Guild D-25

My D-25 is a 1996 model; I got it used, but it appeared barely played. It was made in Rhode Island at the old Guild factory (Guild makes all their guitars there just like they always have). It's finished in black, with a solid (not laminate) maple top and mahogany sides and back. The black finish is unspectacular but well-applied, although there is a little orange-peel effect near the strap button. The tuners are Grovers and appear stock to the guitar; they're very substantial. The bridge is rosewood, as is the fingerboard. It has no pickup or electronics; I might install some later, but I am afraid to mess up the sound, because it sounds super nice. The construction, except for the orange peel effect I mentioned earlier, is flawless inside and out.

I play original music, roots music and blues, and the D-25 sounds good with all of it. Guilds as a rule have a darker tone than other acoustics, and the D-25 has a nice rich sound that still has enough cut when played hard to be effective. I have never owned an acoustic that was this nice, and could cover this many bases all around. If I sound bad, I know it's my fault, because there's certainly nothing wrong with the guitar! The sound is basically ringing but not too bright, full, round, and very "woody."

The action could be a bit lower, but as I said I got it used, and with a little tweaking of the truss rod I got it in perfect shape. Other than that I found no structural flaws worth mentioning. The frets are nice and even with no wear. The fretboard has a nice little arch to it and is well rounded. The neck oddly enough reminds me of an archtop guitar, with the same good feel. I saw a glob of glue on one of the braces deep inside the guitar- big whoop. Other than this everything was perfectly set up.

This is a very solidly built acoustic guitar. I have used it without a backup already, and it has withstood live playing very well. The finish has stood up well. I needed an additional strap button, which I mounted in the neck joint. This didn't affect the neck stability at all, and both strap buttons are solid and wide, with no danger of falling out of the strap. This guitar seems like the kind of guitar you could keep maybe the rest of your life, as far as durability goes.

I have never dealt with the company, because I've never had a need to. I hear that in spite of the fact that Fender has bought the company, their service is still quite good, but there's nothing wrong with my guitar, and it doesn't seem likely that there will be. I am told that Guild offers a lifetime warranty on all their instruments, and their website says that in spite of the sale to Fender they will honor lifetime warranties on pre-and post-Fender Guilds.

I've been playing since 1974. I have about seven guitars and have owned many different types over the years. This Guild has rapidly become my main acoustic guitar and I could not really think of doing without it; if it was stolen I most certainly would buy another one. The things I like about it are its solidness and its responsiveness. Tonally it is everything that I would want, with a warm, woody sound, and structurally it's excellent. The one thing I wish was that it had a pickup of some sort, but I plan to buy a Fishman Rare Earth within the year so that should take care of that problem. In a way I'm glad it didn't have a pickup, because I don't like the sound of piezo pickups most of the time, but it is a bit of a pain to mike it up when I play live. That's going to happen with any acoustic guitar without a pickup, though. It records quite well, although the low end is quite prodigious and requires you to aim the mike a little south of the soundhole to get the best reproduction of the sound. I really cannot speak well enough of this guitar; it's not the most expensive Guild but it certainly beats out many guitars costing two or three times as much. It's eminently playable and very tonally satisfying.