed headstock hint at its complete identity.
A No-Frills Cannon
If the sedate styling of the D-fifty doesn’t successfully convey the notion that it’s a player’s guitar, one strum of a first-position E chord puts any doubt to rest. In truth, you get the way that Guild left this guitar so unadorned because it’s going to require a licking anyway. This may be a guitar that begs to be played exhausting and with authority.
The Verdict
At the top of the day, the D-fifty Standard is really a flatpick user’s game. It’s ideal for significant-strumming roots and country players, balladeers, bluegrass pickers, and blues players who don’t mind putting a very little brio in their approach. While it’s not ideally suited to fingerstylists, players with a heavier attack or thumbpick-based technique can be rewarded by the harmonic and overtone capability of the big rosewood-and-spruce body. The D-fifty is additionally brimming with the understated, simple sense of luxury and craft that typifies most Guilds. This may be a cannon that’s built to bellow, bark, and take a beating for decades down the road. And it sends a sturdy message that Guild will continue to form first-category acoustics, irrespective of what town it calls home.