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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 Vintage 1980 Guild F 212XL Jumbo Acoustic 12 String with Mag Mic Pickup Case $499.00 Time Remaining: 1h 22m Buy It Now for only: $999.00 Bid now |
 Guild M 120 All Solid Concert Acoustic Guitar w Case $529.00 Time Remaining: 21d 20h 5m Buy It Now for only: $529.00 |
 Vintage 1979 Guild X 500 Electric Hollow Body Guitar $1,850.00 (13 Bids) Time Remaining: 3h 39m |
 2005 Guild D55 Antique Burst Acoustic Guitar USA Made Tacoma Sunburst PERFECT $1,675.00 Time Remaining: 5d 6h 27m Buy It Now for only: $1,675.00 |
 75 Alvarez 5039 MIJ Bicentennial Japan Lawsuit Era Guild Martin Style Guitar $490.00 Time Remaining: 4h 14m |
 76 Guild D25M Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar Excellent Condition OHSC D 25 D25 $899.99 Time Remaining: 23h 42m Buy It Now for only: $899.99 |
 1979 Guild D 55 Acoustic Guitar Westerly RI made $1,299.00 (17 Bids) Time Remaining: 5h 3m |
 Guild D4 NT HR Acoustic Guitar w hard case pick up professionally installed $450.00 Time Remaining: 14d 5h 21m Buy It Now for only: $450.00 |
 Vintage Guild S250 S 250 Project no case $299.00 Time Remaining: 5h 3m Buy It Now for only: $399.00 Bid now |
 Vintage Guild Guitar 6 String Guitar for Minor Restoration No Mark 1 Hoboken NJ $146.50 (12 Bids) Time Remaining: 5h 36m |
 Guild USA X 170 Manhattan Archtop Jazz Guitar Blonde Flame FREE SHIPPING $1,699.99 Time Remaining: 5d 17h 55m Buy It Now for only: $1,699.99 |
 1979 F 112 Guild 12 String Acoustic Guitar $202.00 (2 Bids) Time Remaining: 6h 5m |