Guild Brian May Model Guitar Image
Please see our listing of used Guild guitars following this brief history of Guild.
The Guild Guitar Company was founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge, and is a USA based company.
New York City was home to the first Guild workshop, but production was later moved to Westerly, Rhode Island. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation bought Guild in 1995 and moved production to a factory in Corona, California.
FMIC acquired the assets of the Washington-based Tacoma Guitar Company in 2004, and all Guild acoustic guitar manufacturing was moved to Tacoma, while production of Guild electric guitars was discontinued.
The Starfire, Bluesbird, and other 1960s and 1970s models were reissued for a short time in Korea under the DeArmond brand name. The reissued models also included the Pilot Bass Series. The reissued instruments displays the DeArmond inlay on the headstock while the truss rod cover shows the Guild name and logo.
The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation introduced the Chinese-built Guild GAD series acoustic guitars in 2005.
Guild entered the solid-body arena in the 1980s with superstrat-style models such as the Flyer, Aviator, Liberator and Detonator, the Tele-style T-200 and T-250 (endorsed by Roy Buchanan), and the Pilot Bass. The Pilot basses were available in fretted, fretless, 4 and 5-string versions.
These guitars were the first Guild instruments to bear slim pointed headstocks, sometimes called "pointy droopy", "duck foot" and "cake knife" for their dinstinctive shape. Pilot basses were revived by DeArmond in the 1990s (including a 6-string through-neck version with fancy exotic woods) and discontinued along with the DeArmond brand in the early 21st century.
Many top performers have, and continue to use Guild's excellently crafted instruments. Below is just a short list of some of the players that recognized Guild's extraordinary craftsmanship.
- Eric Clapton F-30, GF-6
- Jerry Garcia - (Starfire III)
- Pat Methany - (D40-C)
- Stevie Ray Vaughn - (S-300)
- Bruce Springsteen - (D-40SB)
- Brian Setzer - (Bluesbird)
- Paul Simon - (F-30, F-212 12-String)
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 1981 Westerly Guild D 25 SB SunBurst Guitar Arched Back w HSC True Vintage Tone $749.00 Time Remaining: 1h 6m Buy It Now for only: $849.00 Bid now |
 ORIGINAL 1976 GUILD D25 CH CHERRY ACOUSTIC GUITAR EXCELLENT $1,450.00 Time Remaining: 6d 3h 42m Buy It Now for only: $1,450.00 |
 Guild X150D Hollow Body Electric Guitar $960.00 (5 Bids) Time Remaining: 1h 51m |
 Guild JF30 12 Maple Body Jumbo 12 String Acoustic Guitar $1,250.00 Time Remaining: 6d 16h 41m Buy It Now for only: $1,250.00 |
 GUILD X 170T ARCHTOP ELECTRIC GUITAR WITH A GUILD BIGSBY $1,575.00 Time Remaining: 2h 26m |
 GUILD Bluesbird a beauty free ship+no tax $1,280.00 Time Remaining: 2d 17h 55m Buy It Now for only: $1,280.00 |
 Very Cool GUILD D 30EATB Sunburst Acous Elec ExCond OHSC Great Player NR $395.00 Time Remaining: 2h 11m Buy It Now for only: $795.00 Bid now |
 2012 Guild D 125 Acoustic Guitar Dreadnought Guitar All Solid Wood $529.99 Time Remaining: 6d 19h 24m Buy It Now for only: $529.99 |
 Vintage Guild S300A D Blonde Natural Finish Electric Guitar W Case NO RESERVE $600.00 (5 Bids) Time Remaining: 19h 29m |
 Guild JF100 NT CRV Jumbo Guitar Westerly RI Excellent Condition Rare Beautiful $3,400.00 Time Remaining: 20h 28m |
 Guild GAD 30 Orcehstra Acoustic Guitar w Case GAD30 Natural NEW $629.00 Time Remaining: 6d 20h 5m Buy It Now for only: $629.00 |
 Astounding Condition Vintage Guild 12 String Guitar Westerly RI from 1981 $985.00 (21 Bids) Time Remaining: 1d 21h 48m |