Guild GAD F-150RCE

The Guild F-150RCE is an exciting guitar to play. Great looking spruce top, rosewood back and sides. The ivoroid binding is complemented with a ring of mother of pearl about sound and mathching block inlays, nice touch. The neck profile is comfortable in the hand and allows for quick chord changes which is a great feature to have on such a large guitar. The onboard electronics sound great. The pickup system is a Fishman Sonitone.

UTILIZATION

Even with the mammoth size of the F-150RCE, the guitar is perfectly comfortable. The neck profile allows for nimble playability while the cutaway provides ample reach in to the higher registers of the guitar. The tuning stability was so-so. I had to retune numerous times when switching between songs that required alternate arrangements. The guitars large body projected very well with both strumming and fingerstyle playing, without being overly boomy in the low end.

SOUNDS

The guild had a very complex sound to it that was charming. Chords sounded very sweet while arpeggiated notes sounded out very clearly. I preferred the sound this guitar with using a plectrum. Fingerstyle passages while being projected well and loud, lacked a degree of intelligibility. While the tuning issues did not completely overwhelm the perks of the playing experience, it was inconvenient and frustrating.

OVERALL OPINION

The Guild F-150RCE is a brilliant sounding guitar for singer songwriters. I enjoy the aesthetics of the guild and felt that the playability exceeded a lot of other guitars with the same shape in the price point. While their are certainly values on the market that exceed the guild (the Taylor GS mini and Eastman models come to mind) none are Jumbo bodies. The Guild is a good looking guitar and it certainly does justice to the Guild branding. I do not believe the tuning issues I had were typical with these guitars but it is something to be aware of as a consumer.