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I got one of the last Guild AAs, the Patriarch series. It's post Benedetto. The finish was thin in comparison. I heard today from the guy who bought that from me years ago. He's still happy with it.
I don't understand the thick finish on the Benedetto series, but it is beautiful.
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06-24-2022 02:50 PM
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Originally Posted by Marty Grass
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I got my GBJSA from a great guy who worked at Fender. He was the artist representative for Fender and did not play jazz. Here is what he told me.
The "front office" told him and some others that there were some unsold Benedetto guitars that Fender wanted to offer to employees to get rid of them. There were maybe four, as I recall. He looked at them and got either one or two. My guess is that the price was very good for him. He had only one when I caught up with him.
This one is it: Guild Benedetto Johnny Smith Award 2002 Opulent Brown | Reverb
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MG, wow that is a beautiful guitar. Even the case is supreme!
JD
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Originally Posted by Marty Grass
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Originally Posted by Marty Grass
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It was by. me. Someone got it and sold it to Grinning Elk, if I'm recalling correctly.
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I own a GBAA that I purchased new in 2000 for $5500. The first one I received in Mar of 2001 but it had some finish flaws that were in my opinion unacceptable for a guitar in this price range. The replacement arrived in or around July of 2001. The finish which is Opulent Brown is very thin. This guitar is one of my best playing and sounding guitars I own. The unamplified tone is very articulate but soft in volume. The floating Benedetto pickup suits this guitar perfectly in my opinion. If I was purchasing a used GBAA today, I would focus on the early Westerly built guitars.
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Originally Posted by Marty Grass
JD
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Originally Posted by Max405
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I purchased (and still own) the Guild Benedetto Johnny Smith Award in Opulent Brown that Patrick sold to Grinning Elk. He was expressing some regret about letting it go because it was one of the best sounding guitars he had ever owned (he didn't like the finish), and told me where it went. Grinning Elk still had it, I got it, and now it lives in Arizona. But the paperwork was apparently mixed up with that of a different serial number -- whoever sold it to Patrick owned at least two of the same model and apparently switched cases or paperwork).
Went back and looked at the emails around this -- Patrick got it from Howard Eidel who apparently owned another GBJSA at the same time. And Fender (which inherited the records of those made) said this was the last built in Opulent Brown, which was apparently not a very popular choice, although I love it.Last edited by ScotStirling; 08-29-2022 at 10:48 PM.
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Originally Posted by ScotStirling
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[QUOTE=The GBJS is an extraordinary guitar.
And by the way your playing is fantastic. Don’t sell yourself short.
Outstanding job Archie.
Joe D[/QUOTE]
Joe, any tune or guitar you play sounds extraordinary.
Tony D.
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Originally Posted by ScotStirling
It’s interesting too that there’s one single of these guitars that was stripped to bare wood, and is now in a natural finish. That’s the finest one I’ve ever seen!
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Originally Posted by charleyrich99
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Originally Posted by ScotStirling
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I have posted this in other threads on the subject of the Guild-Benedettos but for the sake of letting future purchasers of these guitars know, I will post the following in this thread:
I owned two of the Westerly RI built Guild-Benedetto Artist Awards. They were very fine archtop guitars made with great woods and had a beautiful design. The second one was much louder acoustically than the first. While I found the acoustic sound balanced, to my ear the high notes were a bit thin when amplified. The non adjustable Benedetto pickup made any adjustments in that regard impossible. Of course a pickup swap probably would fix that for those (like me) who like a "thicker" top end in their single note lines.
The main reason that I sold both of them was playability. I found the necks to be chunkier than I like (though I was able to adjust to it) and the Guild scale length of 25 5/8 inch made the action a bit stiffer than I like. Had those guitars had the 25 inch scale that Bob Benedetto favored, I would still own one of those guitars. Most living room players might not notice the extra 1/8 inch to the scale, but some will (as I did).
Now you know.
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Playablity?
Chunky necks are easily sanded or shaved down.
And if you like a guitar but the scale is not to your taste, or it's too small, a decent luthier can saw it off and make a new neck to your specifications.
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Originally Posted by Hammertone
And never will .
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Ah crap, this thread has basically turned the Guild/Benedetto JS into my dream guitar.
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Originally Posted by HammertoneOriginally Posted by Stringswinger
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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I've had the great fortune of owning two and playing another. It's funny that the scale length difference is notable c/w Gibson and Heritage, but it's not bad. I didn't like the heavy lacquer that much. In fact I stripped it off of one I owned and put a thinner finish of clear on it. That sounds extreme, and it is, but the factory finish checked like a broken mirror, probably due to the cold when it was shipped.
Another issue is the pickup. Some don't like the Benedetto. I thought it is nice. It is certainly hotter than the Heritage pickup.
I have a couple of Heritage JS's. I would not consider them inferior at all in sound, construction or playability. The GBJSA is a very fine instrument and would not fault anyone for preferring that guitar over a Gibson or Heritage.
Another way to look at the fingerboard
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