Mark by serial number...?

swiveltung

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Does this semi circle mark means anything, like a factory second etc... or is just a ding?
 
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adorshki

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HI Swiveltung:
Since the Marks weren't actually made in US, but Spain***, I'm guessing it's just an artifact of the stamping process, since it appears to be finished over.
I assume that Guild bought 'em completely finished and if it failed their QC somewhere I'd think they's mark 'em like other seconds from the era.
"IIRC", seconds from '70's-'80's had a red "2" or "Z" right on the label.
The other possibility that occurred to me is:
If they did buy 'em unfinished and stamped and finished 'em here, that mark is where Guild normally put "Made in USA", which doesn't apply in this case (I'm not sure when they started doing that, for that matter).
So again I suspect just a stamping artifact but maybe for a different reason?

***I understand the Mark VII's actually were built here by Carlo Greco, though.
 
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GardMan

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I assume that "Mark" in the title refers to the stamped marking near the SN, not the "Mark" classical models (which were made in the USA?)?
 

adorshki

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I'm staying out of this...

walrus


I ain't gonna plead it was supposed to be a "joke", but I did have "Mark" on my brain because of this thread:

http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/sh...K-VII-3000-on-San-Francisco-CL&highlight=Mark
In which one member whose input I trust claims the Mark VII's were built by Mr. Greco.

Did I miss those closed tuners on a non-classical headstock staring me right in the face?
Yes. My tunnel vision's getting sharper the more it shrinks, every day.
I'm having a rough day, please cut me some slack.
Or put me out of my misery and just shoot me.
:eek:

Tom: My book (purchased in '98) is safe at home but half the time by the time I get home I forget to go check it if I wasn't already sure about something..(which doesn't mean I'm always right when I am sure).

Thanks everybody for trying to be gentle about it.
:blushed:
 
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adorshki

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I assume that "Mark" in the title refers to the stamped marking near the SN, not the "Mark" classical models (which were made in the USA?)?
I know I've seen refs to "made in Spain" Guild classicals and apparently I got 'em mixed up with the Marks.
Were they Madeiras, then?
 

silverfox103

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I know I've seen refs to "made in Spain" Guild classicals and apparently I got 'em mixed up with the Marks.
Were they Madeiras, then?

Al

I'm not sure where the Madeiras are made, I could guess, but I don't want to take a severe beating if I'm wrong. But I probably would deserve it.

Well here goes, it could be Spain, but I believe it is Korea.

Tom
 
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JohnW63

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That is a pretty distinct mark, for an accidental thing. What guitar is it on ? Any chance the top is made of Cedar ?
 

hansmoust

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That is a pretty distinct mark, for an accidental thing. What guitar is it on ? Any chance the top is made of Cedar ?

Looks like an F-20 to me; very small chance that one would have a cedar top!

As far as the deep mark is concerned, that might be the imprint of a cheap C-clamp that was used for gluing a loose peghead overlay without a leather or other protective caul on the backside.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
www.guitarsgalore.nl
 

adorshki

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Al

I'm not sure where the Madeiras are made, I could guess, but I don't want to take a severe beating if I'm wrong. But I probably would deserve it.

Well here goes, it could be Spain, but I believe it is Korea.

Tom

I know the steel flat-tops were made in both Japan and later Korea, and actually can't even recall if there was such a thing as a Madeira classical.
But no less a person than SFIV1967 made a reference to made-in-Spain classicals a while back (here, post 19:http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?182826-By-Guild-Really&highlight=spain ) and I think that's why I thought the Marks were Spanish-built, but maybe it was later versions or a model I'm blanking on at the moment.
(Swiveltung: Apologies for this veer, but now trying to get some accuracy about the classical question)
 

swiveltung

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That is a pretty distinct mark, for an accidental thing. What guitar is it on ? Any chance the top is made of Cedar ?
Sorry I haven't been back to check this post for a while, I checked and little response, now a bunch! It was an F20. I didn't buy it, but thought it was a curious mark on the headstock. Did F20's even have a veneer on the headstock? A clamp mark was a good thought but...
 

adorshki

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Sorry I haven't been back to check this post for a while, I checked and little response, now a bunch! It was an F20. I didn't buy it, but thought it was a curious mark on the headstock. Did F20's even have a veneer on the headstock? A clamp mark was a good thought but...

Trust us if Hans says F20's had overlays then at least some of 'em did, you can bank on it.
Notice how he ID'd it just from the back of the headstock? (the s/n might have helped)
He literally wrote the book.
Link to Kindle edition on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Guild-Guitar-Book-Hans-Moust-ebook/dp/B002AKJS6K
 
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SFIV1967

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But no less a person than SFIV1967 made a reference to made-in-Spain classicals a while back
Yes I mentioned it. But I was not at all talking about Guild Mark models...
Hans had told us about the classical guitars with "Made in Spain" labels: "...it is a Guild guitar but it really isn't! Guild imported these from Spain during the late '80s and early '90s."
And here: "They were made by Alhambra in Spain and imported by Guild at the end of the '80s and beginning of the '90s. There were 6 different
'Guild' models...
"

Hans also said before they were made during the FAAS period. The Faas Corporation of New Berlin, Wisconsin (later U.S. Musical Corporation) bought Guild in January 1989 and sold it to FMIC in 1995. So those Alhambra models were offered within that small timeframe.

As far as I understood, the Guild model number was the same as the Alhambra model number, so a Model G-4C from Guild would be the same as the Model 4C Alhambra regarding the specs., you even see this on the below 6P or G-6P model! (the highest end model)

1703023932414.png 1703024007077.png

1673021933684.png

Model G-3C https://reverb-res.cloudinary.com/i...0,w_1600/v1387315824/agyuear6fxpaxwebr2pr.jpg
Model G-4C
Model G-4P
Model G-5P https://dyn3.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path[6/8/1/2/6812385],sizedata[850x600]&call=url[file:product.chain]
Model G-6C
Model G-6P https://reverb-res.cloudinary.com/i...0,w_1600/v1425233779/efxxru8he8exavtwmvgo.jpg and https://reverb-res.cloudinary.com/i...0,w_1600/v1425233790/mqwnit289o1ywljsdzrx.jpg

Example of such labels:

1615385455408.jpeg


1615385562125.png


Ralf
 
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adorshki

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Yes I mentioned it. But I was not at all talking about Guild Mark models...

Right, I know that now but at the time I'd forgotten about those "other ones" and only remembered that fragment of the post, the "made in Spain classicals".
You, sir, are a gentleman and thanks for once again "coming to the rescue"!
 

westerlyborn

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The photo is not the back of a Mark series guitar, which were made in the USA. Looks to be a Hoboken dred. I think the "C" is a ding.
 
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