That's one B-I-I-G Guild
Thanks, Jim - But man! that's a huge picture. Ha! Anyway, Dred, you can see the details better. The pickguard is NOT original - it didn't have one for a long time - I have the original in the original case in the attic - but Holger Notzel put this resin pickguard on to protect the wood - which was getting pretty dug-out. You can note the finish around the soundhole is pretty scraped away from intense playing, but the guitar, though dinged up from travel and playing, is in grand shape. The neck is amazing. The peg head only has the gold-painted arched Guild name, but is pretty blackened with age and from putting Kyser capos on in. It's been refretted only once (again by Holger Notzel) and I use medium 80/20 strings on it. The machines are Grover Rotomatics and I think this may be the third set. You can't see the bridge, but one of the things I ALWAYS do on a guitar is take off the plastic bridge pins and replace them with ebony - saddle and nut are both bone.
As another funny aside about this guitar, the pickguard literally fell off in the early 80's. There was a school of thought back then that a pickguard - any pickguard inhibited the top vibration and therefore shouldn't be used. I wasn't sure I bought that, but decided to leave it off. Still, I worried about possible damage to the wood and observed some pick gouging marks. So, I went in and had it put back on. I was also forming a new band and decided since New Wave was so hot that perhaps I should move to electric - though I'd always been terrible on electric. So, I left the G37 in a shop in Ruston, Louisiana on consignment and went over to a store in Monroe to inquire about a Rickenbacker. They didn't have the model I wanted, but said they would in a couple of days. So, I borrowed a gutiar and went to rehearsal. Rehearsal sucked, so I went for a drink after and there at the bar was the guitar store owner who had my Guild. He was drunk and immediately fell to criticizing my Guild, Guilds in general (he loved Martins), and said the guitar would never sell because no one would want it. I dragged him off his barstool, drug him over to his store and made him give me my Guild back then and there. I've never thought of selling it again. Then, I moved to Nashville and the offers to buy it came regularly. One night at a guitar pull, Kenny Bell was again making an offer and I was again turning him down. Luthier Randy Barton was there and the discussion fell to what an incredible guitar my G37 was. Barton said the pickguard was loose and that it should just be taken off to let the top breathe. Bell agreed and they stuck a pick under the edge to get a hold on it and ripped the pickguard off. YEOW! Like someone tearing off your "fake" moustache only to realize it's real. Ow-ow-ow! I did leave it off after that until Holger impressed upon me that some of those digs would be through the face soon and the pickguard should be replaced to stave off further damage. Since time and shrinkage had taken it's toll on the original pickguard and it was curling, he suggested a resin pickguard.
Longer than I meant, but this guitar has some history. dbs
Again, thanks Jim for posting this.
Dudley-Brian Smith
Smithfield Fair/Stevenson Productions
http://www.smithfieldfair.com