Guild or Alvarez?

Tannin

Cheers @dazzajl and wow! A Thunderchief! You can still find Thunderhawks second-hand but they are rare and getting expensive. I paid $2400 AUD for mine (about £1350) and had a couple of people contact me making higher offers as soon as they found out I had it. I reckon I'd probably have to spend over £2000 to replace it now - famous Tacoma orange peel and all. The shop I bought mine in also had a Chief. After I'd had the Thunderhawk for a couple of weeks and realised what it was, I went back with an eye to getting the Chief as well, but it was sold. 

(I am having a second baritone built here in Hobart to the same general specifications (scale length and body size) but  in different timbers. There is a thread on that somewhere here, which I must remember to update soon.)

I am a big fan of Guild guitars (and own a very nice little Guild CO-2, which was made in the Tacoma factory) but scale length is scale length and it's pretty hard to overcome. My friend who owned and liked a 6-string Alvarez baritone also owned a Custom Shop SJ-200, a couple of fancy Martins, a Huss and Dalton, a Collings ... the fact that *he* reckoned I'd like the Alvarez made a bit of an impression on me. 

All that said, I have never played one or even seen one, so I'm only guessing.

Oh, and be aware that the nut on the Alvarez is only 44.5mm. That's standard for a 6-string, but a bit squeezy for a baritone, let alone an 8-string. (The Thunderhawk is 48mm and I reckon 46mm is a sensible minimum for anything with 8 fat strings.) Sadly, neither the Guild nor the Taylor is any better. You are not going to have a lot of finger room. But I managed OK on the Taylor, so perhaps it's not the end of the world.