Guild F-20 Question
 

I'm new to the forum, so I hope I don't breach any of the forum protocol, here. If I do, I apologize ahead of time.

I have a guitar that belongs to my father (who has been in and out of nursing care recently). The guitar is a Guild F-20 with a low serial number (3503). The label indicates that the guitar was built in their New York facility before they moved the operation to New Jersey sometime around 1957. Other websites indicate that this serial number puts the date of construction sometime around mid-1956. My father bought the guitar new in the late 1950's or early 1960's. The store he purchased it at was a small town gift shop that sold guitars in the back of the store. The owner also gave lessons. (Incidentally, I also purchased my first guitar in the same store in 1969 - a Harmony Stella).

From my research, it appears that Guild began numbering their guitars with number 1000 and added 1 to each new guitar built regardless of the model. I think that in 1953, they produced a few archtops, along with the flat-top models F-40 and F-50. In 1954, It appears they added the F-30.

My question is this: Does anyone have any information indicating the first year of production of the F-20, and/or the first serial number for an F-20. None of my research turns up the answer to either of these questions. The guild factory itself apparently did not record this information. I sent a query to the company, but, of course, got no response. The company sold to Fender in 1995, but records from the '50's were probably lost long before that.

The few "experts" that I've asked didn't even know that an F-20 had been produced prior to 1960. I have also been unable to get any idea if a Guild with a low serial number like this has any extra "value" or not. I've seen a few early 1960's Guilds sell on e-bay for the $800 range (about the same as a new built-in-China F-20). While this guitar is not in pristine shape (mostly bad bindings and some surface damage), I'd like to know it's approximate value. I never intend to sell it, but I would like to have it professionally restored, but I don't want to put a lot more into it than it's worth.

I've contacted a professional luthier that is both a "Factory Authorized Repairman" for Guild as well as a former employee of the Mossman guitar factory from the 1970's. He has indicated an interest in restoring the instrument and has indicated that $500 would go "a long way" in a restoration of this type, although he hasn't given me a specific bid yet, because he has not personally seen the guitar.

I apologize for the long post, but hope more info will help with a response to this question.

Howdy, You might try posting your questions over at " lets talk guild " those guys live and breath Guilds www.letstalkguild.com

Hope this helps

Thank you. I'll give that a try.

You are very welcome ! Good luck in your quest, the older Guilds are great acoustics !

Also welcome to the forum, there are alot of great folks here, so pull up a chair, tune it up and stay awhile



Bill

Sounds like a lovely old guitar mjudd. Using Guild's serial database, it would appear to be a 1956. I don't know when F20s were first produced, but obviously they were being made in 1956! If you can join up at Let's Talk Guild (it usually takes a while as it's a one man operation), you can get all the info you want and then some. One of our members there wrote the book, and seemingly knows everything about everything when it comes to Guilds. There's a lot of love for the brand over there too, and some of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet.

I myself would LOVE to see some pictures!

i'd love to see some pics, too! i have a new guild gad-f20, and it would be cool to see the original version :)

When you join Let's Talk Guild, post your questions there. There is a member there named that knows more about Guilds that Guild does.
His name is Hans.
He will ask for pictures. so have some ready to post.
By the way, You may ask Guild about warranty if the guitar is your fathers and you can prove he is the original owner.

I strongly suggest you contact Hans Moust at [email protected] as he is THE Guild authority and I would also advise being very careful about who you allow to 'restore' anything about the guitar prior to speaking with Hans.

I'll forward this thread to him and hopefully he'll chime in.

You have a first year edition of the F-20 and it should be treated with care.

Best regards,
Howard Emerson

Thanks, again for the replies. I have applied over at LetsTalkGuild.com and am still waiting for an authorization. In the meantime, I'll see if I can get some photos and upload them. I thought I had some on my computer, but when I got ready to upload them this morning, I couldn't find them, so I'll take some more.

I do have a photo of the label with the serial number and model number. Maybe this will whet your appetite...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ildLabel01.jpg

I suspected it was a first year model, and given the low volume of guitars being built at the time, and given that the F-20 was probably built in fewer numbers than some of the other models, I also suspect that this could be one of the first 100 or even one of the first 50 or so ever built of this model.

1956 Guild F20
 

'56 was the first year for the F20. I own one. Great little guitar. All solid, spruce top, maple (probably) back and sides. The back is one piece--no seam. It sounds and plays just right. The only drawback is that the neck profile might be too narrow for some players.

Your label looks a lot like mine, except mine has this cool outline of a guitar in black printed on it. I think my number is 3707, marked in pencil. Looks like we've got a pair of keepers. Also, the faux gibson headstock and logo are interesting.