New owner of a 1968 D-40

Uke

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The headstock overlay is made from Celluloid which shrinks over time. So there is not much you can do. You would have to remove all tuners and you can glue it and clamp it and it would last for some years again. There is celluloid glue for accordions for instance that can be used. But if done wrongly the glue might leak out during clamping, penetrate the good finish of the headstock and destroy it where the glue comes in contact. So it could look worse afterwards... So yes, glueing can be done (but it needs to be clamped for some days as warped celluloid is very tough to bring into a flat shape again).

The below two pictures are from our member fixit, who is a luthier in Florida (Jacobs Custom Guitars) and worked in the Westerly factory. That was a 1967 Starfire IV he restored.
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Some luthiers (Dave Petillo in the below picture) or even the former Guild Nashville custom shop repaired such extremely warped celluloid veneers on '60s headstocks by using a new black ebony wood veneer but you need a new Guild inlay which is not available unless somebody custom makes it. If done correctly the results look good afterwards and Guilds are not '59 Lea Pauls value wise...

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Ralf
Tom repaired this same headstock overlay problem on my 1965 SF2 and did a great job. Lucky to have him an hour away from me!
 

Br1ck

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That looks like an old Gibson case. My 70 Guild case has Guild stenciled on it. The guitar also has a Hoboken sticker on it. I'd send the guitar to Mr. Fixit and have him evaluate, but not in that case. Nice guitar.
 

mavuser

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Hello wonderful D-40 you have there. I have a Guild dread case from the late 60's if you are interested, that would be a match for sure. Your aligator chipboard case has likely been along for the entire ride however, so it will be up to you to decide if it should be discarded.

can we pls see a pic of the side binding top and back, thank you
 
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Mavuser: PM me regarding the case.

I see that member Fixit (Tom) is in Merritt Island, FL. I have family in Melbourne and travel from NJ every year or so. This will obviously make the trip with me one of these days.

Here are a few pics of the bridge, binding, and backside:

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mavuser

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thanks i'll pm u in a bit. if you live in NJ i can definitely sell u a case.

this one is a Hoboken build (guitar has not made it far in 43 years!)
 

HeyMikey

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Hi Andy

That action is very high. Ideally the low E is between 5-6/64 or roughly 3/32 at the 12th. The good news is it looks like the saddle has enough meat on it to come down some.

You might have to take it down as far as it can go and still not achieve an ideal height. However it might be Ok depending on what you play with it and don’t go too far down the neck.

The suggestion someone made to take it to a local luthier for a basic set up is a good idea. If you are comfortable it’s not hard to sand the bottom of the saddle yourself. There are YouTubes to show you how.

Otherwise get in touch with Tom at Jacobs Custom Guitars and ask his advice on what options you have. It is an awesome guitar.
 
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