hansmoust
Enlightened Member
dapmdave said:Guild was registered as a company (according to Hans) in October of 1952. But, no factory existed at that point. The first catalog was published in 1954. So, when they say "Made to be Played since 1953" perhaps they mean that nothing was actually MADE until 1953.
dapmdave said:I'd say that any reference to guitars being made in '52, or to a workshop existing in '52, is probably erroneous. Hans' book says that there were no guitars produced until 6 months after the factory was set up.
Of course, there are times when Hans will have found some other information since publication of his book. Maybe he'll step in and give us a word.
Hello Dave,
Guild was officially founded as a company during 1952. I guess FMIC can get away with the 1953 date by stating that no instruments were produced during 1952, which would be correct.
As far as the first catalog from 1954 is concerned I did state on page 50 of 'The Guild Guitar Book' that 'The first Guild Catalog, with the title "The Stradivari of Guitars" and a price list dated April 29, 1954, shows a limited line of electric archtops and flat tops only.
That should have read 'the earliest known Guild catalog'. The correct statement was written under a photo of that particular '54 catalog on page 11 of the same book. Somehow I missed the 'first catalog' mistake during the editing process.
Anyway, since the book came out I did find a copy of an even earlier catalog ( earlier than 1954), which shows most of the electric archtops that were produced during 1953 and that are described on page 51 of 'The Guild Guitar Book'.
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl