I personally think about the Guild jumbo 12-string acoustic guitar among the best engineering accomplishments of the 20th century, right up there with electrical energy, the vacuum tube, computer, interstate highway, area shuttle bus, jet aircraft, tv, and so on. Sure, it might just be a flattop acoustic guitar design established rather late in the video game throughout the ’60s, however to lots of gamers the Guild jumbo 12-string is to the acoustic guitar what a Steinway Model D show grand is to the piano.
Jimmy Page rather eloquently explained his very first encounter with a Guild jumbo 12 (an extremely uncommon early ’70s F-612 design) in his book Jimmy Page– The Anthology: “I remained in Manny’s guitar store in New York when the guy working there stated, ‘There’s a guitar here you’ll wish to purchase, a Guild 12-string.’ I informed him that I currently had a 12-string Harmony, however he firmly insisted: ‘No, you’ll wish to purchase this.’
“He went to the opposite of the store, which was rather a significant range, played a couple of chords on it, and the sound predicted right throughout the store. There was no concern about it. I ought to have it.”
Lots of guitar players have a comparable response when they initially play a Guild jumbo 12. Guild produced numerous jumbo 12 guitars for many years, consisting of the F-212 and its bigger XL variation, F-312, JF30-12, JF55-12 and JF65- 12. It’s the 17-inch F-412 (arched maple back, maple neck and maple sides) and F-512 (rosewood back and sides, mahogany neck) designs– along with the massive and practically unobtainable 18-inch F-612 design– that are typically thought about the go-to variations. Guild supervisor Carlo Greco is worthy of credit for the majority of the jumbo 12’s style.
Throughout the years, Guild made it through numerous modifications of ownership together with various factory movings, consisting of Hoboken (New Jersey), Westerly (Rhode Island), Corona (California), Tacoma (Washington), New Hartford (Connecticut) and Oxnard (California). Cordoba acquired Guild in 2015, and with preliminary assistance from previous Gibson acoustic master luthier Ren Ferguson, the business is producing USA and import variations that match the classics.
A number of innovative qualities assist make the Guild jumbo 12-string a remarkable accomplishment of engineering. The really jumbo 17-inch broad, five-inch deep body provides exceptionally loud volume forecast, and the top’s scalloped braces are carefully fine-tuned and carefully tuned to supply a perfect balance in between strength, vibrant responsiveness and versatility.
The neck has a rather long 25 5/8-inch scale length, however the large and flat profile supplies exceptional convenience and playability, and its double truss rods (among the very first guitars to include this style) keep the neck steady and straight even with the strings’ included stress.
This all lead to bass that is huge, flourishing and effective without hindering the sweet harmonics and cut of treble notes or the midrange punch and character. The general tone is substantial and symphonic, which has actually made Guild jumbo 12s incredibly popular with singer-songwriters like Simon and Garfunkel, John Denver, Tim Buckley, Dan Fogelberg and lots of others.
Tone Tip
The 25 5/8-inch scale length can lead to significant string stress with a set of regular-gauge strings in requirement. Tuning down a half or entire action or utilizing light gauge strings is suggested for included convenience without compromising forecast and tone.
Timeless tunes including a Guild jumbo 12 consist of Led Zeppelin’s Over the Hills and Far AwaySupertramp’s Offer a Little BitJohn Denver’s Rhymes and Reasons and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Affirm (and a number of other tunes) from his MTV Unplugged efficiency.
More just recently, Brian May changed to Guild F-412 and F-512 guitars when carrying out 39 live, and David Gilmour has actually embraced an F-512 to play Dream You Were Here to change the Martin D12-28 he utilized in the studio.