hansmoust
Enlightened Member
This is my response to a posting by 'the super8' in the FS/FT section:
Probably not! The sunbursts around this time were all very dark. Most likely it had some 'handling marks' that prevented it from getting sold as a 'brand new' guitar. Rather than going through the trouble and trying to fix it, they would stamp it as a factory second and give the dealer an extra discount. Regular use would give you the same kind of wear, so if you would look at the guitar after a couple of years, you probably couldn't tell why it was sold as a 'factory second'.
That's the part I have the most trouble with. If you are going to look at production figures for a particular model during several consecutive years and you are trying to draw conclusions from these figures, you need to see them 'in the context' of the total Guild production during those same years.
First of all, your D-212 with ser. # AA100422 is a regular production model from 1981, which was the year it was added to the line. If you think that 663 units would be a lot compared to the 444 for the year 1982 and 366 for 1983, you may be surprised to hear that production started in 1981 with ser. # AA100001 and ended with # AA101085, which makes it a total of 1085 units for that first year.
Now I've made a quick little chart for you and if you look at the production numbers of other Guild guitars during the same 3-year period, you should see the pattern:
The numbers for 1981 look reasonable high compared to 1982, but actually they were already down compared to 1980. 1982 and 1983 were the years that Guild started getting in trouble.
One of the reasons was the high value of the dollar compared to other currencies, which had made Guild guitars extremely expensive and export was almost down to nothing. The other reason was the fact that, apart from 'heavy metal' music, the guitar was as good as dead. Mainstream pop music was more synthesizer oriented and like many other guitar companies, Guild was really suffering.
However ........ that's a completely different story!
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl
the super8 said:SERIAL # AA100422.. This guitar is stamped "Factory Second." I was told that it was because the Sunburst finish was shot too dark; that may be - I can find no defect on the guitar, and I've done some very thorough looking!
Probably not! The sunbursts around this time were all very dark. Most likely it had some 'handling marks' that prevented it from getting sold as a 'brand new' guitar. Rather than going through the trouble and trying to fix it, they would stamp it as a factory second and give the dealer an extra discount. Regular use would give you the same kind of wear, so if you would look at the guitar after a couple of years, you probably couldn't tell why it was sold as a 'factory second'.
I speculate that the serial number indicates that this may be a pre-production guitar, since the D212 was officially produced only in 1981, 1982 and 1983 and the production runs consisted of 444 D212's in 1982 and 366 in 1983, the production run would have had to be at least 663 units in 1981 for this to be that model year, which seems unlikely.
That's the part I have the most trouble with. If you are going to look at production figures for a particular model during several consecutive years and you are trying to draw conclusions from these figures, you need to see them 'in the context' of the total Guild production during those same years.
First of all, your D-212 with ser. # AA100422 is a regular production model from 1981, which was the year it was added to the line. If you think that 663 units would be a lot compared to the 444 for the year 1982 and 366 for 1983, you may be surprised to hear that production started in 1981 with ser. # AA100001 and ended with # AA101085, which makes it a total of 1085 units for that first year.
Now I've made a quick little chart for you and if you look at the production numbers of other Guild guitars during the same 3-year period, you should see the pattern:
The numbers for 1981 look reasonable high compared to 1982, but actually they were already down compared to 1980. 1982 and 1983 were the years that Guild started getting in trouble.
One of the reasons was the high value of the dollar compared to other currencies, which had made Guild guitars extremely expensive and export was almost down to nothing. The other reason was the fact that, apart from 'heavy metal' music, the guitar was as good as dead. Mainstream pop music was more synthesizer oriented and like many other guitar companies, Guild was really suffering.
However ........ that's a completely different story!
Sincerely,
Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl