Ngd-1965 d 50

richardp69

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Some good friends of mine who happen to be Martin sluts found this in a music store in a Detroit Suburb. The owner had been an older fella and he passed away. His kids apparently wanted none of his guitars and brought everything he owned to this store to sell on consignment. This one hadn't sold in a while and the price was pretty good, especially for a Brazilian Rosewood piece.

My friends know I'm heavily into Guild and wanted to give a vintage piece a try so they bought this. Shortly after, the fella came down with some health issues and was forced to let go of quite a bit of gear. They had promised me 1st shot at it and they sold it to me for what they had into it.

ATTENTION TRC POLICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eric has already alerted me the TRC is on backwards so don't send out a posse to have me arrested or anything like that. I'll get around to it sooner or later but it's never been a hot button for me so no rush.

The guitar has plenty of wear on the Spruce top but surprisingly no cracks and the neck angle was also very good. Not perfect but certainly acceptable. The sides are really in great shape.It did have a fairly nasty crack in the back. I hooked up with a new guitar repair guy and he fixed the crack, dressed the frets, installed a new saddle, installed new medium gauge strings, installed new bridge pins and set it up to my liking.

I've always loved a D 50 and personally prefer them to the more popular D 55. I'm likely in the minority here but I just do. I also have the 50th Anniversary D 55 in Brazilian Rosewood and a Taylor 714 in Brazilian as well. This D 50 smokes them both IMHO. Of course, the D 55 50th Anniversary is in pretty minty condition and the Taylor is in great shape as well. But I'm usually more about the sound/tone and great cosmetics are typically an added bonus for me.

It has an absolutely huge voice and a big low end but not at all muddy. In fact, it's really nicely balanced. I can say that the sustain on this D 50 is incredible. It just goes on and on and on...........................

One thing I noticed is that the bridge is Rosewood (not sure if Brazilian or not) and of course the fingerboard is Ebony. I'm assuming it didn't come out of the factory like that and that at some point it was likely changed. If any of you know different let me know. I'm absolutely fine with it, just curious. It came in a HSC with no Guild bading so I don't know if it's original or not. It has the older style latches so I'm sure it's an older type case. It also has the Halloween Orange plush interior. Again, if anyone has any input on that I'd appreciate that as well. The case just stunk really, really bad. My guitar guy and I have both worked diligently on it and it's much better but certainly not where I want it. So, I'll likely store it in another case until I get that worked out.

Eric will be along at some point to post some pics for me (Thanks Again Eric). If the pics suck blame me not Eric. He can only work with what I send him.
 

chazmo

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Richard,

Looking forward to seeing to see some pictures. Congrats on the great axe. I'm actually with you on preferring the D-50 over the D-55, in general.

So, I think a rosewood bridge is definitely possible/likely, and from that era I'm guess it would be Brazilian as well.
 

txbumper57

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Congrats Richard! Looking forward to seeing some photos of the new Acquisition!

TX
 

twocorgis

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Congrats on the great axe. I'm actually with you on preferring the D-50 over the D-55.

What Charlie said! I've always thought the real blingy Guilds just look goofy, to me anyway.
 

GardMan

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Original specs for D-50 included a rosewood bridge. IIRC, bridges changed to ebony circa 1974.
 

adorshki

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ATTENTION TRC POLICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eric has already alerted me the TRC is on backwards so don't send out a posse to have me arrested or anything like that.
All right but you'll need to give up the guy you got it from.

One thing I noticed is that the bridge is Rosewood (not sure if Brazilian or not)
Like Gardman said I remember seeing that mentioned before, and they had Brazilian in small enough pieces for bridges around for several years after they stopped using it for bodies.
 
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bluesypicky

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What Charlie said! I've always thought the real blingy Guilds just look goofy, to me anyway.

Next week I will beat you up with a DV72 Sandy.
Waitaminit...... it's my best sounding acoustic, I'll grab a Yamaha. They're not called "beaters" for nothing.

:devilish::laughing:

Love the D50 Richard... congrats!
I have a still very fresh memory of playing one that was owned by our own Tom (Fixit) and was really impressed with the power of the beast.
 
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hansmoust

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richardp69 said:
One thing I noticed is that the bridge is Rosewood (not sure if Brazilian or not) and of course the fingerboard is Ebony. I'm assuming it didn't come out of the factory like that and that at some point it was likely changed. If any of you know different let me know. I'm absolutely fine with it, just curious.

Hello Richard,

Yes, rosewood bridges were standard at that point in time; quite often in the variation that we now refer to as the 'cloud bridge'.

Here's an example from 1965 as well:

D50_cloudbridge.jpg


Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

mavuser

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clean neck!

cTHXYA.jpg



and of course the inverted Hoboken truss rod cover...yikes!

EvLSBX.jpg
 

chazmo

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Sweet beastie, Richard. Bet she sings loud and strong!

Shame about the ugly stain from the way that back crack was repaired.
 

dapmdave

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What Charlie said! I've always thought the real blingy Guilds just look goofy, to me anyway.

I'll put a DD-6 RCE in your hands that might cause you to overlook the goofiness. Just wait a week...
 

richardp69

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Personally, I love the bling. You are right, the DD-6 RCE is gorgeous (I have one as well), and my D 70 Peacock is stunning.

I wasn't implying I don't like bling because in fact I love it. i was only saying sound-wise I prefer the D 50 to a D 55.
 

twocorgis

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Next week I will beat you up with a DV72 Sandy.
Waitaminit...... it's my best sounding acoustic, I'll grab a Yamaha. They're not called "beaters" for nothing.

I'll put a DD-6 RCE in your hands that might cause you to overlook the goofiness. Just wait a week...

Well, I never really complained about the way the blingy Guilds sounded, just the way they look (and I do own a "goofy looking" F512).

I just like some plainer adornment on my instruments. Of course, that's why they make a lot of different kinds of guitars, isn't it?
 
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