Guild A-150 Savoy Blonde

Estoy encantado con la guitarra. Aunque he tenido muchas guitarras antes, nunca había comprado una de jazz con tapa arqueada. Eso sí, he tenido antes la oportunidad de tocar algunas Gibson L-5 de coleccionista que valen más que mi coche. O sea que más o menos sé lo que se espera de estas guitarras. Esta es mi primera archtop.

La guitarra es bonitísima y elegante. Los acabados son perfectos aunque no son los de una guitarra de lujo, claro. Pero al menos el cuerpo y el mástil con bindings dan sensación de calidad. Muy bien y todo encaja perfectamente. El mástil y los trastes son de los que no puedes parar de tocar, seda pura.

El sonido es lo que es y lo que te esperas. Incluso me ha sorprendido que sea tan jazzy. Con mi ampli fender blues junior suena como los discos de jazz de los 50. Eso sí, ese es el sonido y no intentes conseguir otro. Es lo que es y nada más.

Es una guitarra acústica de media caja con suficiente volumen para tocar desenchufado en casa. El sonido acústico no se parece ni de lejos a una acústica de tapa plana. Muchos medios, sonido separado de cada cuerda y nada de timbreos. Jazz y blues. Nada más.

Lo único que me habría gustado es que la tapa y el fondo fueran más arqueados todavía, como las talladas más antiguas. Pero supongo que con estas tapas prensadas hay un límite. También eché de menos al verla bindings en las efes, como la Ibanez. En todo caso, la tapa es maciza y es bonita a rabiar. Me voy a tener que comprar un smoking para tocarla.

Excelente relación precio-calidad. Sólo he encontrado dos problemas no desdeñables que he debido solucionar:

1- El mástil estaba muy curvado y al tensarlo mediante el tornillo situado en la pala, éste sobresalió de su superficie, provocando que la tapita que cubre la cavidad donde éste se aloja no acabe de cerrar/encajar, tal y como debiera ser su función.

2- La parte inferior del puente no está suficientemente curvada, de modo que los dos extremos no acaban de tener pleno contacto con la tapa, mermando así la transmisión del sonido a la caja. Tuve que llevar la pieza a un buen luthier para solucionarlo.

En definitiva, un defectuoso control final subsanable con un adecuado servicio de pre-venta.

Very good guitar since the first glance, nothing wrong in the finish.
The guitar comes with flat-wounds .012 - .052 and the factory set-up is acceptable.
Every new guitar needs tuning and set-up, but this Guild out of the box is ?playable? immediately after tuning, but the pickup is much lower on the side of the first string than on the side of the sixth string, and the factory action in my opinion is a bit too high.
After removing the plastic protection under the bridge, with the bridge at his minimum height, the factory setup had an action at the twelfth fret of 1,6mm for the first string, and 2,10mm for the sixth string.
Since the standard for my hollow-body arch-top guitars includes flat-wound strings .013 - .056 and an action at the twelfth fret at 1,3mm for the first string, and 2,00mm for the sixth string, I changed the strings and made a new set-up.
During the years I have learned to make works of basic lutherie by myself, so:
I have mounted and tuned the new flat-wound .013 - .056 strings
to compensate the major traction of the .013 strings, I have slightly tightened the truss rod, controlling the straightness of the neck with a mechanical ruler
I worked with a file on the bridge to reduce the action at the twelfth fret to my standard
I lifted the pickup on the side of the first string, adding thickness at the base of the pickup using felt pads, till obtaining at least the same distance between the pickup and the strings both for the sixth string and for the first .
Now the guitar is an excellent guitar, the action of the neck is very comfortable, and there is no fret buzz.
I compared it with my 2004 Epiphone Emperor Regent, both the guitars are made in Korea, and I have to say that I prefer this Guild A-150.
I like more the acoustic timbre of the Guild, I expected that the A-150 would have been louder acoustically with his solid body top, but the Emperor Regent with his laminated top is as much as loud, if not louder.
The Emperor Regent has an higher bridge for the same strings and action of the A-150, in arch-top instruments there is a direct correspondence between acoustic volume, the height of the bridge, and the force transmitted from the strings to the top of the instruments.
Probably the solid top of the A-150 compensates for the lesser force transmitted from the strings with his lower bridge, and what is more the Emperor Regent is 12 years old its woods are definitely more ?mature? than those of my newborn A-150.
Electrically speaking DeArmond 1000 Rhythm Chief with just the volume pot is something absolutely astonishing, you have just to play the guitar in a good tube amplifier leaving free your musicality.
The pickup seems to have an output higher than normal, and is very sensitive, I had to use a setting of the gain control on the amplifier lower than my usual.
Just changing the picking position of the right hand, from near the neck to near the bridge, you can use a wide palette of sounds, with a slight variation at the volume pot you can add or remove a bit of thickness to the sound.
You just have to remember that you are playing an hollow-body with his attack and his sustain, remember also that bending strings .013 - .056 is harder than with .010 - .046
Choosing a different position for picking and with little adjustments to the amplifier (gain, tone, reverb) you can amuse yourself playing Jazz, Rockabilly, Rock & Roll, Blues, Pop, and any song you have in your mind.
You can find yourself in trouble only if the long sustain of a solid body is truly indispensable.
I have to admit that in the beginning I thought that one pickup with just the volume control would have been limiting, but freeing my mind from the conditioning I have found that this configuration gives much more freedom than I could imagine.
I can just think what I am going to play instead of thinking about selecting pickups and setting volume and tone controls, the sound comes from the mind and the hands of the guitarist, not from the equipment.
When I play it acoustic it reminds me the Eddie Lang sound, electrically has an heavy flavor of Jazz, but remember that the James Bond 007 Theme was played with a DeArmond Rhythm Chief.
Thank you Guild, an excellent guitar at an affordable price.