Top Brand Acoustics

Introduction

It’s hard to name that one person who’s never played a guitar, or at least, wanted to. Hobbyists and occasional guitar players are in abundance, but those handful who are in dire need of a good acoustic guitar will certainly like what we’ve prepared.

This is more of a versus match between the best Guild Guitars than a regular review, but even so, these two models are some of the finest ever made, which will cut short your search substantially. Without any further ado, let’s get straight to it.

Reviews of the top acoustic guitars for professionals

Guild Guitar Company (often referred to as “GGC”) is a world-class leader in the manufacturing of premium-quality guitars. They’ve been around since 1952 when they were founded by a certain Alfred Dronge. Some sources relate Dronge with George Mann, one of the executives of the Epiphone company, which speaks volumes about what kind of a calibre these guys are.

The GGC was bought off by Cordoba in 2014, but despite the legal technicalities behind this conjoining, the innovations brought by the new arrivals have resulted in exquisiteness. Let’s take a look at what D-240E and OM-240CE can do for you.

Guild D-240E Natural

Guild’s D-240E is an outstanding acoustic guitar. Despite its simplicity, it hides quite a few secrets. At first glance, you could notice that it comes equipped with a number of plain, yet formidable features, such as the solid Sitka top, C-shaped neck, plain chrome machine heads, and more.

Just like the majority of top-tier guitars are made of mahogany and rosewood, the D-240E poses no exception. The sides, neck, and back are all made of premium-quality mahogany material while the fingerboard and bridge are made of rosewood.

This guitar numbers 20 gentle frets that allow for exquisite playability – even though this feature aims to help beginners learn the ropes, most professionals could benefit from it. What’s more, the 25” scale suits beginners and veterans alike.

It’s worthwhile mentioning that this guitar is only semi-acoustic. Namely, it features a marvellous hardware set which, when powered by an amplification device (guitar amp), boosts the volume, and perhaps, clarity, depending on which amp is being used. The Guild’s own AP-1 active-acoustic Piezo pickups are “responsible” for unrivalled tonal qualities of the D-240E.

As for the matter of price, Guild’s D-240E belongs to the “medium” price point category. It doesn’t cost too much, let alone a fortune, but it certainly comes at a hefty price. Regardless, professionals seeking quality shouldn’t pay too much regard for the couple hundred bucks extra on the price tag, so it’s safe to say that this model is fairly valuable for the money.

Lastly, you’ll not only get a beautiful, high-performance guitar should you choose this option – the brand offers a complementary gig bag for easy transport and storage as well. Even though this bonus feature isn’t so rare, it’s a welcome sight, to say the least.

Pros:

  • Exquisite feature outfit
  • Comes equipped with premium-quality hardware
  • Impeccable tone quality
  • Top-shelf mahogany and rosewood material
  • C-shaped neck
  • Full-scale 25” semi-acoustic guitar
  • Comes with a complementary gig bag

Cons:

  • Costs a bit above average
  • Overly simplified design

Guild OM D-240CE Natural

Guild’s OM D-240CE sounds a bit complex, but, in truth, it’s as simple as it gets. This guitar is an exquisite piece of art – it looks ravishing, sounds amazing, and features some of the finest technologies and equipment known to the market of today.

Let’s start off from the beginning. The OM D-240CE features a Solid Spruce top, mahogany back and sides, scalloped X brace, Pearloid ABS rosette, and a remarkable matte polyurethane finish. The neck was built from durable, high-resonance mahogany, the nut from bone.

Now, the bridge features a pre-compensated saddle which will certainly help you skip the dull setup part. Namely, the saddle heavily influences the intonation potential of each guitar, and a compensated one helps in many ways. Even though this guitar comes pre-strung with D’Addario’s EXP 16 phosphor-coated strings, you can always upgrade if they’re not to your liking.

Just like Guild’s D-240E, this model is also a “semi-acoustic” guitar. It comes outfitted with Guild’s AP-1 pickup which significantly boosts its overall performance, especially if you consider playing gigs somewhere in the future.

Even though there aren’t any flaws concerning this model that are worth mentioning, the only think most people don’t particularly like is that you don’t get to choose any other colour. The “Natural” is all you could hope of getting, as the brand didn’t make any other variations. Regardless, even in the most natural form, this guitar is as ravishing as it is elegant and beautiful.

Lastly, let’s talk a bit about the price. Guild’s OM-240CE belongs to the same price point category as Guild’s D-240E, even though it’s just tad more expensive. Regardless, this model is as good as the one we’ve previously reviewed, and it’s up to you to determine which one suits you better.

Pros:

  • Outstanding tonal quality
  • Premium-quality exotic materials
  • Slim neck profile
  • Impeccable playability due to pre-compensated saddle
  • High level of versatility
  • Exquisitely excels in aesthetics

Cons:

  • Only available in one colour

Final words

People often choose between lesser evils – “this guitar is expensive, but worth the cash”, or “this one’s cheap, but sounds quite awful”. The choices we make when we have to compensate for a fatal flaw with mediocre quality are often obvious, hence they don’t fall too hard on us. However, choosing between “good” and “best” is a totally different story.

That’s the reason why we’ve included only two guitars in this review. They both come from the same brand (which earned its fame throughout the decades of good work), and they’re outfitted with a similar set of technologies and features. Since we start off with a presumption that you are a professional in need of a good guitar, simply choose the one which comes with a more convenient feature outfit.