‘72 F212XL Perfect Resto

[PreacherBob]

So I got the guitar off Reverb listed for three days if anyone caught it. There were offers but I just gave him the $1750. I got my ‘79 for $1500 and it needed work which was done, though still not perfect, I love it. This young man has great vision and skill along with a lot of patience.
It started as a rescue then he went all the way. Neck reset done Martin style, the neck finished separate from the body. New frets with the original spec fret wire, leveled end to end. Action is perfect. No tool marks and the ebony polished very smooth. No hump. He hand carved a exact duplicate bridge out of grained ebony stock, beautiful. He refinished the entire guitar, using a light colored stain to expose the gorgeous mahogany. Did an outstanding job with the lacquer, even flow rolling on the edges. I like the Pickguard choice, he rolled the edges to blend with the top, using original spec adhesive. He custom made the tuners to mimic the 512, but in original chrome. He removed the ends on the individual Grover butter beans, till they touched each other, to secure them and give it a strip look. The stamp on the label says it was completed Friday, November 17, 1972. I was 9years old, and 10 days before my 10th birthday. Last day of school for Thanksgiving break, on the Isle of Palms, SC where I was raised. It looks, feels, and plays like a new guitar but sounds like a really old guitar, a canon for sure. I played it a bit then loosened the strings back. I’m going to try the John Pearce like members here suggested. He replaced the worn out case with a pristine vintage case he located. I wasn’t sure at first, but I’m glad I took the chance.

 

[rmoretti49]

Wow, that is simply stunning. What a special instrument with that restoration. I hope you won't be afraid to play it!

 

[PreacherBob]

Wow, that is simply stunning. What a special instrument with that restoration. I hope you won't be afraid to play it!

Yes sir, the seller sort of stressed that he wanted to make sure that it went to someone who would play it often, after all the months of work he’d put in it. I still love my ‘79 at home, so I plan to have a pickup put in this one and leave it in my office to play at cowboy church. I keep most stage gear there. It’s all survived just fine for the last 10 years.

 

[beecee]

I think I need to clean my guitars.......

All of yours are bristol!!

 

[GGJaguar]

Beautiful! I really like the tuner choice.

 

[mushroom]

That’s awesome.
I really like the back of the headstock photo. Nice looking timber.

 

[rmoretti49]

I am amazed that someone would put so much time and loving care into a restoration, and then sell it on Reverb at a price that doesn't do justice to the wonderful craftsmanship.

 

[davismanLV]

I need to ask a question. Why does the bridge saddle go straight across perpendicular to the strings? It's not angled for either righty or lefty. I've never seen that before. Does it intonate correctly? Sure is a pretty thing!

 

[twocorgis]

The natural mahogany looks so much better than the dark stain that Guild always used back then.

 

[spoox]

I need to ask a question. Why does the bridge saddle go straight across perpendicular to the strings? It's not angled for either righty or lefty. I've never seen that before. Does it intonate correctly? Sure is a pretty thing!

Hawaiian guitar! Perfect big 12 string lap guitar!

 

[PreacherBob]

Beautiful! I really like the tuner choice.

I wasnt sure

I need to ask a question. Why does the bridge saddle go straight across perpendicular to the strings? It's not angled for either righty or lefty. I've never seen that before. Does it intonate correctly? Sure is a pretty thing!

Hey Tom. Funny you should ask, good eye. Since Im that “take a chance”, “roll the dice“ kinda buyer ( that’s not really a philosophy one should subscribe to, I have definitely been wrong) I did zoom in on that in the Reverb photos. Definitely one of the concerns before I pulled the trigger, along with the tuner setup, I just took that chance based on the rest of the work and his attention to detail. A very lengthy detailed report in the listing.
He just opened his repair and restoration shop after doing work for folks on the side for a number of years, he selling of some personal guitars to buy more equipment now.
So I just got this guitar the other day at my office. I played it a ltitle to check the tuners, and that saddle. I gotta say, harmonically the two twelfth fret tests where dead on, to my ears anyways though I do not have my strobe there. I had dug up some old threads on AGF, and some builders slightly tilt the bridge not enough to see but it’s enough along with compensatory saddle tops, but don’t know. I’m heading back up in a bit with my strobe to further investigate. He’s seems so motivated and excited about his new shop, I really didn’t want to ask too many questions in fear of offending him. I’ll definitely let you know what I find out on that, but yeah that was the first thing that caught my eye in the Reverb pics.

