Guild
Guild (German: 'Gilde' or 'Handwerksgilde') is, along with Martin and Gibson, one of the major US manufacturers of acoustic steel-string guitars (“Western” or “folk guitars”), electric guitars and bass guitars .
history
The company was founded in 1952 by Alfred Dronge and George Mann. The first production facility was in New York City and was just over a hundred square meters. After George Mann had turned his back on the company a year later, Dronge continued on his own and was so successful in 1956 that he had to move to larger premises in Hoboken, New Jersey . Some of the Guild guitars that are particularly popular today were also built here.
During the 1950s and 1960s , Guild served many greats in the music industry and grew in popularity. After the Avnet Corporation , which at the time also owned various music labels , took over Guild, the factory was relocated to Rhode Island , the office remained in New Jersey . As a result, Dronge, who was a trained pilot, frequently shuttled back and forth in his own aircraft, with a fatal accident on May 3, 1972. The now "ownerless" company dragged on economically until it was taken over by competitor Fender in 1995 .
The production facility was then relocated by Fender, first in 2001 to Corona (California) , then in 2004 to Tacoma ( Washington ) to the factory of the Tacoma Guitars , which they also took over . After Fender moved production back to New Hartford, Connecticut on the east coast in 2008 after taking over Kaman Music Corporation , Guild was finally sold to the Cordoba Music Group in Santa Monica in 2014 . This built a new factory for the production of Guild guitars in neighboring Oxnard .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Heinz Rebellius : Made To Be Played! Guild Starfire III. In: Guitar & Bass . December 2014, p. 98 ff .