Guild Guitars introduces the M-140E an all-solid-wood acoustic-electric guitar with ’60s style design and cosmetics.
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It is part of their new Westerly Collection of instruments that are inspired by the designs the company used back when they were building guitars at their Westerly, Rhode Island facility, a period considered to be the golden era of the company.
This is an interesting move by the company, especially now that the brand was just sold by Fender to Cordoba. Going back to their pre-Fender designs will hopefully bring back the Guild acoustic identity to help build the brand back to its once strong market position.
Guild President Jonathan Thomas said, “We had three things in mind when developing The Westerly Collection: give players an incredible all solid wood acoustic guitar between $649-$1099 MAP, offer dealers great margins, and capture Guild’s iconic design and styling that has made it one of great brands in guitars for so long.“
As part of their rebranding, the Westerly Collection will be using an improved naming convention that will better indicate the guitar’s wood composition and shape. In the case of the new M-140E, “M” signifies Concert, while “140” indicates a traditional combination of spruce top with mahogany back and sides, and finally the letter “E” means that this acoustic guitar is equipped with an electronic preamp system.
The Guild M-140E features a solid Sitka spruce top and solid African Mahogany for the back and sides – crafted to form the comfortable “concert” shape that results in a more balanced and articulate sound. Although it is not as loud and punchy as dreadnought style guitars, this comfortably smaller body produces a clear sound that fingerstyle players will appreciate, highlighting the nuances of your technique and playing style.
The neck follows the shape of vintage Guild acoustics, having a 1.75″ nut width and a short 24.75″ scale length that complements the guitar’s concert size body. Ron Ferguson, Guild’s new VP of R&D and Manufacturing consulted players, artists and dealers before deciding to settle with the more comfortable vintage neck profile. Staying true to the design of 60’s era Guild acoustics, the M-140E comes with a mother-of-pearl rosette and Guild’s iconic Chesterfield headstock emblem.
To give this traditional acoustic guitar modern plug-and-play compatibility, the company equipped it with a Fishman Sonitone pickup. This pickup system is considered as industry standard in the entry level to mid-tier price range and is widely used by other manufacturers. Other notable features include Indian rosewood fingerboard and bridge, NuBone nut and saddle, and period-correct tortoiseshell pickguard.
The Guild M-140E is now retailing with a list price of $1,075. It comes bundled with Guild’s new lightweight polyfoam case and is currently available in Natural gloss finish. For more information, visit Guild Guitars.
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