My Guild D4 NT doesn't match the catalog description. What have I bought?

Bob Fleming · Mar 27, 2017

Unlike the catalog description, my 1995 Guild D4 NT s/n AD042567 has a flat black painted peghead overlay and it has no binding on the back of the body of the guitar. What have I bought?

geoguy · Mar 28, 2017

Welcome to LTG, Bob . . .

A quick online search turned up the following link (to an old LTG thread) that includes photos similar to how you described your guitar. And an explanation by Guild expert Hans Moust:

http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?187077-Guild-d4-NT-information

davismanLV · Mar 28, 2017

Thanks for the link, geoguy! I mis-read "flat black" as "flat backed" and it threw my head into all sorts of turmoil!! So after following the link, I went back and re-read and ..... now it all makes sense. I'll be okay, eventually...... :stupid:

adorshki · Mar 28, 2017

Bob Fleming said:
Unlike the catalog description, my 1995 Guild D4 NT s/n AD042567 has a flat black painted peghead overlay and it has no binding on the back of the body of the guitar. What have I bought?

Hi Bob: Welcome aboard!
You have just discovered one of the things that we've become used to over the years, that Guild's catalog specs were more like suggestions than rules, and sometimes had outright errors.
D4's were originally designed without back binding and a couple of other details like Hand-rubbed finish and no case, and no pearloid headstock logo, all of which eventually became available.
They also got a lot of unusual finishes, kind of becoming Guild's experimental model for that kind of thing in the '90's.
And as Hans mentioned in that link, the guitar that owner had was actually a '93 and not a '94.
I'm guessing yours might be a very late '94 which got its s/n in '95.
You should be able to see a date stamp on the heel block, on one of the beveled edges.
It can be a little tricky to get the right angle of sight through the soundhole to make it out, but it should be there.
That's when the "superstructure" was completed, before top's put on, and it usually precedes final assembly and finishing by about a couple of months.

Bob Fleming · Mar 28, 2017

adorshki said:
Hi Bob: Welcome aboard!
You have just discovered one of the things that we've become used to over the years, that Guild's catalog specs were more like suggestions than rules, and sometimes had outright errors.
D4's were originally designed without back binding and a couple of other details like Hand-rubbed finish and no case, and no pearloid headstock logo, all of which eventually became available.
They also got a lot of unusual finishes, kind of becoming Guild's experimental model for that kind of thing in the '90's.
And as Hans mentioned in that link, the guitar that owner had was actually a '93 and not a '94.
I'm guessing yours might be a very late '94 which got its s/n in '95.
You should be able to see a date stamp on the heel block, on one of the beveled edges.
It can be a little tricky to get the right angle of sight through the soundhole to make it out, but it should be there.
That's when the "superstructure" was completed, before top's put on, and it usually precedes final assembly and finishing by about a couple of months.

Thank you very much - that answers a lot of questions. The date on my D4's neck block is February 13, 1995. My first good guitar was a Guild D-40 NT that I bought new in 1978. It was so overbuilt and heavy that it had virtually no tone at all. The neck at the peghead was OK but around the 10th fret, it started getting square. At the heel, it was virtually a 2 X 4. I finally traded it for a Bourgeois Vintage OM and swore I would never own another Guild - until I found this one. The neck on this one (the D4) is very similar to some very good Gibson necks that I've seen in the past. It plays and sounds much better than my D-40 ever did.

Thanks again for your assistance.

adorshki · Mar 29, 2017

Bob Fleming said:
The neck on this one (the D4) is very similar to some very good Gibson necks that I've seen in the past. It plays and sounds much better than my D-40 ever did.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Yer welcome!
And there's a pretty good size contingent of "late Westerly" fans here for exactly the reasons you describe.
Lighter more resonant builds but built to last too.
And in case the question comes up, they were shipped with pb lights (current equivalent would be D'Addario EJ-16), and at least a couple of folks who previously thought mediums would enhance volume have come around to realizing there's not much to be gained by trying to go to mediums on those, they're just not designed for 'em, besides the neck-set longevity the lights provide.
When I bought my '96 D25 the neck was the deciding factor between that and another Guild with a tiny bit fatter neck.
All of 'em were finished individually by hand on a belt or spindle sander up to the close of Westerly, so no two are identical, but reports I can recall indicate they did seem to be predominantly "thinner" from late Westerly until Corona ('02).
My Corona D40's neck is back to "chunky" but I'm ok with it now.

Bob Fleming · Mar 31, 2017

Even more great information! I am mainly a banjo player and am used to lighter gauge strings. Therefore, I have used light gauge strings on my guitars for years. In fact, I either use EJ-16s or their equivalent. This is the first dreadnought guitar that I've ever seen that was made for light strings and it really does sound good with them. I finger pick the guitar (Earl Scruggs style). Most people don't realize that Earl even played the guitar. It's sort of a cross between Chet Atkins, Merl Travis and the Carter Family style. You'll hear it on most all Flatt & Scruggs gospel recordings.

Thanks again for so much great information.

My Guild D4 NT doesn't match the catalog description. What have I bought?

Bob Fleming

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Bob Fleming

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Bob Fleming