Looks like things are looking up for Guild guitars, after having been acquired by Cordoba from Fender, they have now moved the manufacturing back to the USA. And with this move, they are also bringing back original molds and equipment to bring back old Guild guitars from the past.
Thankfully, included in their line up of refreshed old school guitars is a parlor style instrument called the M-20, which they are now making available for today’s players. It joins the D-20 as the first two US built acoustic guitars to come out from Guild in a long time.
The story goes that the original Guild M-20 was the first guitar off the production line in 1967 at their newly opened factory in Westerly, RI. This was the factory they opened because of their booming business. Now nearly 50 years later, Cordoba is paying homage to this special guitar by reintroducing the M-20 to the market, and by having it manufactured at the company’s newly established facility in California.
Back when they were still under Fender, Guild did produce an affordable version of the original guitar called GAD M-20, but it may not have had the success that the company was looking for. This time around, Guild is not pulling any punches, by having this guitar built within the United States, albeit with a more premium price tag.
Guild M-20 starts off with an all solid mahogany body which follows a smaller concert style shape that is expected to produce a tone with emphasis on the middle frequencies. A tortoiseshell pickguard protects the body from pick scratches and adds vintage appeal to the instrument.
See the US-made Guild M-20 in action below:
The neck is crafted from mahogany, topped by a rosewood fingerboard with 12″ radius. Scale length is 24.75″ while the nut width is 1.75″, following traditional parlor guitar specs which should make it comfortable and easy to play. It has a total of 20 frets which feature pearloid dot inlays.
Other features of the Guild M-20 include rosewood bridge, bone nut and saddle, ivory bridge pins and a set of 20:1 ratio vintage tuners. It is available in a two finishes which include sunburst and natural. There’s also the option to get the guitar equipped with a piezo pickup system from LR Baggs right at Guild’s facility – if you do that then you’ll also need to get a specialized acoustic guitar amp like these.
I’ve seen the new US-made Guild M-20 retailing online for around $1600. More information and other details are available at Guild Guitars and you can find out how other guitarists rate it at Gearank.
7 thoughts on “Guild M-20”
I have a 1964 M-20 made in Hoboken, NJ so the story line needs to be corrected, Guild’s M-20 was introduced as the Economy M-20 in 1958!
Thanks for that info. I have a m20 serial no. 15631 with a Hoboken label. The guild on the headstock is printed Was wondering how to date it. Has to be pre 1967 with that label. Thanks
I have the original and it sings. This new one has nowhere near the sound of mine. I think this model of the original guitar gets better with age.
What about the guild M-140?
How does that stand up to other parlors?
The Guild M-140 is a concert size guitar, which is a bit bigger than what some would consider as a parlor guitar. With its all-solid wood body, I’d expect it to have an open sound that gets better with age.