New York singer-songwriter Jimmy Lloyd loves his Guild F-50 jumbo. He spent six months back in 2003 looking for a guitar that fit his hard playing Ritchie Havens-style, and he found it in the F-50.

"Time and again this Guild spoke to me. There is a body of sound -- a distinct body and tone that no other guitar has," says Lloyd. "I play aggressive acoustic, Ritchie Havens style. It (the F-50) has a tone and a feel. There is a heaviness to it."

And he is not talking about weight. If you need to see the style Lloyd is talking about, just check out the Havens in the Woodstock movie. Lloyd wrestles with the guitar and beats it up. But he was looking for more than that. He wanted something comfortable and diverse.

"You play a Taylor has a tinny sound. I want something not entirely bassy or throaty. I want midrange to low but not too low," he says. "When you record without a pick it is hard to not get mud -- all low end. The F-50 [is] good to play aggressively with a pick but it has a solid midrange."

It was the best combination of mid-low and high without getting too muddy Lloyd found. But, it isn't perfect when not playing with a pick.

"When I play without a pick for slow, introspective, lyric sound, it is still difficult. You have to EQ out the low end," he says. "Anywhere you put the mic, it is very hard to EQ out the low end. There are others guitars I am shopping for if I were to do somber ballads."

But he notes that if you only have two or three grand to spend on one guitar, this one is better than some of the others he tried (at least for his style of playing).

Lloyd's guitar has a custom installed Fishman pick-up -- put in through the strap-hole (it needs a preamp). It sounds great live or in the studio.

"This guitar gets compliments all the time. I think I paid $2,300 in '03. It just gets better." he says.

The F-50 has a solid Sitka spruce top, maple sides and an laminated maple back. The neck is a three-piece.

When it comes to live there are some issues to think about.

"You have to play through a clean amp. If you go through a Marshall, you just get noise. Probably not [the] best guitar jamming with a band, but in the studio? It has a lot to do with amps, sound systems. This guitar really shines in singer / songwriter solo performance environment or in an analog recording environment. The album I recorded has excellent examples.

Some songs have crisp, clean guitar parts isolated, while in other cases you can hear the heavier acoustic riffs when the whole band is playing. In the studio, of course, you have more time and more control.

Lloyd also looked at the Gibson J-200, which he thought was an excellent guitar. He just didn't think it had the throatiness of the Guild.

He also says there is one thing that stands out above all others about the F-50. He never breaks strings.

"As hard as I play I cannot remember the last time I broke a string. It is engineered so well," he says. "When I first got it, the nut needed to be filed and I broke a few."

Since then, there has not a single broken string he can recall.

"I could not imagine doing what I do without this guitar." says Lloyd.

Lloyd is set to shoot a video -- featuring various Sopranos cast members -- shortly.