1980s mahogany acoustic

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I wonder if anyone could help me please? I remember that in about 1989 (88? 90?) I played a Guid acoustic guitar in a shop in Swansea and was captivated by it. I had no money at the time so couldn't afford it - iirc it cost about £400. It was all mahogany, gloss finish, with no binding on the edge between the top and sides so looked as though it was hewn from one piece of wood. I'm not 100% sure, but I think that it had no pick guard.
I realise it's a long shot, but do any of the knowledgeable people on here know what the model might have been?
Thanks!
Andrew
 

killdeer43

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WELCOME TO LTG, Andrew.
The Guild you describe sounds like a D15. I had one for a while and I'll see if I can pull a pic out of the archives.

Enjoy your time here, :encouragement:
Joe
 

killdeer43

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For starters (weak at best), here's the back of the D15, and it was all mahogany, as you alluded. The binding was subtle, for lack of a better word.

guilds0200001.jpg


Will continue searching for the front view. :kiwi-fruit:

Joe
 

killdeer43

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This is a fun exercise for me....here's another view of the D15, and you can see how the top binding seems to blend in with the mahogany.

d80iii011.jpg


Let me know when you've had enough, :excitement:
Joe
 
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That’s very kind of you Joe - thanks for your help. The D15 is the one I was after.
 

dreadnut

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Hi Andrew and welcome to the LTG community!

Sounds like a D-15 to me as well. I'd love to have one, they were all mahogany, some were almost cherry red with a high gloss finish.
 

adorshki

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I wonder if anyone could help me please? I remember that in about 1989 (88? 90?) I played a Guid acoustic guitar in a shop in Swansea and was captivated by it. I had no money at the time so couldn't afford it - iirc it cost about £400. It was all mahogany, gloss finish, with no binding on the edge between the top and sides so looked as though it was hewn from one piece of wood. I'm not 100% sure, but I think that it had no pick guard.
I realise it's a long shot, but do any of the knowledgeable people on here know what the model might have been?
Thanks!
Andrew

Hi Andrew and welcome aboard!
What would help narrow it down is knowing whether that guitar you played was "Brand New", and what size it was.
If it was new in 1988-'90 and dreadnought sized it was most likely the D15 as mentioned.
The D15 had an arched mahogany back, if that rings a bell. It's fairly subtly arched and not outright bowl-shaped like an Ovation, and needed no back bracing like a traditional flat-backed design.
D25's were all mahogany up until about 1974 but had binding.
M20's were parlor-sized guitars but weren't being made in '88-'90.
Hope that helps.
At least there aren't a whole lot of possibilities with an all-'hog Guild.
 
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Thanks to you all for the information - I'm very grateful.

@ Adorshki - yes, the guitar was new in the late 80s so, as per your and the other posters' suggestions, it was almost certainly a D15. I found some other pictures on the net, showing the (almost) invisible binding:

p1_umviqt5ol_so.jpg


guild-D15.jpg


Now I just have to keep an eye out for one in decent nick....
 

D30Man

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Welcome Andrew! Pretty cool place right? I hope you find one. The D-15 is a very captivating Guitar. I played a wine red one in LA a while back in March. They wanted $600. Not a bad price really, but I was at about $500 max.

The only other one I played was the straight brown no binding. A guy I jammed with once had one and it was a tone monster. I loved it. I also really liked the simplicity of its appearance.
 

GardMan

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It was my understanding (from Beesley and Hans) that the D-15 (introduced in 1983) was matte finish and was actually UNBOUND. I think what you are seeing is the edge of the laminated (arched) back. According to Beesley, until 1987 the D-16 was the same guitar with gloss finish. After that, the D-16 was dropped and the D-15 was gloss finish. The D-17 was bound with white ivoroid (very sharp looking guitar!).


D15 binding

gm5DEg.jpg


Oh yes, I have a few photos....:excitement:

Joe
 

CosmicArkie

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It was my understanding (from Beesley and Hans) that the D-15 (introduced in 1983) was matte finish and was actually UNBOUND. I think what you are seeing is the edge of the laminated (arched) back. According to Beesley, until 1987 the D-16 was the same guitar with gloss finish. After that, the D-16 was dropped and the D-15 was gloss finish. The D-17 was bound with white ivoroid (very sharp looking guitar!).

FWIW, my '88 D-15 is HIGH gloss and a fully unbound arched back beast and just like the cherry one listed by Dread. I paid $525 shipped out of WA on Reverb last year.
 
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Thanks!
The problem is, as I mentioned at the start, that I live in Europe so posting a guitar from the USA is seriously expensive (I had one quote of $600!), not to mention import duty & the risk of damage in transit. I’ll look in the UK, France & Germany & wait for something to turn up.
 

adorshki

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FWIW, my '88 D-15 is HIGH gloss and a fully unbound arched back beast and just like the cherry one listed by Dread. I paid $525 shipped out of WA on Reverb last year.

It seems like they typically upgraded the "entry level" dreadnought guitars, especially when it came to finishes.
I did recall the D17 as having binding as Gardman mentioned, but the lack of binding seems to be a definitive element of a D15 whether hand-rubbed or gloss.
The D4 went through similar upgrades over its life, starting off unbound and hand-rubbed and then gaining binding and gloss finish and even becoming the "test mule" (to borrow an automotive term) for all sorts of unusual finish colors..even had some hog-topped samples built late in the game, about '97:
Making it the second time they resurrected the all-hog archback formula of the "grail" all-hog archback D25 of about (since we've seen reported examples of 'em falling outside that build period by a year or so) '73-'74.
But that info's primarily to give our new member an idea of some other potential ways to get the same "build formula" as the D15.
 

GardMan

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FWIW, my '88 D-15 is HIGH gloss and a fully unbound arched back beast and just like the cherry one listed by Dread. I paid $525 shipped out of WA on Reverb last year.
That fits with the info in Beesley: D-15 was matte finish thru '87 and high gloss after that...
 
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