1st Guild: F412
Capnjuan scratching out Cripple Creek a la Leo Kottke on his first Guild, an F412, c.1981:
[IMG:524:510]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/capnjuan/capjuanf412.jpg[/img]
Fresh out of B-school, I moved to Guidzillaville a/k/a Columbus OH in 1979. I started looking for a new guitar and found an authentic luthier's shop somewhere on the south side of town. Hanging on the wall was a used F412 which I took down and strummed; then I had the well-documented Guild 12-string epiphany - bold, deep, musical...well, I know you 12-ers know what I'm talking about and you (Guild) 6-ers know it too.
The owner wanted more than I was willing to pay, besides, having just been to B-school, I figured that with some leg work, I might find one as good but less expensive. I went to another music shop and ordered a new, cheaper F412; waited, it showed up, and it was perfect...except it was brand new.
The new model didn't come with a fully-developed 'voice' like the wall-hanger had. I figured it didn't have the benefit of aging gracefully on the wall of a humidity-controlled luthier's shop. Anyway, it didn't sound as robust and didn't have the volume that the luthier's model had.
Given its cost and beauty, I kept it in its case all the time. Assuming my theory about aging was correct, this did nothing to allow the glues and finish to cure, the wood to age, and the guitar to gain its voice. Shortly after I bought the guitar, I married and my wife came in a blisterpack with two sweet young kids. I was, and still am, what the boyz on HC call a 'bedroom' player; folk, blues, country - plenty of people already doing what I do and do it better than I.
I would take the guitar out of what was becoming its coffin, hammer out some Ian and Sylvia, Leo the K, and Fahey-istic stuff. The kids were great; they listened politely and when I was done, they would innocently ask who these people were. I patiently explained my musicology against the backdrop of Hall and Oates, the Cars, Police, Kiss...I think you know where I'm going with this; I felt like I was playing a cello.
Anyway, family demands and a weakening interest in the music coupled with the guitar's failure to gain a voice meant it spent alot of time in its case further diminishing any chance of gaining its voice. I also screwed up by leaving the strap on it with that sort of fuzzy neoprene backing; if there a few of you left out there who don't already know, the guitar's finish can be damaged by long-term exposure to the stuff...like folding the strap under the guitar in the case.
I finally sold it in 1983 to a guitar shop on McArthur Blvd. in the west end of Washington DC. I don't wish I had it back; I wish I'd bought the first one...like Woody jumping on the Gibbie...sometimes you have to go with your instincts.
Update: Edited: (Dog's pic gone - he said I posted his image without his consent) Capnjuan on the back porch with the F212.
[IMG:290:370]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r106/capnjuan/capjuanf212b.jpg[/img]