Guild Student Guitar
My first real, name-brand guitar. I bought the small-bodied student Guild from my friend – I think for $65. It was probably a late 60′s guitar, with an all mahogany (top too), and I believe an ebony fretboard. The small size was super comfortable to play and it sounded great. I used fairly heavy strings to help beef up the sound a bit and it seemed to like those pretty well.
Sadly, the Guild self-destructed on a drive out west. It had been in the car for three days and when I opened the case just about every part on that guitar let loose. The glue had softened, the top curled up, neck pulled away from the body and just about any part that had been glued on was pulling apart. I was pretty much in tears – I really loved that little guitar. If I had it to do over I would now bring it to a repair person, because I’m sure all the parts were in good shape. At the time I had no idea that it might be possible to fix, so I left it in a dumpster. No decent guitar should suffer that fate.
In general I’m a big fan of Guild guitars – especially the older Rhode Island made models. Some of my all time favorite acoustics are Guilds.