I know there are a lot of elite Guild minds here so I wanted to take a shot. Does anyone know the type of spruce used on the 1987 Westerly RI factory D50s? I have a beautiful example of one that I have listed and a buyer wants to know more about the type of spruce. I’m at a loss and would appreciate any help by those here. Thanks, and let me know if I need to provide details.
As others mentioned, probably better than 99% probability it's sitka and for sure we (or at least
I've) never seen anything from a credible source stating they used Adirondack prior to Tacoma, as Geoguy correctly thought.
What has confused the market a bit in the last few years is that when Tacoma introduced Adirondack tops, they also revived the "Bluegrass Special" model name originally used for the sitka-topped D50s introduced in '63.
By '87 those names weren't being used any more.
But some folks thought that because modern D50's used Adi then the vintage ones must have, too.
However Guild had a long-standing tradition of sourcing their woods a little differently than "the Big guys" and what they considered "standard" could easily have been "AA" by some makers and Guild's "select" or AA tops have been said to be as good or better than some makers' "AAA".
However, don't take my word for it, direct your buyer to this link:
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?178790-Guild-Sighting-David-Byrne-on-a-Guild-A-E!
Guild's factory manager at the time ('87) and sole wood buyer/grader since the early '70's was a guy named Willie Fritscher and when it came to selecting wood he was
DA MAN.
:smile: