Walter,
Dank U Vell (or however you spell it).
This is not only some great listening, but also historically important. It would be good to know when this ax was made. This guitar must be the same on on page 170 of the bible. (Let's drink a toast to Moust.) According to Hans, the peghead is about '55. So I'd say it could be from as early as '54, but a couple of years after '55 because of Guild's practice of putting new old-stock parts on new guitars. The knobs are pre-59, unless they were new old-stock.
The DeArmonds are very important. Do the non-adjustable kind here sound different from the adjustable ones? According to Hans, these nonadjustable DeArmonds were available as custom order by the late 50s. Does anybody know what year the first custom ones were done?
Also important is the Bigsby bigsby. When did Guild start putting them on custom orders? And when did Bigsby start making them with gold plate?