1973 Guild F-30 Mini-Jumbo Guitar

The '60s Guild F-30 was a direct take on a Martin 000-18 with a short-scale neck and a little bit of Gibson-ish flavor thrown in. The '70s F-30 is a completely different beast, with a J-185-like mini-jumbo body shape, long scale length, and a D-18-meets-000 sort-of flavor. I like them a lot as heavy-handed strumming machines but this one also has the nuance to do some fingerpicking, too. It's been played heavily and as a result it's a lot more open and full than I normally expect this era of the model to be. The neck's good, too, and it has the look as well. Have we checked our boxes, yet?

That said, it's been ridden hard. The top is free of structural muck-ups save a couple smaller hairline crack repairs, but the back is thrashed and has a number of old, big crack repairs from the past that are very obvious. All is tidied-up, though, and whoever worked on it last also refretted the guitar and gave it a neck reset as well as whatever other work was needed.

I basically gave it a glorified setup and now it's ready to go and playing quick and easy. Because the guy who reset the neck in the past added a fretboard shim, I had to plane/level the frets on the board down quite a bit on the fretboard extension (not the neck) to keep them from fretting-out. Let this be a warning to other repair-folk: if you're going to shim the board after a reset, try to remember to let it drop away from the plane of the neck's fretboard just a hair or you will regret it later. Don't let your customers talk you into doing it otherwise!

Repairs included: previously (not done by me) it got a neck reset, refret, many crack repairs, and a replacement saddle. Currently (done by me) it got a fret level/dress, cleaning, and setup work.

Top wood: solid spruce

Back & sides wood: solid mahogany

Bracing type: x

Bridge: rosewood

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: mahogany

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 54w-12 lights

Neck shape: slim-medium C

Board radius: ~12"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium

Scale length: 25 1/2"

Nut width: 1 11/16"

Body width: 15 3/8"

Body depth: 4 7/8"

Weight: 4 lbs 3 oz

Condition notes: while the guitar is structurally sound and plays great, it has a ton of wear and tear. The worst of it is a group of large and long back cracks, all of which have been cleated and repaired as-needed. You can see them in the photos easily. Aside from those, there are also two top cracks -- one short and one longer on the lower bout, both cleated and repaired by other repair-folk. Add to this a ridiculous amount of finish-check, pickwear scratches, handling scratches, small dings, big scratches, and usewear that's obvious throughout the finish, and you can easily see why this might be called "well-traveled." It also looks all-original throughout, too, except for the saddle and maybe the bridge pins.

It comes with: a gigbag.