What Model Guild Is This?

JF-30 · Jun 25, 2019

My cousin sent me a pic of his dads late 60 I think Guild in beautiful condition and he has a 12'er as well form that era. I'm gonna get pics of that too. What model is this. I have a pic of the label but its too blurry.

https://i.imgur.com/Ii9Q3yh.jpg

Double post. Mod please delete one.

txbumper57 · Jun 25, 2019

That is a mid to late 2000's model Chinese made GAD D50 or D40 CE. If it is Mahogany it is a D40, If it is rosewood it is a D50. "GAD" Stands for "Guild Acoustic Design". The label should have made in China or Crafted in China on it. Hope that helps.

TX

SFIV1967 · Jun 25, 2019

It is either a Guild GAD-40C or if it has a Fishman Matrix pickup it is a GAD-40CE.
In any case the exact model number is written on the left side of the label. You probably find NAT behind the model number which identifies the "natural" top color, means it is not a sunburst.

The guitar case is also the original GAD style case from Guild.

Example of such label:

Features were:

Body Style: Single Cutaway Dreadnaught
Top: Solid Spruce
Bracing: Scalloped
Back: Solid Mahohany
Sides: Solid Mahogany
Neck: 1-Piece Mahogany
Width at Nut: 1-11/16"
Fretboard: Indian Rosewood (12" Radius)
Scale Length: 25 1/2"
No. of Frets: 20
Machine Heads: Grover Rotomatic Die-cast Tuners
Bridge: Indian Rosewood Pin Bridge
Hardware: Chrome
Color: (821) Natural
Finish: High Gloss (Polyester)

The first series of GAD guitars, where your guitar is from, were produced between 2004 and mid 2011.
Afterwards they got a new numbering system (3 digits behind GAD) and that second redesigned series of GAD guitars were produced from end of 2011 until 2014
By May 2015 the series was again redesigned and introduced as Westerly Collection line without GAD in the model number anymore.

GAD guitars and the Westerly Collection guitars were and are made at Grand Reward Education & Entertainment (GREE) in Hui Yang city / China.

The year of manufacture can be found out from the internal manufacturing number and not from the serial number on the label.
All GAD instruments are stamped with a 10 digit internal manufacturing number located inside at the base of the neck block. This number embodies production information about the instrument.
As an example, I'll use the number in the picture below, 1309200096.
The first two digits of this number identify the production year. In this case, 13 would stand for 2013.
The second two digits identify the production month. In this case, 09 would stand for September.
The next two digits, 20, are of no significance and are an internal number used by the vendor to identify their order number.
The last four digits identify the unit number of this specific order. In this case, 96 would stand for the 96th instrument made to the 20th order.

Hope this helps.

Ralf

Cougar · Jun 25, 2019

SFIV1967 said:
...GAD guitars were made at Grand Reward Education & Entertainment (GREE) in Hui Yang city / China.....

I had an Epiphone Masterbilt or two that came out of the Grand Reward plant. They were really well made guitars, with impeccable finish. AFAIK, Grand Reward is really the tops of the Chinese plants.

JF-30 · Jun 25, 2019

Cougar said:
I had an Epiphone Masterbilt or two that came out of the Grand Reward plant. They were really well made guitars, with impeccable finish. AFAIK, Grand Reward is really the tops of the Chinese plants.

I remember the 12 string I played in '81 at my cousin, aunt and uncle's in NJ the summer I went to vistit them.

Hey Cougar, its FZ Fan. Tell everyone on the Gibson Forum I said HI. I bailed from that place. I'm taking my BB King to shop today to trade it for a Martin 000-28. I'm done with Gibson and the Forum. Its just too lame there now. The Acoustic Forum is really boring and I'm sick of Murph and BlindBoyGrunt and the rest of the Acoustic Mafia trying to dictating what can and cant be said there, and the final straw was KS Daddy or a mod censoring one of my posts.

SFIV1967 · Jun 25, 2019

I added some more info above in my post!
Ralf

JF-30 · Jun 25, 2019

SFIV1967 said:
I added some more info above in my post!
Ralf

I just looked at the pic of the label and it is really blurry and appears to say Handcrafted in China like the pic of the label in the above post.

