|
 GUILD |
| Instruments currently produced in New Hartford, CT since 2008 and China since the mid-2000s. Previously produced in New York City, NY between 1952 and 1956, Hoboken, NH between late 1956 and 1968, Westerly, RI between 1969 and the early 2000s, Nashville, TN between 1997 and the early 2000s, Corona, CA between 1999 and 2006, and Tacoma, WA between 2006 and 2008. Distributed by the Fender Musical Instrument Corporation (FMIC) of Scottsdale, AZ since 1995. |
| Contrary to the stories about a "guild of old world-style craftsmen" gathering to build these exceptional guitars, Guild was founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge (who did hire great guitar builders). Dronge, a Jewish emigrant from Europe, grew up in New York City and took jobs working for various music stores on Park Row. Dronge became an accomplished musician who played both banjo and guitar, and loved jazz music. His experience in teaching music and performing in small orchestras led to the formation of the Sagman and Dronge music store. After World War II, Dronge gave up the music store in favor of importing and distributing Italian accordions. The Sonola Accordion Company was successful enough to make Dronge a small fortune. It is with this reputation and finances that Dronge formed Guild Guitars, Inc. with ex-Ephiphone sales manager George Mann. Incidentally, the Guild name came from a third party who was involved with a guitar amplifier company that was going out of business. As the plant was closing down Dronge and Gene Detgen decided to keep the name. The Guild company was registered in 1952. As the original New York-based Epiphone company was having problems with the local unions, they decided to move production down to Philadelphia. Dronge took advantage of this decision and attracted several of their ex-luthiers to his company. Some of the workers were of Italian ancestry, and felt more comfortable remaining in the Little Italy neighborhood rather than moving to Pennsylvania. The company was originally located in a New York loft from 1952 through 1956. They expanded into a larger workshop in Hoboken, New Jersey, in late 1956. Finally, upon completion of new facilities, Guild moved to its current home in Westerly, Rhode Island, in 1969. As pop music in the 1960s spurred on a demand for guitars, musical instrument companies expanded to meet the business growth. At the same time, large corporations began to diversify their holdings. Most people are aware of the CBS decision to buy Fender in 1965, or Baldwin Piano's purchase of the Burns trademark and manufacturing equipment in 1967. In 1966, electronic parts producer Avnet Inc. bought Guild Musical Instruments, and Alfred Dronge stayed on as president. Dronge also hired Jim Deurloo (of Gibson and later Heritage fame) as plant manager in December 1969. Deurloo's commitment to quality control resulted in better consistency of Guild products. Tragedy occurred in 1972 as Alfred Dronge was killed in an aircraft crash. The relationships he built with the members of the company dissipated, and the driving force of twenty years since the inception was gone. However, Leon Tell (Guild's vice president from 1963 to 1973) became the company president in 1973 and maintained that position until 1983. In mid-August of 1986, Avnet sold Guild to a management/investment group from New England and Tennessee. Officers of the newly formed Guild Music Corporation included company President Jerre R. Haskew (previously Chief Executive Officer and President of the Commerce Union Bank of Chattanooga, TN), Executive Vice President of Plant and Operations George A. Hammerstrom, and Executive Vice President of Product Development and Artist Relations George Gruhn (Gruhn later left the company in early 1988). Unfortunately, the remaining members of the investment group defaulted on bank obligations in November of 1988, leading to a court supervised financial restructuring. The Faas Corporation of New Berlin, WI (now U.S. Musical Corporation) bought Guild in January, 1989. Solid body guitar production was discontinued in favor of acoustic and acoustic-electric production (a company strength) although some electric models were reissued in the mid-1990s. |
| HISTORY: 1995-PRESENT |
| IDENTIFYING FEATURES/GENERAL INFORMATION |
| ACOUSTIC ARCHTOP |
| ACOUSTIC: CLASSICAL MODELS (MARK, CCE, ETC. PREFIX) |
| ACOUSTIC: CONTEMPORARY SERIES |
| ACOUSTIC: CUSTOM SHOP |
| ACOUSTIC: DREADNOUGHT MODELS (D, DV, G PREFIX) |
| ACOUSTIC: F-STYLE MODELS (F, GF, GV PREFIX) |
| ACOUSTIC: GAD SERIES |
| ACOUSTIC: JUMBO MODELS (F, JF, JV PREFIX) |
| ACOUSTIC: MISC./SOLIDBODY MODELS |
| ACOUSTIC: TRUE AMERICAN SERIES (DCE PREFIX) |
| ACOUSTIC ELECTRIC: TRADITIONAL SERIES (F PREFIX) |
| ACOUSTIC/ACOUSTIC ELECTRIC BASS |