Actually “Navarre” helps me to ask another question. Appointments aside, what are the differences between an F48 and a 1970s F30 (also mahogany)? From what I’ve seen the F30 sells for quite a bit more... why?
An F48 was an unusual and short-lived version of the 17" wide lower bout F-body, it was basically a mahogany-bodied F50 (arched maple back and sides.)
F50's and F50R's (rosewood flatback body) are much more common and sought after than F48's (so are F30's, explaining their higher average selling price) and that probably is reflected in the average F48's selling price.
Reading between the lines, one suspects the reason the F48 was only in production for something like 4 years "IIRC", is that it simply didn't offer acoustic properties that were highly sought after compared to its sister models. But there
could be other reasons like a bad economy and poor sales in general.
'Hog
was very successful in the next-size down (16" lower bout) F47, however.
(An F47 was based on the 16" lower bout F40 in much the same way the F48 was based on the F50.)
Also, there are a lot of much newer F30's around which have more desirable build details than some of the vintage instruments, to some buyers.
And its size did vary by fractions (1/4-1/2") from the "average" 15" lower bout spec, over the years.
F30's also benefit from famous artist association with people like Paul Simon and Mississippi John Hurt.
F30 models are mostly Aragon size, but isn’t “48” a higher model than a mere “30"?
"In the beginning", with the F-models, the width of the lower bout decreased with the corresponding lower model number but "bling level" could and did change over time.
So you could actually have an F30R from the mid-'70's that had the inlays and G-shield headstock of an F50. One of those F30's would command a premium in the market.
10 years later when the dreadnoughts were brought into the line the "bling level"
did have much more correlation to higher model numbers and body woods.
So those are the "broad strokes", but over time it's become obvious to most of us "old-timers" that Guild kept changing up specs on the basic formulas of
almost if not every model they made.
And
then there were the
model number changes when the
specs stayed basically the same....no joke!
:glee:
And just for perspective, one of my major gripes with Guild's current owners is their application of the F40 designation to what they themselves acknowledge was the
F48, on their webpage.
Sacrilege!
F40's, (the "Valencia"), as one of Guild's most versatile body sizes, were
always 16" lower bout F-bodies and yielded more variations of body depth/back configuration and tonewood options than any other model except possibly the generic dreadnought shape.
I just haven't counted
formally yet.
:friendly_wink: