Why do I feel like I am going the rabbit hole of answering rhetorical questions?
A model designation or number is at the heart, just a short hand way of referring to a set of specifications.
Guild never was especially consistent in using the same specs for the same model designations. Thus for a model number to be a useful shorthand you need to pick a time period because specs changed but model numbers didn't. So if you want to get from a model number and a year then you need to find a catalog and then deal with the fact that not all catalog specs are correct.
If you are looking for consistency and a magic decoder you are not going to find it except perhaps for some of the Guilds (re)named under CMG. They published a scheme were you could just read the model number and determine body size, country of origin, some of the wood used and whether there were factory electronics (or not) but even that has not been followed consistently.
I will leave it to someone else to find a link to that scheme since it has been discussed at LTG including how much the CMG scheme differs from some history and how CMG is no longer consistent with their own scheme.
What do Guild model numbers and letters tell us about where, when, how, and of what they were made?
They tell us pretty much nothing, especially if you want a generalization that applies to the entire corp[orate lifetime of Guild.
Do different years give the model numbers different meanings?
Yes.
letstalkguild.com
guildguitars.com
