General Music Chat

Cordoba Announces
Plan to Purchase
Guild from Fender

Cordoba Music Group has finalized a letter of intent to purchase the Guild guitar brand and related assets from Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC).

“It was important for us to find a great steward to continue the important legacy of Guild guitars,” said Scott Gilbertson, FMIC’s interim CEO and board member. “We have found a great fit in Cordoba Music Group, a company committed to quality and with impressive U.S.-based production capabilities.”

“Guild is an iconic American brand with a rich heritage, and we’re truly excited and honored to be the ones to move it forward,” said Jon Thomas, Cordoba Music Group president. “It’s a great complement to our current position in the acoustic guitar market and provides opportunities for growth in new categories. We will continue to make instruments of exceptional quality in the USA, and look forward to giving one of the industry’s great American brands a new home.”

Sales of Guild guitars will continue as usual during the transition process. Upon finalization of the sale, Cordoba Music Group is expected to begin production of some models in Cordoba’s factory in Oxnard, California. FMIC recently announced the closing of Guild’s U.S. manufacturing facility in New Hartford, Connecticut.

Guild was founded in New York in 1953 by Alfred Dronge and joined the FMIC family in 1995.

cordobaguitars.com; guildguitars.com

am I a fan of Guild?

...well, the older ones for sure.

left: my 1966 Guild Starfire II
right: 1967 Guild Starfire II

Mark, do you believe the quality of late model Guild guitars was as good as the vintage models like you own?..

"later" as in FENDER made?

well, I don't have much exp there. I played a new (in store) STARFIRE bass and was unimpressed.

I have a buddy who has a cpl of FENDER era GUILD Bluesbirds (les paul type gtr) and they're pretty nice axes.

then again...you're entering into the comparison of new or newer gtrs vs old vintage axes.

I love both of mine. they sound great, play great, and have that hard to define mojo.

the gtr used to belong to a gal I played with who swore she wouldn't sell it to me...then one day called me up asking me if I wanted to buy it.

then a cpl of yrs later I picked up the bass from a local guy here who always wheels and deals w used instruments.

same deal....he swore he had no interest in selling it. he did offer to loan it to me to have some fun with. I used it on a gig the very same day I took him up on his offer. he came by to the gig and after the first set he came up and said "after hearing you play that...you deserve to have that bass!"

he gave me a sweetheart price of $900 for it! funny thing is....that's the same price I gave for the guitar too!

hmmmm, I wonder.....will Cordoba be covering their cases w fine Corinthian leather?

This is good news for Guild fans. With the recent Fender announcement about closing hte New Hartford locaiton that built Guild and Ovation guitars, there is hope that the Guild line will continue.

I just hope Cordoba reissues this model...an X-50 Cordoba!

how cool would that be? a Cordoba Cordoba!!!!

"....will Cordoba be covering their cases w fine Corinthian leather? "

Exactly the first thing I thought of.

I had a guild Les Paul style bass back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. It was ok, but it was strictly an interim sort of thing.

Talbot

so, mike you had an M85 Guild???? like one below?

those things are going for stoopid money these days... even more money than vintage Starfires. Don't mean to make ya feel bad but they're fetching anywhere from 2K to 3K. yikes.

here are a few presently up for sale: http://www.gbase.com/gear/find?gs=y&fy= ... f=1&ti0=20

Yep. The one with two pickups. The neck wasn't quite right for and in my youth I tended to think basses with 'Fender' on the headstock were 'interim' basses.

Talbot

Yep. The one with two pickups. The neck wasn't quite right for and in my youth I tended to think basses with 'Fender' on the headstock were 'interim' basses.

Talbot

yeah, I was like that too back in the day...though I did have a few non FENDER'S that weren't too shabby....

a '65 Epi Newport, '66 non reverse T-Bird, '68 STARFIRE, late '70's Gibson Ripper....

nowadays I'm all over the road mostly splitting it up between my '63 P, a WARWICK Stage One Streamer, and a WASHBURN XB-600.

recently I had a chance to score a reasonably GUILD B-302 like the ones below......sorry I passed on it. I've always thought them to be pretty cool.