Guild’s 2006-2008 Contemporary Series guitars were the guitar maker’s brief foray into bolt-on necks.  One of the desired advantages was that a neck reset (adjustment of the neck angle required when smaller truss-rod or saddle and nut adjustments can no longer produce the desired string height and intonation over the fretboard) would no longer require ungluing the bonded wood dovetail neck joint at the body of the guitar. Unfortunately, a number of these guitars were reportedly sent back to Guild with various neck, fretboard, and joint problems.  When Fender moved Guild acoustic guitar production in early 2008 from Tacoma, WA, back to the East Coast, Fender presumably decided that transferring the Guild Contemporary neck-block technology to the Kaman Music manufacturing facility in New Hartford, CT (yet another Fender purchase) was not worth the effort and Guild discontinued the series. Defective and new unsold models were all processed alike through a commercial refurbisher and are still fairly common on the re-sale market, but with the word “USED” imprinted on the back of the headstock and the serial number on the label blacked out to void out the Guild warranty.  Because of the poor history of these models, their resale value is not strong whether new or second-hand, and you can pick up one of the “refurbished” guitars new at half to less than a third of what they originally sold for.  The trick is not to pick up a lemon.

The top of the Contemporary Series line was the CV-2C, a F-40 Orchestra-style body guitar with Florentine-style cutaway, solid Red Spruce top, solid flame Maple back and sides, one-piece Mahogany neck, multi-layer ivoroid binding, Ebony fretboard and bridge, a Madagascar Rosewood and ivoroid, red, and black inlaid accent lines rosette, Chrome Gotoh tuners, and D-TAR Wavelength Load and Lock pickup and electronics.  It was manufactured for less than a year with a MSRP of $3,000 and a street price (true retail) of around $2,250. I have been tracking these guitars on eBay for several months now, attracted by the chance to buy a lot of guitar for much less than the current retail price for similar new models such as the Guild F-40 Traditional Series acoustic (approx. $2,650 street price in Antique Burst) or the F-47MC acoustic/electric (approx. $3,050 street price in Antique Burst).

So it was with great anticipation that I received my latest eBay purchase this week, a 2007/08 CV-2C in Antique Burst (no way to determine which year as it is a “refurbished” model with a blacked-out serial number). It came in a brand new Guild deluxe TKL hardshell case. The guitar itself was new, as advertised, without any visible blemishes.  The Antique Burst finish is beautiful, especially after a good cleaning.  The inlaid Madagascar Rosewood rosette is especially striking.  Once tuned up, I was relieved to find no issues with the neck, the set-up, or the intonation.  The fretboard is tightly flush to the body of the guitar (one of the potential issues with these models based on anecdotal on-line evidence).  Unless you look inside the body of the guitar, the ill-fated neck block system is undetectable.  What is immediately noticeable is the wonderful warm tone of this solid Maple-bodied guitar, my first ever.  The Wife was immediately seduced by it, instructing me not to resell this one!

Curious to confirm our initial impressions, we conducted an unscientific test.  I pulled out my 2001 Guild F-47RCE (solid Rosewood back and sides), which played brighter, but less warmly.  Then I switched to my 2011 Guild GAD-25 (solid Mahogany back and sides), which sounded much darker. These are guitars I really enjoy, both aesthetically and sonically, but I am definitely a new convert to Maple and plan to keep my eye out for other interesting Maple-bodied guitars.  In the meantime, the CV-2C is a welcome addition to the stable.  Anyone else a fan of Maple…?