I tried doing a search on LTG for a Guild A50 with little luck. I found some price lists and some info about the A50's electrifying brother, the X50. I'm looking at a '56 A50 in kind of rough, but playable, condition. It'll need some work, and I'll have to shell out some dough for sure. What are they like? How do they play? How do they sound? Anyone?
56 A50
- Thread starter Vermonter
- Start date
AcornHouse
Venerated Member
I’ll break mine out (also a ‘56!) later today to get some fresh impressions. It’s been awhile since I’ve played it, mainly because I need to refret it and do some binding work.
AcornHouse
Venerated Member
Got mine out, and after replacing a couple of strings where the ball (in the ball end) had broken, gave it a little play. I need to play it more often (but it does desperately need a refret!)
On the technical side of things:
24-3/4” scale length
1-5/8” nut width, but a chunkier neck carve, so it doesn’t feel skinny
Pressed laminated maple back and sides
Nice loud, bright, sound. Serial #3875, so toward the last half of 1956. (Hans?) Oddly enough, the bit underneath the fretboard overhang looks to be unfinished. Either that or it has been shortened and a section removed. (I count 20 frets. Is that correct @hansmoust ?)
Anything else you want to know that I might be able to help with?
On the technical side of things:
24-3/4” scale length
1-5/8” nut width, but a chunkier neck carve, so it doesn’t feel skinny
Pressed laminated maple back and sides
Nice loud, bright, sound. Serial #3875, so toward the last half of 1956. (Hans?) Oddly enough, the bit underneath the fretboard overhang looks to be unfinished. Either that or it has been shortened and a section removed. (I count 20 frets. Is that correct @hansmoust ?)
Anything else you want to know that I might be able to help with?
I had a '63. Really liked it! I found it played more like an electric than an acoustic, maybe the nut size/chunky neck combo. As Chris said, bright and loud!
walrus
walrus
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The forum search feature has a problem with model names - too many results.
Try a Google "site" search of LTG. Type (or copy and paste) this into a browser:
site:letstalkguild.com a50
Keep in mind there's also an A50 model from the '90's that is a "regular" acoustic...
walrus
walrus
That's a beauty Chris! Definitely worth a little work I'd think, and a good future project.Got mine out, and after replacing a couple of strings where the ball (in the ball end) had broken, gave it a little play. I need to play it more often (but it does desperately need a refret!)
Got mine out, and after replacing a couple of strings where the ball (in the ball end) had broken, gave it a little play. I need to play it more often (but it does desperately need a refret!)
On the technical side of things:
24-3/4” scale length
1-5/8” nut width, but a chunkier neck carve, so it doesn’t feel skinny
Pressed laminated maple back and sides
Nice loud, bright, sound. Serial #3875, so toward the last half of 1956. (Hans?) Oddly enough, the bit underneath the fretboard overhang looks to be unfinished. Either that or it has been shortened and a section removed. (I count 20 frets. Is that correct @hansmoust ?)
Anything else you want to know that I might be able to help with?
Thanks for the info. This is very helpful. Beautiful guitar and I see a Masteramp that looks just like mine lurking in the background.
Thanks for the info. Very helpful!
Got the A-50 out of the box today. Well packed and survived the trip quite nicely. It's going to need a neck reset and some bridge work for sure. It will also need to be partly refinished. Someone tried to re-sunburst the top (painting over most of the inside label in the process) and they gave up halfway through. This is the second guitar from 1956 I have acquired recently that someone tried to refinish and gave up on... the other being a Gibson LG-3/4 that my friend Dave restored for me. Dave is a fantastic luthier who apparently joined LTG today (daverepair) to talk about his recent D-40 acquisition. He did the work on my M-65 and my X-220 as well. The A-50 also came with an unattached, non-original pickguard. The guitar is in a little rougher shape than I had hoped, but Dave will take care of all that stuff. I am most definitely happy with the sound. It is wonderful - big and bright, much better than I anticipated... and exactly as Acornhouse described. I'll do some "before" pictures and some "after" pictures when it's done.
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AcornHouse
Venerated Member
I had to make a pickguard for mine, as well.
Dave Richard (daverepair here on LTG) gave me back my 56 A50 today after doing extensive work on it. He reset the neck, re-fretted it, repaired the bridge, installed repro tuners, resprayed the back and sides, and refinished the top. It plays like a dream and sounds wonderful... even better than I'd hoped. Dave's a big time vintage Epiphone guy and he said this guitar compares favorably with his carved top Epis. I wish I took more before pictures, but I only found these three. Here they are. It's beautiful again after being hacked up by a former owner. Dave was able to refinish the headstock while keeping the original script. He's done so much amazing work for me and I'm very lucky to have a great luthier - and a great guy - in my area.
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Jeff Haddad
Senior Member
Looks great! Hope it plays and sounds as good as it looks, congrats!
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Very cool! Enjoy it!
walrus
walrus