 

[PreacherBob]

Hawaiian guitar! Perfect big 12 string lap guitar!

Yeah I still have a few old 70’s copies and such that I kept. I have an old Gibson Hummingbird copy that’s all laminate, very very thin I’m not even sure how it stays together. Light as a match box, but it sounds absolutely amazing. Now it has a bridge /saddle like this one, seemingly straight. But if you move your eyes from the end of the fretboard to the leading edge of the bridge in your picture, the bridge looks angled in just a hair at the bottom, and looking at the bridge pins the gap seems a hair wider at the bottom bridge pin to the saddle. Maybe all that makes up the difference who knows.

 

[PreacherBob]

I think I need to clean my guitars.......

All of yours are bristol!!

Yeah, but it’s just that “new car” syndrome. When we first get our new cars we wash them almost daily! But after the newness and novelty wears off, we put the soap bucket up to never find it again. Until we have a date! (Or gig)

 

[Cougar]

Can't beat a jumbo Guild 12-string!

 

[PreacherBob]

I need to ask a question. Why does the bridge saddle go straight across perpendicular to the strings? It's not angled for either righty or lefty. I've never seen that before. Does it intonate correctly? Sure is a pretty thing!

Hey Tom. I just got back from the office. So I measured the front of the bridge, and leading edge of the saddle, from the last fret on the fretboard. I’ll give him this, both ends of the bridge and saddle are the same even distance from that last fret, within a 1/64, no slant at all. If he was trying to get it perfectly even for whatever reason, he did. Now how did that affect intonation. To my ear first, I couldn’t hear anything off at the 12th fret on any strings.
Now my ears aren’t what they once were. I’ve lost a good bit in my right ear, so in listening tests I turn my head all the way to the right and use my left ear. Too many years of that Marshall stack I guess. But through my strobe a little different. The G B E sets are great, however they start to drift short on the D A E. Little more on the E. Though it’s not enough for me to actually hear it with my ears. On a standard compensated saddle the bass E string is set to the rear edge of a saddle, we know the larger core strings like to run long. We also see the B string also is set to the rear edge, vs the G string on a compensated saddle because the B string is considerably larger than the G string’s core inside the winding.
So here’s what I’m going to try. I’m going to make another saddle using Tusq and compensating it like I did on my other F212XL, compensate from the D and A string back till the E string is to the farthest rear edge for length, but leave the others alone. I really like the Gibson Tusq material on some guitars for the wind chime like trebles, at the expense of losing some warmth that bone and Guild micarta resin saddles and nuts have. I’m new at the 12 string thing, but my ears want to hear those trebles really stick out of those 12ers. I also had originally made a bone nut, but then made a Tusq nut for it as well. Trebles now really zing, but maybe a bit much. I also solved my tiny hand-cramping problems by squeezing the string spacing in a bit on the new Tusq nut, made a big difference. With skinny fingers I can play chords without muting any strings. I can play for a couple hours without cramps. Heres what I did on the other F212XL using a strobe to get it compensated as close as I could, at least for theory‘s sake anyway. Hope I’m not about to kill this thread.

 

[davismanLV]

I see a tiny tilt there.... wow, how beautiful is that guitar??

 

[HeyMikey]

Sensational ! I mean just the work alone was probably worth close what you paid. I love what he did with the tuners. Enjoy your “ new vintage”Guild

 

[chazmo]

I need to ask a question. Why does the bridge saddle go straight across perpendicular to the strings? It's not angled for either righty or lefty. I've never seen that before. Does it intonate correctly? Sure is a pretty thing!

Agree, that does seem rather odd.