X220 12th Guild ever made?

Don't know much about archtops, but thought this might be of interest to some folks here, if not to buy or trade, maybe just for historical reasons.

http://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/msg/5218538265.html

<vent>I'm sorry but I have to reach for a whole shaker of salt when someone claims an instrument is the "X th Guild ever made" (or the last one of a model or the first one in a year or....). The vast majority of such claims come from people who can't read a serial number chart, don't understand there are errors and omissions in published charts or just make wrong assumptions about how and when Guild actually issued serial numbers. Maybe this seller is the rare bird who actually did some research to verify the claim and has documentation but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting </vent>

But do I care that it was the 12th instead of the 13th or the 7th?

Now, if it were the 11th, that'd be a different story!:fox:

"It needs some restoration"....Ten thousand? It's probably a really nice guitar, and it is an honest to goodness very early Guild, but ten thousand?

There seems to be something going on above the pickup selector switch... a master volume knob, a reverse polarity switch? Or maybe just a reflection of light from the flash. Either way I'm knocking four grand off the price!

Bill

Here is the link from the original for sale posting from the end of August. Ralf has posted a link in his post in the original thread to where this guitar has been discussed here on the forum in the past. The serial Number is #1012. Looks like this is one of the Rare times when the seller has done his research, Not only did they do the research but apparently they did it here on the forum! LOL.:single_eye:

http://letstalkguild.com/ltg/showth...0-on-Cleveland-CL-10-000&highlight=Guild+X220

"Original"..., except the second added switch...and the second added 1/4" jack on the upper bout...
Ralf

The exception that proves the rule But I will note that in this post Hans does not say it is #12 but merely from the first year of production.

hansmoust said:

The guitar you have, an X-220 with serial # 1012 is from the first year that Guild started to produce guitars in New York City, which was 1953.
It was part of a line of instruments that consisted out of the X-100, X-200, X-300, X-400 etc. These models all came in a sunburst finish.
The 'blonde' finished versions were called X-110, X-220, X-330, X-440 etc.
The X-100 (X-110) was the non-cutaway model with 1 pickup and the X-200 ( X-220) was the non-cutaway model with 2 pickups.
There is a small chapter about these guitars in 'The Guild Guitar Book - The Company and the Instruments, 1952-1977', which I published some time ago.

By 1954 Guild had established a completely new line of guitars and most of the 'early' models were discontinued.
Since these models were only made for such a short period, they are quite rare on the used instrument market.

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fronobulax said:

But I will note that in this post Hans does not say it is #12 but merely from the first year of production.

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But also Hans wrote on page 45 that no instruments with serial numbers lower than 1001 are known to exist, so 1012 is number 12...at least a number 1000 was never found.
Ralf

SFIV1967 said:

But also Hans wrote on page 45 that no instruments with serial numbers lower than 1001 are known to exist, so 1012 is number 12...at least a number 1000 was never found.
Ralf

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My point was based upon the observation that later Guilds did not always leave the factory in serial number order so the claim that 1012 is the 12 instrument made is not quite the same as the claim that 1012 was the 12th serial number assigned. My past dealings with Hans and serial numbers suggest that there are reasons he said "first year" rather than "12th". I know which statement would be easier to "prove".

fronobulax said:

...the claim that 1012 is the 12 instrument made is not quite the same as the claim that 1012 was the 12th serial number assigned.

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You are totally correct in that case. So that instrument is a 1953 finished instrument with the 12th serial number assigned. But in common language to say it is the 12th Guild guitar ever made is not really wrong, but it can mislead as I agree (just remember all that discussion about the Mark VI/Mark VII...).
Ralf