The Mystery Guild, prepare for the weird...

adorshki

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Bump for an old thread I linked for a new member and then re-read myself:

The F-112 on the neckblock is the real clincher for me, from post #5:
The neck block is very clearly stamped F112.
The neck serial number matches the guitar.
I now think this was actually started as an F-112 and for some reason finished as an F30 as I postulated in post #29.
The stacked bridgeplates, the heavy glue-over under the top without any apparent bracing damage, those details could have been their methods of dealing with 12-string stress at the time.
AHA!
IF it's actually got an F112 top, those were braced more heavily for the stress and could explain why no cracks.
And it reminds me of a story of a member who reported an F30 with what appeared to be an F112 top, confirmed by Hans years ago after getting a description of the bracing.
As if they needed an F30 top to finish a build but only had F112 tops handy.
Maybe it came from that guitar?
(And not entirely joking about that, either!)
What else occurred to me is that perhaps it was intended to be an F112 when started and stamped, but was diverted to be an F30 due to demand, which was much higher.
As well, if it's a '71, right around that time they were changing the F30 from its traditional OOO shape to the "mini-jumbo".***
Might have been another reason to divert bodies that were slated to become F112's to F30's, to get 'em cleared out.
But that bit about the glue dribbles is definitely out of character for original Guild work.
It'd be interesting to see what Hans would say, if he can find it in his logs.
And one other little detail forgotten at the time is that F30's got "Floating X" bracing. Could explain the unusual dishing/dehydrated areas in the top.
Don't know if F-112's got more or thicker or a different pattern, but like I said for one F30 at least, Hans was able to ID it got an F112 replacement top because he could ID the 12-sting bracing on it.
But at the very least I think that F112 on the heelblock means that guitar was intended to get a 12-string neck when the body was ready, but for some reason didn't.
No big deal just cutting the dovetail slot for a narrower neck , and suing a 6- string bridge.
Did you ever ask Hans about it?
Although I'm thinking he had a couple of opportunities to refute my earlier speculations, but maybe he didn't see 'em.
After all this it just occurred to me, maybe it got stamped as an F112 body simply through human error, that the stamper thought it was an F112 body because they were after all the same size as F30's.
 
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