Guild F212XL 1966?

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I have a Guild F212XL S/N Begins with AE. Owner thinks it's a 1971 model. A google search brought up page 129 from The Guild Guitar Book. AE prefix applies to 1966 per that reference.
The guitar has the Chesterfield logo and label says Hoboken, NJ.
Guitar was rescued from a pawn shop by the owner's brother to keep it from being sold by the shop.
It's a little rough. Has cracks, some repaired. One large crack down the middle of the lower bout is not repaired. Fretboard takes a dive at the top and frets appear to have been leveled to compensate. Tuners are not original. I took it to a luthier. He didn't think he could fix the sunken top but the guitar might benefit from a neck reset and refret.
It plays ok and sounds really good!
Anybody know anything about the history of this guitar? Is it actually a 1966 model? Owner wants to sell and I have no idea what to offer.
Thanks,
Mike
 

poser

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Hi MLW781. Welcome to the board. I can't help much with your questions, but there are folks here that are far more knowledgeable about Guilds than I am. There is a site that lists Guild models by serial number and year: http://support.guildguitars.com/downloads/datingyourguild.pdf but the information on that site doesn't seem to match the information you've given. Sorry I can't help more, but sooner or later someone will come around who can.
 

JohnW63

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Sometimes the person writing the S/N gets sloppy and you have to look closely on the letters.
 

kostask

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A sunken top is often a sign of a dried out guitar, so humidifying it may help (sunken tops are often caused by the top wood shrinking due to drying out in low humidity environments). What part of the country are you and the guitar in? You may want to have a luthier look at the braces below the top to see if there are any broken or loose braces, which is something to look at for any vintage guitar purchase.

Re-humidifying a guitar can take time, as in months. Do that with the strings off the guitar, in a room with 40-50% humidity.

The action should be pretty low. Is there any belly behind the bridge? What string gauge is on the guitar now, and what was on it when the guitar was first rescued (if anybody can remember that)?

After the top has regained some top curvature, you can have the action/neck set assessed.

I don't know what I don't know, but I find the response from your luthier a little bit disturbing, as he should know the reason for sunken tops. The "....doesn't think he can do anything about a sunken top...." is the disturbing part.
 
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GardMan

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MLW,
Saw your posts over on AGF regarding your F-212XL. LTG member Hans Moust can clear up any questions you have about the build date and where the guitar was built... he wrote the book on Guild (literally). If he doesn't pop in soon, PM or e-mail him (he prefers the latter) with the SN...

Welcome to LTG
 
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