Guild USA D-40 Traditional Natural finish

It took me a couple of years to realise this guitar did not suit my playing style. It took another year to bring myself to sell it. It’s have never played a guitar with so much life and harmonic richness. 

Please note, this guitar has an LR Baggs Element fitted.

The build quality is the best I’ve seen from a US factory - the bracing and finishing inside is so precise and clean-cut. The overall aesthetic is an understated class. These guitars have been consistently outstripping similar dreads in this field for decades when it comes to bang for buck in the £2000 range and this represents Guild at the peak of their powers.

This is the best dreadnought I’ve heard. It’s alive. Power, sweetness, incredible harmonic colour and overtones. Full and articulate - so responsive to fingerpicking, and the power comes with having to punch hell out of it. 

Important to note this is a D-40 Traditional. The upgrades from a regular D-40 are what makes this such a great acoustic:

Hand-scalloped Adirondack bracing (see pic) - superbly light, bringing detail and life from the Sitka spruce top.

Three-piece Mahogany/Walnut/Mahogany neck - incredibly stable and resistant to atmospheric variation.

18:1 Guild Sta-Tite tuners - this thing just stays in tune.

Not to mention beautiful tortoiseshell binding, rosewood fingerboard, bone nut and saddle, upgraded real bone pins, and an LR Baggs Element professionally installed (after purchase) - see the Guild page for this guitar's full spec:

I have this set up fairly low - it’s extremely playable with 13s but it has 12s on and is fast and light to play, and difficult to put down. In drop D or DADGAD this is the absolute Godfather.

The nitro finish shows very mild aging, consistent with a three year old guitar, It looks better in my opinion - it’s done a gig and the odd session, but otherwise been kept in humidity-controlled conditions. It’s played in and settled. I know all this about the guitar through playing and recording it, and comparing it to others in the class.

I’d keep this guitar forever but I just don’t get on with the neck. 

It comes in its Guild hard case with humidity control.

You’ll see pictures of the small scratch low down on the back, and the re-finishing behind the nut I had done after noticing a tiny stress defect in the finish. Considering these these signs of use this Guild is in excellent condition, has three years of seasoning in a smoke-free house, and it’s a total wrench to sell this guitar but it’s not getting played, and it should be.

Free UK delivery, fully insured, or pick-up from Plymouth.