1965 D40?

Tres

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Hello all-- I have what I think is a 1965 D40. Made in Hoboken and serial number is 462xx. This doesn't really seem to correspond to the Guild website serial number information as it is too high to be a 64 but does not have the 65 "AJxxx" number. Any thoughts?

Tres
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fronobulax

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Check the chart more closely. The numeric chart doesn't actually end after 1964 and there were some five digit numbers as late as 1969. So anything between 38637 and 46606 would (also) be 1965.
 

Tres

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I'd love to see a photo of the d40 if you get a chance.

Here it is. It really is a super guitar. Loud and very responsive. I have put some money into repairing a few things but well worth it!

IMG_9878.jpegIMG_9879.jpeg
 

Tres

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Hello all-- I have what I think is a 1965 D40. Made in Hoboken and serial number is 462xx. This doesn't really seem to correspond to the Guild website serial number information as it is too high to be a 64 but does not have the 65 "AJxxx" number. Any thoughts?

Tres
Atlanta, GA
Check the chart more closely. The numeric chart doesn't actually end after 1964 and there were some five digit numbers as late as 1969. So anything between 38637 and 46606 would (also) be 1965.
Thanks.
 

twocorgis

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A beauty! I'd love to have a nice Hoboken flat top. They were much lighter builds then.

And yeah, the truss rod cover is upside down.
 

twocorgis

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Yes. This is a very light weight guitar. As for the truss rod cover— what can I say? I am a rebel!

I've thought about a Hoboken D40 for quite some time, but I already have the mahogany dread/ slope shoulder covered a few ways, so it's hard to rationalize (yeah like that has anything to do with it).
 

CLMacPherson

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Beautiful d40. I recently received mine and took it straight to a local luthier for some fairly major work. She's got quite a belly and may require a neck set...
Here it is. It really is a super guitar. Loud and very responsive. I have put some money into repairing a few things but well worth it!

IMG_9878.jpegIMG_9879.jpeg
 

Tres

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Beautiful d40. I recently received mine and took it straight to a local luthier for some fairly major work. She's got quite a belly and may require a neck set...
Mine had had a neck set already when I got it. Done the old school way where they cut through the fretboard where it meets the body. But otherwise fine. I had a crack in the top next to the neck due to shrinkage of the pick guard, and the headstock overlay also had shrunk. I had that replaced with an ebony one (I still have the old one though). I had a new bone nut installed with better string spacing, and I swapped out tuners (had grovers on it) for some old grover open back tuners I found somewhere. Later, I had the bridge reglued on as it was starting to lift. Bought for $650. $650 in repairs. Total expenditure-- $1,300 for a vintage dreadnaught that sounds killer. Well worth it!
 

Br1ck

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$1300 for a vintage dread is indeed worth it. My D 35 is around a grand less invested than my next cheapest guitar, a Martin Custom D 35 I bought for $2200. Then my 65 Texan cost an astronomical $3400, which was a whole bunch more than I ever paid for a guitar. The point is the Guild D 35 gets played as much or more than the others, so is not at all less satisfying. To get that good of a guitar for under $1500 is pretty remarkable, and about the only way to get old wood at a reasonable price. So one should take a look at guitars needing a little or even a lot of TLC. My Guild is the real middle ground of the three. It doesn't have the classic Martin voicing or the Epiphone punch. What it is is extreamly balanced and articulate. You can hear everything going on, and I love the neck. No guitar I can afford can do everything. Pre war Martins are beyond my wallet. I came upon a Bryan Sutton clip where someone asked him how he evaluated a guitar. He listed all the things he required in tone and feel, finally looked down at the 1936 Martin D 28 he was holding and said, this guitar pretty much does it all. Yeah, $80,000 or so should tick all the boxes.

The certainty is that he could make my Guild sing like I cannot.
 

Tres

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$1300 for a vintage dread is indeed worth it. My D 35 is around a grand less invested than my next cheapest guitar, a Martin Custom D 35 I bought for $2200. Then my 65 Texan cost an astronomical $3400, which was a whole bunch more than I ever paid for a guitar. The point is the Guild D 35 gets played as much or more than the others, so is not at all less satisfying. To get that good of a guitar for under $1500 is pretty remarkable, and about the only way to get old wood at a reasonable price. So one should take a look at guitars needing a little or even a lot of TLC. My Guild is the real middle ground of the three. It doesn't have the classic Martin voicing or the Epiphone punch. What it is is extreamly balanced and articulate. You can hear everything going on, and I love the neck. No guitar I can afford can do everything. Pre war Martins are beyond my wallet. I came upon a Bryan Sutton clip where someone asked him how he evaluated a guitar. He listed all the things he required in tone and feel, finally looked down at the 1936 Martin D 28 he was holding and said, this guitar pretty much does it all. Yeah, $80,000 or so should tick all the boxes.

The certainty is that he could make my Guild sing like I cannot.
For sure. I have played many pre-war Martins over the years owned by friends, and I have been blessed to own 50's D-28 and D-18 Martins and currently a '67 D-28 (with its own backstory), as well as Collings, Goodall, Gallagher, Huss & Dalton, Santa Cruz, Gibson, and Taylor guitars. In many ways this old Guild D-40 is equal to any of them. I may have gotten a good one, I don't know. But it certainly does NOT sound like a new guitar-- it has that special "vintage" something. To be honest, I often seem to reach for my Guilds (my other current Guild is a Tacoma made F-47 that is also great in a different, more well-rounded way). For vintage guitars, Guild is just the last great American made guitar that mere mortals can afford to buy, although the prices are rising...
 

Br1ck

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That you have owned many fine guitars is testament that your praise is well grounded. I have never quite been able to describe the tone of old wood, but I know it when I hear it. Torrification gets some what there in varying degrees. That people shy away from old guitars is somewhat understandable, but I'll spend my money on age any day. People seem not to want to spend money on any guitar needing work, perhaps a neck reset or crack repair. Yet they buy a new guitar that devalues when walked out of a guitar shop door.
 

CLMacPherson

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I'll likely be in to my D-40 for about two grand when all is said and done, so all the complimentary remarks on the model are taking a little salt out of the wound. LOL
 

Br1ck

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I'd expect to pay $600-700 for my Guild in today's market, so I'd not be too far from $2K if I did it all over. Still, you have a real Hoboken. All I have is a Hoboken label. LOL
 
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