‘67 F47

[donnylang]

I received the ‘67 F47 last night.


Right off the bat- first impression is it’s the best guitar I’ve ever played. It’s really balanced and articulate, deep but not boomy. Very different from the F212s, surprisingly.

It plays very well with low action, however I’m thinking the bridge may have been shaved and the saddle is low. Considering the price I paid (a lot), that’s a bummer:


Also has this issue (which I knew about), anyone know if this is a big deal or something to leave alone?:



has the cool tuners and flower-power decal:

 

[GGJaguar]

Nice, congrats! I'll keep saying it - that body shape has some magical properties for generating great tone.

 

[Bonneville88]

Damn nice guitar - congrats!

 

[Norrissey]

Beautiful guitar. I'm wondering why it sounds very different from the F-212s. I thought the body specs were the same for the F-47 and the F-212s.
Perhaps the slimmer 6-string neck makes a difference?

 

[HeyMikey]

Congrats Donny. She is a beauty! I know exactly what you mean about it being deep but not boomy. That is the magic with some of these medium bodied Guilds. It should fit your style very well. Looking forward to a future recording of it.

 

[dashstarkiller]

The last pic you posted, is that the binding splitting the wood at the waist? It’s almost what it looks like.

 

[davismanLV]

At first I thought just a simple binding reglue. But then looking at it, it almost looks like a small strip of wood (soundboard) came WITH the binding because of the way it looks when it rejoins the guitar higher and lower. Not sure from this one pic and even with some wood with it, I'd think it could be repaired fairly easily. Looks almost like the wood/binding glue held, but the wood failed somehow. Strange. All in all, though, I love that size and SHAPE of Guild!! Those are super nice guitars. Shame about the saddle being low, but in a guitar this old, you'd expect some movement. However, it could stay like this for a long time. And if the action is okay for you, then who knows?

I really like this shape and size. Are you considering returning it??

 

[Russell Letson]

I believe the F47/F212 difference might be in the bracing--same molds for sides and thus same volume for the bodies but very different internal structures. That's the conclusion we (me and a skilled friend) came to about a late-60s F47 that we couldn't wake up--it was double-braced and thus was probably originally meant to be a 12-string.

As for that flaw--it does look like the binding is separating for a stretch, and that crack at the upper end seems to be along a grain line. Shrunken binding is a not-uncommon flaw and, I suspect, pretty much cosmetic rather than structural.

 

[davismanLV]

And on further inspection, possibly the wood failed at the top from an impact as there is a little ding right there. That may have started it. Curious.....

 

[dashstarkiller]

And on further inspection, possibly the wood failed at the top from an impact as there is a little ding right there. That may have started it. Curious.....

After looking REALLY close I think it’s just binding. I think that is a small thin piece of binding connected to the body. The color doesn’t look to be wood. Looks a little more white/cream.

 

[Bonneville88]

Donny, I've observed the outer "wings" on early Westerly bridges - on all 4 examples I owned -
are remarkably thin - I don't think the bridges were shaved on any of them. Is there
a noticeable difference in the bridge thickness between this and the D35?

 

[davismanLV]

After looking REALLY close I think it’s just binding. I think that is a small thin piece of binding connected to the body. The color doesn’t look to be wood. Looks a little more white/cream.

Could be. Difficult to tell from one photo and not having the guitar in hand. It would be very unusual for wood to split that way, but I just don't know. I'd say an easy fix, either way.

 

[donnylang]

So … even though this guitar is great, I ended up returning it- couldn’t justify the extra cost when I probably overpaid in the first place.

 

[donnylang]

Donny, I've observed the outer "wings" on early Westerly bridges - on all 4 examples I owned -
are remarkably thin - I don't think the bridges were shaved on any of them. Is there
a noticeable difference in the bridge thickness between this and the D35?

Yep- the D35 bridge is about twice as high (saddle more than twice as high too). In fact, it was comparing playing them back & forth that I noticed I kept tapping the guitar with my pick on the F47 (the strings were too low, so the feel was weirdly constrained).

 

[donnylang]

At first I thought just a simple binding reglue. But then looking at it, it almost looks like a small strip of wood (soundboard) came WITH the binding because of the way it looks when it rejoins the guitar higher and lower. Not sure from this one pic and even with some wood with it, I'd think it could be repaired fairly easily. Looks almost like the wood/binding glue held, but the wood failed somehow. Strange. All in all, though, I love that size and SHAPE of Guild!! Those are super nice guitars. Shame about the saddle being low, but in a guitar this old, you'd expect some movement. However, it could stay like this for a long time. And if the action is okay for you, then who knows?

I really like this shape and size. Are you considering returning it??

Yeh tbh with shipping and tax, I was in over $2600. Thinking the neck reset and bridge replacement would come sooner rather than later … the final number freaked me out ha.

 

[donnylang]

Beautiful guitar. I'm wondering why it sounds very different from the F-212s. I thought the body specs were the same for the F-47 and the F-212s.
Perhaps the slimmer 6-string neck makes a difference?

Could be braces as noted above, could be guitar to guitar variation (though I’ve had a lot of F212s). Honestly this sounds crazy but I think the inlays change the sound too. A bit more treble attack or snap or something.

 

[Br1ck]

Very nice guitar and worth fixing for sure. Have the binding reglued by a pro. It's trickier than you'd think, possibly including heat. Looks like reset time to me, but you have 50+ year old wood, which is priceless.

 

[donnylang]

Here’s the D35 bridge for a comparison:

 

[dashstarkiller]

Here’s the D35 bridge for a comparison:

Do you think the top of the bridge was shaved down? It almost looks like the saddle area was smoothed down.

 

[donnylang]

Do you think the top of the bridge was shaved down? It almost looks like the saddle area was smoothed down.

It looks to me not only much shorter, but also has some odd contouring (as if one area was shaved down more). That was the giveaway to me.