GuildD-55E Acoustic-Electric Guitar - Antique Sunburst

This is the most expensive guitar I own. I bought it to upgrade from my previous best workhorse guitar, the Martin D-16RGT. This review will be most helpful to someone familiar with Martin dreadnoughts. I am an average guitar player. I play acoustic and electric sessions at home with a friend. We write songs. But I spend a lot of time working on tone. I’ve owned the D-55E for almost a month. I think it’s a sophisticated instrument and I need many more hours with it to review it accurately. I love it more each time I play it. A year from now I might give it 5 stars. I suspect accomplished players will love this guitar and be able to make it do things few guitars can. But I’m writing now because I want my free Guild swag.Tone: A friend and I played and compared the D-55E to a Martin D-28 and a Taylor K14ce. We both preferred the D-55E. The D-55E is more tonally precise than the Martin dreadnoughts. It is warmer and has more low end depth than the K14ce. The D-55E makes magical sounds. It is strong through the whole tonal spectrum, no dropout on the mids. But because each note is so clear, I find it less forgiving of bad playing and bad singing than the Martin. The woody muddiness of the Martin helps mask these things. The D-55E is forcing me to become a better player and singer. Clarity and intonation of bar chords up the neck are excellent. I’d say even better than the K14ce because of the extra bit of depth and warmth. I was instantly sold on the D-55E’s acoustic lead ability. Excellent tone and sustain on individual notes up the neck. Fewer overtones than a Martin, but just enough to be magic.Volume: This was a big adjustment from my Martin D-16. The -D55E is not as loud. More importantly, I find that the D-55E projects sound outward (to the audience) superbly while the Martin dreadnoughts envelop the player in sound. I think this makes the Martins easier to sing with. However, everyone who has heard me play the D-55E and D-16 says the D-55E clearly sounds better.Pickup: The LR Baggs Anthem is the best pickup I’ve owned. However, it is so accurate that it broadcasts mistakes more than, say, the LR Baggs iBeam that I put in my D-16. If you mute strings on the D-55E and strum them with a pick, you will hear a whole lot of thumping in your amplified sound.Neck: I have medium sized hands and the neck feels a bit tight at the nut and I flub open chords like B7 more than on the Martin. However, bar chords up the neck are much easier. I find finger picking on the D-55E harder than the Martin because of narrower string spacing.Finish: It’s glossy. Front, back, sides, neck. The whole thing. I prefer a more matte finish. I do like bling, especially fretboard inlays, which was part of why I wanted this guitar. But I find this guitar to be aesthetically a little too busy. The combination of gold tuners, Guild V-block inlays, sunburst finish, tortoise shell pickguard and sound hole inlay looks like a bit too much. It clashes. I think eliminating the sparkly sound hole inlay would be better. I don’t yet love the feel of the nitrocellulose finish on the neck. I don’t think it’s as fast as other, more matte, finishes. The LR Baggs pickup controls are also plainly visible in the sound hole which I think looks clunky.Other: Physically, I’d call this guitar “hot.” You feel the reverberations. You feel the tone almost as much as you hear it. Play hard and it feels like it’s going to vibrate out of your arms. This is another cool aspect of this guitar being so sensitive and it takes some getting used to.