Personal Grail F312

mavuser

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I've been following this on UMGF. Beautiful guitar, you're going to love it! Has anyone seen a sunburst f-312 before? I sure haven't.

neither have I, possibly a Westerly shaped one, but never a Hoboken. this one is sunburst, Hoboken shape, *and has the Chesterfield. plus crazy figured Brazilian RW back and sides. u will never see another one like that again. add the original bridge, tuners and case...and this is the score of the millennium.
 

sonic romp

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neither have I, possibly a Westerly shaped one, but never a Hoboken. this one is sunburst, Hoboken shape, *and has the Chesterfield. plus crazy figured Brazilian RW back and sides. u will never see another one like that again. add the original bridge, tuners and case...and this is the score of the millennium.

Been the longest week of my life, but on course to be here Monday, so we’ll see!
 

beecee

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Boy for the sake of that guitar....and you,,,,I hope it's warmer where you are than the 14 degrees here...with a winter storm warning until tomorrow night
 

sonic romp

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Bursts photograph strangely, maybe on account of the digital camera's inability to capture subtle shading, at any rate, they aways look better in person.

Finally took possession of the guitar last Tuesday and put a set of D'Addario nickel bronze strings on today: Very bold guitar with fantastic clarity, given it's 000-size. A pristine "lap piano", indeed! The sunburst IS better in person; so right, Guildedagain! Extremely clean and well-cared for with all the original trimmings down to the Guild wipe-down cloth. Interestingly, the sound hole label identifies it as a "F312 SB". Looking very forward to getting to know it better and hopefully will put together some reasonable recordings and better pics soon.

I've got it tuned down to Eb right now until I build up a bit more strength. Action is a bit higher than I care for, but will probably get it to my area luthier (Bryan Kimsey) in the spring. Been playing mostly all finger-style parlor-esque acoustics with lower tension/light strings for the last 7-8 years and will probably try something lower-tension like the Thomastik-Infeld Plectrums.

Thanks for all the warm enthusiasm!
 
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Stuball48

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Way to go Sonic. So happy the 312 is making you happy and has your enthusiasm at a peak. Gonna be a great Winter for you.
 

Cougar

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....Extremely clean and well-cared for with all the original trimmings down to the Guild wipe-down cloth.....

That's how I like 'em. Major congrats! The back on that thing is just awesome!

49127580727_edc6dc831e_z.jpg
 

HeyMikey

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Glad to hear that it made it to you safely. Looking forward to living vicariously through your continued reviews and sound clips of this beauty.
 

sonic romp

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neither have I, possibly a Westerly shaped one, but never a Hoboken. this one is sunburst, Hoboken shape, *and has the Chesterfield. plus crazy figured Brazilian RW back and sides. u will never see another one like that again. add the original bridge, tuners and case...and this is the score of the millennium.

I'm wondering about this comment with regard to body shape. I believe Guild retained the body decals/labels from the Hoboken plant when they moved to the Westerly plant, and that it explains why this '69 has the older label. However, I'm not sure how the body shape changed between the two plants. Can anyone fill me in?

Thanks!
 

adorshki

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I'm wondering about this comment with regard to body shape. I believe Guild retained the body decals/labels from the Hoboken plant when they moved to the Westerly plant, and that it explains why this '69 has the older label. However, I'm not sure how the body shape changed between the two plants. Can anyone fill me in?

Thanks!
You're 100% correct about them continuing to use Hoboken labels early into Westerly production, at least into '70 IIRC, but there're threads covering it if you really want to nail it down.

Early F47's which F312's based had a little "slope" to the shoulders, a slightly more "angular" waist, and a slightly flatter bottom outline.
In early '70's a rounder "mini-jumbo" shape with flatter shoulders leading to a slightly more fluidly curved waist, and a markedly "rounder" bottom was introduced, starting on F40's which came back, replacing the F47 (which had themselves replaced F40's in '64):
'64 F47:
F47-001-650x975.jpg

'74 F40 :
106581U_03__65164.1422139357.jpg

A similar transition occurred with F30's and I suspect perhaps it was simply due to needing to make a bunch of new body bucks to handle increased output in Westerly.
Just a hypothesis on my part.
 
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sonic romp

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You're 100% correct about them continuing to use Hoboken labels early into Westerly production, at least into '70 IIRC, but there're threads covering it if you really want to nail it down.

Early F47's which F312's based had a little "slope" to the shoulders, a slightly more "angular" waist, and a slightly flatter bottom outline.
In early '70's a rounder "mini-jumbo" shape with flatter shoulders leading to a slightly more fluidly curved waist, and a markedly "rounder" bottom was introduced, starting on F40's which came back, replacing the F47 (which had themselves replaced F40's in '64):
'64 F47:
F47-001-650x975.jpg

'74 F40 :
106581U_03__65164.1422139357.jpg

A similar transition occurred with F30's and I suspect perhaps it was simply due to needing to make a bunch of new body bucks to handle increased output in Westerly.
Just a hypothesis on my part.

Thank you for the very detailed and informed post! That F47 recalls some late-50’s Epiphones for me...those inlays and headstock, particularly.
 

mavuser

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body shape comparison of the same model( F-112) Hoboken vs. Westerly

AqT0Qv.jpg
 

adorshki

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Thank you for the very detailed and informed post! That F47 recalls some late-50’s Epiphones for me...those inlays and headstock, particularly.
Well in fact most of Guild's original builders were Epiphone people.
From Guild's Wiki page:
"Much of the initial workforce consisted of former Epiphone workers who lost their jobs following their 1951 strike and the subsequent relocation of the company from Queens to Philadelphia."
The fact that were available mean Guild founders Dronge and Mann could be fairly well assured of having competent builders right from the start.
And those F112's Mavuser posted were based on the F30 body which also underwent the change as I mentioned earlier.
 

HeyMikey

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Grail indeed! That is just beautiful.
 

mavuser

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id say this qualifies for the candy shoppe creamery designation! congrats again!
 

sonic romp

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Thanks, all. I could have done better with photographing the back, but with small children zipping around, I’d hate to have a headstock break, so time is of the essence!
 
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