Price paid: £ 401
Purchased from: Reidy''s Home of Music
Features: This is my review on my Guild D125 acoustic guitar. It's a 2009 model made in China. It's a dreadnought shape with all solid mahogany construction. The neck is also mahogany and is satin finished - unlike the body which is a high gloss finish. The neck profile is a modern 'c' shape. Very comfortable to play. The factory setup was medium action, which is fine for me. I press down hard anyway. The saddle (Nu Bone) is nice and high, so any adjustments I wish to make later on will be easy. The case that came with the guitar is a TKL case, and is very very nice. Much better than the 'tweed' cases that came with the earlier GAD Guilds. This model replaces the old Guild GAD 25. Which had a few nicer touches to it. Like bone nut & saddle, grover tuners and a one piece neck. Guild have obviously sacrificed these appointments to cut costs. It sucks really, becuase the GAD 25 sold for the same price. I feel like I dind't get the value I would have got from buying a GAD 25. The only thing better with this model is the case, and the new style pickguard which is more faithful to the original Guild pickguard. // 8
Sound: This is a bassy snarling beast. It's very very loud. The guitar came with.12 gauge strings, when strummed it distorted badly. I went down to 11's and this helped a little, then I went down again to 10's and I'm very happy now with the tone of the guitar. Strummed it has a woody, punchy tone with plenty of treble bass and midrange, it's a very open, full sounding guitar. Also individual notes ring out lovely and clear. Much more so than a spruce topped guitar. I play most styles of music and this is a very versatile guitar, it handles it all very very well. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: The factory set up was medium. Medium action, a little relief in the neck, a nice high saddle should I want to lower the action. So far I've left it as it is. It's not as easy to play as a taylor, but It works for me so I've left it as is. The finsih of the guitar has no flaws it is a 'high gloss' though and looks kind of 'plasticy' under light. This may not appeal in terms of asthetics, but it doesn't really bother me as the grains in the wood are lovely a. The only minor gripe is the holes in the bridge plate are very slightly off centre. I've marked it down a point because of that, but it's a minor thing that someone less observant may have missed. // 7
Reliability & Durability: I've been gigging this guitar 8 hours a week and probably playing it around another 2 hours a week rehearsing. It's solid as a rock, very dependable, very very well built the soundhole has re-inforced bracing and also the sides have joining braces which add to the strength, in all the consesions Guild made with the appointments, it seems that the build quality remains the high standard I've witnessed on the GAD range. The tuners are decent, I'm not overly pleased, so will probably switch them to Grovers at some point. // 9
Impression: I play most styles really, Blues, folk, rock, 60's, 90's indie, and original stuff... As I mentioned earlier it's a versatile guitar. I've been playing about 10 years so I knew I liked the mahogany tone before buying, I also like the dreadnought shape for it's versatility. This is my sole acoustic guitar at the moment. In that ~£400 price range, it's a very nicely built guitar with a very nice tone. It's not a Martin, but it's a lovely sounding and looking guitar and I've really bonded with it. It's very touch responsive so it can manage light ballards and heavy rock equally well. In it's price range, I believe it's the best option out there. If it was stolen... I'd probably go for the dame again, or look for a used GAD 25. // 9