JF-30 · Jun 25, 2019

I just texted my cousin who is at his dads house (my uncle) right now. His dad said he got the guitar when my cousin was in grade school. I was born in '66 and my cousin is 3 years older than me. In the 2000's my uncle would have been in his late 50's or early 60's and would not be buying a guitar at that age. I'm not saying he couldn't have, but that is not his story. So '68 or '69 my cousin would have stared in grade K and by '74 or '75 would have been in Middle school or Jr High depending on what you call it in your area. My aunt remembers him buying the 6er in the late 60's or early 70's. They are in their 80's...so memory...

When did Guild start making axes in China?

geoguy · Jun 25, 2019

As Ralf wrote in post #3, above, the earliest that guitar could have been built was around 2004.

Maybe someone traded in an older guitar for a newer model?

Let's see if I can post your photo here:

SFIV1967 · Jun 25, 2019

Ask them to take a picture of the label and the number on the neck block inside like I showed you above.
Also, is this a label of the store who sold the guitar on the rim of the case lid? Sometimes the name and label also can tell a story.

From that number on the neck heel you will see the year of manufacturing. It can only be between 2004 and 2011, so the first two digits of that number will be between 04 and 11.
I don't have the original 2004 press release but the earliest would be around that time.
And no, there is no doubt about this specific guitar, it cannot be older, those GAD models did not exist earlier.

Ralf

F312 · Jun 25, 2019

SFIV1967 said:
It is either a Guild GAD-40C or if it has a Fishman Matrix pickup it is a GAD-40CE.
In any case the exact model number is written on the left side of the label. You probably find NAT behind the model number which identifies the "natural" top color, means it is not a sunburst.

The guitar case is also the original GAD style case from Guild.

Example of such label:

Features were:

Body Style: Single Cutaway Dreadnaught
Top: Solid Englemann Spruce
Bracing: Scalloped
Back: Solid Mahohany
Sides: Solid Mahogany
Neck: 1-Piece Mahogany
Width at Nut: 1-11/16"
Fretboard: Indian Rosewood (12" Radius)
Scale Length: 25 1/2"
No. of Frets: 20
Machine Heads: Grover Rotomatic Die-cast Tuners
Bridge: Indian Rosewood Pin Bridge
Hardware: Chrome
Color: (821) Natural
Finish: High Gloss (Polyester)

The first series of GAD guitars, where your guitar is from, were produced between 2004 and mid 2011.
Afterwards they got a new numbering system (3 digits behind GAD) and that second redesigned series of GAD guitars were produced from end of 2011 until 2014
By May 2015 the series was again redesigned and introduced as Westerly Collection line without GAD in the model number anymore.

GAD guitars and the Westerly Collection guitars were and are made at Grand Reward Education & Entertainment (GREE) in Hui Yang city / China.

The year of manufacture can be found out from the internal manufacturing number and not from the serial number on the label.
All GAD instruments are stamped with a 10 digit internal manufacturing number located inside at the base of the neck block. This number embodies production information about the instrument.
As an example, I'll use the number in the picture below, 1309200096.
The first two digits of this number identify the production year. In this case, 13 would stand for 2013.
The second two digits identify the production month. In this case, 09 would stand for September.
The next two digits, 20, are of no significance and are an internal number used by the vendor to identify their order number.
The last four digits identify the unit number of this specific order. In this case, 96 would stand for the 96th instrument made to the 20th order.

Hope this helps.

Ralf

You have, Top: Solid Englemann Spruce, I didna know they used that wood. Is there a period when it was used? What woods would be used on a GAD F20 made in 07?

Ralph

SFIV1967 · Jun 25, 2019

F312 said:
You have, Top: Solid Englemann Spruce, I didna know they used that wood. Is there a period when it was used? What woods would be used on a GAD F20 made in 07?

Good point Ralph! That is a typo, definitely! I corrected it above. I had this description from the Sweetwater page, but I just noticed that their written description also only speaks of "solid spruce". So I don't believe Engelmann was correct. The 2004/2005/2007 pricelists all show "solid spruce" for the GAD-40C/CE. Some models show in flyers or catalogs from that time "Sitka spruce", like the GAD-30 and GAD-G212, but I guess that is just the typical Guild inconsistency in the literature.
The GAD F20 is not in the 2007 pricelist yet, but the 2008 pricelist shows also "solid Spruce top".

Ralf

bobouz · Jun 25, 2019

The lack of a truss rod cover (accessed through the soundhole), and the fretboard inlays clearly identify this guitar as a Chinese GAD model from the 2000s.

Guild did not have an import line using the actual Guild name until the 2000s. All Hoboken or Westerly Guild acoustics from the '50s through the '90s had a headstock-accessible truss rod & cover. Likewise, those particular fretboard markers were not seen on Hoboken or Westerly instruments.

Edit: Also, note that the round "Made To Be Played" soundhole labels were not seen until the 2000s on foreign or domestic models.

adorshki · Jun 25, 2019

geoguy said:
Maybe someone traded in an older guitar for a newer model?
Let's see if I can post your photo here:

Another tell is that Guild USA never used that fretboard inlay pattern.
(As Bobouz mentioned while I was still composing this)

JF-30 said:
I just texted my cousin who is at his dads house (my uncle) right now. His dad said he got the guitar when my cousin was in grade school. I was born in '66 and my cousin is 3 years older than me. In the 2000's my uncle would have been in his late 50's or early 60's and would not be buying a guitar at that age. I'm not saying he couldn't have, but that is not his story. So '68 or '69 my cousin would have stared in grade K and by '74 or '75 would have been in Middle school or Jr High depending on what you call it in your area. My aunt remembers him buying the 6er in the late 60's or early 70's. They are in their 80's...so memory...

OK, Guild invented the cutaway dreadnought body in '74, first model year was '75(depending on who you ask).
In fact, the guy who designed and built the prototype for 'em posted here a few years back.
But it was a Florentine cutaway:

Still, that does jive with your aunt's memory and cousin's age, and a prime age for wanting to get one's first guitar.
Is there any possibility the pic you just got may not be the actual guitar, but instead is just a picture downloaded from the 'net by somebody unaware of the difference between a vintage D40c and the MIC version?
Otherwise suspect the original was somehow "traded" at a later date as Geoguy mentions.

JF-30 · Jun 25, 2019

That pic is from yesterday at my aunt and uncles house. Maybe he is mistaken when he got it.

txbumper57 · Jun 25, 2019

Maybe your cousin's dad is giving him the info (60's-70's) on the 12 string you say he also owns and your cousin is mistaking it for the 6 string info? There is no doubt that the guitar in the picture is no older than 2004 and no newer than 2011 as Ralf and others have mentioned. No one is calling your Uncle a liar by any means. I think there has just been a few wires crossed somewhere in the delivery of the info to you.

Another far fetched possibility is that someone could have sold you uncle's original 60's-70's Guild 6 string without him knowing and tried to replace it with a modern version thinking he wouldn't notice? That for sure wouldn't be cool at all. They could have pawned it at one point or another and not received the right guitar back when they paid off the pawn ticket. Just spit balling.

TX

JF-30 · Jun 25, 2019

Oh I know you guys know. Maybe the 12 is older and he is mistaken. I just can not imagine my uncle in his 50's or 60 getting a guitar. He has had health problems for quite some time and I know has not played in decades.

Cougar · Jun 25, 2019

JF-30 said:
Hey Cougar, its FZ Fan. Tell everyone on the Gibson Forum I said HI. I bailed from that place. I'm taking my BB King to shop today to trade it for a Martin 000-28. I'm done with Gibson and the Forum. Its just too lame there now....

Sorry to hear it, but I do hear you. I swing by there on occasion, but rarely find a topic I'm much interested in anymore.

Congrats on that upcoming Martin!

SFIV1967 · Jun 26, 2019

JF-30 said:
Maybe the 12 is older...

Now you are teasing us with the 12 string, I guess it's time for pictures! :cheerful:
And check on that neck block date and the label on the rim of the case lid on the GAD model, so you at least have an idea when and possibley where it was bought.

Ralf

JF-30 · Jun 26, 2019

My cousin confirmed the 6 string is Chinese. The 12 he said has Hoboken on the label. He has not sent a pic of the 12 yet.

What Model Guild Is This?

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