DV-72 - how many were made?

[Aristera]

Today I was able to view my DV-72's birthdate, Nov 1, 1993, which was located on the lower beveled edge of the neck support. My sn is LK000043 and Hans confirmed that this prefix was used in 1993. Westerly's listing of AD720197 indicates 197 were made in 1994. That puts the running total to at least 240. Now we'll have to find out the last of 1993 and we'll be all set.

 

[West R Lee]

Seems like 197 was pretty close.

West

 

[davismanLV]

Yes, but if 197 were made in 1994 (001-197 of the AD serial numbers in 1994) and then the LK series were from 1993 (with LK000043)..... then it would be significantly more. I'm sure only Hans can answer this question..... which is HOW MANY DV72's TOTAL were made? Just wondering out loud.

 

[West R Lee]

Yes, but if 197 were made in 1994 (001-197 of the AD serial numbers in 1994) and then the LK series were from 1993 (with LK000043)..... then it would be significantly more. I'm sure only Hans can answer this question..... which is HOW MANY DV72's TOTAL were made? Just wondering out loud.

Yep, I hear what you're saying Dave and it seems like I asked that of Hans once and he said, a few more than 197. We'll see if he'll respond. I certainly don't have it in my database.....: )

West

 

[Aristera]

Shouldn't be that many more in '93 since my date stamp was Nov 1.

 

[Dadaist]

Yes, but if 197 were made in 1994 (001-197 of the AD serial numbers in 1994) and then the LK series were from 1993 (with LK000043)..... then it would be significantly more. I'm sure only Hans can answer this question..... which is HOW MANY DV72's TOTAL were made? Just wondering out loud.

Tom,
It's funny how we kind of all get caught up with the, "...how many were made, mister?...", of a particular Guild model. Some of it stems from just wanting to find out as much cool information available, especially if your particular model had a limited production run, and who doesn't want to belong to an exclusive club? Doesn't hurt that resale value either.

Anyway, I remember quizzing Hans in the past regarding the production numbers on some rare Guild I owned at the time, quoting the numbers that are available online. As you probably know, these numbers through several websites (who all seem to be using the same data) can be mildly inaccurate and that the actual production numbers, according to Hans were,"...a lot more than you think..."

Per our previous conversation,....when you tire of playing and admiring Your new baby, you have My number.

David

 

[davismanLV]

Gotta agree, David. In the final reckoning you gotta play it and listen and once you do that, the actual numbers made seem rather insignificant. However, it's fun to banter numbers around. We humans LOVE to categorize and pigeon-hole things. Seems like it's our nature to do that. The D65s is pretty straight forward. They made 20 and they wrote the numbers on the label. So you get a serial number showing which one of the twenty you got, in my case 11, and you get a 11/20 written in along with the signature of the (at that time) President of the company. Not only that, it's some of the NICEST HAND PRINTING that ever appeared on a Guild label!! I'm sure they were all written at the same time and by the same person. Not only that, they were done by someone who had very nice penmanship and it looks like they actually went out and bought them a new pen!!! The only other one I've seen is a photo that Hans has, and it looks IDENTICAL except for the number 16 is where the 11 is on mine. Of course, when you're making significantly more guitars of a certain model over a much longer period of time... there's no way you even KNOW a lot of that information when each guitar is being produced.

Here's the best Guild label EVER!!

The label photo that Hans has:

Anyway, back to the DV72's question.....

So I guess what we KNOW is that there were 197 built in 1994. With the LK000043 serial number series, you want to assume that there were AT LEAST 43 of them made in 1993, but that's a huge assumption. So I think everyone is just wanting a little clarification to see if our ASSUMPTIONS are anywhere near the reality of the situation.

I am off work tomorrow, I'll give you a call.

 

[Dadaist]

Tom you're right, your D-65S has by far the best, legible Guild Label that I (who has owned and examined more than a few) have seen. Looks like it was done with a little forethought, and with a nice dark colored felt/sharpie pen; a lot of the labels almost seem to have been lettered/written by whoever happened to be available and had a ballpoint.

David

 

[adorshki]

Shouldn't be that many more in '93 since my date stamp was Nov 1.

Aristera, there's a "fine point" about those heelblock stamps, they were actually stamped at the time the "superstructure" (Hans' term) was completed, and could pre-date actual final finishing and assignment of s/n by a significant amount of time, I seem to recall several months even, depending on the popularity and demand of a model. So it's possible for a November heelblock stamp to appear in a guitar that might have been recordered and sold as a following year production model. What they are useful for is a time point the guitar can't be any older than. :wink: