Guild M-120LH Nat Westerly

After maybe 3 weeks of playing, this feels like a fantastic blues guitar. It plays like a dream, with very interesting tonal characteristic indeed.

It’s my first all-mahogany guitar and replaced an old ovangkol dreadnought. The sound is remarkably different, but once I got used to it, it’s very addictive. I play fingerstyle almost exclusively, and for that purpose this model seems an ideal choice, given the focus on midrange and fundamentals, and the wider neck. Sounds good to me with a pick also, but I’m not the best judge there, since I very rarely play with one.

It also seems to love slide, so much so that I’m tempted to keep it in open tuning and raise the action a bit. On the other hand, the warm tone makes me want to venture towards jazz chords. The sustain is quite impressive, especially on fretted notes. They seem to ring forever, which allows for nice vibrato effects. Overall, it lends itself to very different styles of music. I'm equally curious to take it to the studio and play gigs with it, as soon as I get a pickup installed.

The action on my specimen is set very low, maybe unnecessarily so. It causes some buzzing when played a bit harder, especially with a capo and on higher notes. I probably will to get it readjusted by a luthier. But what are the odds of getting a perfect action for your individual style out of the box, anyway?

As others have noted, the pickguard would probably peel off pretty easily from a slightly loose corner. As a fingerstyle player I might like the guitar aesthetically more without it anyway, so I’m considering removing it.

Other than that, I've had zero issues with M-120LH so far. There aren't many options for left-handed players, especially when it comes to a bit more rare body sizes and materials like on this one, so the guitar has been a really pleasant surprise from the get-go. The gigbag is pleasing to the eye and seems well designed, too.